THE ENTIRE HONG KONG STORY!!!!!

Ok as usual I know that this is going to be a super long blog so I am sure it will take me a while to type out and even longer for you to read. We arrived in Hong Kong on the morning of the 12th and pulled out of the Harbor at almost 12am the 17th. Hong Kong was absolutely amazing; it was definitely tied for favorites of the ports so far. I immediately am compelled to connect it to New York City but in a way it seems almost unfair. But if I had too I would say that honestly it makes New York seem dirty and white trash compared to the two. But that is truly unfair because they are two different cities with theirs ups, downs, and character. Hong Kong is a city that I have long wanted to visit and it far exceeded my expectations something that I can’t honestly say for New York. Hong Kong was a part of the UK until 1997 when it was transferred over to China (which is why the year 1997 is so prevalent around the city, in names of clubs, and on billboards). Although it is a part of China it is similar to lets say Puerto Rico in the sense that it is a part of it and has a local government put defiantly has its own personality and culture all its own. Taking a quote from a friend Nick said, “Hong Kong is just one interconnected mall!” Which in a way it is, I will be interested to do some research when I get home on the shopping and the businesses that have chosen to make their home and corporate headquarters in Hong Kong. And in my opinion it seems as if there are more Louis Vuitton in fifty square miles in Hong Kong than in any other place in the world. Similar to Seattle and Starbucks. This would also be the case for any other high-end store around the world you name it there are tons if not thousands of them in Hong Kong: Armani, Gucci, Burberry, Tag, Rolex etc. etc. and all real with a defendant lack of knock offs. Which is funny because the night before we pulled into Hong Kong the Academic Dean in our pre-port forum asked the interport students what there is to do or what she does in Hong Kong and her answer was “shop” and then when pushed further she said “shop more”. Then the dean said that she thought that there were a lot of girls on board that shared her same feelings. But I can honestly say that the girls back home in Texas and in America in general thought that they could shop well the women of Hong Kong defiantly put them to shame. And I am not talking about financial means that make the difference, in passion too. Because if you are a Hong Kong resident there are three main aspects to life: Live (as in housing mostly 99% in unbelievable high rise apartments), work, and finally shop. Which is interesting because from what I can gather the majority of people who live in Hong Kong live in general in incredibly small housing as far as square footage by Texas or even in the states standards. Often around 500 square feet, with multiple people living in one apartment. Now this is not to say that there are not those who don’t live extremely extravagantly because to some in Hong Kong compared to any other city I have been too or heard of as far as quantity wise. There is a ton in Hong Kong who makes living extravagant life styles an art. Considering the enormous multi stories penthouses that top the thousands of high rises that make up Hong Kong, the mansions where everything that goes in and out of must be flown in by helicopter on the side of the mountain overlooking Hong Kong, the mansions that line the coast line when making ones way to Stanley Market area on the East side of Hong Kong. And for people like Ammo and I who share a passion for fine automobiles although our taste differ in some aspects. One finds them never disappointed with the thousands of Bentleys, Roles Roces, Ferraris and Mercedes MBacks that line the streets and get drive way parking at the downtown high rises. As you can tell there is one thing that has made Hong Kong such as success story its foreign direct investment. I have learned this first hand from several students onboard whos parents companies and corporations their parents work for have transferred their headquarters to hong Kong to enjoy the sometimes 30% less on taxes that are enjoyed by many businesses and corporations that make up Hong Kong. Which leads me to the final question before I begin breaking my time spent in Hong Kong day by day. Which is Hong Kong day or night which is better? Tough question, but I would probably have to say that the city of Hong Kong truly comes to life starting at 8pm when the light show that is put on by the downtown building starts (more on this at a later time). But the lights are just the tip of the ice berg. Maybe it is more because the people of Hong Kong truly live by a philosophy I have lived by for a while now. Live hard and play even harder. Hong Kong is generally made up of successful Chinese, and expats from around the world that thrive on success. They have a true desire to accomplish and not be satisfied for just settling or the bare minimum that seemingly so many people from the states are moving towards. Now I know that China and even Hong Kong has people with this same sort of just settling attitude. And I think in a way that is one of the big thing that makes Hong Kong so great and at the same time so similar to the United States. Considering America has been made up of countless generations of entrepreneurs that what to accomplish great things and make life better for those that are to come. With that said I will try and break down my time in Hong Kong.


