Hong Kong 1
Trip Start
Sep 03, 2007
1
185
220
Trip End
Jun 17, 2009
Hong Kong,
China
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
We go up escalators and along corridors, following the numerous misleading signs until we find our onwards check-in desk for Cathay Pacific, over half a mile away. Bangkok airport is about twelve months old, very modern and still ironing out the snags.
Checked in, without luggage (which should be transferred from one airline in one terminal to another airline in another terminal - any one want to place a bet now?) we go for a drink before the final security check. As this is Bangkok, once you're in the departure lounge there's no way you can get a drink during the waiting time before you board your plane , so we delay our final stage.
We eventually go to the departure lounge and on the tv are reports of civil unrest and riots in Bangkok city, with police firing tear gas and at least one person killed. Looks like we picked a good time to leave the country.
The flight is on time and we board our Boeing 777 for Hong Kong. A reasonable meal and some leg room makes it quite a pleasant flight, the only interest being when another airliner passes level with us, some distance away, going in the opposite direction. I always thought that aircraft going in different directions were separated by several thousands of feet - maybe not?
It is dark when we touch down in Hong Kong at the enormous new airport of 'Chep Lap Kok', built on an artificial island in the sea. We walk hundreds of metres down corridors until we see a sign indicating that baggage and customs are another fifteen minutes walk away! Next to the sign is an escalator leading to 'train station'. We join the crowds and board a subway train, getting off a few minutes later and onto another escalator to 'immigration'. Many long queues stretch to the entry desks but these are quickly and efficiently reduced, until a polite immigration officer clears us for entry into Hong Kong, the 'Special Administrative Region of China'.
Walking straight into the baggage claim area we join nearly three hundred people for the 'baggage game'. Anyone place a bet before? Well, the carousel rolls and it's one, two..three, a good start.
Out through the group of hovering customs officers and in the arrivals hall we spot our old friend Harry waiting for us. He used to work in HK a few years ago and has come back to meet us and show us round. It was great to arrive somewhere and see a friend from home. Over a couple of beers we start to catch up and formulate visiting ideas.
Eventually time to go and we have the first day planned. As he is staying in a different part of HK we go off to catch the airport express train with our luggage on an airport trolley and with a little help from a friendly baggage porter, who puts our smallest bag on the train, we unload the bigger ones and I go to lose the trolley. There is a sudden shriek as the train doors start to close, with us and two bags still on the platform! The handler manages to open the doors and we grab our bags and dive on the train, the doors slam again and we shoot out of the station into the night, towards the main part of the city.
Hong Kong is basically the southern part of the Chinese mainland (an area called 'the New Territories'), running into a tip (making up 'Kowloon'), with the large 'Hong Kong Island' to the south. The whole area is interconnected with amazing bridges and tunnels and as we pass through the myriad of high rise blocks, in the brightly lit city, we are intrigued by this concentration of buildings and people.
From the express terminus we catch a taxi for ten minute drive to our hotel. Checking in we use our credit card for hotel surety and get back a 'declined' report. NOT AGAIN !!!! This is also happening with the new card sent out from England specially, two months ago. We use a fallback card and then find out that the hotel do not have a double room available for us. "Booking problem", "did not receive room request information" is the reason. I produce my travel agent's confirmation sheet issued three months ago in Australia as proof. "Oh" is the stonewall response. "Maybe have another room tomorrow afternoon".
It's now 1130pm and we accept the room available. In the room I phone the bank to see what's happening with the cards. "Oh yes, cards were declined this morning because the last hotel put the wrong number in. The cards have been blocked." " If they put the wrong number in, how does it know to block my cards?' Why were the cards declined in Bangkok over a week ago?" The 'help desk agent' can only follow his programmed patter. "You need to go to an atm, check your balance and unblock your pin. That'll do it."
We were having this problem back in June in New Zealand, as atm's in this part of the world are different to the uk and you cannot do this. 'Help desk' assures me this will work, I ask him to log my doubts and he hangs up. This five minute phone call has cost me thirteen British pounds!
Wednesday October 8th.
We're up at 7am, showered, breakfast and carry our bags back to reception where they are put in storage. I go with my valuables bag for a safe deposit box but none are big enough. The clerk says she will put the bag in storage but when I question the security, she cannot answer and phones somebody. 'Somebody' tells her to ask me to sign a disclaimer of the hotel's responsibility. When I refuse she phones someone else. Suddenly "Oh, room available" is the response. I tell her that the room is not available until this afternoon, "No room available now". Isn't that surprising - give them the problem back and suddenly there's a solution.
