Hong Kong at Last

Flight out of Melb ok but long and cramped and hassles with Qantas over our seat allocations. Only good thing to say is that they didn’t charge us for excess luggage – and I was overweight! (luggage as well as me!!!)

Hong Kong was fabulous. The weather was overcast and mid to high 20’s, which is far more comfortable than Melbourne was. The city is as it was in 1994; big, busy and Asian, although we are noticing much more European and American brand name shops and coffee shops like Starbucks and Illy this time.

Our hotel was excellent – highly recommended for cheap but very comfortable and fully serviced hotel – called the YMCA International House, just off Nathan Road, in Yau Ma Tei, towards the top end, only two train stops or a long (according to Alan) half hour walk from the harbour front, . Very convenient for all the attractions on the Kowloon side and easy access to HK island.

The developments associated with the new airport and the development of Lantau Island are very evident, with elevated freeways, bridges, tolls and flyovers all around. Despite all of that the traffic travels very fast, and we haven’t seen any holdups. Melbourne could learn a lot from here.

Trying to tune in on cost of living and found some things like public transport and Chinese food to be ridiculously cheap, while others like designer clothes and such to be expensive. One example is shaving cream at HK$42, which is double Aussie prices.

Another thing which is very noticeable here is the information regarding the USA Sub prime crisis. It is in every newspaper and on every TV channel and is a million times worse than what people are being told in Australia. Did you know that Bear Sterns bank sold off stock at $2.00 per share? They were $32 per share last Thursday!!! Stay tuned for big changes, and an admission that USA is in its biggest ever recession.

Day 1 Sunday 16 March
Walked up Nathan Rd to Mong Kok via the Ladies Market and lots of back streets. Had a great time and a fabulous lunch of noodle soup at a street cafe. Then walked back down Nathan Road all the way to the Harbour, just amazed at the shops, crowds, noise and street signs. HK is such a busy vibrant city – with so much to see and do just walking the streets (don’t take that the wrong way!)

Day 2 Monday 17 March
Pam is out travelling to a walled City, while Alan is in the hotel room suffering a bad head cold and realising that travel doesn’t agree with him and he would prefer to have it all over with!
We got up at 5.00am to go on booked HK island tour, but still missed the bus because the walk to the meeting place was longer than thought and neither of us functioned well that early in the morning. Didn’t matter as we decided we liked to explore the city under our own steam anyway!
Alan went back to the hotel to rest as he was suffering from a bad cold and jet lag. Pam went down to the Tourist information at the harbour front to discuss various options – deciding in the end to visit Fan Ling in the New Territories (the land between HK and Mainland China) esp several historical walled villages and a cultural heritage walk. Caught the local train and buses out there and had a fascinating time walking around. The villages are interesting with people still farming in the traditional manner and farming tiny little plots of land, surrounded by these massive tall tower blocks of housing – our old Housing Commission towers have nothing on HK!! Then caught a different bus across to the other side of the New Territories to look at another village. The village was disappointing but the bus ride was fantastic, travelling over the highest peak on mainland HK and providing excellent views and stops through all these different villages. Then caught another bus and a train back to our hotel.
In the evening Alan & I walked down Nathan Road again to watch the light show on the harbour which is held every night and then found a Macau style restaurant in some side street for dinner. Food was interesting but probably the least enjoyable of all our meals in HK. It was a typical local restaurant and the toilet was still the old hole in the floor type. None of the staff spoke English but they were friendly and it was good to eat some new and different food.

Day 3 Tuesday 18th March
Alan & I headed off by train and bus to the lookout over the fantastic new Tsing Ma Bridge, which links Lantau Island and its huge new airport to the mainland.
The trains are unbelievable, with doors which line up with doors on the platform, perfectly every time, very fast services and light shows in the carriages which show you exactly which line you are on, where you are and in which direction you are travelling. Wow! What a sentence that was.
Then the 15 seat mini bus which costs about $1.00 leaves from a bus station the size of Shepparton, and zooms efficiently to a viewing area which is equipped with telescopes, cafes, information centre, car park and toilets. Pity it was so cloudy that the bridge was only just visible.
The new bridges are spectacular and the viewing platform is set up very well. A very interesting morning. I have sent my brother Geoff and Mike Ormerod (both civil engineers) a copy of all the specs for the bridge. If you are interested, please contact them if you have their details or email me and I will let you know.

