On March 1st we arrived in Shanghai, China. Tin and I had arranged to do a small land tour ourselves with the help of Tin’s cousin’s son and our travel agent. Tin’s cousin’s son picked us up at the dock in Shanghai and gave us a short tour of the downtown Shanghai including breakfast at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on the 54th floor. Shanghai is a very up-to-date city with many modern high-rise buildings. We had visited Shanghai on a previous trip to China so Tin had requested that we go to Hangzhou, China. We had a 3-hour chauffeured ride to the city and upon arrival were met by a local tour guide. This city is a resort destination with the beautiful West Lake and much history surrounding it. We had a leisure ride in a small boat on the lake and visited a pagoda with a history dating back to the late 400s AD. After this we went to an area of the city that had been restored to reflect ancient China shops and tea houses. To cap our day we saw an operetta show of the story of the ancient pagoda. This was presented on the lake. They had engineered stages for this just under the water surface so that it appeared that the people were walking and running on the water. This was very unique and innovative. Tin’s cousin’s son had also arranged for us to stay at a 5-star hotel called the Shangri-La, which had an excellent view overlooking the lake. The following day we flew to Hong Kong.
We were able to spend 3 days and 2 nights in Hong Kong. The last time we had visited Hong Kong was 1985, so this was quite a treat. Tin’s dream had been to stay at the Peninsula Hotel. The room had a Hong Kong harbor view. The night views were spectacular. The hotel even provided a telescope on a tripod to enhance our viewing.
Our best friends, Joe and Helen Lai, were in Hong Kong visiting family. They spent one whole day taking us to many interesting locations including Victoria Peak, Repulse Bay, Aberdeen, and showing us many of the new high-rise buildings and spacious shopping malls. We were also treated by them to delicious dim sum in the morning and scrumptious Peking duck in the evening at the best restaurants in Hong Kong. This truly was the high point of this trip. We deeply appreciate their generosity and hospitality.
The following day we enjoyed more shopping and afternoon tea at the hotel. We also had a brief but very enjoyable visit with Tin’s half-brother in the afternoon before we had to set sail for Vietnam. Being on land was definitely a very nice change. We have decided at this point that New Zealand, Australia, and Hong Kong are definitely worth revisiting.
+0957.jpg">
No comments:
Post a Comment