Mr Livingston I presume

After a quick croissant and drink for breakfast, we booked the "Introduction Tour" of Hong Kong from the conciere @ the Marriott. It was totally awesome.
Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and talked almost non-stop while we were on the 4-hour tour.
This is a pic of "The Peak" which was "smogged" in when we were up there. It was approx 20 degrees cooler and we were glad we had brought jackets. We're told that we need to go later in the day, as the smog lifts somewhat and the view is much better.
As we wound our way around the mtns going up and down to The Peak, our guide, Lin, told us of the living arrangements around where we were. The saying is "The higher up the mtn you live, the richer you are". Most of the 7 million people in Hong Kong live in apts. We passed a few lovely one-family homes; one was even Jackie Chan's.
But Lin told us of one of richest men in Hong Kong who had built a 4-story house, with a wife on each floor. Lin indicated he must have been very busy. The law was changed in 1971 to only one wife per man. She said there was a real rush to marry mutiple wives before it went into effect.

Our next stop was "Aberdeen Fishing Village" where we got to take a "San Pan" trip around the China Sea harbor. We voted that as the best place of the whole tour. This is one of the views from the san pan, which means "water taxi" in Cantonese. Our driver took us "up close and personal" with some of the fishingg boats.


It is almost impossible to describe their living space, or maybe lack of it. Here are two examples. I can't imagine actually living here, but they do and it is their home and business. Most of them are fishermen and fish every day of the year, just to exist.


They also have the largest floating restaurant in the world. It's called Jumbos. It's claim to fame is that it was used in a James Bond movie. I believe it was blown up in the film. The only way you can get there is by boat. It is in the middle of the Sea of China Harbor. And, of course, you must have reservations. We might have to miss this one.














The pic to the right includes two dogs being walked. We were told this was very unusual in Hong Kong. It's too crowded for people, much less pets. This is still the China Sea tour with Hong Kong in the background. The smog has cleared a little on the water, and the buildings can be seen.

We only gazed at the next location, or Repulse Bay Lookout. We decided NOT to stop because of the smog. This area is "billed" as the southern capital of HK Island. It is the "escape" area from the metropolis; a little more space.

Our last stop was the Stanley Market (hence the reference to Livingston in the title of this offering). This is an open-air market that offers "traditional handicrafts and locally made clothes at bargain prices." It is very small by our standards but a lot of beautiful things in a small area. We were only allowed 20 minutes there, so we just looked around and scouted out some things. Charles wants to go, so it will be great to have him along tomorrow. He will finish his work around 12:00. I didn't take any pics there, but will tomorrow.

We had a wonderful dinner with Charles and his colleagues from HK Disney. Great group. We ate at a "quaint" little restaurant in SoHo proper. When people start smoking around us, it comes back very quickly that "we're not in Kansas any more ToTo." According to Lin, our tour guide, the noisier the restaurant the better the food. Well, this food was awesome.

Monday is Julie's birthday. I won't give away how old, but she is approaching the "AARP" area. If you read this and have a chance, send her an e-card or e-wish.

I am finally back @ the Marriott. It's after 11:00 pm here and I am once again faced with being over tired. We move to Hollywood Hotel "on property" tomorrow. That is exciting too.

This trip has been so wonderful I can never formulate the words to thank both my sons for this gift. They are tremendous! Thanks guys.

Stay tuned for our next chapter of the trip.