We arrived at the Hong Kong airport and made it through a very long line at immigration. We were met by our guide, Randy who walked us to the bus and then we drove to the hotel. The Regal Riverside is a very nice hotel. It will be one of the host hotels when the Equestrian events for the 2008 Olympics are held in Hong Kong. After checking into o...

Here are some stories from the forums about getting China visas: 1. For L (tourist) visas, they are requiring much more than the "published" restrictions (tickets & hotel confirmations). It's just the tip of the iceberg When I arrived at the Chinese embassy in Bangkok with all these new documents, they then asked for copies of citizen ID cards o...

The short, hustling Chinese lady in beige carves a path for the awkwardly laden Englishman through the crowded Guilin street. Into a manic bus station and a loud argument in Chinese between my fixer and the bus depot manager. Agreement reached, I am lead through a back entrance and put on a sleeper service to Guangzhou. An old bus converted to h...

I get into Hong Kong bright and early and head right to the Kerins' house, where my first view of the impressive skyline of Hong Kong came from their living room window, which proved unbeatable from any other angle. The Kerins' apartment is located in the mid-levels, which is high above the innumerable sky-scrapers down by the waterside. SarahJo...

14 hours in a plane packed full - ouch! To improve the flying experience, the russians closed part of their airspace which added another 30 minutes to the joyful experience. Sadly, it is dark so I cannot see the city. There is just a 3 hour layover and then board the plane to manila. One last thought - Hollywood has turned out the worst movies i...

Another big commercial and modern metropole swallowed by big China. Hong Kong is nice and feels safe. Kowloon island and Hongkong island are easy and fast to cross, by taxi or by the ferry. We shared a taxi with another couple on the ship - by the way a couple we ended up becoming friends with - and by coincidence she used to live in Hong Kong f...

The guidebook lists the Big Buddha at the Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island as one of the ten 'must-sees'. So we went and we saw. He was big. World's largest oudoor seated Buddha... An efficient ride on the spotless MTR then a memorable ride on a local bus around narrow hillside roads got us there. Over 85 feet high, cast in over 200 pieces of b...

starting from hongkong at 1:10 of 30 apr 2007, transfor at doha and then fly to istanbul.

I've got rotten jet-lag and I'm dripping with sweat even at 6 in the morning. There will be 2 or 3 changes of clothes today. There's nobody around to disturb my bleary observation of Hong Kong this morning. My body feels pretty rotten, truth be known, but somehow it's ok, because this is one of my favourite cities on earth. Not even the near dis...

Our final day in Hong Kong was devoted to shopping. Our first (and only) mistake of the day was not realising that the shops don't open till at least 11am and in most cases 1pm. The Mong Kok district is the place for bargains but it is no place for the faint hearted. There are three streets about 1km long each. One is for the electronics bargain...