Happy New Year's from Hong Kong

My family brought our holiday spirit to Hong Kong after Chrismas. I love this city -- so beautiful, relaxing and unique. Hong Kong is divided into 2 sections by Victoria Harbour -- Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. Kowloon is considered the more traditional Chinese side while Hong Kong Island is the modern, commercial "Western" side. As a result, the city is a great blend of East meets West. The official language in Hong Kong is English (thanks to the 156 years of British rule) but many people also speak Cantonese. Following the British tradition, everyone drives on the left side and most hotels offer an afternoon tea service. The Peninsula has the best tea service in terms of quality of food but the tea service at the Intercontinental Hotel offers the best view of Victoria Harbour. Both hotels are on the Kowloon side. This is my 2nd trip to Hong Kong and I have only stayed on the Kowloon side. The only bad thing about Hong Kong is the pollution and smog -- as you'll see in the pictures below.

Since I've been to Hong Kong before, I didn't take in any of the touristy sights -- of which there are many to see. Sydney and I just strolled around the city --- the promenade and Kowloon Park. Sydney loved the park --- the duck/flamingo/fish pond, the aviary section with all sorts of birds, the water fountains and flowers. Sydney is usually very shy around strangers but for some reason, whenever we travel she comes out of her shell and is a very friendly girl. She walked up to several people at the park to say hello. Luckily, she didn't pull up her shirt to show everyone her belly, which was a favorite past time of hers in Phuket.

People in Hong Kong celebrate Christmas so the whole town was lit up with Christmas lights and decorated with beautiful Christmas trees. Sydney and I really enjoyed all of the Christmas decorations. It just occurred to me now that I didn't take any pictures of them, which I regret.

My wonderful family took turns taking Sydney out with them so that I could have some time to myself. With Sydney being sick for a couple of weeks leading up to the trip, I was a bit run down, impatient and sleep deprived -- not a good combination for me. I'm sure Sydney was glad to be around people who had the energy to match hers. And of course, she was loving all of the attention.

For New Year's Eve, we ate at a great restaurant in our hotel. It was a fixed, 8 course meal. I only made it through the 4th course, which took 2 hours to get to. I was so tired at 9pm so I left to go to sleep. I was disappointed that I missed the rest of the meal because the first 4 courses were excellent, and I'm told that the main entree was fabulous. Sydney stayed up until about 11pm with the rest of the family. In my defense, I did turn 38 at the stroke of midnight, and my late night partying days are a thing of the past --- thankfully so. I wish that I could say that I feel older and wiser. But the truth is that I only feel older.

I hope you all have a happy, healthy, restful but fun 2008!!!!!