All Our Bags Are Packed!

                      Travel Blog # 12 - Taiwan and Hong Kong

           1970 - Taipei - Arlene wears indigenous people's outfit

                        Visiting Chiang Kai-shek's memorial  

                                            Entombed here

Changing of the guard

                                Beautiful gardens in the area

                                  Unusual manhole design

                            Visited Lungshan Buddhist temple

Temple is packed with locals

Elaborate designs

Lots of praying going on

                                                Pretty stamp

                        There's always time to play "Maj"

Jerry asked a few folks about the potential "China threat." The response has been somewhat "relaxed" - "no worries" - are the Taiwanese too complacent or they don't want to discuss their real, inner fears?

Our first trip to Hong Kong was in 1970. We've been back many times - one time was just before Hong Kong was handed over to China by the British.

       The biggest Hong Kong change in recent years has been the               extensive building throughout the entire area . 

Hong Kong's new airport is huge - 2000 flights land each day - still not enough space - more expansion going on

                        Even throughout the harbor area

                              

Old airport was recently retrofitted to become an additional cruise line terminal

                              Crowds of people in Hong Kong

                                                Wash day

New apartment construction almost finished. Designed in a "minimalist" manner. There is ONLY 100 square feet per unit!

                    Mural depicting daily life in front of a temple

                                Watching the world go by

    We're about to enter Wong Tai Sin temple. "Thousands" of visitors     were crowding into the compound. >99% are Asian

                                     Rubbing for good luck!

               This place is much larger than we had imagined

                                      Red signifies good luck

Many areas to explore

                       Lots of praying 

                   The entire area smelled from burning incense

            Most of the people praying were in their 20's and 30's

                        Plenty of gods to go around for everyone

                           Men's urinal - "Mosey up to the bar and..."

                                                         Lots of chotchke's to buy

                    Plenty of places to get your fortune told

Colorful tour buses

Gold manhole?

This Kowloon park originally housed an old fort

We were lucky - good weather - not too hot - not to humid

Except for this guy!

Very little left of the fort

                        Couple will be getting married soon

We did a "quick tour" of a history museum

                                            Wedding outfit

Artwork/graphics similar to what Americans might see in the 1920's-1930's

                         Hong Kong is truly a city of contrasts

This is a good example of how congested Hong Kong is at this time and more building is going on

Still, there is enough room for flowers to grow

Each one of these stones was placed manually in the ground

Ship puts on a Chinese show for us

Traditional instruments and music

We purchased a Chinese (Erhu) violin during our first trip

Colorful dancing

Acrobatics

While dancing and prancing, this dancer was able to change masks so quickly we could not see how he did it and when he did it. The change over was like "switch a light on and off!" Amazing!

With our cruise finished, we stayed one night at one of our favorite hotels: Shangri-la Hotel in Kowloon. We have a tradition of taking a photo in front of the lobby's huge painting 

All of the elevator's carpets are changed at midnight

Ran into our Hong Kong guide (Tom) the following day at a museum. He volunteers several days per week. Very nice guy - helped us better understand the exhibits

Women exercising at the museum. It's almost like a combination of Tai-chi and badminton

One of the exhibits

This was like walking through a combination "hall of mirrors" and a maze. The area was so complex, museum staff were outside rooms to ensure people did not fall or bump into these objects.

There were many modern art pieces. This one was possibly made with a resin material. Visitors were encouraged to touch and listen to music playing in the background

Plastic and paper-like material along with mirrors looks like metal reflecting on a set of mirrors

Lots of color and moving parts

Madam Song: Artist, Actress, Fashion expert and world traveler was able to navigate Mao Tse-tung's cultural revolution and convince women (who could afford it) to wear designer's clothes

Pierre Cardin, Yves Saint Laurent, etc. were some of the designers

Wearing the outfit displayed at the exhibit

Considering the era and politics, it's amazing that these styles infiltrated China

Winter outfit

In another fashion exhibit, there were examples of the 1000 costumes used in the movie, "The Last Emperor." Part of the movie was projected in the background

Traditional costumes/dress blends with modern dance 

The hand stitched beading took a lot of work

The old and the new

Madame Song married an artist

Museum workers setting up another exhibit

     Contemporary (Empress) museum restaurant with Western lounge         music playing in the background

                            Jerry's lunch - Quite a presentation

Taking a taxi around Hong Kong was relatively easy. This driver has multiple phones to ensure he has a chance to pick up a fare since people are using multiple apps.

  Our Kowloon room had a fantastic view. Hong Kong is on the other side of the water

                                    Lots of harbor activity

                     That's our ship - still moored at the old airport

                                 Always a fun place to visit

                          Hong Kong celebrates Halloween

                       Night time offers a different perspective

             Light show every night - Many buildings are lit up

Hotel puts on a multi-station buffet with a variety of international dishes

We asked several people about "living under communist rule." An older cab driver mumbled about he didn't like the policies. Younger folks indicated "life is okay." A forty-year old said, "just follow the rules and there won't be any problems." We're sure that there are many "issues" but given the circumstances, most people won't be candid - especially to strangers like us.

Time to go home. At check-in, we were offered two First Class lounges. The one nearest us had the best shower and rest area. The one we were "guided to" was about a fast twenty minute walk. This lounge had the "best food."

                                The lounge was gorgeous

There were two food areas: Self-serve gourmet items and a sit down/menu room with servers dressed up almost like butlers

             This is the shower area - very fancy for a lounge 

                    Sleeper bedrooms are also available

                    Passengers fill in with fresh, filtered water

                            There's aways time to play chess

Plane was two hours late but there was still plenty of time to make our connecting flight

                          Up we go - heading to Tokyo and home

                      JAL's First Class Lounge was also quite nice

           The concept for the next generation airplane looks futuristic

       The lounge recognizes Japan's artistic and cultural history

                                    Interesting decoration

                      Device automatically disperses draft beer

                                        Also Duty "Free!"

                            Interesting way to serve a meal

Good landing. Some of the 777's have outside cameras to allow passengers to see what's going on in the world

Jerry wanted to find out more information about his grandfather's time in Japan. This would be the type of mailbox he would use to receive mail.

Typical letter: Jerry was hoping to find relatives of his grandfather's Japanese friends and business associates. Unfortunately, there is no "Ancestor.com" in Japan.

The name of our Viking ship was "Orion." Jerry was trying to take pictures of the stars from the plane. Just by coincidence, he captured the "Orion" constellation - it's in the upper left corner area.

This was a good trip - fun, very interesting and we learned a lot. Hopefully, we will be able to return to Japan to further explore out of the way, non-touristy places.