The other day I was reading the South China Morning Post and saw that the US aircraft carrier USS Iwo Jima, 2 destroyers and a cruiser from her battle group would be porting in Hong Kong for five days. Other US ships have made port while we have been here, but usually it is not possible to get any photos of them. So on Saturday morning I happened to look out the window of our guest room and noticed a ship with a silhouette I did not recognize anchored off the western end of the island. I called Ken in for a consult and we also noticed a very flat deck peeking beyond the edge of one of the buildings. Long camera lenses and binoculars confirmed the location of the ships moorings.
Taking photos through the window of our apartment just didn't seem quite enough to satisfy our curiosity, so we created our own adventure. In looking at my map of Hong Kong Island I realized that the closest vantage point I could find was Kennedy Town. This is an area we had not explored yet so we set off just following our noses.
The first part was easy. We hopped in a cab and told the driver to take us to Kennedy Town. Since we had no specific address, he just drove us to the middle of town and we were ready to search out a good vantage point. We had a few fits and starts. There are many ship yards along the waterfront so finding an open space looked to be a challenge. But after walking in the wrong direction for a bit, we reversed ourselves and finally found a decent spot for photography.
Closest to us was the cruiser.
As you can see, we were still quite a distance away. It is a very big harbor. A little farther out was one of the destroyers with the Iwo Jima rising behind it.
We walked as far as we could to get a better view. It was really difficult with all of the commercial property along the water. But we finally found our spot.
By then it was lunch time and we were hungry so we stopped into a local Chinese restaurant, The Harborside. We found ourselves in for a real treat. The highlights of our meal were the frozen honey lemonade, beef skewers and the most amazing ribs with strawberry sauce.
The strawberry ribs were so good that Ken and I were fighting over them. Dueling chopsticks is a new form of battle. And who knew whipped cream could taste so good on ribs? I am craving them just looking at the photo.
After lunch we were ready to head back to Central. The MTR (subway) does not yet extend to Kennedy Town. The line is under construction and should be up and running by 2014. In the meantime, one mode of public transport is the tram. The tram system is 101 years old and still retains much of its early charm - if you can call no air conditioning charm. We were lucky to get upper level seats by the front windows so our ride was not too bad.
We saw the new Ibis Hotel under construction in Shueng Wan. It is identifiable by all of the bright colors on the facade. We also got a different look at IFC, the International Finance Center.
When we finally arrived home we found the ships were changing position and for the first time we had an unobstructed view of the Iwo Jima.
Who would have guessed that I would get my best shot from the bedroom window?
And this morning they were gone.
One of the most unique sports we have come across here in Hong Kong is Dragon Boat Racing. It is similar in many ways to crew but with a drummer keeping tempo and a stand-up oarsman steering from the rear. There are 11 to 18 paddlers in each dragon boat, and, of course, the front and rear of each boat display the head and tail of a dragon.
We saw a few of the individual town and district races last year, but we were out of town for the bigger events. This time I was able to catch the big event on Victoria Harbor. The Hong Kong Dragon Boat Carnival is a free event that takes place over five days. The afternoon I attended they were holding the women's races.
The course is set up on the Kowloon side of the harbor just past the Avenue of the Stars. Barges are set up to keep the course safe from harbor traffic and the waterfront is brightly decorated.
The festival has grown over the years and this year's 8th annual had teams competing from countries far and wide. Of course Hong Kong was well represented as was Australia, the Philippines, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, Great Britain and the US. There were also teams from Dubai and Hungary getting revved up as I entered.
The course is set up so that teams start with the boats touching the start platform. Once the horn sounds you hear the start of the drum beats. The boats pull away from the platform and the race is on. I discovered that like in horse racing the boat who takes the lead is not always the fastest in the long run. What started out looking like blow away races usually became very tight by the end. One race was won by a snout (they are dragons after all).
By the time the race has finished the next teams are already lining up. I must admit it is some of the best organization I have seen. The boats just finishing paddle their way back to the holding area and the next race is off and paddling.
To keep the carnival atmosphere going, there were pop-up parades, mascots and even a balloon dragon boat roaming about.
The last race that I saw that afternoon was a very special one. Each member of every team was a breast cancer survivor. It was truly inspiring to see so many women who have gone through so much showing support for those still battling this terrible disease.
As I took a shot of an Australian team celebrating their win, a soft rain began to fall. I headed off to catch a ferry back to Hong Kong Island, but along the way I managed to find some others enjoying the water in their own unique way.
July 1st marked the 15th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from the British to the Chinese. It is always a public holiday, but with this being a special year all the stops were pulled out. There were events for several days culminating with the July 1 celebrations.
This year Hu Jintao came for the festivities. There were parades and soldiers (imported from the mainland because Hong Kongers cannot join the PLA), a flotilla on the Harbor, lots of protest marches, swearing in of the new HK Chief Executive and his cabinet and fireworks to bring it all to an end.
We knew about some of these things, but missed advanced notice of the flotilla so I could only take photos from my window. Wish I had gotten down to the harbor for some closer shots.
Later in the morning we joined Janet and some guests from the US for a trip to Stanley Markets. It was a beautiful (if very hot and humid) day in Stanley and we wandered the markets, had a wonderful lunch by the waterfront and enjoyed getting to know Lekan, Terrand and baby Yael.
After a bit of a rest we all convened at Janet's' apartment. It's such a commute for us - up two floors! She has a rooftop patio above her flat and we took great advantage of it. We watched a cruise ship play peek-a-boo between the buildings and the play of light on the city as sunset approached.
Our guest of honor, Yael, arrived...
...and it was time for the big finale. The show was even better than before. Not only were there fireworks over the harbor, but several of the skyscrapers had them rising from the roof. All were timed together and the effect was wonderful.
Here we go. Ooh...
...aah!
It was a fun celebration and we pretended it was for the 4th as well. Hope you all have a great holiday and a great summer.
