Happy Birthday Mom!

This trip is a birthday present from my son - a trip to Singapore. Someplace I’ve always wanted to visit. We are finally here. Tuesday is day one on the ground in Singapore. The journey, on Monday, to Singapore from Hong Kong is not something I will ever forget.

Thanks to my airport obsessed son, we visited three – three! – Hong Kong Airport first class lounges while waiting for our Singapore flight. The first was the Thai lounge, the second the United lounge and the third, the Singapore lounge. By the time we sat in the Singapore First Class lounge, I had clocked at least 25 miles in the airport and was ready to drop in my tracks. I gladly dragged myself to the Singapore gate when our flight was announced. The first surprise waited.

The first class passengers walked onto the plane through a separate entrance (jet bridge). Although I caught a glimpse of several hundred people in the waiting area lining up to get on, they were never seen again. The first class cabin has two curtains, a food galley and several bathrooms between the first class section and the economy section. No peeking! I wonder if the folks in economy can hear the clicking of glasses, silverware, fine china and the faint pop of champagne corks as we are served our four course meal and offered endless drinks.

Once on board, the amenities of the first class cabin were familiar to me from the JFK to Frankfurt portion of our trip. I was able to conquer the seat control panel with aplomb!

The second surprise awaited me when we departed the plane. Six people were in first class and three were airline staff. Of the three paying passengers, only Darin and I were foreigners. Once the plane landed, the other passengers did not depart until we left the plane. Courtesy? Cultural affectation? Unknown.

The third surprise came when a woman holding a DARIN SMITH-GADDIS sign greeted us shortly after we left the plane and entered the Singapore terminal. She told us to hop on the motorized vehicle waiting nearby. We handed her our luggage tags and she made a quick call on her cell phone to a colleague who would pick up our luggage.

Bewildered, I hopped on the vehicle next to a widely grinning son and off we went. Whisking through the airport for the next 20 minutes to a private terminal. My fourth surprise almost left me speechless. The private terminal is, well, private. It has all the amenities of a first class lounge: food, showers, bathrooms, massage room, business center, exercise room and private rooms to conduct business. The difference is you have your own personal assistant to bring food, bring drinks, change your money from US to Singapore dollars and even take you on a private tour of the terminal. She stands discreetly several feet away and waits for instructions. WOW!

My fifth surprise is that we do not wait for immigration or customs. In the private terminal, our professional and ever courteous assistant leads us to an immigration person who stamps our passport and welcomes us to Singapore.

By now, I am beyond being surprised. Of course, we are led to a waiting car with driver who has our luggage in the trunk. And, of course, we are dropped at our hotel in Singapore – safe and secure.

What a welcome to Singapore! What a son!

Buriel is Temporary

Sunday was a day of facts and our last full day in Hong Kong. We toured the city with an interesting group of people from Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, India and London. Our tour guide was a Cantonese woman who was not only full of facts about Hong Kong but highly entertaining.

Fact: Chinese people in Hong Kong speak more Cantonese than Mandarin.

The morning started with a cruise around the harbor gazing at the myriad apartment and commercial buildings and dodging other boats large and small in one of the busiest harbors in the world.

Fact: a building now under construction in Hong Kong will be one of the tallest in the world with 88 floors.

In Hong Kong new exists right along side the old. In the afternoon, we rode in a sampan through a village of fishermen to experience the “water-life style” up close and personal. The colorful but weather-beaten boats appeared barely able to stay afloat much less provide a living for a village. However, we were assured that Aberdeen Fishing Village was home to the largest clan of fishermen in Hong Kong and well able to pay their “lease fees” to their landlord.

From the water view to a bird’s eye view - we gazed at Hong Kong harbor from Victoria Peak, 1,805 feet above sea level. Darin was disappointed that we were hauled up to the top via bus and not on the Peak Tram. I, on the other hand, believe that 1880 machinery cannot be trusted and was perfectly happy to ride to the top in an air-conditioned bus.

Fact: The funicular railway (tram) opened in 1888 and is the world’s steepest.

Hong Kong is not just about water but is a serious shopping mecca for the rich and famous. Our group, being neither rich nor famous, ended a long day of sightseeing at Stanley Market, a popular open-air market which attracts bargain shoppers from all over the world.

Fact: Stanley Market is a former British military garrison.

Old British buildings are being repurposed and new buildings are going up everywhere there is a bit of precious space to accommodate a growing population. Hong Kong, unlike mainland China, does not have a one child per family limitation.

Fact: When you die you lease burial space in the cemetery for 10 years. After 10 years, your bones are dug up so someone else can be buried in the space. The bones are cleaned by a professional bone cleaner and given to the family.

On to Singapore….

We Want to Go Where?

The morning began with a full American breakfast (not so adventurous I know), and then we were off to Hong Kong Island (HKI). Construction seems to be a way of life here, along with fast moving traffic. To keep pedestrian traffic flowing smoothly the city has underground and above ground walkways which enabled us to walk from the Star ferry terminal to Des Vouex Road. This is one of the main thoroughfares and the only one with electric trolleys which run from Western Market in Sheung Wan to Causeway Bay in the East. Not really knowing where we were going or how to read any of the maps, a helpful trolley driver pointed us in the direction of somewhere and off we went, taking in the spectacular metropolitan skyline of downtown HKI.

