Hong Kong

From the steaming stifling jungle of Bali to the concrete, glass & steel mountain of banks, skyscrapers & designer label shops.

But wait! Big surprise. I fell in love with Hong Kong -- the greatest city I’ve ever seen. I want to live there, learn Chinese, enroll in the Culinary Institute, and become a Chinese Chef. I’m already a half-Chinese grandmother, so why not? I want to eat my way through Hong Kong, from the fanciest princely places to the simplest noodle houses, which are the best.

This is a city where I can live. Hong Kong is built into the side of the mountain, with gigantic high rises, like a bamboo forest, that soar into the clouds, but with escalators all over the place so you don’t need to climb -- and elevators, and a subway that connects the whole city. How brilliant!

And there are covered walk ways high over the streets of the center of the city connecting everything, with directional signs so you don’t get lost. And a ferry that connects Kowloon, where my hotel is, with the central city on Hong Kong Island. And it’s free for seniors!

At 8 PM every night they put on a mind-blowing one hour light show, with lasers, neons, flashing lights of every color with intricate patterns, emitting from the buildings on both sides of the harbor. I watched it from my room on the 12^th. floor of the Salisbury YMCA.

I know what you’re thinking, but you’re wrong; this is a first class, 4 star luxury hotel, situated across the street from the Hong Kong cultural center, a block away from the ferry, next door to the famous 5 star Peninsular Hotel, a 5 minute walk from Kowloon Park, a 20 minutes walk to the Jordan Road night market where you can eat fresh seafood from stalls with long wooden tables in the middle of the road, and a pleasant ferry journey to the center, where I found the best noodle house (Tsim Chai Kee Noodle) in the city – and more, much more.

There are cheap street markets with nice things; you don’t have to buy Chanel or Cartier or Coach in Hong Kong if you don’t want to. I didn’t get a chance to look at the tailors that make anything you want over night, or lots of other things, but I took the ferry, rode the subway, hopped on a bus, rode on the longest escalator in the world to the top of the city, & ate a superb, memorable egg custard pastry fresh from the oven.

I only spent 2 ½ days in Hong Kong, but I will return.