MAR. 7th -- HONG KONG, CHINA

We are in Hong Kong, China today.  Hong Kong literally means "Fragrant Harbour".

Barry & I got up at 7:00 AM to watch the approach into the harbour ... we are docking at 8:00 AM.
We step outside onto the balcony and....Uggh...it is rainy, foggy and chilly.

We don't care...we are getting dressed and heading out to meet the Hirschmann's.  No one & nothing is going to rain on our parade.

We are meeting Mike & Wendy at 10:00 AM and when we get off the boat we realize this could be a little tricky.  We leave the boat and it leads us directly into the harbour building which is attached to a huge mall.  How the hell are we going to find them!
We stay at the escalator by the harbour building and eventually Mike finds us there.  Not too bad really...it was only 10:15 AM.
We head outside where Wendy is waiting...hugs & kisses and a lot of laughing & talking.

With our friends in Hong Kong

Yay!!!

We grab a taxi and go to the Mandarin Hotel.  This is our sole destination for the day.  We arrive too early for our lunch so we walk through the hotel and look at all of their shops.  There were a lot, and I mean a lot, of jewelry stores.  Gems like I haven't seen before.  Fun.
We were still a little early so we went into the Captain's Bar.  Wendy and I had a glass of pink champagne and the guys had a beer.  We toasted and said ..."Let the games begin!!"

The Lobby at the Mandarin

Pink Champagne for the ladies

Beer for the guys

Together again....let the games begin!

We then headed up to the 25th Floor to Pierre ... it is beautiful...huge windows with a fabulous view of the city.  Barry has a 4-course tasting lunch and I have a foie gras velouté (foamed soup) with cauliflower & nutmeg and had Bonito fish (tuna) for my main course.

At our table in Pierre

Mr. Happy

After lunch, Wendy & I go shopping.  There is a network of walkways, etc. inside the hotel leading out to a mall.  This is great as it is still raining.  We are on the hunt for the perfect Mandarin-style dress or top.  Well, guess what -- everything is stupid expensive.  We gave up the idea of buying anything and just window-shopped for an hour or so.
We meet the guys at "M Bar" and have a Japanese beer then move on to The Chinnery.  We have a drink there until it is time for our dinner reservation.

M Bar drink list...

Inside M Bar...

We head back up to the 25th Floor for dinner.  Dinner is also at Pierre.  We have another window table and can see Hong Kong by night.  Fabulous.
We all have the lamb dinner except for Wendy...she has beef (hates lamb).

We then grab a taxi and head back to Ocean Harbour.

Hong Kong by night

I took these from our balcony on the ship

Beautiful, right?

Back on the boat and we'll see Mike & Wendy tomorrow at 10:30 AM.
Exhausted....bed.