PowerTour: (verb) Seeing AND experiencing a crazy amount of landmarks in a relatively short amount of time. For example, taking the 3-day tour of Hong Kong recommended by Fodor’s or Frommers or Lonely Planet and condensing it down into one day. It is constant action, therefore a verb! A noun wouldn’t be nearly as exhausting!

So, here’s the PowerTour, Hong Kong-style: Got up, had coffee and breakfast at the wonderful Hotel Nikko. Taxied up to Victoria Peak just in time for the clouds to part for a few minutes – before most shops were open and tourists invaded the spot. Took the Tram down (actually it’s a funicular). VERY STEEP. How do they get those high rises to stay upright on such steep slopes?

Originally we were going to take buses, but realized that there were some serious distances to travel, and taxis would be much faster – oh ya and our Chinese-language ability sucks. So we taxied out to Stanley Market for shopping. What a gorgeous drive! Stanley Market is made for bargaining and shopping. It’s your typical marketplace with many stalls of merchandise under one roof. Purchases barely fit into our backpacks/purses. Best thing I bought: Mao Se Dung playing cards. Just wrong but it had to be done!

Stopped at Repulse Bay, took pictures, gathered sand for Judy’s global collection of sand. Proceeded out to Aberdeen Harbour to have lunch at Jumbo’s Floating Restaurant. Getting the taxi driver to understand this portion of our PowerTour was complicated by the fact he didn’t speak a word of English. What to do? Using his cell phone, he called someone who spoke English and translated for me. LOVE Technology sometimes!

Aberdeen used to house literally thousands of sampans (small houseboats/fishing boats) that were all tied together. Generations lived on these boats, never setting foot on “dry” land their whole lives. It’s mostly gone now which is just one of those sad things (and the result of a huge fire in the 1980’s). Boy had this place changed since I last visited in 1991!!! Notice the “little houseboats” by the restaurant?

Lunch was Traditional Chinese Food. Yes, there were lots of “spare bits and parts” on the menu (pork belly or fried intestines anyone?), but we didn’t order those. DUH! Surprisingly, almost no fish on the menu! And we’re in a FLOATING restaurant!

Took the ferry back through the harbour to a different pier. Much more scenic! With the cost of gas these days, many of these fishing boats don’t leave the harbour anymore. Saw a few families on these boats having a late lunch, doing laundry or just relaxing in the shade on a sunny gorgeous clear summer day.

Somehow managed to hail a taxi immediately after exiting the launch and headed off to the MTR (Metro or Subway system). A note on the MTR – unbelievable! Dependable, cheap, CLEAN, easy. And there’s always a HUGE mall built above each station. It’s how the system was privately funded. The city gave away the land to developers who built the metro, gave it back to the city, but are able to use the land above and own the land surrounding the station to build shopping malls and office buildings and keep the revenue! Smart, no?

Our last stop for the day was the largest outside bronze Buddha in the world – about a 45 minute ride out on the MTR. You can take a ferry, cable car or hike up to the Buddha. We opted for the cable car. The hike (as we passed over it) was a LONG LONG LONG one. The views were so spectacular that I ALMOST forgot how afraid of heights I am! The location is out by the airport – it’s surreal watching 747’s take off when you are WAY above them and moving but not flying.

The Buddha was BIG. (duh!). And of course was set up on top of a hill that had about a million stairs. Oh maybe more than that. Especially in the heat and humidity and a 30 pound backpack filled with cool stuff from Stanley Market. (Yummy gelato purchased just below the stairs helped us prepare to ascend the aforementioned stairs.)

The views were amazing. Guess I’ll need to read up on Buddhism to find out more about the other statues we saw. Something else that was amazing – the little kids we saw everywhere. Talk about well behaved! NO temper tantrums. No rudeness. Wow! Parents acting like parents instead of best friends! Amazing!

After a little technical problem with the cable car system, we were able to go back down to the MTR station and then back to Kowloon. Got totally lost trying to get out of the station/mall and find a cab back to our hotel. We’d been all over the city – 2 islands and a peninsula not speaking Chinese but still able to communicate with our drivers - and got lost in a MALL. It’s my version of a nightmare come to life! Finally made good our escape (asked for directions).

Made it back to the hotel with barely enough time to shower, change and find a place to watch the light and laser show over Hong Kong Harbour. Happens every night at 8:05pm. Free too! Dinner and drinks were quite appreciated after such a long and busy day.

Took the train back from Kowloon to the Airport on Monday. It’s great. You can check in for your flight and check your luggage at the railway station, then pay HK$90 (like $10-12 US) and go straight to the airport with only your carry-on luggage! And your luggage makes it to its destination! THAT is efficiency. And they don’t charge you $15.00 per bag. Or care how much your carry-on weighs…

Till the next trip…LOL.