Hong Kong II

Our only full day in Hong Kong was devoted to exploring the downtown area and visiting the Aberdeen Fishing Village. Taking a sampan ride was high on my list, so we did that first.
The Hotel staff always told us to take a taxi. We usually preferred taking the buses. You see a lot more and save money, a good combination. So after refusing to tell Marsha, they did tell me which bus to take. They were almost correct. We did pass Aberdeen but should not have gone to the last stop (which they told me to do).

The good news was that we got to walk around the Chinese area of Sai Wan Ho. The apartment buildings look like the apartment buildings in Budapest which were built during the communist period, very utilitarian and bland. The ones we saw were 8-10 stories high. Unlike the main area of Hong Kong, the clothes were hanging from the balcony, i.e. no clothes dryer. This area was served by small supermarkets and we passed through a traditional wet market [live chicken, fish and turtles waiting to be chosen].

A short cab ride got us back to Aberdeen. Aberdeen is much more prosperous. With just a little bargaining, the sampan ride was reduced from 100 HKD to 50 HKD per person (8 HKD = 1 USD).
They charge a per person rate regardless of the number of people in your party. We had a private ride. Our "captain" was Thomas. He had a sign in the front of his sampan with his name in Hebrew. An Israeli wrote it for him.
The ride took us through the busy harbor area which is loaded with fishing boats.

Most of the fishing boats go out to the South Sea for twenty days of fishing. They come in for off-loading and to get provisions for twenty-four hours and then head back to sea.
Some smaller boats are outfitted for night fishing.

A large fish sorting area is near the entrance to the harbor.

Getting brave, we asked some local people how to get back to the Central area. They told us which subway (under the road passage way) to take to get the bus back into town. [Each bus has its own fare schedule. Fares range from $2.8 HK to $4.6. Exact change only. Having coins was important. Sometimes I had to give more than the requested fare. At 12.5 cents US per HKD I did not mind.]

Downtown we walked around some more. This time including the area around the Expo Center. To Marsha’s great surprise, the toilets had Western fixtures. The photo is from the harbor side of the Expo Center. The barges are working at extending the landfill.

The highlight of the afternoon was lunch. We stopped in a small fast food place. I had a BBQ combo plate and Marsha had a chicken rice dish. As space was limited, we shared a table with a Hong Kong couple. It is a small world, the gentleman is the Executive Director of Harvard Business Research. His group developes Asian cases for Harvard.

After a siesta, we visited the botanical garden and zoo. The prettiest thing is this fountain.

And a couple of the flowers.

We did walk some significant hills. It is pretty easy on the way down. We kept walking to downtown.

By dinner time we were ready to crash. We could not find a restaurant with a seafood menu before our legs gave out. So we had another local fast food meal. It was very good. By 8 PM we were in our room.