Honkers
Trip Start
Oct 30, 2005
1
80
122
Trip End
Ongoing
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Friday, June 2, 2006
We decided to catch the airport bus to the city centre and our chosen accommodation said that they would meet us at the bus stop - that was service! On the bus, we had views of the islands of Hong Kong through periods of rain. As we got closer to "Kowloon", the area opposite Hong Kong Island that we were staying, we didn't know where our stop was. Glenn asked the bus driver to let us know when we were at our stop, but after a while we wondered if he had forgotten. Asking again, he reassured us that he would tell us, and sure enough, we soon arrived at our stop. Jumping off, we met the representative of our accommodation and she led us into the building - a massive apartment block called "mirador mansion" filled with rooms within apartments
Downtown Hong Kong
. While we waited for a lift, we saw the name of our apartment block on one of the upper floors, but the lady told us, no we go to level 6.We followed her up and entered a different place within the same building! Strange. Enquiring about the place we booked, she said it was actually full, but she was the same lady we booked with and knew the price we had agreed, so we proceeded to see the rooms.
They were small (as expected - we were after budget rooms) but clean and had everything and more that we needed. It was actually quite a good price for Hong Kong (less than AU$40 for a double), but after the rest of our Asia travels, we knew we had some serious budget adjusting coming up for when we hit Europe.
Our discussions over the room were a little confusing... apparently they had a cheaper room available without windows, (which we didn't want) and something about people checking out later and we could another room later. We said we were happy with this room but maybe we can look later, as now we wanted to see the town as we only had a short visit in Hong Kong.
We made our way down to Victoria Harbour, with the dominant images along the way being many Indian salesmen approaching and saying "Rolex" and "watch, copy watch.. you want watch"! Quite a strange experience... it really brought us straight back to being in India.
The Harbour was quite spectacular, and Glenn took too many photos (at least according to Christie)
Harbour At Night (1)
. The rain had stopped and clouds filled the skyline, but the humidity was something else.After wandering along the harbour for a while, we headed back a different way towards the "Temple Street Market" - a night market, which we felt was filled with "tackorama" (in Christie's words). Lots of tacky souvenirs and not much that had much appeal to us. We also noticed the jump in prices compared to shopping in Bangkok and we were glad we had our shopping spree then. Still, there was a lot in common with mainland China, even though it was an expensive city. We noticed a gold cat with a waving arm... the same type that we had seen in China (and we still don't know what it means!)
On the way back, we called into a cheap diner for dinner where Glenn washed down noodles with a beer (Why not!). Back to our accommodation - we had a surprise waiting for us - they had changed our room on us! All of our stuff (which we had started to unpack) had been moved to a room with a double bed. What! We wondered if the earlier confusion caused this, but looking back to our old room, we saw two guys who probably didn't really want to share the double bed, so we didn't make a fuss.
The next morning we went searching for a place to eat breakfast
Harbour At Night (2)
. We found an "underground 70's diner", or at least that's what joked that it was like. Still the food was ok, even though the English translations left something to be desired. Making our way back to Victoria Harbour, ducking in and out of shopping centres to catch some of the air conditioning along the way (although Glenn's glasses fogged up each time we did this). We caught the ferry across to Hong Kong Island...and that's when the rain really started. Arriving across the harbour, we waited a while for the rain to ease and looked up towards the "Peak" - The place for a view over Hong Kong island. It was completely covered in black clouds and fog - there was no way to see the top, so the view from the top would be disappointing. We postponed this for (hopefully) clearer weather and found an internet cafe to enjoy a coffee and emails while the rain eased.
Deciding to get on the so-called "longest escalators in the world" (some 800m of escalators) we took them almost to the top up into Hong Kong Island, but besides the shops along the way, we came out in skyrise apartment suburbia. Huge apartment skyrise buildings surrounded us... with nothing else to see around. Not the best idea just jumping on the escalator. We decided to walk back, at least a different way and try to take in a few landmarks along the way. Passing a mosque, we walked down through the Botanical Gardens and came across the tram to the top of the "Peak". Looking up, the fog was worse than before, so we continued towards the harbour. We walked into the "Pacific Place" shopping centre - listed in the Lonely Planet as a good place to shop. But it was just like any shopping centre at home... it lacked the charm and appeal of the small markets that we had come to love
Harbour At Night (3)
. Getting a bite to eat and having a quick browse, we went to the waterfront in from of the exhibition centre. Christie was worn out by this stage (a lot of walking, the humidity and a lack of sleep) so she had a bit of a nap on a nearby bench (must of been a sight!) while Glenn enjoyed the harbour scene. We then walked around the exhibition centre (Glenn was searching for the best camera viewpoint!) and then caught the ferry back. This time we walked along the promenade along the seafront - quite amazing at night.
Ready for bed, we had one last thing to do - to email Pete (who we were going to catch up with in London) about our final flight details and where and when to meet. With the time difference we couldn't call, but in the technological world that is Hong Kong, do you think that we could find an internet cafe??? We asked around after covering several blocks and we received strange looks - this time not because they didn't understand us, but it seems that most people have their own computers and internet cafe's are not very common!
Finally several blocks from our accommodation we found one - but of course it was busy!
Harbour At Night (4)
After waiting, and checking our email - all was organised. Now very late we got back and tried to sleep - the next day we would be flying to London.In the morning, we had a little time before our flight, so back to our favourite 70's diner we went. Glenn wanted one last look at the harbour, so we went for a walk admist the rain. Yes another day with rain. Looking across, the "Peak" was still covered in cloud, and now the rain really started to pour down.
We returned to our hotel, then caught the airport bus to the airport. It was hard to see the road as the rain was pouring so hard. To make matters worse, our plane was out on the tarmac, and so we had to line up and get on a bus to take us out to the plane, all while the rain continued to pour down.
Still, its goodbye to Asia after 7 months... we are off for a new experience in Europe.
