Early on Wednesday morning, well before we woke up, the Volendam reached its berth at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal and the whir of the mooring line motors sort of woke us out of a drowsy sleep. Since we're continuing on for another 28 days we were in no hurry to get up and get going. Plus we had to change rooms. Since the LIDO closed for breakfast at 9:30am, my goal was to make it there before closing. And I made the goal after overseeing the transfer of our goods to the new room. We ate breakfast with Katie and Dennis and each of us shared our day's plans. It turned out that both of us couples were planning to take the MTR into Kowloon before departing on separate adventures.
It took 3 tries to get a room key card that would work, but the transfer of luggage went smoothly. While the new bed was made, the room still needed finishing touches of cleaning. But that was okay as we were planning to be gone for the entire day. We could always unpack later when we returned and that was what we did.
It's a really long walk to get off the ship at this terminal. Once we were through the non-existent immigration check, it was another long walk to the free shuttle that would take us to a shopping mall that was also the location for the Kwun Tong MTR subway station. I had changed some money at the ship's front desk which was enough to purchase MTR Octopus cards (be sure if you are over 65 to ask for the senior card, which is only $70HKG, We did add another $50 to each card. Any unused amount is refundable except for $9HK or a little over a dollar. Our ride clear across town only cost $2HKG or about $0.30US. The 4 of us successfully navigated our first rides on the Hong Kong MTR including a transfer. We felt like victors in a battle after having accomplished the ride.
We said our goodbyes to Dennis and Katie and pointed them to the waterfront while we headed the opposite direction to the Museum of Science. We visited it a couple times last year, and decided we wanted to visit it again. Since we're familiar with the street layout of Hong Kong, we walked the side streets and looked for pie since today was national Pi day (3.14). We enjoyed a bakery pie, a KFC custard pie, a bakery chicken pie, a McDonald's apple pie and after a visit to the Temple Street night market, an excellent seafood pizza at Pizza Hut.
At the Science museum, they had an excellent exhibition on graphene which a pair of Nobel prize winning scientists accidentally discovered using simple adhesive tape to remove one atom layer from graphite rock. Google it, it's a fascinating story. We did a quick tour of the museum and stopped to view the Energy Machine which is a four story high demonstration of energy using 9" balls on cleverly designed tracks.
We wandered our way to the Temple Street Night Market and purchased a few items including some inexpensive net travel vests and a few other items.
After our pizza dinner, we found our way to the Jordan street station, and we retraced our steps back to the shopping mall where the MTR station was located. And who did we run into? Dennis & Katie, plus another couple who didn't know their way back to the boat via the shuttle bus. We enjoyed sharing with each other about what we did during the day.
Back on board the ship, two different ladies stopped me for tour advice. I was beginning to feel like I had "Tour Guide" tattooed on my forehead. But maybe it was the "Dam Ships" hat I was wearing. We unpacked and went up to the LIDO for one last Pi treat: I had pizza and Angela had Pi kiche. Of course we chased it down with a chocolate chip cookie which was pie shaped.
And so our first day in Hong Kong ended well. I wonder what we'll do tomorrow. As in transit guests, we don't have to do the mandatory face to face immigration inspection so we can stay out until 4pm. The mandatory safety drill is at 4:15pm and we'll set sail shortly threreafter. Stay tuned for more of our adventures. We're not certain what we'll do. But I can assure you we will follow our guiding principle: Just show up.
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