November 12th, 2005

We pulled into the harbor early in the morning just before sunset. Although I didn’t make it up for our sailing in considering AJ and I had, had friends over for a small suite party the night before that lasted until late. This was originally supposed to be the morning that I was to perform my assigned Ambassador duties by greeting the US Embassy officials at the bottom of the gangplank being the first student to step foot onto the soil of Hong Kong, China. But, the US embassy officials in Hong Kong are lazy and have been the first to say that since we were arriving on a Saturday that they would not come and speak to the student body of the ship more than (700 Americans) rather they would wait till more than half way through our stay in Hong Kong and wait till Monday morning during regular Embassy hours of operation. Honestly, I have got to say I am really disappointed in them and not just before it was my turn to be an active ambassador but that the Embassy would act in such a way. And not doing such a simple task of sending at least one official considering the vast amount of US citizens arriving in one time. Anyhow, because of the delay the Chinese immigration officials made the ship wait until we could receive our documentation it was late until we were able to pick up our passports and documentation. AJ and I had originally planned to go with Ammo to see his fathers offices and apartment to pick up a few things. Sad that I still hadn’t meet his father, we learned that he would arrive until the 18th in Hong Kong which would be two days after our departure, he was in Mumbai the whole time we were in New Delhi. Anyways, because of the delay for individuals getting there passports etc. AJ and I ended up getting separated from Ammo and our other friends so we ended up exploring this day in the city by ourselves. It is funny because Hong Kong although they have the majority of their economy based on the US dollar considering they have a set exchange rate of 7.8 Hong Kong Dollars to 1 US dollar. It makes there no need for anyone to accept the US dollar, there for making AJ and I needing to exchange US dollars for Hong Kong dollars the minute we stepped off the ship. Which is funny in itself considering that the dock where the ship stayed the whole time is in a shopping mall purposefully making you have to go through the whole thing before you are able to get outside. And this isn’t like the rinky dink shopping center in say the Cozumel cruise terminal this is like a full sized Dallas Galleria with the good stores and restaurants. Thus starting the whole Hong Kong is just one interconnected mall thing. So after we exchanged some of our money we had to make our way to the ferry terminal which is about 100 yards outside of the cruise terminal. Kowloon is an island where the ship actually docks that is about a 7 minute ferry ride into the heart of downtown which costs about 25 cents. Once we get off the ferry we were immediately greeted by signs announcing that we had arrived right in middle of the Latin Passion Festival 2005. And just as in NYC or other big cities you are immediately forced to realize the sheer size especially height of the building surrounding us. As we walked forward we make our way towards the HSBC bank building which is made completely out of steel and glass no cement at all. We are continued to be amazed at the number of upscale fashion stores that surround us everywhere. The first store that we make our way into is Louis Vuitton and after looking around for a little while we ask where we should go for lunch and she send us to an area not to far away called len Ki Fong (not sure as to the correct spelling). Which is a square of restaurants and bars after finally choosing a sandwich shop we stop in and eat. It was great getting some “typical American food” and as we leave a man comes up to us and asks if we are Americans he is from San Francisco and is a “toy designer” who had been in Hong Kong for 6 months with no plans on leaving. He told us that we had already found the most popular night spot, and that we should have dinner first in the evenings in an area called “Soho” just like NYC which is closer to the heart of the city. It was funny because after learning more about him, he actually got his masters in toy design ( I can’t believe that there is such a degree) but he said that since Asia is where all of the toys are manufactured here, his company thought that it would be best for him to be there as well. Anyways, after reading the sheet that has different recommendations that the ship gives us we decide that we want to go to Stanley Market which it says that is the best place to get inexpensive imitation clothing and goods. So we make our way to the central bus station and there are several different ways that this can be done. A. jump in a cab B. get on a bus C. walk on the street D. take the MTR (subway) or E. walk up some stairs that go up to different in the air walkways that connect all the different high-rises together that way you don’t have to walk in the congested streets. So we make our way to the bus terminal and get on the bus, and start to slowly make our way out of the city traffic in Hong Kong is always terrible. But once we get outside of the city we get to see some really amazing views. Such as the unbelievable mansions that line the edge of the bluffs overlooking the water as well as the different bays that have great sand beaches for swimming which are home to enormous yachts that are anchored in the bays as well as the bays are surrounded by high rise apartments undoubtedly shooting up into the sky at least 40 stories each, each having