We go back to reception and get our room key and ask for our luggage to be brought out of storage. They say they'll send it up and after ten minutes it arrives and is then unloaded by a porter, who hovers for a tip. He is lucky to receive only a polite 'thankyou' and exits by closing the door quite firmly. Our introduction to oriental efficiency has not been a good one.
We are now late in meeting Harry and catch a taxi to the 'Wanchai" ferry terminal, where we board a Star Ferry, the famous boats that cross back and forth across Hong Kong Harbour. We pay using an 'octopus card', a credit rechargeable card used to pay for the HK integrated transit system by waving it over sensor pads on trains, buses and ferries. The harbour is buzzing with all sorts of traffic and our ten minute crossing is very interesting, although there is not a good view of the city's waterfront buildings due to a cloud haze. The temperature is a cooler mid 20's.
Over a coffee we made further plans with Harry and the first priority was to apply for visas for China, something we had not been able to do in Oz due to the restrictions caused by the Olympic games. At the application office we completed all the paperwork and left our passports and photos. Should be ready Monday afternoon.
Next was to visit a tailor to order some trousers and a jacket for Norah. The tailor, also named 'Mr Harry', advised and then measured her. Decisions made and not being in a rush, we arranged to return Monday afternoon.
I had also been trying my credit card in different bank ATM's, looking for the 'unblock pin' facility. As in most other parts of the east this option just is not available. It would tell me how much credit I had but I still couldn't use any of it! As a last experiment I tried to withdraw a (small) amount of cash from my 'blocked' credit card account. No problem, how much do you want and out it comes!
A quick pub lunch, then we decide to catch the MTR (mass transit railway) for a ride out to the 'Gold Coast' area of HK. The modern, clean fast and frequent service whisked us north out of the city to 'Tsuen Wan', a crowded, high rise area. From the station, a taxi took us to the Gold Coast area, another modern area of smart, high rise apartments on the coast. At a local bar we found canned 'Boddingtons' beer and had to check it out! This was a favourite watering hole for many ex-pats, a lot of them now being resident in HK.
A delicious dinner was at a next door, Thai restaurant and late in the evening we caught a bus for a forty minute run back to the Island, with all the bridges and buildings illuminated. As we were almost back it started to rain heavily and we finally arrived at the hotel in a taxi.
Thursday 9th October
We had arranged to meet Harry at the 'Central' ferry piers and caught a taxi to Pier 6, where we all caught the ferry to 'Lantau Island'. The one hour trip west took us through the busy harbour and amongst all the ferries, container ships and cargo boats until we reached 'Silver Mine Bay'. En route we could see an enormous new bridge being built across a section of the harbour, the edges of each side reaching out to each other high over the water. Here we took a bus along the island to the 'Po Lin Monastery', a big Buddhist temple and the site of the huge 'Big Buddha' on the top of a nearby hill.
Here Harry introduced us to 'pocari sweat', an ion based drink that replaces the minerals lost in sweating. He reckons it was addictive but I'm not convinced. It did refresh us though.
After walking round the site we caught a bus back to a nearby restaurant that Harry had visited before. Sorry - closed today. Aardvarks! We caught another bus that slowly ground its way up the steep sopes and over the top of the island and down the other side towards the new airport. A scenic aerial cable car had been built from near the airport to the monastery and this route ran sharply down the hillside.
It was now late afternoon and we found a Spaggheti House and enjoyed a late pasta lunch. We then parted and returned back to the hotel by MTR.
Friday 10th October.
An acclimatisation day. We decided not to have breakfast in the hotel and set out into the busy streets to look for somewhere to eat. Most of the window menus were in Chinese and appeared to be stews, rice and fish - no change there then. On the way I made a dentist appointment for a filling problem and we called into a hairdresser for haircuts / trims. Mine experienced one of those 'lost in translation' moments when I asked for an 'American No 3, all over'. " Ha, yes, OK" came the reply. It was neat and thorough, a little too thorough and I came out with a (severe) trim that Bruce Willis would have been proud of!
Farther down the street we found a restaurant, sort of Chinese / Italian and enjoyed eggs on toast, especially after we'd had the eggs recooked when they came clear and runny.
We visited a branch of the major HK bank and talked to an advisor about their atm system. No, there is definitely no 'unblock pin' facility available anywhere in China. So credit card saga continues.
