Scenes from Central: Top Left one of the "Ladder Streets; bottom left China Bank Building
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November 18, 2008
Peggy & her husband Mike arrived today from LA. They will be here for two weeks; one of those weeks Mike, who immigrated from China to the US with his parents about 25 years ago, will go to Guangzhou to visit his family, while Peggy visits with her family and friends here in Hong Kong.
We had dinner at a Chiu Chow Restaurant here in Tsuen Wan and it was very good; however, I knew it had to happen! Snake Soup! Yeah, we had snake soup. It was very good. This wasn’t the first time that I had eaten this Chinese delicacy! The first time (about 27 years ago) wasn’t that hard either since Jenny ordered it and, after I had eating most of it, she told me what it was. The last few bites were a little harder to get down! I would like to tell you it tastes like chicken, but you probably wouldn’t believe me!
November 19,2009 -It’s still warm here, but certainly not as hot as it was. Low tonight will be about 15C and high tomorrow 24C (about 59F to 75F). As I type this it is 20F in Queensbury. I’ll take this weather, thank you very much!
November 20th -Today we have to go to the American Consulate in Central to get pages for Jenny’s passport. She has run out of places to put immigration stamps. I have a few more empty pages since my passport was renewed more recently.
Central? Have we discussed this district? It is the financial district and located on Hong Kong Island; of course there are tall skyscrapers and many parts of Central looks like many large cities around the world! Most of this district is very clean and modern, but I can take you to some places that look much like Mongkok.
Central is where you catch the Peak Tram to the top of Victoria Peak (I had to force myself to type “Victoria” because no local would call it that: only “The Peak”. In any case no matter what you call The Peak, it is a must see at night to view the beautiful lights of Hong Kong Harbor (not Victoria Harbor as the tour magazine call it).
Boy, I was one tired individual after following Jenny, Peggy & Mike around all day in Central. We got back around 9:30pm; however, we had time to eat some very spicy Indian food and take some pictures of the harbor, even though the weather is not very cooperative: very foggy. The pictures are not too bad considering I am using Jenny’s old point-and-shoot digital without a tripod.
A word about the Star Ferry ride from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central: besides being such a beautiful ride, it has got to be the best deal in the world! Jenny paid about US$.30 and I paid nothing (benefits of being Senior Citizen with an Octopus Card). Yes, the ride is only about a 1/4 mile across, but what a ride.
November 21st - Today is a rest day for the old man. We are going out for lunch with Peggy’s Grandmother, but then I’m coming home and prop up my feet!
While I’m resting I’ll tell you a little about Shenzhen, China, which is one of the gateways to China from Hong Kong for most trade and tourism. It is easy now for a Chinese to enter Hong Kong, at least much easier than prior to 1980 when the only way for a Mainland Chinese to come into Hong Kong was with a tour group or on business dealings representing the government.
Shenzhen is just across the border; yes there is still a border from one Chinese city to another just as it was when Hong Kong was a British Colony. The Chinese Government made Shenzhen a Special Economic Zone in 1980, or maybe it was 1979, and the city has grown from a sleepy village to about 14 million people, with, are you ready for this, only 2.1 million residents and the rest are temporary or migrant workers. This seems far-fetched, but it is information from the SCMP, so I hope it is accurate.
I mentioned above that there is a border with immigrations/customs between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Well, years ago there was also a border between Shenzhen and the rest of China and all Chinese needed papers to get into Shenzhen. This was done to prevent a mass influx of migrant workers into the city. I don’t think it has worked and, now I’m going to get political: it ain’t going to work between US and Mexico either!
November 22nd - Hong Kong has two official languages: Chinese and English. As some of you know, most Hong Kong Chinese speak the Cantonese dialect of the Chinese language, while the official language in China is Mandarin. As you may also know, there are many, many different dialects spoken in China and probably will be for many years. Cantonese comes from the Guangdong Province of China, which was once called Canton and that is why I think we still refer to it in English as Cantonese.
Although the written Chinese characters are similar between mainland China and Hong Kong, they are not exactly the same, because many years ago Mainland China simplified its written language while Hong Kong never did.
My point for telling you this is that we hear more and more Mandarin spoken on the streets of Hong Kong. Jenny says it is mostly workers (read service workers in the hotel industry etc) who have migrated to Hong Kong and also the many tourists from China that I have been telling you about.
