Saturday, June 1, 2019

Ferry Hot.

A colourful rain boat across the harbour.
Kowloon, Hong Kong – Perched atop wooden benches on the legendary Star Ferry, we bob like rubber ducks across Victoria Harbour to Kowloon. The trip costs about 33 cents.
The ferry has been in service since 1888 and carries 26 million passengers annually (or 70,000 a day). And, for the first time since we've arrived, the sun is out.

Last night's rains, however, have made the air woolly.

I’ve been surprised at how relatively quiet and unrushed Hong Kong has been for a major Asian city of 7.4 million people that is also the world’s fourth-most densely populated region. Saturday has changed that somewhat.

I have to imagine it's just a matter of the areas we have visited.

The day's Star.
Along Canton Road in Kowloon, lineups form in unwrinkled fabrics and cart wheeled luggage bags outside Hermès and Salvatore Ferragamo. They await the nod from black-suited security; I drip in a t-shirt.

I also imagine they would shoo me from the door. The sequined stores drawing daydream eyes are beyond my pay scale anyway.

The rising heat, paired with a looming fatigue from travel, has lowered our lids, cutting short our venture across the harbour. There will be no Temple Street Night Market for us this time.

Along the shore, two ladies sit with a large bag of Cheetos and a 1.5-litre bottle of red wine.

For today, that would be more my pace.

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