Day 2- Hong Kong (fragrant harbour)

(Post by Cam) Well it's day 2 and I think we might have fallen for this city. Our day's adventures started this morning with our buffet breakfast that was included in this tour. Coffee was freshly ground and so our day starts out on a high. Tour guy Alan was a little late this morning but you have to expect that with Hong Kong traffic. Ahh, Alan- a great little Asian tour guide- so welcoming and friendly. A great ambassador and representative for his country. First stop was the peak tour. An old cable tram up a very very inclined rise. Eric got a bit nervous as his vertigo set in but I loved it as we slowly made our way up the mountainside with the intensity building like you were rising up to the top of a roller coaster. It plateaued and we got to the top and saw amazing city vistas of HK. Afterwards we jumped in the mini tour bus (Eric and I and 3 other couples- one from Spain', another from Mexico and ?- whoops clearly not memorable sorry). Next stop - old Aberdeen where we got to see old fishermen who have been there forever. Take a ride in a Sampan (wooden boat) driven by an older Asian lady who, according to her leathery skin, time hasn't been her friend. she seemed to do pretty well though. We estimated she makes bout a hundred Cdn an hour. We rode through the South China Sea waterways to see old wooden houseboats and fishermen in action as they worked on their boats. Ok- sounds more romanticized than it actually was. It's a mix of old and new really. While we rode buy in our wooden boat and watched these fishermen, we also passed kagillion dollar yachts. Cool to see but modernization is clearly making its mark. The government has a plan to kick all these people out of the harbour and fill it in for more housing. Next stop - jewellery making place - ok get me out of here. Is this a time share for Jewellery?!. Did you really just put me in a room and close the doors behind me with 20 sales men in a jewellery shop. Ok it could have been an expensive day but fortunately we weren't in the mood to be " sold" anything. Finally Stanley market. Apparently it is a low to no pressure market to buy all the little nick naks that you bring home to people and they politely smile and say thank you and put in a drawer until its safe to let go at a garage sale. We skipped the market and went straight to the boardwalk where we could gaze at the South China Sea, sip on a bit of wine, reflect on the day's sights and events and just take it all in. Thankful, happy and overjoyed That we are blessed to be doing this right now. Really, can someone pinch us and tell us this isn't a dream? Yum sing = cheers! Ho = good, ho ho = very good, ho ho ho = Merry Christmas! Two dolla = everybody here? Dolla ninety nine = somebody missing!