Day 9 (1/7) - Hong Kong: Stanley etc
Bras are not as padded in Hong Kong as in Singapore. HWMNBN says this is because the Chinese ideal of beauty does not involve big breasts, unlike the Western one which Singapore partly shares.
The pork in Hong Kong is more tender than in Singapore. wt thinks it's because pig farms in China are dirtier. Johnny Malkavian's theory: "they are raised with love hence they are more tender"
On Hong Kong buses your fare is paid when you get on and is based on the distance to the terminal.
This was the day of the 10th Anniversary Handover Celebrations.
Celebration banner. Further up there was an anti-Falungong one.
Military vehicles
Antique cars
We took a taxi to Stanley, on the other side of the island.
Old people singing their praise of the PRC
Stanley shoreline
Murray House
They took it apart and reassembled it on the other side of the island but couldn't figure out where some pillars fit, so these were erected on one side of it (I can't see the extra pillars in this photo)
Tin Hau Temple
We had lunch in one of the ubiquitous Hong Kong cafes away from the tourist restaurants. They had chicken cooked with Coke, chicken cooked with Fanta and chicken cooked with Coke with Lemon. Uhh.
HWMNBN and Johnny Malkavian
Murray house side
Going down a path
Temple at the end of the path
Altar at floor level
Back at a building near Murray House
Then we went to look at a giant Guan Yin statue. Not quite as big as the Giant Buddha, but big enough.
We then took a bus back to the other side of the island. The following pictures were taken from the upper deck of the bus.
Repulse Bay
Deepwater Bay (I might've mixed up the boundary between this and Repulse)
Cable car line going to Ocean Park
Then we arrived back in the urbanised area of the Island.
For some reason there was a cemetery in Happy Valley.
The side of Wanchai police station had handdrawn manga-style posters.
HSBC building and Town Hall
HSBC Chief Manager statue
Then we got to look at the weekly refugee camp.
Trilingual warning sign
To protest against Orchard Turn's development, maids in Singapore should do this too.
Then there were the hilarious Falungong banners.
"Bring Jiang Ze Min To Justice"
"Heaven destroys CCP"
The best of the lot: "Falun Dafa is Good"
Banners and protests aside, the Epoch Times isn't distributed in Hong Kong.
Refugees camping under a mall bridge extension, taking advantage of the road being closed.
nw.t with a drain cover (?) bearing his initials
More refugees. These had constructed a castle. At the time I took this, one refugee had bent her torso down to hide behind the cardboard to the right of the woman in blue.
We went to the ferry terminal to cross the harbour (which was also quite cheap). Before boarding, I had a cinammon Liege Waffle. It was more cakey and moist than a Brussels waffle, and stuck to my mouth.
At the ferry terminal I saw a girl wearing a "I ♥ NUS" shirt. Maybe she was from the PRC. If I was from there I'd wear that shirt too.
Victoria Harbour from Kowloon side
Jordan Street
We stopped at Mak Man Kee Wanton Mee to eat a bit. Hong Kong Wanton Mee comes in soup.
Later we stopped at a random place for goose and pigeon. I was quite pissed off because I'd asked for roast goose (even calling Singapore to check the pronunciation for both dishes) but they gave me braised goose (so both tasted the same). In any case, neither was very good.
We dallied a bit too long in a pasar malam and so were unable to get a good spot to watch the handover fireworks. The streets were thronged by the time we were close to Victoria Harbour and the top 2 viewing zones (along the harbour and along the road parallel to the harbour) were taken; since late afternoon camera tripods had been set up along the harbour. In a last-ditch attempt, we tried the Sheraton Skylounge but it was booked. We contemplated going into the lift and throwing the breakdown switch, which'd get us at least half an hour but they'd forseen this possibility and blocked off the lift. We would've gone to HWMNBN's office, but entry into the MTR was forbidden, so we were stuck in Zone 3, where the zone was still not bad.
The fireworks started off boring but after the audience were warmed up I saw a few things I hadn't seen before (those that zigzagged through the sky, those that looked like fireflies [some of which even 'flew' up] and those that looked like golden rain falling in an angled trajectory instead of just straight down). Doubtless the view would've been even better if we'd gotten a good spot.
Fireworks
Since the Chinese invented fireworks they should come up with fireworks that display Chinese words reading "Long Live Maozedong".
Amazing Barbecued Crispy Pork snack made in Thailand. They were like potato chips but less oily, more tasty and made of pork. The nutritional information was slightly suspect: "1 pack 25g. 100 calories 1.5g fat", with no saturated fat and no palm oil.
Quotes:
There are angels walking on the streets here.