Hong Kong - Day 5

I always hate the last day in port. You know the goodbye is looming all day, but you still try to enjoy yourself. Sometimes I think it would just be best if they had to be back on the ship around 10 am rather than midnight. It just makes the whole day difficult, but I suppose I'll always take one more day with him than not.

I was staying with Laura and Barry the last night again, since Glenn had to be back on the ship so we checked out of out hotel in the morning and then had brunch. In hindsight, I probably should have just kept the hotel room so that we would have somewhere to hang out and take a break during the day, but instead we had to keep ourselves entertained all day.

First we went and picked up Glenn's cuff links and suit and then headed to the Hong Kong Museum of History. The Museum has 8 different sections on different parts of their history. I only recommend the last two- post WWII. The first 6 sections made no sense and jumped from the formation of the earth to the Chinese dynasties to making shrimp paste. Glenn and I decided they gave every employee the job of researching something, anything about Hong Kong and then placing their plaque and artifact anywhere they chose. We did like the tiger though (Glenn is scared, can't you tell? :) )

After the museum we headed to the Hong Kong Botanical and Zoological Gardens after a quick snack and glass of wine in a prime people watching location. The gardens were free and fun to wander around a park in the middle of such big skyscrapers. Surprisingly, Hong Kong is a leader is breeding endangered animals and had a large primate area. My favorite were these guys, I forget what kind they were, but they loved to swing from the top of the cage and the little baby was holding on tight.

There was a sign on the fountain that says "No Paddling". Does that mean in my canoe? Hence my awkward pose, I'm paddling in my imaginary canoe. Hong Kong does a much better job, in general, of posting signs in English, that actually  make sense. I suppose that's because everyone speaks English. I still want to know how I get the job of being a copy editor in Japan.

We strolled through the park and enjoyed a sunset together before heading to dinner and saying our final goodbyes. Good thing I'll be seeing him soon. Goodbyes are the worst.

Hong Kong - Day 4

Glenn had duty on Sunday from 0830 til 0100 so he got up really early to head back to the ship. First he had to give tours of the ship to different groups that came aboard. He said his favorite tour had a couple of 9 or 10 year old boys that asked if the ship at nuclear bombs. He probably could have told them anything and they'd believe him :). From 1800 til 0100 he has Shore Patrol oh wait, they've renamed it, he had Shore Liaison Group duty. Meaning he had to walk around Lan Kwai Fong and tell sailors to behave themselves, find their liberty buddy or go back to the ship/hotel because they were too drunk.

Since Glenn was on duty all day, I third-wheeled it with Laura and Tyler and Barry and we headed to Lantau island which is the island to the west of Hong Kong island. We took a 30 minute train ride there for HK$20.50 (aka less than $4- I love Hong Kong). We were headed to the Giant Buddha. Not to be confused with Japan's big Buddha. The Giant Buddha was 23 meters tall, but part of the attraction was the trip there. We had to take a 5.7 km cable car ride up the mountain.

The view approaching Buddha was pretty amazing because you could see him sitting up on the mountain waving 'Hello' or something. That's what it looks like to me.

You had the option to hike up the mountain as well and we watched many people on the hill side below like you can see in the picture to the left. We were thinking the whole way that we made the right decision.


If you looked behind you the other way you could see the Hong Kong airport which wasn't quite as picturesque, but it was still fun to watch the planes take off and land. I'm kinda glad I didn't know where the airport was situated when we landed a few days prior. You are pretty much over water until you hit the runway.

Buddha was pretty amazing as you approached it and the best pictures are probably from far away. Once we hiked up to the top of the stairs, most of my pictures look like this.

For dinner we met up with Annie, whose husband was also on SLG duty and went to a fun restaurant where I ordered some ravioli that I am going to have to try to recreate. I was awesome. Side note though.

After dinner, Annie and I went to Lan Kwai Fong to attempt to locate our hubbies. We succeeded in finding Glenn, but Dave was over in Wan Chai (the area closest to the ship, poor Dave). So every 20 or 30 minutes I got to see Glenn as he made laps around the area. Nice polo, baby.

 Only one more day in Hong Kong. So sad!