amazing architecture. Finally we stop at Stanley Market which is built on a hill all the way down to the ocean. It probably has oh 100 plus little stores and booths selling mostly Chinese trinkets and junk clothing. There was only one store which was packed selling brand names such as gap, old navy, and Abercrombie and Fitch. Which is funny because the only shirt I looked at was a typical pink Abercrombie and Fitch nock off long sleeve button down shirt for $20 US. Which is so funny considering that a real shirt might be double so it wasn’t even a good price. The honestly wasn’t anything there that I really wanted to by or for that matter would by. You would not believe the prices on everything ridiculous and this is supposed to be where you get the inexpensive goods. So AJ and I end up getting board and we make our way to the beach that is in the bay it is really nice and kind of reminds we of La Jolla or Carmel in a way, with a hazy sky. Then we end up going to the Stanley plaza which is different upscale shops that are interconnected up the mountain by escaladers. If I remember right we only went in one store which was a wine shop. It was amazing the collection they had all of the best names and vintages known to man. Mixed in with some of the cheapest Californian gas station labels you would find in the states. But a couple of examples that they had: Dom vintages 1959 to present as well as Crystal 1980 to present in regular and magnum bottles, Rothchild, Screaming Eagle and the likes you name the vintage. It would have made any wine coinsure tremble at the knees and probably max out their credit card at the same time. Since AJ and I are not allowed to bring on liquor on the ship we weren’t able to buy anything but we did see some faculty members picking up some stuff since they can bring some on board. When our bus pulled up 16c we got on with the Registrar and her husband surprised as the far that was shown on the screen was half of what we paid on the way over we asked the driver if this bus was going to central and he said yes. Well anyways the bus went about a mile turned around and stopped and a pickup area and the driver came up to the second floor where we were and told us that we had to get off and repay the fair. This didn’t make the registrar’s husband happy and he got into it with the driver. I wasn’t that upset as I saw it was teaching us a lesson to ask if the bus was going directly to the central bus station. So by the time we got back into downtown it was already dark and the lights of Hong Kong were beginning to shine brightly. It was getting kind of late and we decided to go back to the ship to change and get ready to go out and to see if anyone had left us some notes as to what was going on that night. Once we got back on we saw Ammo and he apologized for not seeing us before he got off the ship but it wasn’t anyone’s fault. So we got ready and made our way to Soho looking for some place to have dinner but before we find a place we find that most places have happy hours till generally 9pm and decided to stop at a wine bar to have drinks before dinner that is packed. This is when we begin to realize that service in Hong Kong is generally slow about on the scale of Mexico or so. During our time here AJ decides that he is getting sick and was going to go back to the ship instead of going out with us for the rest of the night. So we decide that we will walk to the Fong square area for dinner and to spend the rest of the night. AJ leaves and we end up running into some of the girls from the ship who have been enjoying happy hour since three in the afternoon and are getting to where they are needing to go back to the ship and pass out. But first they decide that they wanted us to go eat with them at this cheap looking restaurant across the street similar to a bad Denny’s. As soon as we sit down they serve us hot tea. And it takes another ten minutes or so until we are finally able to flag someone down to takes our order. The food was ok to good but as we learned it was really cheap by Hong Kong Standards I had two cokes and an entrée for about $15US. Since it was a Saturday night the Fong area was really hopping it is a lot like 6th street in Austin where they block off the roads to traffic and everyone pours out into the streets. We went from bar to club just hanging out and looking around, when finally we find a lounge type atmosphere that we like called Lux. Although one of the places that we go by was doing a tribute to several different people such as Mar alone Monroe and niel Diamond etc. but like some of the other places had a $100 hong Kong dollar cover which is about $15 US we decided not to go in. This night like the rest of the nights in Hong Kong ended pretty late. I ended up going home early from the rest of the crew that I was hanging out with and when I made my way down the street towards the cabs I saw a group of about 4 SAS girls that I kind of recognized from the ship. I asked if I could jump in with them and they said for sure, about half way to the ship the girl that was sitting in the back seat with me and some other looked like she was looking around and was about to puke. From left to right and the windows were shut, and she couldn’t hold it any longer. So the one person it goes all over was the taxi cab driver! I couldn’t believe it, it got all over him and not really on anyone else. He was really nice about it surprisingly and ended up taking us the rest of the way to the ship through the tunnel under the water and everything for the standard meter far. Could you imagine if he would have gotten mad and made us get out in the tunnel and try to walk back to the ship?

