Sightseeing in Hong Kong

I am sitting on Starbuck across the street to my apartment, and enjoying my caffé mocha.  I have had a wonderful day, and experienced a lot. I never thought it could be so many treasures in a city like Hong Kong.

Today I took the ferry across Victoria Harbour to discover Hong Kong Island. My plan was to take the ferry to the Opera Hong Kong, but my plans never seems to go as planned. I managed to go on the wrong ferry, and ended up close to The Bank of China Tower. It is an incredible skyscraper that reaches for the sky. I would definitely say that this building is the most beautiful and remarkable skyscraper I have ever seen in reality.

Afterwards I took a taxi to the Opera Hong Kong. It appeared to be the Hong Kong International Jewellery Show. Everywhere there was something that sparkled, large diamonds, gold, silver and pearls. A big company there is called Continental Jewellery, and I got the chance to meet the Chan family. The family owns Continental and has become one of the riches families in Hong Kong. Dr. Charles Chan was the first person in Hong Kong to introduce several concepts of mass production into the jewellery manufacturing.

The Chan family invited me to join them for an opera this evening, so I better get dressed for this event.

Sources: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_China_Tower,_Hong_Kong

http://www.continental.com.hk/

Picture source:

http://www.jewellery-hk.org/about3.php

White person lost in Hong Kong !

As bad as it might seem, I now got lost in a sign-jungle. I fell asleep at the train and now I am totally lost, and have now idea of where I might be. At least I know that I am at the Shamrock Seafood Restaurant, but not where it is located. 

I have just eaten, but I am not sure of what it was. Normally I would ask for some traditional food, but it seems like I am in a local restaurant were all the food is typical Hong Kong and Chinese. First they served me a terrible tea, (I am not a tea person, and therefor most of the tea I drink is not good). As well I got a wet cloth, and I did not actually know what to do with it, but I watched the other costumers, they used it as a cleaning napkin, and mimicked them. Afterwards I got my lunch. They served me some noodles with fish. It tasted good, but I have no ide what it was called. According to the menu there are a lot of noodles, rice and fish at the restaurant, and probably in the rest of the city as well.

The waitress even gave me a local newspaper to read in, South China Morning Post. At one page it was an article about a teenager from Hong Kong, who where representing the city in the first international Twenty20 match on urban soil. It was a large picture of him holding up the flag of Hong Kong. It is red coloured and in its centre there is a white flower, a Bauhinia blakeana, (a normal flower to see in Hong Kong). At the flag, each petal has a red star. The red base represents Hong Kong´s relation with China. It has been the proportion flag of Hong Kong since 1^st of July 1997, when Hong Kong became a part of China instead of Britain.

I probably should move on in this sign-jungle and discover the hidden treasures of Hong Kong.

sources: 

http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2c913216495213d5df646910cba0a0a0/?vgnextoid=ec5726614db23310VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=teaser&ss=HK+%26+China&s=Sport

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Hong_Kong

Picture source: 

http://www.flagsinformation.com/hong_kong-country-flag.html 

An update from the high-speed train

My dream has come true. I am finally in Hong Kong. 

To plan this journey was not easy. Since there are more than 60 international airlines that operates services between the international airport of Hong Kong and 120 cities worldwide, there is also a large marked for swindling. Many travel books and Internet pages encouraged me to be careful and to watch out. Even though it was not the cheapest solution I ended up with the airlines I have heard of earlier, Dragonair and British Airways, one of the “famous” airlines.

From London to Hong Kong I took a plane with double deck (!) Before this trip I only thought busses could have it, but no, obviously not. Even thought I did not sit on the upper floor, I had to check it out before I left the plane. People there had their own beds and their own TV screen, well, it seems as every seat on the plane had a screen. To a person like me who is as well as addicted to TV, it was like I was in Heaven. It was incredible, I could watch any movie I wanted. And when most of the passengers were asleep, I sat up and watched movie after movie (I have to admit that I saw Twilight two times).  

I am sitting on a high-speed train now. It is one of the cheapest and fastest solutions to get into the city, so I had to go for it. In a great speed the train passes large industry areas. As fare as the eye can see there are containers stabled, large factories and many workers.

I am going to put one´s feet up. Promise to keep you updated. 

Pennal

Et pennal er en oppbevaringsplass for viskelær, blyanter og for mye annet utstyr man trenger for å arbeide for eksempel på skolen. Det finnes blant annet forskjellige typer som består av forskjellig materiale. I noen er det rom for hver enkel gjenstand, som en egen blyantlomme. I andre er det kun ett rom hvor alt utstyret er samlet. Materialet varierer også fra et tynt stoff til et solid materiale som skinn. Man kan også finne pennal som er lagd av plast eller metall. Ofte lukkes de med en lettgildene glidelås, men det finnes også andre effektive lukkeløsninger.

På den myke overflaten hadde de skrevet navnene sine, skrevet hvor glad de var i meg, og tegnet. Det var fylt med hjerter og smilefjes. Med ord som beskrev de gode årene og de tidligere opplevelsene. Overflaten var dekket med navn og gode minner. Slike minner som en burde gjemme i en boks og ta godt vare på. Pennalet hadde alle minnene på utsiden, så en trengte ikke gjemme dem for omverdenen. Det var gode minner som alle burde få en del av.