Peggy & her husband Mike arrived today from LA. They will be here for two weeks; one of those weeks Mike, who immigrated from China to the US with his parents about 25 years ago, will go to Guangzhou to visit his family, while Peggy visits with her family and friends here in Hong Kong.
We had dinner at a Chiu Chow Restaurant here in Tsuen Wan and it was very good; however, I knew it had to happen! Snake Soup! Yeah, we had snake soup. It was very good. This wasn’t the first time that I had eaten this Chinese delicacy! The first time (about 27 years ago) wasn’t that hard either since Jenny ordered it and, after I had eating most of it, she told me what it was. The last few bites were a little harder to get down! I would like to tell you it tastes like chicken, but you probably wouldn’t believe me!
November 19,2009 -It’s still warm here, but certainly not as hot as it was. Low tonight will be about 15C and high tomorrow 24C (about 59F to 75F). As I type this it is 20F in Queensbury. I’ll take this weather, thank you very much!
November 20th -Today we have to go to the American Consulate in Central to get pages for Jenny’s passport. She has run out of places to put immigration stamps. I have a few more empty pages since my passport was renewed more recently.
Central? Have we discussed this district? It is the financial district and located on Hong Kong Island; of course there are tall skyscrapers and many parts of Central looks like many large cities around the world! Most of this district is very clean and modern, but I can take you to some places that look much like Mongkok.
Central is where you catch the Peak Tram to the top of Victoria Peak (I had to force myself to type “Victoria” because no local would call it that: only “The Peak”. In any case no matter what you call The Peak, it is a must see at night to view the beautiful lights of Hong Kong Harbor (not Victoria Harbor as the tour magazine call it).
Boy, I was one tired individual after following Jenny, Peggy & Mike around all day in Central. We got back around 9:30pm; however, we had time to eat some very spicy Indian food and take some pictures of the harbor, even though the weather is not very cooperative: very foggy. The pictures are not too bad considering I am using Jenny’s old point-and-shoot digital without a tripod.
A word about the Star Ferry ride from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central: besides being such a beautiful ride, it has got to be the best deal in the world! Jenny paid about US$.30 and I paid nothing (benefits of being Senior Citizen with an Octopus Card). Yes, the ride is only about a 1/4 mile across, but what a ride.
November 21st - Today is a rest day for the old man. We are going out for lunch with Peggy’s Grandmother, but then I’m coming home and prop up my feet!
While I’m resting I’ll tell you a little about Shenzhen, China, which is one of the gateways to China from Hong Kong for most trade and tourism. It is easy now for a Chinese to enter Hong Kong, at least much easier than prior to 1980 when the only way for a Mainland Chinese to come into Hong Kong was with a tour group or on business dealings representing the government.
Shenzhen is just across the border; yes there is still a border from one Chinese city to another just as it was when Hong Kong was a British Colony. The Chinese Government made Shenzhen a Special Economic Zone in 1980, or maybe it was 1979, and the city has grown from a sleepy village to about 14 million people, with, are you ready for this, only 2.1 million residents and the rest are temporary or migrant workers. This seems far-fetched, but it is information from the SCMP, so I hope it is accurate.
I mentioned above that there is a border with immigrations/customs between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Well, years ago there was also a border between Shenzhen and the rest of China and all Chinese needed papers to get into Shenzhen. This was done to prevent a mass influx of migrant workers into the city. I don’t think it has worked and, now I’m going to get political: it ain’t going to work between US and Mexico either!
November 22nd - Hong Kong has two official languages: Chinese and English. As some of you know, most Hong Kong Chinese speak the Cantonese dialect of the Chinese language, while the official language in China is Mandarin. As you may also know, there are many, many different dialects spoken in China and probably will be for many years. Cantonese comes from the Guangdong Province of China, which was once called Canton and that is why I think we still refer to it in English as Cantonese.
Although the written Chinese characters are similar between mainland China and Hong Kong, they are not exactly the same, because many years ago Mainland China simplified its written language while Hong Kong never did.
My point for telling you this is that we hear more and more Mandarin spoken on the streets of Hong Kong. Jenny says it is mostly workers (read service workers in the hotel industry etc) who have migrated to Hong Kong and also the many tourists from China that I have been telling you about.
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