November 13th, 2005


So we wake us this morning thinking that we were going to take a helicopter over to a place like Hong Kong called Macau which is also a territory of China actually connected to china by land. Eric was supposed to arrange all this but when we get to the terminal we find out that it was going to be 400 US per person to take the helicopter or about 40 US to take the hour ferry. When we get ready to buy the tickets for the ferry we find out that AJ, Alison, and I are the only ones out of the group of 15 or so people who actually have the passport and that the rest of the group are going to have to walk about 30 minutes each way to get their passport. Not knowing if or when they were going to make their way back, I said I am sorry but I am going to go to Macau either way. So the three of us who had our passports got our tickets and immediately jumped on the ferry that was about to leave for Macau. It was a nice ferry set up on the inside a lot like an airplane. The couple that sat in the middle and window seat next to me were from China but were deaf and so I wasn’t able to communicate with them. Although the man did get up like 15 times making me get up every time so he could take photos or go do whatever. It was funny because the commercials that were on the plasma TVs the whole way over were all about diamonds and how they were made. Apparently because engagement rings are not a custom in china and DeBeers is trying to make it that way there for having a market in China (a lot like the hole hallmark valentines thing or most other commercial holidays). Anyways once we get in view of Macau it seems to be huge almost like Las Vegas on the water with man made volcanoes and different wonders of the world. With a huge above Ground Bridge connecting all the different things, with massive hotels and casino signs everywhere. Once we get off the bus there are bicycle Rick shaw drivers trying to get us to let him take us to a casino or hotel for a little over 15US. We decide not and that we will walk and we end up walking into all the different complementary hotel shuttle buses. We end up getting on the Holiday Inn one, and make our way into what seems to be the heart of the hotel district. See there was a girl at ACU in one of my classes that did a presentation on Macau saying how it was becoming the Vegas of Asia. And we had also been told by several different people that it was one of the most populated places in the world more so than even Hong Kong. We were thinking that this was hard to believe but as we walked around the streets were empty. It was amazing because we were surrounded by thousands of huge skyscraper apartment buildings. So we end up making our way to the Mandarin Oriental Macau hotel which was really nice. We ended up walking around the hotel property and into a courtyard that had the building with their pool that looked like it was exactly from Hawaii or something. When we see one of the largest casinos in town called the Sands which is right next door we. So we make our way too it hoping that this casino would let AJ in because the first wouldn’t because he had sandals on not regular shoes. They did, and right when you walk in you are greeted by the biggest crystal chandelier that I have ever seen. It was probably the size of a typical American house right in the center of the casino. The building itself is probably about 20 or so stories high which didn’t have a hotel at all but it was only like four stories all together just with huge ceilings on each floor. After exploring just a little we decide that we are hungry so we end up finding a McDonalds and a KFC but we want to find the Las Vegas style buffet that we had seen so many ads about. We keep going up the escaladers when we walk into a couple of fancy restaurants and finally they point us to a it. I go in to check it out first before we all go in. And it was amazing it had everything you could think of from fresh seafood, prime rib, sushi, Indian food, Chinese food, Mexican food and on and on and on. It was an exceptional Sunday brunch not as good as Belagio of course but still one of the best meals we had, had on the trip. By the time we were done there we were all stuffed and could barely walk we felt like we had been to Texas De Brazil or something. We all end up making our way to our game of choice mine beign video roulette and the regular style and any card games had a minimum bet of 20 US. It was interesting because my seat was on the edge of the walkway so at time I would be surrounded by a mob of twenty or so Asians trying to figure out what the game was and how we were all doing. This was pretty funny because they had no sense of space or in a way privacy for that matter. They would lean on me and put their head in from of mine looking at my personal screen pointing at my bets, the amount, and how much I had in the machine and were telling everyone in their group. As an American I would have found it very rude but considering the context I just laughed it off. As AJ and Alison came back they were both down and ready to go, I again was up probably 30 US or so but was ready to walk away knowing that it was purely entertainment purposes only like going to the movies and walking in and out of the casino knowing that the house always wins. We made our way out and down the main street that had walkways from one side to the other. The main street had huge gates and barricades on it because they were getting ready for the Macau Grand Prix that seemed like it was going to be a very big deal. As far as all of the shops along the streets we all jewelry stores selling diamond rings and necklaces and expensive Rolexes. I couldn’t figure how all of them could have been real but maybe they were all used in good condition either way they defiantly weren’t charging fake prices for them. There were also amazing casino hotels being built that were huge in size and going up probably 50 or more stories into the skies. When we finally see the Wynns casino that is almost finished with the exterior of the building that has the same design of that in Vegas. There is also a Venetian hotel that is already done but it is farther down the strip that we never went too. When you go into the older hotel casinos (which are most of the ones that are already built) the casino is on multiple stories usually up to ten or so and to get from level to level you have to take the elevator and present a passport and go through a medal detector to get in. They are all done very elaborately with tons of goddy Trump gold everywhere. But once inside there is 99% of the time the only game you can play is a very similar Asian style of Baccarat. But in all the casinos it is incredibly quite, with no talking and the only thing you can hear is the clinking of chips of people gambling away their money. We get bored and so we try to explore all the different hotels spas seeing if we can find a legitimate one where “women” are allowed in for all of us to get a real massage. See in all the ones we went into in Macau the Hotel Spas took up whole floors and were mens only for the special massages. After all this we were kind of sick of casinos and mens only spas so we decided to make our way back and got on board the ferry back into Hong Kong. As far as Macau up until recently we found out that people never stayed in Macau over night they always just went there for the day. Also Macau in my opinion in the next 10 or so years will be very very similar to that of Las Vegas. It will especially build up as the middle class of China should grow in the future. That night we make our way back into the city, I call Ammo and we decide to go out to the Fong area again. Ammo meets us back at the ship and on the way to the subway we decided that we wanted to stop off at the Peninsula Hotel to see their high rise club and start off the night. It was a super chic hotel with a three piece band playing in the rafters of the lobby and everyone in tuxedos. We were directed in the direction of the club elevadors that only go up there I think that it was on the 28th floor. It was cool because the elevators were really trendy decorated and it was cool because the elevator speed up at the very end and the lights dimmed gradually on the way up (its all about the little things that make this hotel what it is). When stepping out of the elevators you are immediately summands by the stately view of downtown Hong Kong. It was amazing and in each corner of the club were two almost tree house bars with spiral staircases. It was obvious that the clientele was the whos who of Hong Kong mingling and making business deals. Some of our group though was told that they weren’t aloud into the club after we steeped off the elevator because they had sandals on. And even I felt under dressed because most people had either a tux or suit on. So we end up leaving and going back to the Fong area where the streets are dead compared to the night before as it is Sunday night. But they are filming an Indian movie, Ammo recognizes a couple of the actors but says that they are “C list celebrities” Alison ended up getting excited about seeing them and runs up and got a picture with one of them. We spend most of this night in a place called Als dinner which made Alison very happy because her nick name is Al. We ended up running into some Brits who were talking about the dumb American navy guys that they had run into earlier that were incredibly drunk. A bunch of whom we had seen later on in the night.
