On August 4, we rode the turbojet boat from Macau to Kowloon, Hong Kong. Ron Ana and Gigi traveled with us, along with mom, dad and uncle. We stayed at the Minden Hotel while the rest of the gang stayed at Marco Polo Prince. Once we arrived, we did our own sightseeing and met with the gang in the evening for fast food dining at one of the bizillion shopping centers in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, along the harbor area. According to the guide book, 7 million people live in the Hong Kong region while 500,000 people live in Macau (yes, only 28 sq km/about 10.5 sq mi!) We flew out of the Hong Kong airport on Lantau Island on August 7. The worst part of our trip was going through TSA/Homeland Security at Newark Liberty Airport. Lines were backed up and no organized consideration were given to passengers who had connecting flights. We had a 2-hour layover in Newark. It took us forever to 1) go through immigration 2) pick up our check-in luggage from the carousel 3) walk through customs to hand in our claim form (luckily they didn't check our bags) 4) re-check in our luggage for our domestic connecting flight and 5) go through TSA again! Why do we need to go through all this hassle in the name of "war on terror"? Needless to say while we were rushing to our gate, we heard the announcement that they were closing the gate on our flight to West Palm Beach in 3 minutes! We practically had to run to our gate! On top of that, when we arrived at PBI, one of our bags was lost so we had to go to Baggage Claim to file a claim. Poor Jessica had to drive around the airport for 30 min while waiting for us to come out of the airport. But all in all, we had a fun and interesting trip to China!
view from the front entrance of Hong Kong Wetland Park in the western part of New Territories
paper cut exhibit at Hong Kong Wetland Park
view of Hong Kong Wetland Park (Shenzhen, another Special Economic Zone, in the background)
another view of Hong Kong Wetland Park
waterfall at Sha Tin Park, a neighborhood park
Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Sha Tin suburb
replica of studio of Chao Shao-An, famous Chinese painter who founded the Lingnan School of Painting in Guandong Province and Hong Kong
exhibit of paintings by Henry Wo (student of Chao Shao-An) who turned 80 this year
a Buddhist temple in Sha Tin suburb
lobby of Minden Hotel
our hotel room and the Courtney's dining room at the Minden Hotel
Hong Kong Museum of Art in Tsim Sha Tsui downtown district of Kowloon
Incidentally, the museum was having a blockbuster exhibit titled Pride of China. We had to get timed tickets for 8:00 pm entrance. A famous original scroll, Along the River after the Qingming Festival by Zhang Zeduan, from the Ming dynasty era, was on display. There were long, long lines to view this scroll and a museum guard held a timer in his hand while trying to move viewers along the scroll display case.
Hong Kong and Macau museums employ A LOT of security guards! We would never see so many guards at our American museums due to budget reasons. Their museums also have excellent facilities and high-end display designs, such as papering long walls with printed images from the exhibits and using 3-D lettering for exhibit titles.
at the harbor area next to the museum--background: view of Hong Kong Island business district
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