Back out onto the streets, chock a block with shops and we wanted a ride on a tram. The trams here ran down the middle of the road and all seemed to be relics from old English seasides. We boarded a (packed) one and it set off towards the city Central area. I was expecting a scenic city ride but chugging along in the choked (and sometimes choking) city traffic, hemmed in by great tower blocks and wall to wall shops was not a very 'scenic' experience. After forty five minutes our tram turned round and started to head back. This was enough for us and we got off for a coffee and cake in one of the many coffee houses.
In the early afternoon we used the tram to backtrack towards the 'Hong Kong gardens', a big park area where we walked round the pleasant lake and garden area, noting the signs that warned us not to approach the snakes that were in the area but to seek help from a garden official!
Just up the steep road was the 'Peak Tram Station', where the cable drawn trams were dragged up the hillside to 'The Peak', the highest view point over Hong Kong. For an extra ten pounds we could have visited 'Madame Tussaud's Hong Kong', but we decided to pass on that one!
The original tram was built over 100 years ago to take people out of the hot city and up to the cool Peak area. The modern version is still cable drawn and ascends on slopes up to 60 degrees to a shop and restaurant area. These guys don't miss a chance when it comes to making money! The tram stops and we take five sets of escalators up to the roof viewing platform - access costs extra.
Here there are great views over Hong Kong Island, the harbour, Kowloon across the water and to the north. It is quite hazy, or smoggy as we find out later caused by the industrial pollution blown down from China, something that is normal here and prevents any kind of distant views. We watched the city and especially the boat traffic of all shapes and sizes that bustles all around the harbour.
We intended to see the night views and as it was very warm (around 30 deg) on the viewing platform, we descended to the restaurant area and guess what we found? No it wasn't a 'Harry Ramsden's' (English fish and chip shop), although we heard there used to be one in HK but a 'Bubba Gump's', which we had last seen in San Francisco. It wasn't quite as wacky as the American version but they had tried to make it Kong Kong quirky. We enjoyed a few fish snacks and draught Tsing Tao Chinese beer whilst watching the sun go down.
Around 6.30pm and dusk, we went back to the viewing platform to watch the city light up. Many of the big towers were impressively lit with coloured lights and there was a small laser show. I believe that the light show is better seen from the Kowloon side, so that'll have to be another time. We spent ages in the warm night air watching the lights and at 9.15 decided to come down. There was an enormous queue for the tram and it took nearly an hour to get back down to city level. At this time there were still crowds coming up to the shops, bars and restaurants.
A tram back through the city, packed with people and we found our way back to the hotel.
As we are seven hours ahead of UK time I phone my bank again. They are getting better at answering and I don't have the forty five minute wait to speak to a human being, as we did in New Zealand. I explain my predicament, my phone call two nights ago, my actions today and my need for a resolution. 'Elizabeth' goes straight into the clone spiel of going to an atm, ......I stop her and explain again. She insists this is the only way and finally agrees I am up the creek without a credit card. I ask her 'why, if my card is blocked, can I withdraw cash from an atm?' She cannot answer and goes to ask a manager, leaving me listening to some (expensive) muzac. On return she answers that an atm is not computer linked and will give cash upon request. So much for my account being 'blocked'. I stop bashing my head on the wall, express my (severe) displeasure and disappointment at the service they are giving and hang up. It had been a good day up to now but you can't win em all (or any with my bank!) The phone call has cost me another 17 UK pounds - when Gordon Brown promised a cash lifeline to the banks last week I didn't realize I would have to chip in personally!
Saturday 11th October
A lie in and an easy morning. We explored the streets around the hotel looking for somewhere for breakfast, passing the stew and noodle places. Finding a possible we went in and as I asked a young girl for toast she panicked and frantically pointed to someone else, who spoke English. Tea and toast was produced and all was well.
We continued looking round the array of shops and bought some cakes for lunch before returning to the hotel for an easy afternoon. The week's rest at Koh Samui was rapidly wearing off and we had arranged to meet Harry at the pub at the Gold Coast for 5pm.
Leaving the hotel at 4pm we walked to the nearest MTR station and caught a train to 'Central', then a long walk underground to 'Hong Kong' to catch a train 'Tsuen Wan', where we had gone with Harry. Easy! No - the map graphic of the MTR layout showed me that the line to Tsuen Wan was way inland and I knew we wanted to be on the coast, so I took the purple line and we got off at Tsuen Wan West. This was nowhere near Tsuen Wan and we were advised to get back on the train and go to the end of the line to 'Tuen Mun' and then catch a taxi. If this sounds simple imagine the place names spoken quickly in Chinese. Result - we got to the pub at 6.15 just as Harry was beginning to despair of us.
