Hong Kong Day 2

         

                               Our ship is on the right, Star Ferry on the left. In the background 

                                                 are the lights of Hong Kong Island. 

Hong Kong is an island, Kowloon is across the bay on the mainland. Disneyland and the airport are on another island called Lantau. We decided to go to Stanley market which is on the other side of Hong Kong Island. We went the last time we were there also but took the Star Ferry over to the island then caught a bus. This time we caught a bus just 3 blocks from the Harbour City Terminal. The ride was about 1 hr, 15 minutes but it was very enjoyable. We sat right in front of the top level of the double decker bus so could see a lot. Once we were out of the traffic of Kowloon then Hong Kong, it was a pretty ride along the coast. We passed by Aberdeen, famous for it's floating city and fish market. There is a huge restaurant there which is on a boat. We also passed by the Hong Kong Country Club and 2 beautiful beaches. We were noticing that in the parking lots of many of the high rises or duplexes along the road were parked mostly Mercedes. High rent district!  One lot we saw 2 Ferraris side by side, then realized it was the Ferrari dealership. 

Stanley Market is different from the other markets in the area. There are mostly clothes. It wasn't very crowded when we arrived which was nice. By the time we left, around 12:30, the tour buses had rolled in and it was packed. We bought some shoes, a couple of sweaters, some misc Christmas gifts and a dress for Piper, the grandbaby, then headed back. I still had some HK$ left which I wanted to spend. I found a candy shop with interesting items. Our other granddaughter likes to get candy from all over the world. I also bought a few things including a large bottle of water at 7 Eleven and ended up with just over HK$5 which is less than one US$. We took our packages back to the ship then Mel headed back out to pick up his jackets at the tailors and I took my iPad to continue downloading magazines in the terminal. Mel met me there when he came back. My magazine was loading so slowly, I just kept watching it and my watch. We had to be on board at 4. At exactly 4 the magazine finished and we raced on board. We had to go to our cabin then report on deck for a safety drill. About 180 people joined the cruise in Hong Kong so they needed to do another one. 

Sail away was beautiful with all the various boats in the harbor and skyscraper after skyscraper. They had Chinese appetizers up on the Lido deck with a raffle. We won a bottle of champagne which we traded for wine at dinner. One of our table mates had just boarded in Hong Kong so we celebrated with the bottle of wine. It was a great stop in Hing Kong but I was very glad we would have a sea day the next day to rest up!