Hong Kong
Today we arrived in Hong Kong. Our pier is very close to downtown Kowloon. The pier is large. 1.5 miles just to get off of the pier. We left about 8:30 am. Our first goal is to get our tickets printed for the concert. We can print them tonight at the venue but have been warned of huge crowds at the venue.
Our walk was past miles of construction. Lots of noise. Workers at full steam building away. We arrived at the building that contained the CityLine ticket machine. It was a huge office buildings with loads of stored. A man at the concierge desk help us find the machine. I entered the ticket number and password and two tickets printed. We were good. to go.
Our next goal was the Stanley Market place which is on the southern part of Hong Kong Island. The app I downloaded worked well in created all of the connections. Busses, trains, subway. The ride down to the market was uneventful but it did take over an hour to get there.
The market and surrounding area can be seen in these photos. We did some shopping and decided to have some lunch. We sat outside and enjoyed some Chinese food and a drink.
We sat for a while, and then decided that with the remaining time before the show tonight, it would be best to plan a route to dinner that we had booked at the Marriott Hotel right next to the AsiaWorld venue. We originally thought we would go back to the ship first but with the remaining time it didn’t make sense.
The Asia-World Expo center is on an island that contains the airport. We took a bus and then got on the subway. From the subway we took the airport express train. Estimated time to get there was 70 minutes but we got there much sooner than that. We were able to walk from the train station, through the expo center and to the Marriott without going outside. Everything was connected. The Expo center was massive.
We got to the Marriott and decided to rest up before happy hour. We then sat at the bar and had a drink. At 6 pm we decided to cancel the reservations we had at the Sky City Bistro and go upstairs to the Velocity Bar. We sat at the bar and had some great bar food. We also had a chance to play a game of pool.
At 7:15, we walked back over to the venue. 10 minute walk. We found our seats and waited for the concert to begin. People just kept coming in. By the time the show started, every seat was filled.
When Tom Jones came on stage, he walked like an 83 year old man. The crowd cheered.
He stood at the front of the stage and began with a number where he sings about getting old. It was quite moving. I have attached a video.
The second number was another tune with a similar story. By the third tune he was playing his hits from the 1960s. His voice was as good as ever. No cracking of notes. Good range. The only thing I could detect was an inability to hold onto notes for a long period of time. The endings were sudden drop offs and the band carried on.
The band was outstanding. I expected more instrumental solos but this was not the case. There were solos but fewer than I expected. He talked about his age, his friends are all gone. He is still recording and had a number one album last year. Towards the end of the night he played another tune called the Tower of Song. Another very moving piece about age.
People were dancing in the isles and having a great time. He did one encore set. Three tunes and he finished with Johnnie B. Goode. Before he did this, he told the story of how Elvis Presley invited him to see some “cat” named Chuck Berry. Elvis called him the “real” king of rock and roll. The band did an excellent job with this tune. I don’t think the Tom Jones vocal version is great. Just an opinion. The concert was a blast!
We took the train back to Kowloon station and then took a cab back to the pier. We were back in the room at about 11:30 pm. Long day.…