Sometimes you don’t know where you want to be until you stumble across it. So was the case with our next find, a long road in the foothills of Central filled with trinkets - some more authentic than others. A very pleasant plateau to stroll, picking up a few items for folks back home.

HKI is a feast for the eyes. Visually complex with towering skyscrapers and old cement low rises that look well past their prime, but still fully occupied. Winding our way down from the foothills you feel the energy coursing its way through each side street vendor, herbal medicine storefront, or rice wholesaler eager to conduct business with the millions of inhabitants that surround them in every direction.

We made our way back to Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon for high tea at the Peninsula Hotel, conveniently located next door to our hotel. After a 45 minute wait we continued the tradition of the old British bourgeoisie drinking Darjeeling tea, eating scones with clotted cream and cucumber sandwiches in THE place to see and be seen. The décor classic, the shops ostentatious, the service impeccable.

HK hosts an evening light and sound show with many of the buildings on Kowloon and HKI. Thanks are due to the HK Tourism Board which installed this display to the tune of HKD $44 million. The best way to view this symphony is from the water which provides a panoramic view. Cruising comfortably on our Symphony of Lights Cruise, there may be no better way to see the harbor at night, and there are few words that can describe it. Amazing and incredible are adjectives that come to mind, but these barely do it justice.

After two hours we were back on dry land and ready to see what Kowloon nightlife had to offer.

First Impressions

The airport was contemporary in style and gave little evidence at first glance that we were in Hong Kong. By contrast, the airport in Anchorage, Alaska has large stuffed animals throughout and pictures of glaciers, salmon and traditional Alaskan people and their artistry. A visitor knows immediately that they have arrived in Alaska.

My first encounter with Asian culture occurred when I went into the women’s bathroom in the Hong Kong airport. One of the stalls had two toilets – one normal size and another smaller one closer to the floor. My immediate thought was, how nice, great for children. My second thought was, oh, this is a squat toilet. I AM in Hong Kong.

This is my first time visiting Asia. Reading about the 1 billion people of whom approximately 7 million are in Hong Kong, I expected New York City throngs and honking gridlock traffic. On the ride from the Hong Kong airport to the Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel in Kowloon there was little traffic until we reached the city center and no car horns at any time. The highway was new looking and well maintained. Our driver was friendly and informative. The noise and gridlock characteristic of NYC was not evident to me, even on Friday, a workday.

However, it gradually it dawns on you that there are extraordinary numbers of people living in this city. On the way to Kowloon and in the city there are many, many old and new multi story apartment buildings, clustered together. Clothing hangs from the apartment terraces. Many people need many places to live – and work.

There is more hotel staff at the front desk and throughout the hotel than a western hotel. At 1:30am there is 7 staff at the hotel front desk and more in the lobby. In the hotel lounge and the Café, there’s always someone several paces behind waiting to top off your drink, or bring your check or whatever. As someone here said, there’s no shortage of people.

Hong Kong is famous for selling reasonably priced handmade clothing. Darin had arranged to have several shirts made while we were in Hong Kong. We found the tailor in a building with no signage, on a floor with a hidden door to the stairway. There’s no first floor or any floor directory. You have to know where you are going. We were looking for Winston Tailor, shop 106. The hallway was dimly lit and circular with corridors seemingly laid out in a random fashion. Each floor contained over 30 businesses in individual spaces no larger than my bedroom crammed with the goods of their trade.

Once found, the proprietor, his wife and daughter were wonderful. In the short time we were in his shop, several other customers, Asian and western, arrived. No western advertising or marketing for Winston Tailor! Business depends on word of mouth and he’s been around for a long time. I look forward to returning to investigate that handbag shop I passed on the way to the tailor!

More impressions….

-It’s a little strange to see traffic on the “wrong” side of the road. Crossing the street is hazardous.
-The crosswalk signals are audible, beeping slowly for don’t walk and beeping faster for walk, to assist the differently abled.
-All doors open inward. I find myself pulling the door to open while some attentive stranger gently reminds me to “push.”
-The up and down escalators are switched.
-Sometimes the toilet and the washbasin are in the same stall. Very convenient.
-I cannot identify many of the vegetables, fruits and meats in the Western Market. Check out the picture of the pig snout!
-The people are very friendly and helpful.
-The streets are clean. Maybe they don’t litter?
-The British influence side by side with Chinese culture. Hong Kong may be owned by the Chinese now but the British colonization is very much present.
-The paper money is colorful. It’s hard to get your mind around a HK$98.00 hotdog or high tea for two HK$438.00. I leave the HK/US dollar conversion to Darin but he assures me it’s cheaper than it seems.

Our adventures continue Saturday with an unescorted walking tour of Hong Kong Island via the Star Ferry; high tea at the famous Peninsula Hotel, a boat tour of the Hong Kong harbor starring a light and sound show and finally a late night walk through Hong Kong’s own Times Square – Nathan Avenue.