I swore I wouldn't blog because we are on a fast paced trip, tiring on our bodies, minds, legs and feet. And Steve has done an admirable job of posting but he is no Hemingway, just a cute old guy who loves to travel and snap good pix. And I am going to let him keep posting his short daily blogs but once a stop, I will take some time to sit down and pen.
We decided to make Hong Kong our first stop simply and only because we could get frequent flier business class seats on American. But let's not fool ourselves, American is long gone and USAir simply usurped their name for lots of money hoping we would all forget how lousy they are. Although we paid all the miles for biz class, we had to go coach PHL to LAX, which I admit we knew from the start. The Admirals lounge in PHL was maybe the best service of the entire flight. Their food vendor for LA to HK had listeria in their kitchen and so up until boarding it was questionable what, or if, we would have any food. We had a 2 1/2 hour layover at LAX and in Philly we were told the Admirals Club was under renovation. Turns out it was true but luckily we had enough time to go to another terminal where there was a newly renovated club.
So our score so far....A+ for scoring free business class tickets easily. Down to A- for Coach PHL to LAX. Down to B+ for no one knowing about the lounge or food. OK, so on board and seats are okay ( nothing like business in Quantas to Australia) and first there are no pjs, then there are. I didn't care, but what a bundle of confused misinformation this airline is.
Up, up and away and dinner does come- one choice and nothing special. I can't imagine how perturbed I would be if I paid $5,000 for my seat. The remainder of the flight was little-to-no service from the flight attendants, and breakfast was a kind of gross egg and ham sandwich and although we do swear off our mostly vegetarian roots while traveling....not for this. Down to a B-.
We arrived in Hong Kong early, at 6:30 instead of 7:30, one of those airline tricks to help keep the on-time record. Just what you don't want when you know you probably won't have a hotel room. But the HK airport was efficient and we swept through, hopped on the train into Central and then took the free shuttle bus to within a block of our hotel. So, guess we are back to a B, not where you want to start.
Although we both had about six hours of semi-restful sleep on the plane, walking around at 8am before anything was open was not fun. Eventually it was lunch and we wandered into a Dim Sum joint in the mall (see Steve's blog and photo) and had a very good meal, back to a B+.
After check in we just HAD to sleep ( it was now 40 hours since we awoke in PA) and shower before heading out at night. But there is no need to bore everyone with the minute details so here are my ratings and observations.
Hong Kong is pretty dirty, for no reason. Although we haven't seen a lot of smoking or spitting, it is just trashy and sooty. OK, not at the Peninsula or the IFC mall, and I guess if you want to fly 24 hours from PHL to go to Prada or Celine, maybe you will think it is great. But gotta tell you....this city totally lacks culture. Down to a C. The art museum ( there is only one in this world class city) is closed, the other few museums hold no interest and there is pretty much nothing to do but walk, shop and
eat.
I was in Hong Kong 20 years ago and don't remember it like that. I had a whirlwind five days with a girlfriend and I recall being mesmerized by it all. But now, those mid-level escalators are just dirty and go nowhere, past nothing but kitschy stalls; Nathan Road is just some neon with Indians and Pakistanis attempting to lure you for a 24 hour custom-made suit; the Ladies Market is, well, just a bunch of junk from China - bad, bad knockoffs and plastic crap. The Jade Market was stone empty and not worth going the 4 blocks out of our way. The Temples that you 'must see' are just more dirty rooms laden with sandalwood incense smoke. We are down to a C- at best.
And on top of it by Thursday night I was sick with a bit of fever and throat thing and stayed in bed for much of Friday. I did rally for a dinner at The Chairman which was delicious, but here if you want to eat Chinese, it is Cantonese and the flavors are delicate and subtle. Think of the Chinese food of our youth, before we had Sechuwan, but much better than China Bowl.
Now that we are on food.....let's say there are lots of rules that somehow we did not know....?? Fine restaurants are similar to what we are used to, but our goal is to have one fancy dinner in each city and then go for local and street food. So here are the Hong Kong rules:
There are no napkins at all - you have to go to the 7-11 and buy your own pack (Tempo brand!) to carry with you.
