Day Eleven - Cheung Chau

This is going to be a long blog...it's Saturday...I left my room at 7am and just returned at 10pm! I started the day by heading over to the island of Cheung Chau (great recommendation from Kathy & Orin). It is a small fishing village located about 45 minutes away by ferry. I was able to walk around for awhile in the main shopping section before renting a bicycle to see the rest of the island. No cars are on island, just bikes! The island was mainly loaded with tourist from Hong Kong, not many foreigners. I hiked to a couple of look-out points, found a place called the Alliance Bible Seminary, and saw a few temples. Cheung Chau is famous for something called the Bun Festival but it just took place last Monday...barely missed it. One of the pictures to the left is from a look-out point the other is the very nice bike I was able to get my hands on.

It was back to Kowloon by 1pm to meet meet up with Tim then head to the Hong Kong Museum of History, which was about a 20 minute walk from our hotel. The history of Hong Kong is quite interesting and revolves mainly around the British occupation, the opium trade, a war in the mid-1800's, and the signing of the 100-year lease in 1897. The cost to get into the museum was only HK$10 which is roughly $1.25 in US dollars...pretty good deal! We also discovered another thing about the museum...it is the one place you can go in Hong Kong to get away from people! On our walk over there we couldn't even walk side-by-side because the crowds were so thick, but as soon as we inside the museum, we had the place to ourselves! We kind of got rushed through the end of the exhibit because we needed to be back to the hotel by 3pm to meet up with Mike.

At 3pm we headed over to an area of Kowloon called the Jade Market. It is famous for all types of cheap jewelry...mainly jade but also pearls, necklaces and the usual assortment of trinkets. As usual, it was very crowded but the merchandise was interesting to look at.

At 5:00 we headed to the main Hong Kong Island to have dinner with a supplier on Victoria's Peak. The peak has a view of almost all of the Hong Kong islands in all directions. When at the top you are almost eye-level with the tallest building in Hong Kong, which has 100+ floors. The picture to the left is the view looking down on the city from the peak. We had the best seat in the house for dinner...it is nighttime in the picture but we had a view of the entire city as the sun set and the city came to life with lights. We also had a great view of the laser show. The lady between me and Mike is the Sales Manager for the factory, the two guys on the left are brothers and own the factory. The lady on the right is married to the guy in the blue. You may notice a high chair to the right of the lady...also eating dinner with us was their 2-year old daughter and their "amma" or "helper" in English. In Hong Kong it is very common for the middle class (and up) to have an amma, which is a live-in maid, nanny, cook, etc. 24/7. They usually come from Indonesia or the Philippines. It costs about $500 USD per month but it is a regulated industry and you have to sign a 2-year contract. When you sign the contract, they are basically an employee and you are responsible for health care, insurance, etc. More in person on this one...kind of a strange concept. That's it for today.