After the lookout, we headed over to HK island by train (another line using a tunnel under the harbour), where Alan became tired and irritable, not having had coffee or food for many hours. Pity really, as the Island has a lot to offer, but you need to be prepared to walk a lot.
We had trouble finding our way to a local restaurant for lunch at first because of all the overhead walkways and the fact that just about every pedestrian walkway leads through a huge modern shopping plaza (Chadstone has nothing on HK). In the end Alan bought a western style snack and headed back to the hotel for a rest (cold on the mend) and Pam headed off to explore the island and do lots of the touristy things.
I wandered all round the SoHo restaurant and shopping district, along Hollywood Road to look at the antique shops, then tried to find the Sun Yat Sen museum (impressive building) and heritage trail and also the Mo Po temple. Finally walked back around to the peak tram terminus to catch the tram up to the peak. For those who don’t know HK this whole area is full of very narrow, very steep streets – many of the footpaths are stairs rather than pavements! Similar in some ways to the old parts of Istanbul. Fascinating walking.
The peak tram is an excellent tourist site. We were there 14 years ago, but they have developed the site unbelievably since then with an amazing tourist centre and lookout area. The view is still spectacular, but the weather and smog made the sky vey grey and hazy, limiting the view a bit. Many of the HK locals blame China and the industry in China for the smog!! The Great Outdoors travel show on Channel 7 were filming there at the time and said that the day before they couldn’t see anything due to the smog!
I caught the tram back down and headed back through town to the Golden Bauhinia Square where the handover of HK from the UK to China took place. The square is in Wan Chai next to the International Convention Centre. I was meeting Alan there and decided to catch the train for the last few stops so I wouldn’t be late, but ended up confused because there is a Wan Chai station and a Chai Wan station further down the line and of course I got them mixed up and went several stops too far! Didn’t matter, back tracked and caught up with Alan, only to find he had nearly done the same thing.
We watched the light show again from this side. The light show is a nightly laser light show where many of the buildings on both the island and Kowloon put on an amazing light display to music. After the light show we went to this more upmarket Chinese restaurant called Tak Sim that Alan had found near the square. Had a brilliant meal of genuine Peking Duck plus some other dishes. Once again no one could speak English, except for one drinks waitress who had limited English. Only one other western couple seen in this restaurant which was huge. The food was fantastic. They bring the whole duck to the table and carve off pieces for the Peking Duck in front of you, then take the remainder of the animal away and bring it back as a stir fry duck dish. Fabulous meal. Then caught the train home to the hotel.

Day 4 Wednesday 18th March
We decided to do our own thing today, so Alan went off the Aviation Display at the airport by local transport and had a fantastic time. Caught the express train out to the airport and then caught a local bus back that went all over the airport and then through lots of villages on the island before heading over the fantastic Tsing Ma bridges and back to town.
Pam went by train & walking all over the place – first to the flower market and bird market. These were good but a bit disappointing, as the flower market although lovely was no different to our wholesale flower market and probably smaller. Also the bird market was much smaller and not as interesting as 14 years ago. All the grasshoppers and insect stalls were gone and the market was very small. A local told me later it was due to 2 reasons – they moved the old market a few years ago and not everyone moved and also the bird flu has had an impact.

Then I walked back through the Ladies Market and other street markets to Kowloon Park, this fantastic huge park just off Nathan Road that has a mosque, a public swimming pool, beautiful gardens, a temple, an aviary and a bird lake with flamingos and swans with white bodies and black necks! Spent a long time here wandering around and then caught a train down to the harbour where I caught a ferry across to the island and a local bus to Repulse Bay and Stanley Harbour.
Stanley Harbour was a bit disappointing - the “famous” market is very small and the small waterfront is full of English and European restaurants. There is a fabulous old Colonial building called Murray House there, but I did not go inside. Repulse Bay is a lovely beach resort between the main harbour & Stanley. It was the only beach we saw in HK and was a good golden sand beach, although the sand was very gritty not smooth. Some of the high rise towers built there were amazing. The bus trip there was also good.
Met Alan back on the mainland to watch the lights from a different position and then caught the train to the Temple Street Night Market. Once again, just a market but we found a fantastic place for dinner – a small local street restaurant serving hot pot. We had seen this in the Tak sim restaurant and wanted to try it and can only say if you have never eaten traditional Chinese hot pot, you have missed out big time! It was fantastic. Once again only one waiter with limited English, but all staff very helpful and friendly and food fabulous. Basically they bring out a soup pot with a soup of your choice (we chose drunken chicken) which they place on an electric hot plate so that it stays boiling all the time, then you order lots of small side dishes to add to the soup and cook at your table. We chose chive dumplings, meat balls and fresh veges – way too much food but fabulous flavours and the whole experience was lots of fun. The soup also contained great food – chicken, small savoury lychees, mushrooms, whole garlic cloves, celery and some healthy red seeds – all very nice. Vegetarians could easily enjoy this as there are lots of vege choices.
Then back to the hotel to pack and sleep ready for a 5.30am pick up to the airport to fly to London.

Highlights of our short stay in HK would have to be the vibrancy and friendliness of the city, the volume, size and design of the high rise buildings that are just everywhere, the city lights all around the harbour and in all the shopping streets on both HK island and the Kowloon area of the mainland, the cleanliness of the city overall, esp the train stations, the volume of shopping opportunities, the coverage and efficiency of the public transport and the food.