We got up bright and early at 8:00 a.m. after a good night's sleep. The hotel room was
nothing particularly special, and included a single double bed. There was not much room
but then we didn't spend too much time there either. We had breakfast in the hotel, which
was free and worth every penny. Actually, it was OK, a decent selection of food, in a
fairly traditional English style. I felt pretty good, with the ravages of jet-lag safely
behind me.
We walked to the Opal Mine, which is conveniently located right next to my tailor's shop.
We had checked out their selection of opals, especially black opals, the day before but
had not seen anything we really liked. Downstairs they had a lot of pearls, including
black pearls. The plan was to see if they would make some custom earrings. Then I could
stop in at my tailor's to get fitted for my tuxedo. At first, the saleslady was not too
enthusiastic about making earrings for me, but hey, this is Hong Kong. If you can't get
custom made stuff here, then where can you get it?? Eventually, we persuaded the lady to
make Anne some earrings and to make me some earrings and a necklace for Becca.
I stopped in to Ash Samtani's shop and got fitted.
They already had my measurements but wanted to update them, just in case I had grown.
Sure enough, I have put on some more muscle around my mid-section. That abdominizer
must really be working. I also picked out the fabric and style, opting for a 60% cashmere
and 40% wool blend. I was told to return in 45 minutes for a second fitting and that
after that they would make the tux and I could pick it up in two weeks upon my return.
So we spent a bit more time in the Opal Mine and then I popped back for my second
fitting. They had a mock up of the tuxedo with one arm and no exterior material. They
did some quick adjustments and I was on my way. After hitting a few more shops in Tsim
Tsa Tsui we got the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island, walked up to the base of
Victoria Peak, and caught the tram to the top. It was a bit hazy but at least you could
see both sides of the harbor. We ate lunch and then got on the Internet at a Cafe in
the mall on the Peak. It was cool to be able to send off notes to people back home.
We took the tram back down and then headed over to the ferry terminal and caught a
ferry to Silvermine Bay on Lantau Island. We were a little short on time since we had
to be back to the hotel by 7:00 p.m. to meet up with our tour, so we caught a cab to the
Po Lin Monestary, home of the Big Buddha. We noticed a number of cows around the road
and asked the driver about them. Apparently, the farmers let them go because they were
unable to make any money with dairy products since China took over Hong Kong.
We walked up to the Buddha and took some pictures and then caught a cab. The plan was
to get a ride to the airport and take the airport express train back to Kowloon, as we
had done upon arriving in Hong Kong. The driver suggested we go to the MTA station
instead. The MTA uses the same tracks but costs less than HK$10 each, while the airport
express costs HK$90 each. We took the driver's advice. We talked to the cabbie during
the ride and he told us about going on vacation to Disney World. We also passed a
speed-trap, which included a sign just before it warning that there was a speed trap.
How odd. The cop had a nice radar gun; I decided not to take a picture.
After some issues with getting the MTA machine to take bills, we caught our train and
made it safely back to the hotel at 6:45 p.m., with 15 minutes to spare! We met up
with the rest of our tour group, which consisted of the two of us, Ian (our tour guide)
and Sally, a fellow tourist from the UK. Yup, that was it, just four of us. Needless
to say, I was pretty excited about getting a nearly private tour of China. Ian said
that Imaginative Traveler will run the tours regardless of how many people sign up.
If it is only a couple of people they will often contact the person/people and verify
that they still want to go. Because it is a UK tour company, the tours in August are
generally packed because of their month-long holidays.
After a briefing on the plan for the next couple of weeks, Anne, Sally and I took off
for dinner. Sally and Ian said that Giordano's (a clothing store on Nathan Road) has
free Internet access. Ian said that all cities in China have access, you just have to
find out where. We ended up at Spaghetti Warehouse, because Anne was not in the mood for
Chinese food - plenty of time for that later. The food was . . . ehhh. Chicken
Parmigiana made with dark meat, milkshake made too thin. Not that I was expecting too much,
but even so I was disappointed. We headed back to the hotel and got to bed by 10:30
p.m.