November 14th, 2005 We wake up this morning wanting to eat something very American. So we go downstairs in the pier mall to the pizza hut. This isn’t your typical pizza hut, it is nice with table clothes and menus serving everything from Shrimp cocktail, your typical pizza hut menu items, Chinese food, and an array of desserts including crème Brule. It was excellent this is when we come to learn that the typical person from Hong Kong does not start eating lunch until at least 12:45pm or 1 definitely something different from the States. Today we have no plans but to explore the city and later Ammo needed to go by his dads office to have a couple of meetings. We end up exploring the city amazed at lunch time with all of the people out on the streets like thousands of aunts in suits walking every which way. We end up deciding that we want to go ice skating so Ammo gets on the phone with someone and gets directions. We end up getting on the subway and going to yet another mall. We find the ice rink and go scatting for an hour or so. This is actually the first time I can remember going ice scatting, maybe my parents took me sometime but I can’t remember. Actually it was Ammos and my first time to ever go ice scatting. It was fun definably not what I expected because it was a lot like snow skiing in a way but with much shorter skis and it would probably hurt more if you fail. It was kind of funny, and a lot of little kids got a good laugh of the dumb Americans who had obviously never been ice skating trying to skate around. The only problem was the ice rink seemed really small like that in the Galleria in Dallas, I wanted to be on a much larger rink like those the hokey teams play on so I could get a lot more speed. Later that day Ammo had to go to some meeting so AJ, Alison and I ended up just hanging out and reading the news papers and checking our emails at the coffee shop there in the mall. It was kind of interesting because President Bush had just left Beijing and was headed to Japan. As well as the state department had just put out a warning for Americans traveling and living in China especially Hong Kong in restaurants, night clubs, etc all the places that we have generally been hanging out it. Another thing that I noticed while reading the papers here the last couple of days is that in every business section there has been an article on Warren Buffet either talking about something that he is currently doing or something that he has done in the past 10 or so years. So later on that afternoon we ended up meeting Ammo back in the Fong area for happy hour to have a drink and just hang out. We went from one to another finally picking out Agava with is a Mexican place because we really wanted some good chips and hot sauce. It was ok, and the queso was ok at best, but either way I have come to a conclusion if you are not even remotely close to Mexico it just is not going to happen. We ended up taking the subway bake to where the ship was docked and explored out there. The main street that runs into the mall complex where the ship is berthed has tons of electronic shops and people whispering in your ear if we wanted to buy a fake Rolex of handbag. The are also the people trying to sell foot massages, so after dealing with a few we were eventually able to get a group discount for the four of us for a back massage for around $15 US for 45 minutes. Of course it was a long walk away from where the main street was and at times Ammo was a little hesitant to walk down some of the dark streets. Although there were cops everywhere. They end up taking you into a main lobby room and sitting you in those large chairs like in rush hour 2 and then they usher you into your massage room with two massage chairs in each Ammo and I in one and AJ and Alison in the other it was funny though because you could hear everyone talking no matter what room you were in. I was pretty sore the next day because at times the woman would sit me up and proceed to climb on top of my shoulders and stand. One time she even grabbed my leg and started to bend in forward. And I screamed, Ammo yelled back asking what was wrong and I said that I don’t think that my leg was supposed to bend that way. Overall it was a good massage, and well worth the $15 in Hong Kong. I am sure that you can imagine where we ended up again in the Fong area. But this night we ended up going back to the club that on Saturday night had the impersonating singers. But tonight it was just a house band that was really good. They sang songs just like on the QM2 and most of the time sounded right on the money from the original singers. Here there was no one on the dance floor for a long time so the group agreed to get up as individuals and do a dance off. It was quit amusing the different performances that were done. But we weren’t able to finish the dance off because the crowd of tourists that had collected kept getting on the dance floor and dancing. By the time it was over there was no room for you to get on the dance floor. Again this ended up being a long night.


