August takes a trip across Victoria harbor on the Star Ferry. He gives us an inside look at his favorite place to sit and why he thinks it is the best bargain in Hong Kong. Click here for his report.
The fleet of twelve ferries operates four routes across the harbor, carrying over 70,000 passengers a day, or 26 million a year. Even though there are now other ways to cross the harbour (by MTR Subway and road tunnels), the Star Ferry continues to provide an efficient, popular and inexpensive mode of crossing from point A to point B. The company's main route runs between Central and Tsim Sha Tsui, which is what most people mean by "the Star Ferry". This route has become one of the icons of Hong Kong heritage in the eyes of tourists. From the ferry, one can take in the famous view of the harbour and the Hong Kong skyline.
Naveed files a report on three types of food we have encountered in Hong Kong. He describes a vegetarian offering from the Po Lin Monastery, the growth of fast food and our family favorite on the trip, Dim Sum.
Click here for this tasty story on some tasty Hong Kong eats.
Kat presents her insights on a little of the history of Hong Kong. With locations covering Kowloon to Lantau Island to the heart of Hong Kong, Kat helps us to understand the conflict of the Opium wars and the ancient tradition of foot binding. She puts it all in her own perspective.
You can click here for the full size version of her report, and like always, if you are on a slower connection it is best to click play, pause it for 5-10 seconds so the file download can get a head start, and then click play. It should play smoother using the play-pause-play strategy.
The kids are in bed and the van comes to pick us up at 7am. It has been a whirlwind of a trip, and we don't think any of us will be the same. The kids are now world travelers and foreign correspondents (that is once we can get home to post the reports they shot.) We had an amazing time. Thank you for all of your kind notes and great feedback. We are sorry the technical stuff got in our way, but next time we will have a better idea on how to streamline the operation.
The journey home should not be as grueling if for no other reason than we will be flying in the dark from Tokyo to Seattle. A much better recipe for getting these guys some much needed shut eye. We hope to get the last of our stuff up here by Monday night, so please check back. The guys all worked really hard on their stories and Darcy & Drew are sure they would love to know that you saw them and enjoyed them; Dad just needs to get his behind in gear and get them up on the web.
Friday was dim sum for luch (we all agreed the finest we had ever experienced) and an activity we dubbed "The international day of shopping." And of course we ended the day with Chinese food. You know, they do a pretty good job of ccoking it over here. We were shocked, shocked the learn how they had mastered that cooking thing.
Happy trails, we'll keep you posted on our progress.
We are still having difficulty with the failed (fried) power transformer. It has really put a crimp in our video production process. But it has not affected our prodigious quantity of photos. One thing we have learned this trip is Kat is one heck of a shooter. While Darcy has been lugging around the Nikon, Kat has been shooting with our little Canon. We are thrilled we tucked that into her purse because not only are the images well seen and composed, but it gives a perspective to the holiday that is not from the adults. We are really enjoying the different perspective. So as you look at the photos and note the file name, if it starts with “img” you can know that is from Kat’s camera.
Thursday was a water day. August and dad started the day early going back and forth on the Star Ferry a few times to shoot his story about transportation. The entire family connected for a trip to Kowloon (on the other side of the bay, about 7 minutes away) and the Museum of History. In hindsight we should have started our trip here. We had intended to, but there were too many events that were day and date dependent so it got pushed back. It really gave us a much better perspective on life here in Hong Kong.
We spent the afternoon cruising the harbor on a junk. To be honest, it wasn’t a real junk, at least we are assuming on a real junk they don’t offer you peach drinks while you are reclining on a pillow. This was the upscale sanitized version of a “junk” experience. But it was a blast all the same. The kids were in heaven as they hung out on the deck under the orange sails, running from rail to rail watching the harbor traffic up close and personal. The scale of the city from the water is almost overwhelming. We have cricks in our necks from looking up at tower after tower. Manhattan’s skyscrapers are massive. While there are some big honking buildings here, many, if not most, are impossibly skinny. When you scatter a community that looks like a jar full of drinking straws across mountains and hillsides, you get Hong Kong.
So there are plenty of new photos from Lantau Island and the the Junk. We will keep trying to get the next few videos finished. It would be nice to get those up.
