Dad In Town

This week I was fortunate to have my Dad come and visit me here in Hong Kong. He got in on Saturday afternoon after a flight much like my own, no sleep. On Friday we kept things pretty quiet, just did a little exploring and acclimation with the neighborhood. Dad got to bed early, 32 hours with no sleep will do that to you. We spent the week doing the tourist things mixed in with just exploring everyday life. Hong Kong is an amazing city but in my opinion is not a city with a lot tourist draws, there are sights to see but the main draw of this city is seeing culture unlike anywhere in the world. We did do the tourist sights, we went to the top of the peak on the Peak Tram, this is probably the most well known sight in the city. Another trip we took was out to Lantau Island to see the Big Buddha, this is a massive bronze Buddha that unfortunately is only 17 years old, one wishes something this awe inspiring is an ancient feat of engineering. One of the highlights of the trip out to the Buddha is the cable car ride from the Tung Chung stop on the MTR. This ride is about 25 minutes and takes you out to the relatively isolated home of the Buddha, the ride provides amazing views of some of the housing developments and more impressively views of the airport. I have not talked much about the airport and looking back on that I wish I had, this is truly one of the most underrated features of Hong Kong. In the nineties Hong Kong built and island and put a new state of the art airport there, this project was the largest engineering project of the twentieth century. Before I really start rambling I'll be more than happy to tell the story of the airport to anyone who asks, but now back to the trip. The cable car provides a view of this entire complex that takes your breath away. The Buddha itself is a massive bronze statue if Buddha sitting, this statue is so large that on a clear day it can be seen from as far away as Macau. We saw the Buddha, the peak, our next stop on the tourists list was the Avenue of the Stars, this is the walkway on the Kowloon side that overlooks the famous Hong Kong skyline. This view is very humbling, it is a very imposing skyline, some of most amazing architecture in the world is on display here and we had a prime viewing spot. Probably the last thing that we did that may fall into the tourist category is the trips to the famous markets of Hong Kong, most notably the Stanley market and the night market. These markets go on for seems like forever, filled with everything and anything. While I did not do any shopping, I like to wait until the last minute to do my shopping, last year I did my Christmas shopping on Dec. 24th. My Dad on the other hand found a plethora of things to bring home for a wide range of people, he may have stolen some of ideas for gifts but hey no worries, I'm a resourceful person. Between the markets, the Buddha and all the other sites we found time to explore and walk through all of the major neighborhoods on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. We walked more in those few days than I have in quite some time but I did get to see some of the parts of HK that many don't have the chance to see. For more on these neighborhoods ask me directly as there is to much to write about. On Wednesday night we took part in the local tradition of going to Happy Valley for the horse races, If I have not mentioned it earlier let me say it now, Happy Valley is incredible. This is a massive complex filled football (soccer) pitches and various other athletic facilities all within a horse track. The complex is set in the middle of the city surrounded by skyscrapers and apartment complexes and sticks out like a sore thumb in this concrete jungle. The Happy Valley race course has more money wagered on horses than any other venue in the world, the residents of this city love horse racing and for only $1.13 US admission who could blame them. While I do not bet on horses, not my bag, I tried one race and lost. Dad on the other hand won a little bit on our last race of the night making for a good cap to the evening. We fished of my Dad's visit to HK with a great dinner on Thanksgiving, while it was not turkey, it was great and we went to a local bar and hung with a few of the other people on the trip and just enjoyed the night. It was a great few days and I had a great time during Dad's visit and am now ready to buckle down and get some work done. I'll be home in three weeks, see everyone then