November 15th, 2005

We started the day off with Ammo waking us up telling us that he had found the perfect Indian food restaurant. Who would have thought me wanting to go to and Indian Restaurant. So it was on the same island that the ship was docked so we walked there and up the stairs. They sat us down and we were the only people in the restaurant and it was like 12pm. It ended up being a vegetarian buffet, hence the fact that Ammo said that it was suppose to be amazing. So we decided to have the buffet and Ammo order a couple more things off of the menu that he said were good. Most of the things were soupy (similar to all the dishes we cook at home with sauces on them) as well as traditional Indian soup. The best part about it is the naan (it is Indian flat bread that is served with or without butter) it’s amazing. Although they didn’t have the cilantro soup that we had at Ammos house, he keeps telling me he will get the recipe for that. Anyways the food was outstanding all for around $15 US (we came to a realization that you can’t have a lunch for less than 15 and dinner is at least 22 or so). Today Ammo had to leave because he was being dragged to mainland China because this girl also had a visa and wanted to use it although Hong Kong is technically China. The funny thing is they went and the trains were really long and expensive so they ended up going to Macau and then late that night she dragged him across the border to technically real China. They woke up the next morning and took a taxi back to the ferry terminal and ended up going to china for absolutely no reason (pretty funny if you ask me). So after lunch we explored the mall that the ship was berthed at. It had an amazing Toys R Us with a huge display entrance that I took some photos next too. As well as a Play station center where you can play the PSP and all the latest games and attractions that are coming out in the game world. It was funny because they had a billboard there with all the famous faces of people who had stopped by in the mall to play in recent months which was kind of fun to see. After this we ended up running into nick that is from Road Island that I was supposed to originally do the whole Myanmar trip with. We decided that we wanted to go to the IFC 2 building which was the new largest building in Hong Kong standing at 88 stories. It is absolutely amazing. So we made our way through the interconnecting bridges from one building to another until we get to the building. The security at this building is absolutely amazing. First and foremost you have to understand that the building is completely businesses only with no like restaurants or bars just like corporations. So you must check in and get a badge by giving them some ids and explaining what you are there for. We come to find out that the only floor welcome to visitors is the 55th and it is the Hong Kong Monetary Comity. But on the screen behind the desk shows random businesses and the floors that they are on. So we tell them that we want to go to the World Bank of the 79th floor. For those of you who don’t recognize this name it is an organization that along with another organization runs like the whole world economy. Anyways the woman was really confused at this request considering we are in shorts a polo shirt and sandals (once again we were the only people not wearing suits). My idea was we would just play dumb and get to look at the window, plus at UTA I have a friend who is from Africa and his father is the head of the World Bank Africa sector. Thinking that we might ask for him and see if he just might happen to be there. So after five minutes or so of her asking if we have an appointment and us saying no that we are university students and us hourly confusing her she gives us the passes to the 79th floor. We go through security to the first set of elevators and it takes us to the 55th floor. So we get out and the view is amazing we are looking right at the top floors of the majority of the buildings or down on them. We could look out to the harbor at all the boats going everywhere and the countless amounts of cruise ships. It was hard not to think of the view that we were looking at then think that we were on the 55th floor and that the building goes all the way to 88 almost double the height that we were currently at. So we decide that we want to go to the 79th floor and just peak out. To do this you have to go up to the security guard and he checks you ID and opens some sliding glass doors into another set of elevators that goes from floors 56 to 79. We end up talking to the woman in the elevator with us who works on the other office on that floor which guess what organization that is the International Monetary Fund. We step out of the elevator and all you can see are the two office doors the two organizations side by side that control the whole worlds money supply almost as astounding as the building itself. We are in the lobby area and then you have to hold your id to the glass and then the receptionist will buzz you in. We talk to her for a minute and she tells us that there are meeting going on and that there is no way that we will be able to look out the windows of those peoples offices. So we head back to the elevators where there is another glass door to make your way to stories 80 to 88. We decide to leave the rest to the imagination and make our way down to the bottom floor ears popping and all. So what to do for the rest of the afternoon. Since AJ and I knew that we couldn’t afford or want to buy anything in the stores in Hong Kong because of their outlandish prices we decided when in Hong Kong we might as well shop at the best. So the first thing that we see is the largest Armani store on earth. It is the size of Richland Hills C of C (the church I go to) so when we go in we realize that it is in fact all Armani but the different Armani stores under the Armani umbrella. So the first one we go into is the Emporio Armani (the cheapest of the Armani collection) we see a couple of things that we like one thing was a suit I think it converted into around 12,000 US. So the next store we make it into is Georgio Armani (the big stuff) here we found several suits and interesting tuxes we liked but just as we imagined no price tags on anything. (But it makes you think if the Emporio suits were going for 12k what the original armanis were going for). The next one we go into was the Armani home store