Wash your chopsticks and dishes with the pot of tea....because the tea has been boiled and is sanitary...scared yet? No, really....saw many folks doing this.
Two sets of chopsticks...one to eat with, and another to put food on your plate from the serving dish.
Know what you want before you sit down. Flag a wait person or surly hostess, and eat quickly, don't use the bathroom, but carry a lot of hand sanitizer.
And if the restaurant is small or crowded, expect to sit cheek to jowl with strangers.
So how many of you are out on Hong Kong? You should be. There is just not a lot here.
But the ferries are great, easy to use, cheap and speedy.
So today we took one to an island with no cars and two fishing villages 5km apart described as a lovely walk from one to the other, with lots of seafood restaurants along the water. Sound charming? Yep, but turns out not so much. The walk was very hilly and beyond sweaty, with nothing to see since there was a ton of cloud cover and pollution, and the best view at the top was of a coal-burning power plant and stacks.
We did have delicious spice-salted fried calamari and a whole steamed Grouper at the Lamma Hilton restaurant ( no, not that Hilton) and we liked it, that is until we had to walk through the kitchen to use the bathroom. Not sure which was dirtier.
Bottom line, down to a D+, which I know is harsh. But think of this, even if you are at the Peninsula Hotel, and go shopping, there is nothing unique or cultural. If you have spent time here and loved it, please let me know what you loved. Probably something we missed. The best thing is that I can't wait to get to Thailand and have a guide so we do see it all.
To wrap up, think Chinatown in Philadelphia on a hot summer day and that's Hong Kong, just way bigger with lots of tall buildings. Sydney has nothing to worry about in the harbor-front charm area.
The most interesting thing here is people-watching from the thin stylish women with lightened skin to the Filipino maids on their day off sitting outside doing karaoke. Of course they are sitting on a filthy walkway to the Ferry Pier.
You can tell the visitors or the Brit and Aussie expats...they are the only ones who wear sunglasses; isn't that odd?
But the best thing today was that we came across our first WTF and since tomorrow is a travel day, that will be the next post. Prize to the winner, maybe the cheap tee shirt we saw today that said Kurt & Ernie....talk about knock-offs!
We decided to make Hong Kong our first stop simply and only because we could get frequent flier business class seats on American. But let's not fool ourselves, American is long gone and USAir simply usurped their name for lots of money hoping we would all forget how lousy they are. Although we paid all the miles for biz class, we had to go coach PHL to LAX, which I admit we knew from the start. The Admirals lounge in PHL was maybe the best service of the entire flight. Their food vendor for LA to HK had listeria in their kitchen and so up until boarding it was questionable what, or if, we would have any food. We had a 2 1/2 hour layover at LAX and in Philly we were told the Admirals Club was under renovation. Turns out it was true but luckily we had enough time to go to another terminal where there was a newly renovated club.
So our score so far....A+ for scoring free business class tickets easily. Down to A- for Coach PHL to LAX. Down to B+ for no one knowing about the lounge or food. OK, so on board and seats are okay ( nothing like business in Quantas to Australia) and first there are no pjs, then there are. I didn't care, but what a bundle of confused misinformation this airline is.
Up, up and away and dinner does come- one choice and nothing special. I can't imagine how perturbed I would be if I paid $5,000 for my seat. The remainder of the flight was little-to-no service from the flight attendants, and breakfast was a kind of gross egg and ham sandwich and although we do swear off our mostly vegetarian roots while traveling....not for this. Down to a B-.
We arrived in Hong Kong early, at 6:30 instead of 7:30, one of those airline tricks to help keep the on-time record. Just what you don't want when you know you probably won't have a hotel room. But the HK airport was efficient and we swept through, hopped on the train into Central and then took the free shuttle bus to within a block of our hotel. So, guess we are back to a B, not where you want to start.