We were meeting at the pub to go to a 40th anniversary barbecue of Harry's friends, John and Shirley, at their apartment nearby. We arrived and were immediately made welcome by them and the other ex pats, who were sitting on the roof of their tower block. In the night air we could see the lights of Hong Kong around us but still masked by the pollution in the air. We chatted and enjoyed the company and barbecue until after 1am and then set off back to our hotel by taxi, arriving sometime after 2.
Sunday 12th October
Harry had arranged for us to have brunch, so it was up before 9 and then on the (right) MTR back to the Gold Coast, where we met at the Gold Coast Hotel at 1130.
The four star hotel was situated on the edge of the marina and after a welcome glass of champagne, which was topped up all the way through the meal, we set about the sumptuous food on offer. Almost a 'you name it and it's there' selection and we scoffed and chatted with Harry, John and Shirley until past 3 o'clock, when we (finally) gave up!
Bloated, we went to the pub for coffees and chatted with Harry and the other ex pats for a couple of hours, before catching the bus back to the hotel for an early night. A very relaxing day.
Monday 13th October
A lie in before my dentist appointment at 1030. Diagnosis was I needed a crown in a loose filling but that would take two weeks and we will have moved on. This has been one of the problems of travelling and it's been very much a 'make do and mend' situation. I settled for a temporary filling, so we'll see how long it lasts.
We wanted to hire a car and using a phone book plus a phone number from the hotel concierge, I rang around. Now I don't know if it's a case of being intimidated by a foreign language or the Chinese element of 'saving face' but as most of the people I spoke to didn't speak English, every time I asked a question that they couldn't answer there was no "just a minute" or "I'll find out" or even "I don't know", they would just hang up the phone! This wasn't going very far, very fast - I only want to rent a car!!!!!!!
I retried the number from the concierge and got someone who spoke English, cracked it. "Car - yes OK, no problem. Do you have a Hong Kong driving licence?" "No, I'm English". "Sorry, can only rent car to Hong Kong driver." So the hotel had given a recommendation to an English tourist, of a company that could not rent cars to him! This was only one of several 'lost in translation' moments from the hotel.
Eventually I found a Hertz in yellow pages and phoned them. They emailed details and requirements, which included passports (which were at the visa office) to be faxed to them. This was getting more complicated so I decided to go to their office in Kowloon.
Mid afternoon we caught the MTR over to Kowloon and the airport check-in area, where Hertz were based. I explained about the passports but luckily I had photocopies, so that was OK. Driving licences presented and a (back-up) credit card handed over and we were in business. Give them a couple of hours to clean the car and then collect it.
It was then a taxi into another part of Kowloon so that Norah could have her fitting at Mr Harry's. A few adjustments and then final goods to be ready for Wednesday. For me the real star was the little Chinese tailor, who measured and marked, pulled and pinned and all the while uttered little monosyllabic comments in Chinese. A real character.
Now visas. Taxi to...........the taxis here are really cheap and most of these short runs were costing us around two English pounds.......the visa office. Yes, ready and we hand over (the equivalent of) fifty pounds each and we have Chinese visas.
Now back to the car rental office and collect the car, a new Toyota Camry and it looked very nice. Harry guided us through the busy traffic and once I had settled in I began to enjoy this unexpected driving opportunity. In HK they drive on the left hand side of the road so acclimatizing was easier than expected.
We visited a few local areas off the beaten track and then went to a coastal area for a 'Sam Sing Hoy'. Parking up we walked round the local fish stalls, decked with all types of live fish and seafood. We selected a pile of prawns, which Norah carried wriggling in a plastic bag - No, the prawns, not Norah! - to a nearby restaurant. I say restaurant but it was basically a kitchen, with a few plastic chairs and tables, under a plastic canopy. Harry handed over the prawns and gave some instructions in Chinese to the kitchen staff and we sat down to order the rest of the meal. A drink of tea was served whist we ordered scallops, veg, rice and fish and then the prawns were delivered. They had been steamed and put straight on a plate. You want fresh??? Delicious, as was the rest of the meal. Maybe the surroundings weren't salubrious but the food sure made up for it.