it had some pretty good stuff with comfortable furniture, you know how most stylish furniture isn’t that comfortable well this actually was. The next one and probably the most funny one was the Armani Fiori (flower shop) where they do some of the most eccentric artsy flower bouquets I have ever seen. I tried to take a photo of one and the artist was not too happy. I guess they don’t want people stealing their designs. Having enough of the Armani we spent the rest of the day going into Prada, Burberry, Bvlgari, and finally D & G which had the coolest superman shirt too bad they want $750 US for it….anyways all I can say is Hong Kong would make any Rodeo Drive coinsure happy. Bored of shopping we headed over to the Ritz Carlton to check it out and waste time til 8pm when the light show was to start. The Ritz Carlton was nice but with small lobby and lounge area. We ended up staying and having a drink and enjoying the live pianist and vocalist. With the drinks they served blue chese stuffed olives and other great snacks. What was soo funny though is that the drinks weren’t much at all more than those any other place in Hong Kong there is just a going rate (very high) for drinks in this city. So to the main event we took the ferry across to the island where the ship is docked to watch the light show that starts at 8pm. The board walk area which is where you would typically view this is being renovated and the speakers that play the music were turned off. You could also listen to it through a radio station but we didn’t have a portable player. It is a show that is from 20 key buildings in downtown Hong Kong that starts off pretty slow and then finishes with a huge bang. It encompasses the buildings wholes changing in probably up two 20 different colors to white spot lights on the tops of each building as well as green laser lights all dancing to the music and on special occasions fire works. It is probably one of the coolest things that I have ever seen and in its own way gives the fountains of the Belagio a run for its money. It is one of those things that you see and you think of who comes up with this stuff. That night we ended up meeting back up with friends at the same place we were the night before. Hanging out with friends and making new friends with the two interport students from Japan. We had a great time hanging out and enjoying our last night in Hong Kong.


November 16th, 2005


Today we got up and decided that we wanted to go get Chinese food. So we ended up seeing some friends in the mall and asked them if they new of any good places to go. They told us there was a place in the mall called something gardens we asked around several places but no one seemed to know where it was (it seemed as if though they didn’t know where anything was because they didn’t shop or hang out there maybe it was all just too expensive). At the last place we asked this guy turned around (he looked like an American business man wearing jeans and a sports coat) we told him that some friends recommended it and that we wanted to go eat good Chinese food. In more words than less he asked us why we wanted to go there that, that restaurant was terrible and that he would show us to a true good Chinese restaurant. We walked quite a ways out of the mall and up three sets of escalators. Talking to him we asked if he was American but he said no that he has always been from Hong Kong, we asked if he works because it is funny through our course of travels people that you meet have just retired early and often times don’t work at all. He said that well yes and no. He said that three years ago he sold a company that he founded and directed called Guess. It was soo funny Guess clothing company I told him that if I remember correctly my older sister (Heather) wore that quite often when she was in high school and in fact that there is a new store in our mall at home. He said that he is now opening some new retail store that is opening about 100 locations a year in china. He also gave us some business advise for opening a business in China. That first you have to have a ton of capital and then second you have to believe full heartedly that it will succeed that if anyone smells fear that you will not and that the business will fail miserably. After going way out of his way he told the manager who greeted us and obviously recognized him that we wanted Dim Sum (a lunch dish that he explained to us different noodle shells stuffed with your choice of stuff). He told him to take good care of us and said his goodbyes. He was a really nice guy and went way out of his way to help us for that he has gotten good karma and I wish him luck in his future endeavors. The restaurant was extremely fancy probably one of the nicest Chinese restaurants in town. They had all the table clothes and silver, our table was right next to the grand piano and then the manager asked if we wanted him to order for us or if we wanted to. I figured it might be safer if I order for myself. So I did it was an interesting menu it had about 10 different dim sum items I order two different shrimp dishes AJ order one shrimp and one beef balls. It was funny because each order was cheap like 30 HKD or like a little over $4 US we didn’t know how many to order so we also order some seafood fried rice. They asked if we wanted tea and we said yes. It was funny when they would pour it like dirt and twigs would come out and sit in the bottom of the tea glass. It was amazing though gasmine tea it was the best hot tea I have ever had. The food was really good the regular Dim Sum shrimp dish was a lot better than the shrimp dumplings I had ordered. The restaurant was very popular and was jamming by the time it was 12:45. We decided that today we wanted to go up the tram to the top of the mountain that overlooks the city. The peak tram was interesting because it was a straight shot up the mountain often times you would look to your left or right and be right next to like a 30 or 40th floor apartment. It stopped a couple of times for photo opps. And by the time we were at the top we were looking down on the IFC 88 story building. We could look down on all the high-rise penthouses and their balconies some having little dogs running around on them. Definitely some of the luckiest dogs in town being able to be outside. We walked down a path along the mountain looking at some of the amazing homes built on the side of it, as well as one plot