Monday and Tuesday were really quite miserable, weather-wise.  It was cold and rainy-misty-drizzly-foggy.  I wanted to do nothing but stay home and read and communicate with friends, so that’s what I did.   Even Donna and Xena were miserable and stayed next to the heater as soon as it was turned on.

I dibs the left side of the heater! I get the right side!!! Ah, warmth!

On Monday night, all three of us settled down and watched a movie called August Rush.  If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it — it’s about an little orphan boy who turns out to be a music prodigy.  My brother, Scott, would love this movie!  Robin Williams was great and played a role very different from the roles he usually plays.  The young boy was incomparable!

On Tuesday, Monika invited me to go to the sauna at the Repulse Bay Club.  That was great, but I could only take about 5-10 minutes of it before I was dying of the heat.  A nice cool shower and rest afterwards did the trick.  In the afternoon, Monika and I went to the store to do the inventory, but instead of trying to learn new computerized methods from me, she decided she would be better off staying with her manual procedures, as she only wanted to be operating it for another year. 

On Wednesday, after spending two days cooped up in the house, I got up early in spite of the hazy weather and headed out for Kowloon where my plan was to find China Travel and inquire about a trip to Guilin, China, and possibly Moganshan, where my mother spent her summers when she lived in Shanghai.  The area of Kowloon nearest to the Star Ferry Pier is called Tsim Sha Tsui, and it is the area of Kowloon most well known for its restaurants and shops.  I had already been given the address where I needed to go, which was at the China Pier several blocks north of the Star Ferry.  I decided today was a day to do some liesurely window shopping and see what the high end department stores had to offer.  Hong Kong is basically a fashion mecca.  Just like New York and Paris, you have every designer store you can imagine — on both sides of the harbor.  Here I am looking for just a plain, solid teal cotton button down shirt with collar — like a man’s shirt, but for women — to go with a particular jeans outfit, I am in the one place in the world where there is a clothing store of some kind or another every few steps you take (Central and Tsim Sha Tsui), and every store is so packed full of fashion items there is no room for common stuff like I want.  On the way to the China Pier I passed Lane Crawford (a British icon in HK), Hermes, Salvatore Feragamo, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Fendi, Coach, Dolce & Gabana, and Armani.  When I said “passed,” I meant it.  I did not go in, except Lane Crawford, which also was way too expensive for my taste.  I finally made it to China Travel, which was actually in the China ferry terminal, so people were coming and going with luggage in tow.  I had one heck of a time finding it, and when I finally did, and my number was called, I was told they only do tours in Chinese for Chinese tourists.  They gave me the address of the China Travel location for English tours, which was multiple blocks east toward Nathan Road.

I continued my exploration straight east and came to Kowloon Park.  I had wanted to see this park anyway, so since the address of China Travel was further south toward the ferry, I decided to take the time now to see it.  I am so glad I did.  This was the highlight of today’s adventure.

Kowloon Park is a magical green gem of a mecca in the midst of a concrete jungle!  It’s located on property that used to be the famous British Whitfield Barracks that protected the harbor.  The park was officially opened in 1970, and was redeveloped in 1989 at a cost of HK$300 million funded by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club.  It consists of nearly 33 acres (13.3 hectares) of prime land devoted to birds, lakes, natural flora, and active and passive activities for people of all ages.  The park is on a hill, so from the street level, you have to climb up quite a number of steps to get to it.  I immediately noticed how beautifully landscaped it was — just full of greenery and flowers.  As I moved through the park, I came to lakes and all sorts of waterfowl and other animals that love the water (turtles and such)…

My first view of Kowloon Park

One of many fountains

 

Pink Flamingos by the lake

 

 

Pink Flamingos

 

Gorgeous blue and white bird -- a Black-crowned Night Heron

 

Male Wood Duck -- stunningly beautiful!

 

Peacock

 

A little further on, I went up more steps and found a wonderful display of birds in an enormous screened-in enclosure.  I had to look twice at this one because it looked like the bird had two heads at first, but I found out it’s a horn on top of his beak, not Siamese birds!  Amazing!

 

Palawan Hornbill -- Philippines

 

Eclectus Parrot -- Australia

 

Red and Green Macaw and Blue and Yellow Macaw

 

Green eclectus parrot - Indonesia

 

Palm Cockatoo -- the feathers on top of its head stand up and look like a fan. I just missed it!

 

I'm free -- and you're not

 

When I was in Sydney, Australia, in 2001, the Eclectus Parrots (blue and red bird) were everywhere.  I have a picture of me holding one in my hand.  They were very tame — perhaps because of all the people feeding them….

 

Other amenities of the park include restful areas with specially sized tables for people to play board games, soccer fields, a huge acquatic center, a fitness trail designed specifically for the elderly, and the whole park is wireless internet accessible.  You can read all about the park if you Google it.  There is one really nice site that gives you a 360 video of various locations within the park.

 

Common park site -- Chinese checkers or mah jong and onlookers

 

Kids playing soccer in Kowloon Park

 

Park swimming pool -- one of 5.

 

Park swimming pool

 

Park accommodation: Fitness area for elderly

 

Park accommodation: WiFi

 

I probably could have stayed in the park all day, but knew I had to accomplish my mission.  As I left the park, I saw a store called Bee Cheng Hiang that sells delicious barbequed pork snacks — a chain that originates in Singapore.  I had just read about this place in a brochure, so I had to try it.  I bought a bag and went on my way.

 

China Travel for English tours was located on the first floor (i.e., several flights of stairs up) of a building down Nathan Road from the park.  By this time I have to admit, I was getting a bit tired and my feet were starting to ache.  When my number was called, I discussed travel to Guilin.  They gave me their brochure which shows their only offering: a 4 day 3 night trip for what would cost $1000 US, exclusive of air fair to and from Guilin and exclusive of dinners.  So add another $300 – $400 US.  It included a guide to meet me at the airport, travel to hotel, next day guided tour to three of the usual tourist attractions, next day guided cruise down the Li River, and next day return to Hong Kong.  Only 2 other people were signed up for the tour at that time.  I wasn’t ready to commit, so I told them I’d be in touch.  I wanted to see if I could find a better deal.

 

On my walk back to the Star Ferry, I passed the well-known YMCA which is located in a prime spot right next to the famous Peninsula Hotel.  The YMCA is a very popular place to stay in HK because the prices are extremely reasonable and the location is great.  Many of my friends who will be coming in for my high school reunion later this month will be staying there.  I bought a book on the China countryside (which my mother will love) in the YMCA bookstore, then headed for the ferry.

 

The Famous Peninsula Hotel near Star Ferry, Kowloon

 

I can’t resist taking pictures of some of the gorgeous things I see in shop windows.  This absolutely amazing work of art was in the China Arts and Crafts window.

 

Horses carved from presumably an elephant tusk

 

Detail of horse carving -- incredible, eh?

 

Horse carving showing tusk from which it was carved

 

I caught the ferry, then took bus to Repulse Bay and home via the market where I picked up some wine and other items for dinner.  Ciao until next time.