Sunday - March 13, 2005
Hong Kong: Shopping!
Normally, I'm not much of a shopper when we travel because there is usually so much to see and so little time to do all we want to do. But even I succumbed to the lure of the window displays and the bargains to be had in Hong Kong. Mike is even less of a shopper than me, so he decided to ride the tram to the top of Victoria Peak, leaving me and the credit card to carry on without him.
On our last day in Hong Kong, I set out on my shopping expedition with just two goals in mind - I wanted to buy a silk Chinese jacket like the one I had purchased about 10 years ago and I wanted something nice for the house. Well. I succeeded quite nicely in that I bought two of each, but with no help from Visa. To make a long story short, I ended up wasting half my day trying to get ahold of Visa to find out why they weren't accepting my card all of a sudden, after I had just spoken with them the night before and had received a thumbs up sign from their security people. I must admit that I had to become a bit of a dragon lady when all else failed, but I did finally get the green light.
After that, I decided that tea at the very posh Peninsula Hotel was just what I needed. There is something about munching on little sandwiches and sipping tea to the strains of a quartet playing classical music in the balcony overhead that goes a long way to soothing the savage beast. This hotel is so elegant, they even have a young man, in a white uniform with a little round hat on his head and a strap under his chin, who goes around paging people by ringing a little bell as he carries and displays a sign with the person's name on it. It all seemed like something out of a 1940s movie.
While I was busy trying my damndest to spend money and hang onto my equilibrium in the process, Mike was having a very enjoyable time riding the tram to the top of Victoria Peak, walking the circuit around the Peak, and taking photos of the city spread out below. This is where the super rich live and have the most extraordinary houses. The most expensive house in the world is on the Peak, but all Mike could see was the barbed wire that surrounded the property! However, he did get some terrific views of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon across the harbour, and I have included a couple of photos to give you a peek at the Peak. If you look closely at the city view photo, you can just see the QE2 docked to the right of the second highest building at the right hand side of the photo.