THURSDAY, MAR 11TH--HONG KONG DAY 2

Our second day in Hong Kong (HK) was another sunny and even warmer day with high of about 70F. Today was the end of the 3rd segment of the world cruise so some people left the ship and new ones embarked during the day. Our 4 hour tour, “Insights Into Heart of HK” began at 9am. Once again our tour bus took us though a tunnel under Victoria Harbor to HK Island’s Western District. Here we exited the bus for a walk through the narrow streets to visit the area where there were shop after shop selling ginseng and bird’s nests. The bird’s nests were from a special bird and not like the ones we know in the States. They were VERY expensive and mostly used in bird’s nest soup. We then walked down Hollywood Rd where all the antique stores were. Rebecca could have spent all day here. Next we visited a herbal pharmacy store. In the back sat two “herbal” doctors at little tables. A customer would sit down and tell them what symptoms they had and he would write a prescription which the two herbal pharmacists would fill. The prescription we watched being filled contained about 10 different dried herbs which were all wrapped up in brown paper. This was very interesting to watch but not sure how effective the cure was. The older Chinese believe in it for sure. HK Island is very hilly and reminded us of the streets in San Francisco. Next we took the world’s longest “covered” escalator up over streets. It was 2400 feet long which is nearly a half mile. Forgot to mention a break for some local refreshments at a little diner. We enjoyed a traditional egg custard tart and some Chinese tea or a “half & half”--half coffee and half tea. I took a picture of some Peking ducks hanging in the window. Next we walked through streets with dried seafood’s of all types plus some other dried items, like snake skins. I could not believe they eat this stuff. Turtle bottoms, minnows, whole fish, bats, deer horns, eel, sea cucumbers, shark fins, and much more. Our walk through all the streets this morning was most interesting. Now we got back on the bus for a short ride to the Central District and Star Ferry. We rode the ferry for the 8 minute trip across the harbor back to the Kowloon Star Ferry terminal which is right next to our ship. Our dock was so convenient as there was a shopping mall right in the cruise terminal and two more malls a short walk away. Plus all the shops nearby on Canton and Nathan Rds. We cancelled our “Hong Kong by Night” tour as we were beat from two days of touring. Since we had such a beautiful view from our balcony we decided to dine in our suite that night and again watch the laser light show. Now on Regent during the hours the dining room is open, you can order from room service the same menu that is being used in the dining room. So I ordered shrimp cocktails, salads, garlic bread, and a bottle of chardonnay to start with. Later I ordered linguini with clam sauce as our entrée and cheese cake for dessert. They have a cover for the coffee table in our suite that makes it into a table and they bring a white table cloth and silver service. I thought the laser show was better and we really enjoyed dining in. After dinner we watched a movie on our DVD that I had brought with us. The ship has hundreds of DVD’s available to check out also. I had to call reception desk again last night to complain that the music in the Horizon Lounge below us was too loud and bothering me.