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Friday, February 12th
Today we’re at sea. I absolutely love being at sea every other day as it gives me time to recoup. I probably won’t be sending this until tomorrow as we are running very short on Internet time. Princess is not nearly as generous as they had been in the past with Internet time and that is the reason I have not sent personal emails to anyone. The cost is .75 cents per minute once we exceed the allocated minutes and we are dangerously close to exceeding the allocated minutes. I write this blog in Word and Bill cuts and pastes it with the photos. With just that, we’re getting close to running out of time; perhaps we’ll send fewer photos. They take quite a bit of time to upload.
Bill is at the gym as I sit here writing my blog. Poor Bill, he had a terrible night last night. He was awake at 2 AM trying to decide what we’re going to do in Hong Kong – it takes a lot of research and planning if you don’t go on the ship’s tours. There’s so much to see here, you just have to chose a few things and be happy with seeing even that much. He finally got up at 3 AM and off he went to the library. He seemed surprised when he didn’t see another soul on the ship (other than the servers). He came back to the room at 4 AM and finally slept, awaking at 7:30 when he heard me bustling around. We are both excited about seeing Hong Kong and we are so lucky that we will be there at the beginning of the Chinese New Year. I expect Bill will get some wonderful photos.
Tonight is a formal night, the Captain’s cocktail party and a birthday celebration for three of the four people at our dining table. Yes, he was also born on January 18th. I plan on wearing a lovely sarong dress I bought for $20 from a street vendor yesterday. I was lucky that it fit as there are no trying garments on with this kind of shopping. It’s not formal and I don’t have the proper shoes to wear with it but it seems appropriate for the area we’re in and Bill likes it as much as I do.
I brought several books with me and I’ve enjoyed having time to read during these “at sea” days. I don’t take the time to read as much as I’d like to at home so this is a real treat for me.
Saturday, February 13th
We spent the morning riding two taxi’s, six underground rapid transit train routes, one bus, talking to a lot of people who didn’t know what we were saying; all the time looking for a china factory that didn’t exist. We should have known when an English speaking person asked when was our tour guide was published. We finally gave up on the china factory when the taxi driver dialed the phone number we gave him and told us the number “no longer exists”. We then made our way back to the ship for some much needed rest. After lunch and a short nap we set off again. We took the Star Ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island and had a heck of a time getting to the underground train to get back. It was an exhausting day but quite an adventure.
Hong Kong is famous for a nightly “symphony of lights” show. The show had five major themes, taking us on a journey celebrating the energy, spirit and diversity of Hong Kong. The first scene “Awakening” began with flashes of laser lights which gradually illuminated participating buildings using an array of dancing lights and rainbow color. This scene symbolized the powerful growth of Hong Kong. The second scene “Energy” was represented by the display of rising color patterns, signifying the vibrant energy of Hong Kong. In the third scene “Heritage”, traditional lucky red and gold colors were displayed across buildings on both sides of the Harbor symbolizing Hong Kong’s colorful heritage and traditions. The fourth scene “Partnership” featured a display of laser beams and searchlights scanning across the Harbor, representing a connection with the opposite side. Beams reached out to symbolically connect the two sides of the Harbor into one unified partnership. The finale “Celebration” brought out a powerful display of swirling, kaleidoscopic patterns of lights and beams dancing across the Harbor. The final scene signified the celebration of the close partnership between the two sides of the Harbor and represented a brighter future for Asia’s world city – Hong Kong.
