TUESDAY

This day was the rainiest day in 79 years in Hong Kong, with the official station reporting over 16 inches of rain, and outlying areas up to 22 inches. Undaunted, we proceeded with our schedule. The first half of the day featured a tour, free with the airfare/hotel package. Among the stops was Stanley Market,g the stops was Stanley Market, where I got this picture of Steve next to an enormous above-ground tree root system. Our next stop was Repulse Bay, like Stanley on the southern end of Hong Kong Island, where we saw a good example of fung shui. This apartment building has the hole in it to let the dragons flow through to the sea. Here I am in the soupy mess. We also passed by many other enormous apartment buildings which seemingly rose out of virgin land.

After the tour, we headed back out into the deluge. Nathan Road, on the Kowloon peninsula abutting Hong Kong Island, right near our hotel, was just as busy as ever, despite the weather. Making our way back to the Island, we sought refuge indoors, including in an overhead walkway where I could look down at the trams running below, and the moody Taoist Man-Mo Temple, where this Shrine of the 10 Divine Judges was located.

WEDNESDAY

Steve went galavanting around Hong Kong again, while I attended the conference. Built precariosuly on a hillside, the Hon a hillside, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology hosted the conference. Here's a (dark) photo of me in front of the habitral-like corridors which made up much of the campus.

THURSDAY

The bulk of this day was spent in Macau, Portugal's last colony, some 65 km west of Hong Kong by ferry across the South China Sea. The rain continued to fall, as it had for most of the trip, through the middle of the day. Senado Square, across from the seat of government, was one of the most beautiful examples of European colonial design I've seen. Here's a photo of one of the buildings in the square. Nearby, I got this photo which combines the best and worst of three continents.

Much of our day in Macau consisted of wandering aimlessly amongst broad avenues and tiny alleys. This window close-up is typical of the facades of many of the houses. Oddly, this Snoopy car was not anomalous either, making it ratheher, making it rather scary.

The A-Ma Temple was the highlight of the day, a complex of precarious stairways and temples, large and small, carved into the hillside. Here I am, next to some large text carved into a rock.

Our last few hours across the sea were spent in Zhuhai Special Economic Zone, in the "regular" People's Republic. I didn't take too many photos/china, probably being overcautious... but here I am in front of the welcome sign near the Macanese border.

FRIDAY

Our fourth day in the area took us to Lantau, one of Hong Kong's 'outlying islands', fairly large and underpopulated. After ferrying out, we took a bus to reach our first destination, the Po-Lin Monastery, high up in the jagged hills. An isolated retreat when first founded, the monastery is now well-touristed, partially due to its having the largest seated Buddha in the world. Here I am standing near the base of the Buddha. Several hundred steps below the Buddha, near the cloud base, a lot more was going on. Near the ma/china/CPOLIN1.jpg>main temple, many people were offering jas incense sticks in memory of the deceased. Monks could be seen from time to time, as well as the ubiquitous cool-looking lion statues.

The afternoon brought us to the far edge of Lantau, to the fishing village of Tai O. The village wasn't beautiful but was fascinating to explore. Many people were at work preparing food, while others just napped away the afternoon. Large temples and small shrines were easily discovered.

Returning to Hong Kong Island late in the afternoon, the sun peeked out from under the low clouds to light up the downtown (Victoria Peak is in the background). This last photo of the day shows the popular Star Ferry used to cross Hong Kong Harbor, in front of some downtown buildings, including the beautiful triangular Bank of China skyscraper.

SATURDAY

Our final day in Hong Kong began with a stroll through ath a stroll through a busy market in Kowloon, where many people were found; buying, among other things, some odd fruit I'd never seen before. Someone seemed to have abandoned these piggies which came to market.
We then traveled on into the New Territories, the old 'buffer' between Hong Kong Island and China, officially part of Hong Kong. Tseun Wan, a 'new' city of nearly a million souls, was our first stop. It houses the interesting Sam Tung Uk Museum, a former walled village now surrounded by the highrise apartment buildings visible in the background. After the museum, we headed for the Yuen Yuen Institute, a complex of temples devoted to Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, overlooking the town below. The temples were scattered up the hillside; the ornate inside of one can be seen here. Here I am, casting out no shadow in the noonday sun.

We made our way back through downtown Tseun Wan to a bus taking us along the scenic Route Twisk. The small town of Kam Tin was our final destination. Surrounding the town were beautiful carpeted hills. Inside the town was a still-occupied Hakka Village, with extraordinarily narrow corridors and women quite gleeful to pose for a tiny fee.

Here's one last photo I took from the plane window, of Kowloon, as we departed.