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Hong Kong Postcript

5/8/2017

Before we leave Hong Kong, I feel that it's important to note that as in the U.S., everything is NOT peaches and cream in Hong Kong either. There is great poverty and crumbling infrastructure as well. Jody picked up the below book at one of the local university book stores. It was just published last year and details how Hong Kong has squandered its great wealth following the 2008 recession and embarked on an "austerity" program which has decimated social services and the poor. The gap between the haves and the have-nots has grown and the situation is not improving. Crumbling, old apartment housing in the city has surpassed its 50-year usability and many poor families, not to mention the elderly and the frail, are packed like sardines in these apartments. The city fathers are reluctant to change the tax structure so the "lucky duck" wealthy can pay their fair share. Sound familiar, doesn't it?

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Our Fifth and Final Full Day in Hong Kong

5/6/2017

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On our last full day in Hong Kong, we met Tracey for a 2 1/2 mile walk along one of Hong Kong's lengthy beach resort areas. Although hazy, like most of our week here, it was fun and relaxing and gave us a taste of where local residents have fun, as well as the tourist draw of Hong Kong.

An iconic image of a Japanese fisherman.

As Jody LOVES rollercoasters, what a shame that we didn't have time to visit this one. What a view!

An organized gathering of youth cooking and eating, but we're not sure what the occasion was all about.

We couldn't help but share this.

So what's unusual about this building?

Well, the big square in the center is to allow the dragon spirits to fly down from the mountain to the water. For real.

Tracey amon the flowers at a beautiful resort where we stopped for an ice latte.

And finally, our last image from Hong Kong as Jody enjoys the rooftop pool on our last evening in Hong Kong. Quite a memorable trip.

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Our Fourth Day in Hong Kong

5/5/2017

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Yes, you read right -there's no post for our third day in Hong Kong as it generated very few pictures. It was a full work day for Jody with her presentation at Tracey's school, and a day spent mostly inside for me as it rained quite a bit. But, we still had fun and were able to have a nice dinner together in the hotel's Malaysia Restaurant. On day four Jody continued to work with Tracey and also interviewed one of her research assistants, Marie. We were also able to slip out for a real Chinese lunch that was quite delicious. Following lunch, we visited the University of Hong Kong and spent some time in its bookstore where Jody found this eye-opening book pictured below. It tells the story of a young North Korean girl who escapes along with her mother from N. Korea to China and finally to Seoul, S. Korea. It is a harrowing tale filled with unspeakable crimes against these two women. But, it's also a testament to human survival and what many refugees must go through to win freedom and life.

We joined Tracey and two of her friends, Jenny ( a professor at Tracey's School) and her husband, Benjy for dinner. We had delicious Peking Duck and just a great time. Seated from L to R - Dick, Jody, Tracey, Benjy and Jenny.

Following dinner, Jody, Tracey and I went for a walk downtown and round the harbor. Here is Jody and Tracey with a dramatic backdrop.

Of course, every city has to have a ferris wheel on it's harbor and Hong Kong is no exception as you can see in the center of this picture.

And in concluding the evening, we took a nice ferry ride across the harbor.

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Our Second Day in Hong Kong

5/3/2017

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Below are views from the 28th floor of our hotel along with their really nice outdoor pool.

An early morning picture of the harbor taken by Jody before the sun has helped burn off the haze.

This morning Jody worked with her professional friend, Tracey Alviar, Education University of Hong Kong. Jody has known Tracey for 14 years as they were both students at Emory College in Atlanta working on their PHDs (Tracey's picture to follow). After a morning work session at our Hotel Jen, we set off for lunch and a nice walk around the immediate city area. Our lunch at the Metropolitan was great and relaxing.

Banyon trees growing right up a wall.

Visiting a Moman Buddhist Temple downtown.

While walking, Tracey lured us down a market street where I just had to buy some items recognizing my main Hong Kong icon, Bruce Lee. Here is a really nice deck of cards honoring Bruce, and below is a poster from his very best (and unfortunately, last complete movie) ENTER THE DRAGON.

Since Jody is a horsewoman, she just had to snap a picture of this statue.

As mentioned earlier, Hong Kong's schools are mostly private, religious-based. Here is an example of a Catholic-run school.

After our walk, we relaxed back at our hotel before our major evening trip out - a taxi ride up to the highest point in this VERY high city - THE PEAK. It is here where you experience the dramatic merging of cityscape and nature that is Hong Kong. This picture IS NOT a backdrop. Hong Kong lies below us like a jewel. Incredibly dramatic and breathtaking. Following are pictures taken at dusk and into the evening that showcase Hong Kong from above.

