Private Tour Number 366 of 2,324 on 22nd August 2012

Me Jamie, English and 52 years living in Hong Kong and I know the know the place - I personally completed 2,324 Private Tours (6,000+ guests) from 2011 - 2020 and was considered one of the finest Private Tour Guides in Asia.

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The Day I did a Private Tour of Hong Kong with a Famous Princess and her daughter and yes it will be a day I will never forget.

I was a pioneer of Private Tours of Hong Kong, putting up my website in 2010 and doing my first tour in April of 2011, I completed 2,324 private tours of Hong Kong before Covid in January 2020 destroyed my business as Hong Kong was literally closed to tourists for 3 years.

I have some amazing memories of my time as a Private Tour Guide not least of which was the day I did a tour with a Princess on August 22nd 2012.

Not just any Princess I might add, the young lady in question is very famous and glamorous I might add in her own right and what makes the story interesting is I had absolutely no idea she was a Princess until I was 5 hours into a 6 hour tour.

I made a promise to the Princess after I dropped the party back at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong that I would not directly reveal her identity, I could take pictures but not of the Princess and her daughter (this was before I knew she was a Princess) I felt that to be a reasonable request.

Let me be clear, I was one of the few Private Guides in Hong Kong who wrote what I call an after tour report with all the relevant details of the guest (s) the itinerary and any notes of anything of interest and yes, I did that 2,324 times! this is how I am able to recollect even small details many years later.

As usual I digress.

The booking was made by email a week before the tour and as usual there was little information provided other than it was a party of 4 adults and one small child, the day of the tour was set to be quite ugly, very cloudy, no sunshine, a threat of heavy rain, humid and about 33oC.

The tour start time was 10am and as usual I arrived 30 minutes early as I always enjoy people watching in Hotel Lobbies and the Four Season’s Hotel has a very, very nice lobby.

One thing stood out in the lobby and that was 4 gentleman in suits and sunglasses walking around and every now and then they would look me over, I figured someone rich and famous was staying at the Hotel and dismissed the thought, nothing unusual about that. (My guests always know what I look like as my image is very prominent on my website)

At 9.55am my guests arrived in the lobby, 4 females and one very young toddler.

Three of the guests where from the Middle East and there was one young lady from New Zealand who was the nanny for the toddler, they had no specific requests, they mentioned they would like to see the Big Buddha on Lantau Island but the weather put paid to that so was left up to me sort out the plan for the day.

As we where chatting the Princess opened up her LV bag and it was like the movies, there was was 3 huge wads of brand new HK$1,000 notes (US$128) - again nothing unusual.. at that point it was mentioned that they were not interested in luxury boutique shopping but any sort of market would be great.

Stanley I thought, Stanley market is rather famous (much maligned but famous nonetheless) and after another 5 minutes we had agreed on the itinerary and it was made clear that public transport would be great and I was in charge!!

So off we went.

One thing I learnt over the years is that tours with toddlers go very, very slowly, the nanny had 3 large bags of supplies with her and before we even left the hotel I was left carrying the bag or in this case the toddler - basically for much of the 6 hour tour I was carrying the Princesses toddler.

So we got on the bus to Stanley which is just a few minutes walk from the Hotel and off we went to Stanley, we snagged the seats at the front on the upper deck of the bus and had a great time.

I like Stanley a lot, the bus ride really sets up the tour with the magnificent scenery along the way (Island South has some very fine beaches and awesome views) and by the time we arrived it was decided that lunch was on the agenda so we had a very nice meal at quite a fancy restaurant where we chatted (a lot) and not once was it mentioned that I was on tour with royalty, the ladies where very down to earth, very talkative and it seems loving the experience and I had the toddler in my lap!

After lunch we hit the pier and the promenade, oh and Murray House for some photo opportunities before making our way to Stanley Market and boy did they shop, Stanley market is like a giant flea market but instead of stalls it is shops selling all manner of what I call stuff, it is not for me to judge peoples shopping habits, for everyone that wants to shop in a luxury boutique there is someone else who wants to go to a market (I had a guest once drop US$50,000 on Pearls at a famous Pearl shop and another guest who bought a US$40,000 Rolex in cash)

The Royal Party shopping in Stanley

We made our way through the market very slowly and the purchases were beginning to add up and then we came to the linen shop and a fashion boutique next door.

I was told I could wait outside (with the nanny and the toddler) as they may well be a while! the toddler was still in my arms, she simply would not let go and as a father of 3 I know all about that… anyway I was chatting with the Nanny who it seems was bursting to tell me something so I asked her, ie what was so funny? in a nutshell she said “you have no idea who they are do you?” to which I replied “err, no”

..so she spilled her guts, I was with a Princess, another young lady (whose status I was not apprised of) and her Mother in Law and of course the Princesses daughter.

Well I was for once in my life speechless and when I got over the shock I told the Nanny “and I took them on a double decker bus!” it was made quite clear that despite her title and her families enormous wealth she really was a down to earth person who loved been treated like a normal person, she always preferred not to reveal her identity as she had found that people always treated her differently knowing she was a Princess., that I can understand, I had almost fainted.

Anyway, the shopping expedition was soon over, we had so many bags of shopping it was decided that we would get 2 taxi’s back to the Hotel, 3 ladies in one, myself the Princess and her daughter in another and we had a lovely conversation on the way back and I could not help myself, I told her “as Princesses go you are rather gorgeous” she thought that to be very funny! but it is true!