I didn't want to drive back onto Hong Kong Island as, apart from the hotel charging three pounds an hour for parking, I certainly didn't want to drive in the frantic HK early morning traffic - my collision insurance would have lasted milliseconds! So we decided to leave the car at John and Shirley's, where Harry was staying and collect it in the morning. This meant a return trip on the MTR for us but the parking was cheaper at one pound per hour and my nerves (and the car) would remain intact.
Tuesday 14th October
Up before 8 and across to the Gold Coast on the MTR. We were getting quite good at this with just one transfer the train took forty five minutes and then an half hour taxi ride from Tsuen Wan.
The car had been hired to go out for the day with Harry showing us round the New Territories towards the Chinese border. A bright, sunny day with the 'haze' ever present and we set off north through Tsuen Mun and then up the 'Route Twisk' mountain road, with its Chinese barracks, past an old RAF air field and on up the mountain to 'Kam Tin', one of the highest points in HK. Sadly the 'haze' stopped us seeing very far in this forested, mountainous region and we wouldn't have gone walking as it is serious snake country.
We continued on until we could see into China and then headed back towards the coast where we stopped for lunch at 'Sai Kung' and another delicious sea food lunch. I'm going to have serious problems with the Chinese takeaways back home after this.
We continued our tour in the afternoon visiting different places and stopped off at 'Clearwater Park', a wooded hilltop where people were flying kites. There wasn't much wind and they were having some difficulty, which was evident from the number of kites hanging from the trees, abandoned by their owners as either unreachable or because they didn't fancy risking the snakes in the undergrowth.
This was an interesting day out and we saw more of Hong Kong than a tourist normally does.
We returned to the Gold Coast to park the car and then back to the hotel by MTR.
Wednesday 15th October
We picked up Harry and the car and set off for some more sightseeing. We were heading for 'Stanley' and it was in the south of Hong Kong Island. Driving back through Kowloon we passed through the western tunnel under HK harbour and right into the hectic 'Central' district. OK, keep it cool. With Harry's directions we crawled through the city streets and finally found the road to 'Aberdeen', on past 'Repulse Bay' and eventually Stanley, the main delay being road works on the narrow island coastal roads.
Stanley is famous for its big market but we weren't in the mood for shopping and called in at the Smugglers Pub, a copy of an English pub where we (they) enjoyed a pint and a ploughman's lunch. After lunch we returned into Kowloon, passing along the harbour front and the site of the old, infamous 'Kai Tak' airport, where pilots came in between the apartment blocks to land on an airstrip built in the harbour. Amazing.
We negotiated the city streets and returned the car on time and undamaged, having covered a total of 270 km (168 miles) over the three days driving.
To celebrate our days out we called in at 'Ned Kelly's Last Stand', an old pub in Kowloon, to enjoy draught Tetleys beer, aided by Australian meat pie and chips.
A last visit to Mr Harry's tailors to collect Norah's clothes and then back to the hotel.
We had a master plan to repack our clothes so that we only needed to take two bags on our coming tour of China, so the evening was spent repacking.
Thursday 16th October
Out again at 9.30am to take a taxi with the extra bags to the return hotel in Kowloon. The traffic was absolutely chock a block and it took over an hour to get through the tunnel and reach the hotel. We stored our bags and then caught an MTR back to the ferry terminal on Hong Kong to meet Harry.
Today we were off to the island of 'Cheung Chau in the south west and the hour long ferry trip passed through the busy shipping lanes. On reaching the island we noticed there were no cars, only lightweight three wheelers. The narrow streets could not take car traffic and the only concession is for the ambulance and fire engine, which are small modified vans.
Walking along the harbour front we could see a big fishing fleet, which supplied the island and HK. Lunch was at a waterfront restaurant and again we enjoyed delicious fresh seafood sitting in the hot sunshine. A leisurely stroll round the town revealed a sandy beachfront, with shark netted swimming area. There were drying tables spread with fish and a bicycle trailer with a (fake) Mercedes badge on it.
We caught a late afternoon ferry back to Hong Kong and at this point said a sad goodbye to Harry. It had been fabulous of him to come out to HK and show us round but even more than that, we had enjoyed the company of a good friend from home. Thanks for that H.
A final packing session back at the hotel and we were ready to move off tomorrow. We had been here for ten days, one of the longest stays of the whole trip and whilst we had expected some relaxation, we were tired after visiting so many places but would not have missed a minute of the experience.