As usual, once we arrived at The Peak, we managed to make our way to the other side of the view from above which was much more naturalistic with no cityscape. However, we knew that this was not the side we REALLY wanted to see.

Ah yes, here we are.

I must say - looking down you almost feel like you're going to drop off, it's that high.

Following this dramatic experience, Jody and I had a great dining experience on The Peak at The Peak Lookout Restaurant. Just a wonderful, romantic, and quiet, retreat from the hordes of tourists and their children.

Oh yes, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we had a visitor watching over us in case we fell. Can you spot him?

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Our First Day in Hong Kong

5/2/2017

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Getting up bright and early at 5:45 am we flew out of Tokyo Airport for a 4 1/2 hour flight to Hong Kong. It was a relaxing, uneventful flight and the pictures below show our first views of Hong Kong, its mountains and then its harbor. It was overcast, but still dramatic.

After a 30 minute train ride to the beautiful Hotel Jen in downtown Hong Kong, we met up with Jody's long-time researcher friend, Greg, and his spouse, Sean. They were scheduled to leave for San Francisco the next day for a two week holiday, yet took the time out of their schedule to treat us to a wonderful tram tour of the city, including its incredible street markets (this is a foodie paradise), its longest escalator location in the world, and a great Italian restaurant dinner.

We were so impressed with Hong Kong's incredible tram infrastructure. Here is an overpass celebrating Hong Kong's 20th anniversary (1997) when British control was relinquished and Hong Kong returned to China (albeit with it retaining its own political and economic system). This structure ends in 2047 and no one knows what will happen after that. Of course, there are ongoing tensions between Hong Kong's capitalist economic system and China's Communist system and not everyone is celebrating this 20th anniversary.

One of Hong Kong's largest inner city parks.

The following pictures are of one of Hong Kong's popular street market sections. We got off the tram and had a leisury stroll through this very interesting section. The images speak for themselves.

Notice the woman in the center. She's wearing an American flag shirt.

He was moving fast, but I found Superman here in Hong Kong as well.

Of course, something for the kiddies.

"DO OR DO NOT, THERE IS NO TRY!" - words of wisdom from a window cat in Hong Kong, (Must be a Jedi Master).

"I DID AND NOW I'M JUST RESTING" - more words of wisdom from another window cat in Hong Kong, 05/02/2017. Same shop.

Well, the Baptists are here.

Of note, 90% of the schools in Hong Kong are private, religious schools of numerous faiths. There are very few public schools. The wave of the future in the U.S? Be afraid, be very afraid.

These are monthly rents for apartments in Hong Kong. Divide by 8 and you get the USD. For example, $36,000 = $4,500. And this is a MONTHLY RENT for a very small apartment. Affordable housing crisis? Greg owns a 500 foot+ apartment and expects to sell it for about 1 1/2 million in 10 years when he retires.

Following the market, we took a packed subway ride to another section of the city where we got on an escalator system known as the largest escalator system in the world. One long escalator after another demonstrating how this city is built on a hill. San Francisco, anyone? The escalators exclusively run DOWN in the morning so commuters can get to work and exclusively UP in the evening as they return home.

Sean, Greg, Jody and me at a delicious Italian restaurant. What a great experience and first day in Hong Kong thanks to them.

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Hong Kong Trip Begins

5/1/2017

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Our 6 day trip to Hong Kong began on Monday, May 1, 2017 with train rides to Tokyo Airport area where we stayed overnight at a beautiful hotel as we had to leave early the next morning for an 8:50 am flight out. This trip was combination work and pleasure for Jody as she was meeting other professional colleagues in Hong Kong and was also presenting at a local university. For me? Just fun as usual.

Riding the rails to Tokyo and relaxing on the ride. Unfortunately, our entire trip took four hours from when we left Hachioji as we had delays for the train connection in downtonw Tokyo. Thus, we had a VERY later dinner at 10:00 pm in the hotel's restaurant. Jody had a delicious Indian curry dish while I experimented with a Club Sandwich which was quite good as pictured below.

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Forward>>

Hong Kong Postcript

Our Fifth and Final Full Day in Hong Kong

Our Fourth Day in Hong Kong

Our Second Day in Hong Kong

Our First Day in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Trip Begins

Dick Stammer

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