Another great day. Wednesday was all about modes of transportation. We took a cab down to the ferry, a catamaran to Lantau Island, a wild and scary bus ride to 2500 feet in the mountains to see the giant Buddha. The photos should be posted shortly, but it was a day in the clouds at a very sacred spot. The trip back to Hong Kong was less traditional, although no less harrowing. We jumped on what appeared to be a little cable car ride over the mountain. To be honest, it was insanely cool and insanely scary. I truly belive we were well over 1000 feet above the valley at one point, rocking in 40 mile per hour winds. What a life experience. Darcy shut her eyes most of the time. Once back on terra firma, we jumped on the subway for the trip back to Central and a cab ride home. The kids counted five different modes of getting us from point A to B (and C, D & E).
We have hit a little bump in the road with the next installments of our movies. Kat’s is nearly done, and August & Naveed have their masterpieces ready for editing. This afternoon the transformer we use to convert the power here from 220 to 110 appears to have failed. Well at least it really smelled like it failed. We are giving it a rest for a bit to see if it comes back to life. We will keep you posted on our electrical challenges.
It is spring, so I guess we should expect spotty weather. But Tuesday was the first day without fog and with a little sunshine. We probably even should have worn sunscreen. The day was spent at an amusement park/ aquarium on the south side of Hong Kong Island called Ocean Park. The name is apropos, if for no other reason than the rides are perched high on a cliff above the South China Sea. The location is spectacular, and I don’t use that word lightly. The park, well, it is your average amusement park with roller coasters, Ferris wheels, and fast food. Although this McDonalds serves corn and the popular snack spot is Mr. Squid. I kid you not.
The Aquarium is wonderful, and balanced the amusement park experience nicely. There were too many types of tropical fish, sharks and turtles to mention, but certainly this is one of the finest aquariums any of us have ever experienced.
At the end of the day we walked over to the town of Aberdeen to see Aberdeen Harbor. Aberdeen is known for the boat people living in the harbor and the floating seafood restaurants such as the Jumbo Floating Restaurant. The folks living on their boats are generally associated with the fishing industry, although one of the books said there are also several dozen expatriates living in the harbor. We were hungry and were looking forward to a little dinner on Jumbo. Little did we know that the tug boats we noticed around the harbor as we looked down from the amusement park were there to tow the restaurant away. Yesterday was Jumbo’s last day for a while. It has gone away for maintenance.
So we created a plan “B”. We rented a sampan for a tour of the harbor at sunset. It was amazing. Really an otherworldly experience. Aberdeen is known here as Heung Kong Tsai or Hong Kong Tsai (
Today’s video (click here to watch) is really just a random slice of that sampan journey around the harbor. Drew’s video camera had died by then so we shot jerky little movies with the still camera.
The kid’s scripted movies should make regular appearances back here tomorrow. We are fighting bad weather and all the things we expected to do at the beginning of the week we have had to push back. We have not even been to the top of Victoria Peak because there would be nothing to see but fog. There are plenty of photos from the past few days and as to the videos... We are thinking positive thoughts, though
Day two was an investment in the sport of shopping. Come to think about it, a trip to Hong Kong is one big lesson in supply and demand. The market stalls are where Hong Kong's dedicated shoppers hone their bargaining skills. A little Cantonese helps but sign language is universal. Kyra reports from three venues as she explores the rituals and rites about the dance of consumerism. From Stanley Market (think Pike Place market complete with cheesy souvenirs) on the far south end of Hong Kong Island, to the Jade Market, Kyra learned what it means to strike a bargain.
We have also posted a lower bandwidth version if you are having trouble getting this to play smoothly.
August is filing our first video report from Hong Kong, and appropriately enough, it is about math. He gives us the inside scoop on money and the Hong Kong Dollar. You can play it in the window above, or click here to see it full frame.
Remember, if the plays back in fits and starts, if it sounds an looks really choppy, it is because your computer is trying to play the video faster than the file is being fed by the internet. So this might help: When you get the video window open, click on the play arrow, and when it starts playing, pause the video. Count slowly to five and then click play again. That should give the download enough of a head start and the clip should play smoothly. One other caveat, Drew is just learning how to use the color corrector in Premier (it is very different from what he is accustomed to) so some of it may be a bit sketchy.
Well we survived our first full day in Hong Kong. I think the expression on Kyra’s face in our photos says it all. We are working on fumes. Funny how the excitement of being here has given us a shot of adrenaline, even though our eyes look like we have just been smacked with a 2x4. There are about five new photos from today in the photo section of the site