Halloween in Hong Kong

Because of the large number of Americans and expats in Hong Kong, Halloween is a pretty big holiday! I was surprised, but Barry had told Laura this beforehand, so we brought our costumes with. Glenn went as Duffman from the Simpsons and I went as a butterfly (maybe?).

We went to a party at Barry's friend's house. It was up on a rooftop deck overlooking Hong Kong island. It was beautiful, the party was ok. We were tired from the night before and didn't make it too long.

Tyler went as the Dude from Big Lobowski (good thing our hotel had robes) and Laura went as a hippy.

It was fun to celebrate Halloween, but I'm glad we didn't go down to Lan Kwai Fong. From what we heard, it took 2 hours to even get near the area  and then it was so crowded you could barely get around or get a drink. It reminded me of Madison for Halloween. Am I getting old when that doesn't sound like fun anymore? Sad. :) I'm just glad I got to be with my hubby.

Hong Kong - Day 3

On Saturday, Glenn and I slept in, went to an awesome diner for breakfast, and got his suit fitted all before 11 am. Afterwards, we headed to Victoria Peak. Victoria Peak is the highest peak on Hong Kong island at 1810 feet. I didn't know before we got to Hong Kong that it is a mountainous area. Think Manhatten on a mountain. So instead of hiking up a huge hill, they have a tram that you can take to the top and conveniently dumps you in to a shopping mall.

The trip was absolutely worth it though because the view of Hong Kong island and Kowloon was amazing. You can't see super far because of the haze and pollution in the city, but it was still worth it. The area around Victoria Peak has the second most expensive real estate int he world (only behind Monaco's Princess Grace Ave according to Lonley Planet). There was a house for sale for US$550 million. Average real estate is $120,000/sq ft! Glenn was also excited because one of the building we could see was the building that Batman jumped off of in the last movie. Actually most of the boys were excited. I don't even remember that part of the movie! You can see from our clothes that the weather was pretty nice in Hong Kong. I'd say it was in the 80's most days and maybe in the upper 60s at night. It was a shock to come back to 50 degree weather in Japan, but it made it feel like we were on vacation!

We met up with the Moore's and Barry at Cafe Deco where we were having lunch and headed to Stanley which is a bay on the southern side of Hong Kong island. We took at cab for about 30 minutes (until it crashed into a taxi in front of us!) and it was only HK$100 which is about US$13! A cab like that in Japan would have been US$50-$70! So we got out of the cab and got in in a bus that took us the rest of the way. We visited the Stanley markets and a pub on the beach promenade. Stanley was a change from the city because it was much more of a resort/beachy kind of feel. There were people windsurfing and sailing in the bay. We decided to enjoy the view with a few beers and some friends.

Have I mentioned yet that I love port calls? Glenn and I talked several times throughout the week about how amazing it is that we get the opportunity to visit new places over here. I think coming to Japan has been one of the best decisions we've made. Now just a little bit longer and we'll get to enjoy Japan together!

Hong Kong - Day 2

Glenn's first whole day in port was spent mostly shopping. Glenn wanted to buy a new suit and in Hong Kong you can get a custom tailored suit for pretty cheap and it is made in 4 days. Some people even got custom uniforms made because it is cheaper than buying them from the Navy and they fit much better. Glenn picked out a medium grey merino wool for his suit. Here he is at his fitting, the day after we ordered it. It's a fitting, hence the one sleeve and partial suit. After we picked up the suit though, Glenn said the pants were the best fitting pants he's ever owned. Most of our squadron went to see Bowen Wong. He's been making suits for sailors for over 50 years back when American sailors would come through Hong Kong on R and R from Vietnam. He had pictures and lots of stories to tell us.

After the group of us had ordered suits, Bowen took us to lunch at a nearby Dim Sum restaurant. It was probably one of my favorite meals of the trip.

It was nice to have someone who could read Chinese order for us, but also explain how to eat each item. With this sauce or that sauce, or make sure you eat it all in one bite, etc. He was doing great until dessert when he ordered us sweet red bean soup (cause we are from Japan we must love red beans...). Like I've said before, I don't mind it, but I don't understand how beans and dessert come together. Glenn seemed to like it, but I wasn't a huge fan.

