Our first romp in Asia, Part II

Work has been crazy lately, so I haven't had much free time.  But we got a few days off this week (well, I only got a couple days because work is so busy, but that's ok) for the Lunar New Year, which is an important holiday in Korea, so I thought I'd try to catch up on the blog.
So believe it or not, my last post about our Hong Kong trip only covered the first day.  And we didn't get there till evening.  So I've got plenty left to show you.

When we got up on Saturday, we found a nice McDonald's for breakfast.  I think our goal is to eat McDonald's in as many countries as possible.  Hey, don't knock it till you try it.  Or till you try kimchi, at least.

Then we walked to the Star Ferry to get a ride to the other side of Victoria Harbour, to Kowloon.  The ferry service began in the late 1800's and is a very affordable means of transportation across the harbour.  The cost of a one-way adult fare is about 38 cents.  And while those prone to seasickness can also inexpensively use the metro system to get to Kowloon from Hong Kong island now, it was really quite fun to ride the ferry.  And a very cheap attraction!



 Here are some shots of our walk to the Star Ferry.

 The Christmas decorations were a very welcomed sight!

This view is right as you're walking up to the harbour.

The tallest building on
the Hong Kong side

  



a Star Ferry Pier










A wedding party we stumbled across while exploring the pier.



This is quite a backdrop for a reception, wouldn't you say?  And the weather was perfect!



Crossing the harbour...

Once we reached Kowloon, we saw some more, er, interesting Christmas decorations...





Then we headed across Kowloon in search of several famous markets, and on the way we stumbled across an area known as 1881 Heritage.  In researching sights to see in Hong Kong, I had seen this particular sight mentioned several times.  It was on our list, but it was down towards the end, you know, sort of "if we have time we'll try to see this."  But we happened to pass right by it, so we stopped.  And I'm so glad we did.  It was such a fun spot.

What drew our attention in the first place was this huge tree that appeared to be growing out of a building.  Or else, the building was growing out of the tree.  You couldn't tell for sure at first glance.



Then we realized where we were, so we stopped to explore.  The site now called 1881 Heritage was formerly the Marine Police Headquarters, and it was declared a historical monument in '94 becauese it is one of the four oldest, still-standing government buildings in the city.  The main building was originally built in 1884, so personally I think the name is a little misleading, even if it is a palindrome.  The marine police used the building as their headquarters from its construction until 1996, except for a brief period in the early 1940's when it was used as a base by the Japanese navy during their occupation of Hong Kong.  The Japanese built an elaborate system of underground tunnels during their use of the site, but they have since been filled.

The site, including the adjacent Old Kowloon Fire Station, was redeveloped within the last decade into a hotel with restaurant and retail center.  It opened in 2009 as 1881 Heritage. 

 






 And they had a great Christmas display!

They had at least a dozen of these giant snow globe-looking displays, but fortunately for you, I've already had to update my online storage for this blog, so I'm not going to put them all up here.

But tell me these aren't the largest Tiffany's boxes you've ever seen!

And if you look really closely, you can see Blake and me in front

of 1881 Heritage in the refleciton on the Christmas ornament.

We liked the place so much, we made a point to come back after it was dark, when the whole area was lit up.  And it was quite a sight!



Ok, well, that's enough for now.  Looks like Hong Kong is going to be a 15-part post.  Check back later for pictures of the markets.