[Rockhounds] China!

[Nathan Martin]

Flint,
I visited Hong Kong about 10 years ago when my son was working over there.
The Urban Council had a publication entitled Hong Kong minerals that I
purchased to try to scout things out but I never got very far.  There also
are a series of Hong Kong Geological Survey memoirs that discuss the geology
of various districts including Lantau.  A lot of geological work has been
done there - perhaps because they have had so many problems with landslides
in the past.

I do remember that the boats to the island of Lantau dock at Silver Mine Bay
and it is called that for obvious reasons.  There also are hiking maps of
Lantau and a geology professor at the University of Hong Kong told me that
he had come across an old mine dump while hiking in the hills above Silver
Mine Bay.

If you want to do some hiking and perhaps have a shot at some self-collected
Hong Kong minerals that may be your best bet.

One thing to make sure that you do when in Hong Kong is to ride one of those
double decker buses that goes from downtown Hong Kong over the mountainous
interior to Repulse Bay (there is a neat Budhist temple there).  Sit in the
top level in the very front of the bus and hang on.  Its scenic and more
exciting than most of the rides at Disneyland!

Have a great trip!
Nate Martin
Lexington, MA


On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 9:36 PM, Flint Smith <flint...smith at sbcglobal.net>wrote:

> I'm off to China!  Can anyone tell me where to go or what places are
> must-see?
>
>
> Will I find bargains there, or am I better off just going to Tuscon?
>
> The itinerary is that we start in Shanghai, fly to Beijing, train to Xian,
> boat to Xiyang, fly to Lahsa Tibet, fly back to Chongqing China, and cruise
> to Hong Kong.
>
> Not a lot of Rockhound activities on the list other than scoping out the
> Three Gorges and visiting a jade factory in Xian.  We do have free days
> pretty much everywhere and Plenty of time in Hong Kong at the end.
>
> One thing I could especially use help with... I'm limited to 44 pounds of
> baggage...how do I ship things back to the States?  Is it expensive?  Is
> there anything like the USPS Flat-rate box that will hold big hunks of
> stone?
>
> Thanks
>
>


--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
---