Wednesday – April 1, 2026 – Hong Kong
Today’s featured photo is from a street market not far from our hotel in Kowloon. This stop was not on the original or updated itinerary for today. The market looks similar to others we have seen but the produce is definitely Asian. More about the reason we are at the market later in this post.
We had a nice buffet breakfast, packed our bags, took them down to the bus and got ready for our day in Hong Kong. The itinerary we were given showed we would be visiting a temple, a garden and the observation deck (floor 100) of a skyscraper before returning to MSC Magnifica. We were told we would be stopping at a street market today before going to the temple. In Hong Kong residents visit fresh markets as often as twice a day primarily because they do not have the space in their homes to store food. The population density of Hong Kong is over 18,000 per square mile so homes are small! While walking through the market we saw a fruit we have yet to try – durian. We saw this in the Philippines and most recently in Penang. If you’re paying attention, you can see that I didn’t get this post written for a week after we left China – Penang was 4 ports past Hong Kong!
As we walked from the market to our bus we saw a section of town that offers every type of massage you can imagine. There are a couple photos of this area in the gallery. There was even a price list for multiple massage types on the side of a building. None of us, however, had the time to take advantage of this service.
The bus drove us to Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple nestled on the side of a hill. As we walked to the temple from the bus parking we noticed a four-story structure with bright colored walls. These were quarantine units that were constructed during COVID. They were used to isolate sick individuals from the general population. Each unit has isolated utilities and a private entry door so there is minimal mixing of the sick. The government still uses the units for those who have need but no finances to isolate due to sickness. If you click on the temple link, you can read about the history of the grounds and some of the Taoist beliefs. The buildings were brightly colored and the burning incense sticks impart a nice odor to the temple grounds. Kelsey went to an area within the temple where prayers can be left near a Buddha by tying red string to hanging ropes. You’ll find stills and a video of this area in the gallery.
When the bus was loaded and we began to drive to the Nan Lian Garden, several of the passengers began asking when we would visit the observation deck of the ICC building (as listed in the itinerary). The guides advised we would not be going there because it was being refurbished. Jan looked up the building on the Internet and found that the construction work was begun in 2025 and wasn’t expected to be finished until the Summer of 2026. THOSE WHO SET OUR ITINERARY KNEW WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO VISIT THE ICC BUILDING BUT DID NOTHING TO ADVISE US! These revelations made most of those on the tour quite upset – QUITE UPSET!!! The guides said they would check to see what could be done to provide us with an in-the-air view of Hong Kong.
Didn’t take long to drive from the temple to Nan Lian Garden. I’m not familiar with gardens but this one illustrates Tang-style landscaping. Walking in the garden was relaxing. In the center of such a crowded city I can understand why people would come here to unwind. One of my favorite photos from Hong Kong is from this garden – it includes water, an orange bridge, sculptured trees and a yellow structure with two levels of ornate roofs.
Back on the bus our guides said they had contacted someone with authority to offer a solution to the ICC building issue. They said we could extend our bus tour to take us to the harbor so we could look at the skyline from the harbor. In no way does that replace looking at Hong Kong from the 100th floor of the ICC building but we didn’t have any other options for a replacement. We drove to the harbor and viewed it from a location near a world famous hotel – The Peninsula.
We drove to the dock and boarded MSC Magnifica – home again! The afternoon was spent unpacking and grabbing something to eat from the buffet. We also had to arrange to surrender our passports and clear Hong Kong immigration by going to the cruise terminal with officers of the ship to verify we were passengers on the World Cruise (got lots of steps doing that).
The sail away from Hong Kong was 10:00 pm. There are many buildings around the harbor that have LED screens on their surfaces so we were given a light show as we made our way out of the harbor and into the South China Sea.
We had a memorable time the last 4 days in China. We saw amazing sights and ate new and enjoyable food. We also decided we will try to avoid larger tour groups like this one (32 passengers) especially if the dominant language is NOT English. Our off-ship excursion last year in Australia with 9 passengers was much more to our liking.
Gallery for today is here.