20231025 AAAA Trip - Hong Kong day 3 - All the new faces

2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip 
Day 39/105 - Hong Kong Day #3

If you're getting warm at a urinal, check your aim - just sayin'...

Today marks the beginning of another segment in this journey.  Around 600 passengers left yesterday and roughly the same number of new passengers replaced them.  We’re still full with only three empty rooms.  Passenger estimates are around 910 or so, given the large number of singles in their own rooms.

This morning, we hopped the shuttle bus back into Hong Kong.  We were looking to possibly buy a smaller travel camera to use in conjunction with the Sony RX10 IV.  The RX10 is a little on the big side. There are times I don't want to haul something that big, so I rely solely on my cellphone for photos.  I'd like a pocket-sized, high-quality travel camera for those times.  After exploring a couple of the small camera shops, it appeared that prices here in Hong Kong were no different than back home.  Since there was no advantage to buying here, like there was with the drone, we abandoned the search and just wandered down side streets, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells off of the main roads.

Nothing says fresh like hanging goose

I like shrimp in the original flavor

Not what we expected to see

I'm not sure what Turkish fast food is

That's more like it

Wow - a dim sum specialist, and master

The quintessential Chinese fast food - KFC

You have to appreciate the juxtaposition of the gleaming glass tower and the bamboo scaffolding

After our midtown meandering, we returned to the ship for a light lunch and some relaxing before tonight's excursion, Hong Kong After Dark.

I did take the opportunity to fly the new DJI Mini 4 Pro today.  I was a little nervous hovering it for the first time over the bay, but it worked flawlessly.

You can see Arlona and me on the top deck on the left

So far, it looks like it will be a winner.

Tonight’s excursion, Hong Kong After Dark, took us for a multi-course Peking Duck dinner, a great view of the laser show over the harbor, and a visit to one of the night markets.

Our dinner venue - dinner was very good – all served family-style at a table for ten. 

They were crafting fresh noodles by hand -it was impressive to see.

The menu - we never got the cold-cut combination

The chicken and corn soup

Pork knuckles in the back, the blubber in front, the smoked rolls, and crispy beef

I missed getting a photo of the fried prawns – they were delicious.

Sliced beef with onion

Peking Duck – there were thin pancake-like shells to roll the duck and sauce

Chicken, celery, and mushrooms

Sweet and sour fish - fabulous

Broccoli on the left and Peking noodles with pork on the right

More of the Peking noodles plus a steamed pork dumpling filled with soup

Mashed red bean pancake - dessert

Next up was walking across the street to the waterfront for the nightly laser, light, and music show.  The ten-minute show takes place at 8 p.m. every night.  I have video, but with the degradation of the internet lately, there is no way I’ll get it to load any time soon.  Here are photos of the waterfront and the impressive skyline.

Former Kowloon-Canton Railway Clock Tower

View 360-degree photo

After the laser show, we were off to the Temple Road night markets. This is several blocks of pop-up tents selling…there’s no nice way to say it – junk. Of course, you could also see the seemingly underage ladies of the evening soliciting business there. This stop could have been skipped with no loss in value for the excursion.

I have some other updates to post, but can’t because Orion’s internet is seriously sucking tonight.  I’m hoping that it will improve once we’re at sea tomorrow.  We expect to sail around 11 p.m. tonight and have a sea day tomorrow.  We also have to set the clock back another hour tonight to get us onto Vietnam time – UTC+7, so an extra hour in bed tonight.  I'll try to add it all to tomorrow’s post.