Although we both had about six hours of semi-restful sleep on the plane, walking around at 8am before anything was open was not fun. Eventually it was lunch and we wandered into a Dim Sum joint in the mall (see Steve's blog and photo) and had a very good meal, back to a B+.
After check in we just HAD to sleep ( it was now 40 hours since we awoke in PA) and shower before heading out at night. But there is no need to bore everyone with the minute details so here are my ratings and observations.
Hong Kong is pretty dirty, for no reason. Although we haven't seen a lot of smoking or spitting, it is just trashy and sooty. OK, not at the Peninsula or the IFC mall, and I guess if you want to fly 24 hours from PHL to go to Prada or Celine, maybe you will think it is great. But gotta tell you....this city totally lacks culture. Down to a C. The art museum ( there is only one in this world class city) is closed, the other few museums hold no interest and there is pretty much nothing to do but walk, shop and
eat.
I was in Hong Kong 20 years ago and don't remember it like that. I had a whirlwind five days with a girlfriend and I recall being mesmerized by it all. But now, those mid-level escalators are just dirty and go nowhere, past nothing but kitschy stalls; Nathan Road is just some neon with Indians and Pakistanis attempting to lure you for a 24 hour custom-made suit; the Ladies Market is, well, just a bunch of junk from China - bad, bad knockoffs and plastic crap. The Jade Market was stone empty and not worth going the 4 blocks out of our way. The Temples that you 'must see' are just more dirty rooms laden with sandalwood incense smoke. We are down to a C- at best.
And on top of it by Thursday night I was sick with a bit of fever and throat thing and stayed in bed for much of Friday. I did rally for a dinner at The Chairman which was delicious, but here if you want to eat Chinese, it is Cantonese and the flavors are delicate and subtle. Think of the Chinese food of our youth, before we had Sechuwan, but much better than China Bowl.
 |
| Two Great Dishes at The Chairman |
Now that we are on food.....let's say there are lots of rules that somehow we did not know....?? Fine restaurants are similar to what we are used to, but our goal is to have one fancy dinner in each city and then go for local and street food. So here are the Hong Kong rules:
There are no napkins at all - you have to go to the 7-11 and buy your own pack (Tempo brand!) to carry with you.
Two sets of chopsticks...one to eat with, and another to put food on your plate from the serving dish.
Know what you want before you sit down. Flag a wait person or surly hostess, and eat quickly, don't use the bathroom, but carry a lot of hand sanitizer.
And if the restaurant is small or crowded, expect to sit cheek to jowl with strangers.
So how many of you are out on Hong Kong? You should be. There is just not a lot here.
But the ferries are great, easy to use, cheap and speedy.
So today we took one to an island with no cars and two fishing villages 5km apart described as a lovely walk from one to the other, with lots of seafood restaurants along the water. Sound charming? Yep, but turns out not so much. The walk was very hilly and beyond sweaty, with nothing to see since there was a ton of cloud cover and pollution, and the best view at the top was of a coal-burning power plant and stacks.
Bottom line, down to a D+, which I know is harsh. But think of this, even if you are at the Peninsula Hotel, and go shopping, there is nothing unique or cultural. If you have spent time here and loved it, please let me know what you loved. Probably something we missed. The best thing is that I can't wait to get to Thailand and have a guide so we do see it all.
To wrap up, think Chinatown in Philadelphia on a hot summer day and that's Hong Kong, just way bigger with lots of tall buildings. Sydney has nothing to worry about in the harbor-front charm area.
The most interesting thing here is people-watching from the thin stylish women with lightened skin to the Filipino maids on their day off sitting outside doing karaoke. Of course they are sitting on a filthy walkway to the Ferry Pier.
You can tell the visitors or the Brit and Aussie expats...they are the only ones who wear sunglasses; isn't that odd?
But the best thing today was that we came across our first WTF and since tomorrow is a travel day, that will be the next post. Prize to the winner, maybe the cheap tee shirt we saw today that said Kurt & Ernie....talk about knock-offs!
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