Sunday/ Valentine’s Day & Lunar New Year

They do celebrate Valentine’s Day in China, and this year it coincides with the Chinese New Year’s Day – very rare since the new year’s day is late on the calendar this year.

It turned out that my fears of masses of people trying to get into Hong Kong on Friday through the Shenzhen-Hong Kong border was unfounded; I sailed through with no trouble at all.  I stayed at a Marriott Courtyard Hotel on Hong Kong Island, very reasonably priced at US$100 per night, a tall 30 story structure with only 6 rooms on every floor (picture below is from my hotel room).   The room was very cozy, the bed had six perfectly firm pillows, the glass shower stall a large oversized ‘rain’ showerhead .. and the food in the restaurant was superb.

I was so tired on Friday night, and sat there enjoying a crisp Asahi beer and fried halibut with jasmine rice and Thai asparagus.    Saturday I crisscrossed the city on several missions, to the bookstore, to the jewelry store, to the toy store, and they were all successful.  I also learned that the New Year’s parade (another parade other than the January one) and fireworks was only going to be tonight, so I missed that.  But I did go to the New Year’s Fair in Victoria Park; I will post more pictures later this week.

Here’s the outside of the Luohu border crossing that separates mainland China from the Hong Kong special territory. There is an MTR station on the other side called Lo Wu on the East Rail Line that runs all the way into Hong Kong city.
Catching my reflection on a stainless steel-plated pillar on one of the plazas outside the International Finance Center mall, an upscale shopping mall on the waterfront of Hong Kong’s Central District.
These ‘happy happy’ guys are from the foyer of the International Finance Center mall, an upscale shopping mall on the waterfront of Hong Kong Island’s Central District.
A family of tigers, heralding the start of the Year of the Tiger, inside the fancy Landmark shopping mall on Queens Road in Central District on Hong Kong Island. This mall is very upscale and designer oriented, all Gucci and Louis Vuitton and all that.
Lots of people on Saturday night, and lots of food vendors in the Tsim Sha Tsui district in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Ice cream at Mister Softee in the Tsim Sha Tsui district in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Hole-in-the-wall stores in Tsim Tsa Tsui that are not on the street level can be found on other levels in the tall buildings. Look for the sign for the South African ‘Van Der Merwe’ camera store on the left !
A forest of tall apartment towers from a high floor in the Marriott Courtyard on Connaught Rd West in, Sai Ying Pun on Hong Kong Island.

 

 

 

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