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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