… and that was not all, on arriving back at the Hotel we were greeted by her 4 bodyguards who had followed us in a car all the way there and back and who had discreetly shadowed us in Stanley, boy, where they good, I saw no sign of them despite their appearance. they were very professional and friendly and thanked me for showing the Princess and her companions around.

…. and yes, they had checked me out prior to the tour and yes, I was given a generous tip.

12 years on and I still remember the day as if it had happened yesterday, I really learnt a lot that day mainly about the importance of not judging my guests, I met many famous and very wealthy people over 2,324 tours and I treated everyone the same, I had one aim and one aim only and that was to simply give them the very best tour of Hong Kong or as I like to say, a lifetime of memories.

Below is just a partial list of my private tour guests and their rather diverse occupations, I completed 2,324 Private Tours of Hong Kong in just 9 years with almost 60% of these private tours being 6 - 8 hours long and the ability to talk to so many wonderful people from all walks of life is a gift I acquired, I had over 6,000 guests, not bad for one person!

I have done private tours with so many wonderful people who have the following diverse occupations:-

A REAL Princess, Very close relatives of a US President!, One Star Admiral of the US 7th Fleet, Nuclear Missile Operations Officer (Missileer) for the USAF, Plumbers, Postman, Supplier of ALL frozen burger pattie’s to McDonalds, Nuclear Sub Commanders, Farmers, Chip Shop Owner, Teachers, Pulitzer Prize Award Winning Journalists, Photocopier Repair Guys, Lawyers, Rocket Scientists, Movie Producers, Consul Generals, Police Officers, Homicide Detectives, Travel Agents, House Keepers, Linguists, Retired and Serving CIA Officers, Fighter Pilots, Army and Navy Guys, Socialites, Students, Judges, Journalists, Software Geeks, Nuclear Power Plant Inspectors, Surgeons, Doctors, Forensic Pathologists, Nurses, Coroners, Venture Capitalists, Hospice Directors, Town Planners, Accountants, Psychiatrists, Nuclear Physicists, Professional Athletes, Ferry Captains, Commercial Pilots, Airline Crew, Social Workers, Veterinarians, Musicians, Theme Park Executives, Professional Photographers, College Professors, Gaming Geeks, Inland Revenue Tax Officials, American Airforce B 52 Bomber Pilot, Senior Engineer / Ballistic Missiles, Bodyguards, Beer Salesmen, Park Rangers, Scuba Diving Instructors, Popcorn Machines Makers, Coastguard Officers, Firemen, Structural Geologists, Veterinarians, Architects, Surveyors, Hooters Waitress, Dentists, Ski Instructors, Civil Engineers, Air Traffic Controllers, Electricians, Top Law Professor's at major US Universities, Librarians, Steel Guys, Economists, Homemakers, Novelists, Book Publishers, Currency Traders, Carpenters, a Rabbi, Boiler Maker, Strawberry Farmers, Food Bloggers, Morticians, Financial Advisers, Corporate Video Makers, Private Investigators, Bounty Hunters, Chiropractors, Air Traffic Controllers, Builders, Stonemasons, Botanists, Dog Sitters, Spy, Geneticists, Interpol Agents, Prison Food Suppliers, Radio Announcers, Military Cryptologists, Forklift Drivers, Locksmiths, Icecream maker, Pastry Chef, Baker, Zoo Keepers, Explosives Experts, DEA Agents, Coffee Traders, Diamond Buyers, Wedding Photographers, Google Guru's, Geologists, Professor of Medieval History, Navy Chef's, Camp Site Operators, Animal Embalmers, Telecomms Engineers, Helicopter Pilots, Oil Industry Divers, Navy Seals, Editor for USA Today, Landscape Gardeners, Mary Kay Super Agents, Hotel Owners, TV Actors, Optometrists, Gourmet Chef's, Acclaimed Plastic Surgeons, Barristers, Travel Bloggers, Politicians, Funeral Home Directors, Former Gang Member, Anthropologist, Children's Book Author, Geophysicist, Chicken Artist, Priest, Movie Makeup Artist, Expert Witness, Bail Bondsman, Opera Singer, Master Brewer, Child Prodigy, Debt Collector, Victoria Secrets Store Manager, Head of a major Charity, Celebrity TV Talking Heads (!), Fortune 500 CEO's, Corporate Trainer, Futures Trader, Waitress (quite a few) General Manager of a Worm Bait Company, Owner of a RV Dealership, Convenience Store Owner, Owner of an Amusement Game Manufacturer, Elephant Conservationists, Chemist, High School Students, Crematorium Operator, Concert Pianist, Vet from Honduras, Hair Stylist for a Funeral Home, Calendar Maker, Pedicab Operator, Poets, F16 Fighter Pilot USAF, Steve Jobs Doctor, Major US Democratic Politician, Big cheese Executives from HBO and CBS, Famous journalist and a Journalism Professor, former Secret Service Agent, Famous Rare Coin and Stamp Collector, Major Charitable Foundation Owner ... and some really, really senior people from J. P. Morgan, Starbucks, United Airlines, Boeing, Google and Microsoft.

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Led by Jamie, a dedicated Hong Kong specialist and resident for 52 years, the experience covers many aspects of Hong Kong's identity, spanning its time under both British and Chinese rule.