Paul's Oriental Travelogue

Arrival

27 straight hours of nonstop moving chairs is a hard way to get around, so I'm glad it's done. At least Cathay Pacific is a really nice airline (very much unlike Northwest). Maybe I'm biased because the Norhwest flight was...
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Nice Things About Hong Kong

The weather. I've cunningly bypassed winter, but I doubt the locals would agree. It's in the sixties during the day and fifties at night. Everyone's walking around with coats, scarves, knit hats and gloves. And complaining about the chilly weather!...
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Gung Hei Fat Choi

It's been a busy couple of days. Luckily I've been moved to a much nicer room/suite dealie. It's a three-person "dorm" like I booked. The first shabby room was evidently because I arrived so late (midnight). In the new place...
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Overstimulation

Here in an internet cafe in North Point I can finally upload some pictures and blog entries. It's more of a PC arcade than a cafe, though. I'm getting really dizzy from the blasting chinese-pop music, explosions on 50 sets...
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Blending In

It's now clear why everyone's bundled up like in the Arctic. Even in the 50s and 60s, it's often windy and ... none of the buildings are heated! Makes sense, but it means unlike in a more temperate place, when...
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Crosstown Traffic

The Hong Kong transit system is a bit of a marvel. I enjoy the creaky, ancient trams that look as long as they are tall, very narrow, and ready to tip over. They're usually crowded and the ceiling is too...
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Kowloon-Canton Railway

This afternoon we took the KCR out west to Dave's school in Tin Shui Wei. Suburbs in Hong Kong seem to mean vast forests of apartment high rises, surrounding a train station and a small mall, intermixed with schools. There...
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Goin' Up

New pictures. Somehow following a theme, there's first the loooong series of elevators from the central district to the ritzy mid-levels. Then the Victoria Peak Tram, which wouldn't stop for us halfway up since it was so crowded. Foggy views...
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Lantau Island

Tuesday was supposed to be Macau. We knew the ferry ride was over an hour out, but we did not learn until arriving at the Macau Ferry Pier (which is more like an airport than a ferry) that the ticket...
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