Hong Kong HONG KONG — It was a dark and = stormy night (seriously!) when the big Boeing dropped its right wing over Kowloon and swept down on to the wet runway of Kai Tak airport. Biaviel Wishart ‘ x pais ee We had been held up by fierce headwinds and were just inside the midnight curfew. En route to my hotel I asked the driver if aircraft sometimes had to divert. He said yes, particularly during typhoon season. ‘‘What usually happens is thet the aircsaft make one attempt to land but if they don’t land the first time they will divert. But Cathay Pacific different. They aiways come home.” You could tell he liked the airline, And his car, a shiny Mercedes, which he drove like Fangio. And his cellular phone, barking in Canionese to tell the hotel your agent was in transit. We zoomed through the cross- harbor tunnel (a typical Hong Kong success story, it paid for itself in six months) and soon were sweeping into the driveway of the Island Shangri-La. It is Hong Keng’s newest and tallest luxury hotel, 56 storeys of glass, marble and hope. in Hong Kong, where investors aim to get their money back in five years, these people are cutting it a bit fine. Next dvor are another two hotels, the Conrad and the Mar- rictt (for a total of 1,500 rooms), and below three caverzious floors of shops, restaurants and a walkway to the Admiralty MT. (xz. ass transit railway) station. In short order the downtown Centrai_ district has taken 2 leap towards Causeway Ray and the new complex, called Pacific Place, has become a destination in itself. Hong Kong, like most big cities, is a series of villages, and the local tourist association has cleverly recognized this by producing a series of walking tour booklets. One of these beautifully pro- duced guides gave me an absorb- ing moming poking around Cen- tral and the Western District. Did you knew, for example, that rickshaws were first designed and produced by an American missionary living in Japan? Wing On Street is a bazaar sell- ing every kind of fabric, while Wing Sing Street has 100-year-cld S. Wing Lok has medicine shops, rattan, and in Man Wa Lane ! found the chop, or seal carve _, a tradition going back to 1300 BC, be 2 Bleod Donor “iF The Canackan Hed Cross Seoety when chops were first used for personal identification. Bonham Strand has snake shops, locally considered excelle~" cating as well as a tenic for the blood during coid winter months. Western Market has been restored and hums along like a scaled down Covent Garden in London. Along the odustling streets, perhaps stopping for a cup of tea, the trail leads to the wedding shops, coffin shops, the tranqui! Man Mo temple, Ladder Street and Cat Street, the latter 2 flea market. In Chinese, odds and ends are known as ‘“‘mouse goods’’ and “TRAVEL is a wonderland for the senses Sunday, June 14, 1992 —- North Shore News - && “CATS” GO up Ladder Street in Hong Korg in search of bargains. those who buy and sesel!l them are “‘cats.”” 't’s all in the book, ample proof it Hong Keng is more than opping. But Gon’t expect to find bargains everywhere. I priced a fax machine and it was no cheaper than London Drugs in Vancouver. Like any hotel, the Island Shangri-La doesn’t like to get tipped off, so a card in the room says that the bathrobes cost HK$550. It then goes on to list the prices of the ashtrays, desk blotter, bathroom scales, even the wel- come tca set, which you are clear- ty not welcome to take with you. But that’s Hong Kong, all business. In the elegant marbled lobby of the Island Shangri-La a Chinese woman ushers her children to afternoon tea, a cellular phone in the pocket of her expensive leather bag. Almost everyone seems to have one here, and if you are a nobody you can always buy a ‘phoney’ for $25 which is just that — the plastic case with nothing inside. When it’s time to leave J take a glass elevator down the open atrium core of the hotel, affording a view of a masterpiece of a huge silk painting made in Beijing. At check-out I learn the hotel is full. The Mercedes is waiting, the When it comes to soaking up Seattle's summer fun, the Westin is our home away from home. Ourneighbors are places like Pike Place [aod Market, Westlalee Center and the Summer P: a " 5th Averne Theatre. This year, The Westin's gc will even save us money on some of our favorite things xy 0 todo. Lhe and summerliving is casyin our view room witha i) pool and sundeck only steps away. To reserve your summer phsce at The Westin, just call their Vacation Desk at (206) 728-1000 or toll-free at 1-806-228-3000. THE WéesTIN HOTEL Seattle Photo submitied night is fine. 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