One day until Pam, Camryn and I return home.
By Terry R. Cassreino
HONG KONG - We walked and walked and walked and walked.
And by the time we finished dinner Thursday night, Camryn was just about to fall asleep in her chair at the table in the restaurant at the Harbour Plaza Metropolis.
Pam and I originally planned to eat dinner at a local restaurant.
But by the time we were ready to eat, we were so tired from walking and Camryn was so irritable because she didn’t nap, we thought it was best to stay close to the room.
Plus, we have to catch a 5:20 a.m. shuttle Friday to the airport. So we stayed at the hotel and ate (at a rather pricey $50 each), or, rather, grazed at the trough of an impressive buffet.
How impressive, you ask? Well, it featured raw oysters on the half shell, snow crabs, Peking duck, braised duck, roast beef, fried rice, shrimp tempura and many more dishes.
This was without a doubt the most expensive meal we’ve eaten on our trip. Was it the best? Not really. That honor goes to the East Restaurant in Nanchang.
But our Hong Kong meal was good.
Now on to the photos. I’ve prepared a short photo essay to wrap up our stay here. The next post I will make will come after we return home on Friday.
Remember, our flight arrives from Detroit at 4:37 p.m. on Friday at the Jackson-Evers International Airport. We are on Northwest Airlink/Pinnacle Airlines Flight NW2878L.
Check with Northwest on the flight status.
Maybe we’ll see some of you there. If not, thanks for following our journey and enjoy our last photo gallery from China.
PHOTO 1
Here is the Hung Horn Station, the train station across from the Harbour Plaza Metropolis where we stayed in Hong Kong. While not as impressive as airports, the train station was nice. It had a McDonald’s and a Starbucks.
PHOTO 2
Camryn takes a much-needed break Thursday morning after munching on a huge bowl of noodles for lunch. We bought that and an interesting dish with eggs, tomatoes and a sweet red sauce. She loved both of them. I’m not sure the name of the restaurant, but it was on the second floor of the train station.
PHOTO 3
After Camryn dined, we took a taxi to the Ladies Market. This is a section of Hong Kong our good friend Raymond Joe recommended. It looked like the New Orleans flea market times 20 with people selling clothing and videos and jewelry. In the midst of this were a few beggars like this poor man. Most people and shoppers ignored the beggars.
PHOTO 4
Here is a shot of the street we spent all afternoon walking up and down. Hong Kong felt much different from other cities we visited in China. It seemed more crowded, crammed and fast-paced. I’m sure a lot of that is because of its former status as a British colony.
PHOTO 5
Food is everywhere in Hong Kong. Every place you turn you see a street-side vendor or a restaurant. Some restaurants are right next to each other, competing for business side-by-side. Here, worker prepare snacks they sell to people shopping in the market.
PHOTO 6
Even for a late-week day, the market was jammed. Look at the people.
PHOTO 7
Look at the purses. Pam said her sister would have gone nuts with the purses on sale in the market.
PHOTO 8
And if you didn’t like purses, then you could shop for watches.
PHOTO 9
Camryn went shopping for hats. She told Pam she really liked this one, complete with a braided ponytail in the back. Pam thought it was cute, but told Camryn she had to pay for it herself because “mommy just bought lunch for Camryn and was tired of buying things for my sweet little angel.”
PHOTO 10
Camryn even tried that tired act with me, grabbing a pair of goofy sunglasses and demanding I buy them for her. If I didn’t, she said, she was going to tell me what happened the last two weeks on “The Sopranos” before I have a chance to watch the episodes on tape. I caled her bluff and said she didn’t know what happened. “Oh yeah,” Camryn said, “try me. Go ahead and try me.” So I cracked and bought the glasses.
Photos and text copyrighht 2006 by Terry R. Cassreino.