After lunch we headed over to Mariane's jewelry shop. Another VAW-115 favorite. Glenn looked at watches for awhile and I looked at some rings. Glenn picked out a $4000 Cartier watch. Sorry baby, maybe when you make Commander. :) I didn't find anything at first, but Glenn told me to keep looking. What kind of husband insists that I buy jewelry? Mine, I guess :). I ended up with three stackable rings and I love them! One is like the ring on the top in this picture and the other two are like the one on the bottom (but smaller). They look like one ring when I wear them together, but this way in the future I can get a different one (or more :) ). Thanks for the early Christmas present, love!

I should really start writing down what we do each day and where we go to dinner but I cannot remember. Oh wait, I remember now. This was Friday and we also had a Hail and Bail on Friday afternoon. We are saying farewell to two Liberty Bells and over the last couple months we have welcomed 4 new Liberty Bells. We had drinks and food at an Irish Bar in Wan Chai and then headed to Kowloon (mainland) to go to Aqua Spirit, a bar on top of one of the many skyscrapers. We had good timing because we got there just in time to see the light show. Every night at 8 pm, the buildings light up in different colors and have lasers and such shooting off the top. It was fun to see from the same height as many of the buildings.

We had drinks and more food and squadron good times. When Glenn and I started getting tired, we headed to the Temple Street Night Market which was near by. I don't necessarily recommend going to a market when you are intoxicated, but we did make it out with some fun although interesting Christmas gifts. Get excited, Blair. :) Another great day in Hong Kong! It is such a fun and international city. You could find almost any kind of food you wanted, shopping galore, everyone spoke English and Chinese, neat places to see and things to do and it was easy to navigate. What else can you ask for?

Hong Kong - Day 1

My first night in Hong Kong was short. We landed around 8 and took the most fabulously clean and easy train onto Hong Kong island and met my friend Laura's friend, Barry. Oddly enough, Barry went to high school with my good friend, Eric, from Iowa State. Gotta love Iowa. Barry is from Des Moines and went to Dowling High School. Barry Timmins for those of you from Iowa that were wondering.

So we crashed in Barry's 400 sq ft apartment. Thanks Barry. He gave Laura and I his bed and slept on the couch. Nice guy. He took us out that night to meet a few of his friends and go to some fun bars. We didn't stay out too late because we had to meet our hubbies the next morning! We met up with Annie for breakfast and headed to the pier around 10:30 am. We waited for only a few boats before our hubbies showed up. Similar to Australia, the carrier is out in the middle of the bay and smaller "liberty boats" take everyone back and forth.

It's a wonderful feeling seeing many of your husband's coworkers get off the boat, knowing that yours will be close behind. And he was which you saw from the pictures I posted yesterday.

We headed to the hotel for some relaxing and then had lunch and a cute restaurant. We couldn't hang out too long because we had to get ready to go to the Welcome Reception back on the George Washington. Think cocktail reception with a bunch of sailors, the Chinese military and free booze/food.

Glenn didn't seem too impressed. I had lots of free wine. Sounds fun too me. Plus, I like to get dressed up and I love those summer white. I think they're my favorite uniform. A whole hangar bay full of them? What's not to like. Here's me and my favorite sailor:

And a few other good looking ones as well:

After the reception we took the liberty boats back to the city to meet up with everyone else in Lan Kwai Fong, the bar/entertainment district. The liberty boats take about 40 minutes to get from the ship to the pier and the water was rough and I had a lot wine. It was a tough ride. :) But I made it!

It's hard to see the lights, but we had an awesome view of the city all lit up at night from the boat back to the pier. We even saw the Hong Kong Disney fireworks show from the boat, albeit far away, but it was neat to see. A good first night in Hong Kong!

Wordless Wednesday - Port Visit Greeting

 

 

 

Today's the Day!

Many of you know where I am right now, but I can finally talk about it because I'm here and he's here too! This is a scheduled post though so "knock, knock" that nothing has gone wrong and he has showed up.

Back to "normal" for a few days. At this point "normal" is just together whether we are in the US, Japan or now China.

I'm so excited to explore Hong Kong for a few days with my hubby! I've missed you baby!