Paid a short visit to HK Park. Also went to a travel agent inquiring about tickets to Guilin, China, a very scenic place not that far away that I may visit before I leave HK. Later that night I called American Airlines to see if I couild use my frequent flyer mileage for some of the rest of this trip. After about an hour we had finally worked out an itinerary that would eventually bring me back to the USA at Washington DC. The real kicker is that I would be flying business class! Cool!
Day 95; Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2003:
AA calls me and says there is a problem with my itinerary. I cannot start in HK and then later come back thru HK. Later I go down to TST to the ticketing office of AA and Cathay Pacific. We eventually work out an itinerary that has me starting in Manila, which is the closest and cheapest place to go to from HK from where I can start the rest of the trip. This is OK. I like Manila, and my friends in Manila. It will be nice to see them again.
I then meet my friend W for lunch. She meets me at the Sham Shui Po MTR station, which is 5 stations north of TST. Along with Mong Kok, this is a well known shopping district. Whereas Mong Kok has "women's street", a street market with mostly women's items, Sham Shui Po has "men's street", a street market that sells hardware, tools, electronic items, mens clothing, etc. We walk thru the amrket and down a few streets. We eventually end up a Dragon Plaza, a shopping mall, where we eat at Pokka Café. It is an interesting meal. I actually have small steak --a real piece of sirloin (long time no eat!) --along with some fish. But I could not eat it all. The steak was too chewy and heavy
We then walked to a nearby Tin Lau temple, but it was clready closed for the day. It was after 5:00 PM already! We eventually found our way back to the bayfront at TST, and enjoyed the nice view. Later we had another bite to eat at another mall in a food court area called City'Super. There are several of these around town in various malls, and they are a collection of small restaurants that cook your food to order. We each had a small pizza, mine was seafood. It was very good. They had a set meal of the pizza, soup or salad, drink, and jello dessert, all for $45 HK, about $5.80. Not bad! We then walked back to the bayfront, where I hopped onto a Star Ferry to Central, and W took a bus back home.
Wow, the last day of the year already! Actually I had a rather quiet day. But as the evening approached I decided that yes, I would not stay home and watch New Year's Eve on TV. So at about 8:00 I went to the mall, had dinner, and then took the MTR to Wan Chai. I had read in the paper, and heard on the news, that other areas of town, such as TST bayfront, Lan Kwai Fong, etc were going to be very crowded, and so I did not want to go there. But there was no indication that Wan Chai would be VERY crowded, so I went there. I arrived on Lockhart Road at about 9:00. Pretty early. My usual places here, Coyotes, and Fenwicks, were very quiet. Hmmm, what should I do? Well, I decided to do some "cultural investigation" and I went into one of the "girlie" bars. It was also very quiet in here--just one other customer, and about 6 or 7 bar girls waiting for something to do. The girls here were fron the Phillipines, working here in HK on a 6 month contract. It was very similar to the bar I went to in Taiwan. You buy the girl an expensive soft drink and she will sit and talk with you. Other services are available, but you must negotiate with the "Mama" of the bar. Well, I had an SMB beer and bought a drink to "Ann". Every few minutes another customer would walk in and all the girls would crowd around the new guy and try to be the one that he bought a drink for. From the guy's point of view it was quite pleasant, several girls competing for his attention (and money). Well, I had satisfied my curiosity about how this worked, and after drinking my beer I left.
By now it was about 10:00. I went over to Fenwicks. There was one other customer, a man from Germany, at the bar. I ordered a coke and had some conversation with the bar maids, who were standing around waiting for customers. Gradually the place got busier, and by 11:00 the joint was jumpin! The band started to play, and people started to dance. Soon I was joined at the bar by Dian and Joan, who said they were vacationing here from the Philippines. They were good company, and we shared several dances, and a couple drinks. As midnight approached the band did a 10,9,8 countdown, and everyone screamed Happy New Year! The band then played Auld Lang Syne. I marveled that I was starting the new year in HK, on the other side of the world. I certainly had not contemplated this when 2003 started! After a couple more songs I left about 12:30 and went home.
Back to Home Page
To Site Map/Table of Contents
Go to XXXXX