of land that they were leveling out to be able to build a new home on. We spent the rest of the day exploring the shopping centre on top of the mountain and had lunch at the McDonalds that had a balcony outside that overlooked the opposite side of the mountain. Which was kind of cool because it had a much more gradual slope down with several islands out in the distance. We made our way down the mountain around 5:30 or so and took the ferry back to the main island. We had planned on going to the Peninsula for a last drink before we had to be back on the ship at 7 but remembered that we needed to get our rail passes for Japan before we get to Japan. So we saw the Sheraton Hotel that I had heard that they sold them there. We walked the long walk towards it and got in and the man said that he could get them for us and that they would be done in 10 minutes. We sat there kept thinking that they would be done and finally after about 45 minutes or so we got them. We went upstairs that had an equally as good view as the Peninsula Hotel and sat there for just a few minutes before we had to run back to the ship. We ended up making it back to the ship just in time with two minutes to spare before we had to be back on the ship 2 hours early for being late in Vietnam. We ended going up to the dinning room and having a great meal looking out to the skyline of downtown. Then we made our way up to the pool deck to watch the light show that the downtown buildings put on. With no surprise Semester at Sea dropped off 4 bus loads of overnight students off at 8:30 that ended up clogging up the line for over an hour and a half. Making any students that even got there at 8:30 thirty minutes before on ship time late giving them all dock time. We sat there on the deck coming up with countless different ways that could expedite the line. Such as anyone in line before 9pm doesn’t get dock time, or having the 10 or so RDs that are just standing there wasting time because they have been told to could be searching bags. Anyway we have come to an assumption that the management team Institute for Shipboard Education is one of the worst decision makers possible. In multiple occasions they choose the worst option possible. Either way we haven’t and won’t let it ruin our good times and learning. The ship ended up leaving an hour later than originally planned because a lot of the SAS trips in Beijing got delayed because China let no civilian airplanes fly why they comesnded training exercises. I wonder if it didn’t have something to do with Bush being in the area and them trying to show off their military force. Either way we left an hour late. Also the kid who lost his passport in Cambodia that we had to leave. Ended up getting an emergency passport and made his way to Hong Kong and is back on the ship.


November 19th, 2005

The first two days at sea were really rough. Apparently they didn’t tell us at first but after some research we were headed straight towards a Typhoon that was hitting the Philippines. In my 8 am class only 8 students showed up because of the seas, and half of those left throughout the course of the class. And that night we were hanging out in our room but the seas were so rough that I had to leave the room because I was getting sick. Luckily I was able to find a friend who had one of those sea sickness pills (the medical staff was all out). It was the same the next day with the seas. Although I felt fine, AJ was another story he was hugging the porcelain by the end of the night. It might have been because we had some cigars out on deck a few hours before but I am not sure. Today the seas aren’t as bad they brought us around a couple of islands so the seas are a little calmer but not that much. We didn’t have any classes so that was nice we were able to sleep in. Today we had an intercultural ambassadors meeting where we got to get to know better the interport students. It was interesting to hear from them what they thought about the shipboard life as well as Americans. They said that Americans in general seemed very happy and always wanted to have a good time. That we like to have discussions and share our feelings which that is not the case in Japan and that one of the girls said that that was much harder for her to do. Tomorrow I am going to get to be the Ambassador that gets to meet the Embassy officials, and show them around the ship and have coffee in the dean’s office. It was interesting because they specifically asked to have at least one man to represent the Ambassadors so I was able to get chosen. It is just another way how they are showing the Japanese culture to us. Last night we had the SOS auction (students of service) I one a Indian Hat at the silent auction before the live auction started. It was really cool and went for hundreds less then most of the live auctions went for. It really was amazing the different things that were auctioned off and the prices that they went for. From getting to raise the flag in Hawaii, getting to be the first person off the ship in San Diego, having your hair done by a student before the Ambassadors ball, 3 course meal with champagne for 2 in one of the big suites onboard, weekend at students houses and vacation homes around the world in places like the Swiss alps, Florida, Hawaii etc. and funny things like the welcome aboard sign for the tutus, and getting to sound the ships horns all of these things going for over $600+++ . It was amazing some people were disappointed because they weren’t able to buy anything because some of the kids were bidding outrageous amounts. But my feelings were it was all going to charity everything that was raised. There were six different charities that were nominated and then we were able to vote on which ones we wanted the money to go to. Last year they raised 18,000 US and I am proud to say this year we raised $25,000 US with a total for the year of close to $35,000 pretty exciting. Think of all the great charities this will help support. Well I am going to go. I can’t believe that this blog has gone 14 pages but I am glad that I got to share all of my experiences in Hong Kong with you. It is a compilation of three days of typing and I have spent a lot of time typing it as you have spent a lot of time reading it. God Bless and I love you all!!!!!

Chad

PS – Sadly, and Happily at the same time it is not too long till I will be back at
home with my family and friends where I belong!