Stuck in Hong Kong

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Hey Guys,

So to those of you who haven’t read my Japan Blog entry yet, after coming back from Japan I found out that I couldn’t use my visa to reenter China again, thus starting an almost 2 week-long stay in Hong Kong.

In the following Blog I will describe my struggle of getting a new Visa but also how I met a bunch of awesome people with whom I celebrated Chinese New Year and adventured Hong Kong.

After I learned that I couldn’t reenter China at the port of Zhuhai, I was sent back to Hong Kong late at night. Extremely tired and worn out I stumbled through Hong Kong after exciting the ferry. I had no clue where I was and my phone wasn’t working. After wandering around for an hour, looking for a cheap Hotel, I compromised and decided to take the next deal. Looking up the steep roads, Holiday Inns green neon Sign illuminated the night’s sky of Hong Kong. From my last trip to Hong Know I knew Holiday Inn isn’t very cheap in HK, but at that time I just wanted a good night sleep and a place to form my strategy for the next days.

On the next Morning after having Breakfast and realizing where I was (on the Hong Kong Island, so on the other side of Kowloon where I stayed last time) I booked a new room at the Chunking Mansions. I remembered coming across this building a couple of times on my last trip and all the shady people I’ve met around there. Chunking Mansions is famous for being the cheapest accommodation right outside of Tsim Tsha Tsui Metro Station. It features guesthouses, curry restaurants, African bistros, clothing shops, sari stores, and foreign exchange offices. It often acts as a large gathering place for some of the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, particularly South Asians (Indians, Nepalese, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans) and Middle Eastern people.

I first went to see the Man Mo temple which was just across the street from my Hotel. Because it was the first day of the Chinese New Year it was crazy crowded. A big cloud of burned incest sticks welcomed me when I entered the temple. After having a look around, fighting me through the crowds of people, I went on to go to the Visa office in Hong Kong. There I found out that it was closed for 3 more days because of Chinese New Year so I had no choice as to stay longer in HK. I took the ferry to get on to the other side to Kowloon and 10 Minutes later I arrived at the Chunking Mansions to look for my Hotel. While the ground floor and the corridors inside the Chunking Mansions are dirty and parts very creepy, my Hotel was clean and the Staff extremely friendly. I shared my room with 3 other people, of which two of them I promptly ran into. Torstein and Laura are also living in China and came to HK to celebrate Chinese New Year together. After a short introduction we decided to adventure around Hong Kong to look for some of the cities famous street food during Chinese New Year. We first went to the Appel Store tho to get a new phone for Laura. While Laura was doing “business”, Torstein and I messed around with IPhones and IPads in the store. Afterwards we went on looking for the Street vendors but couldn’t find any. Demoralized we just went with some “normal” Chinese food. What we didn’t know at this point and would find out on the next morning that at the very same area we were trying to find in Mong Kok a huge riot erupted during the evening. In a nutshell: For the past years the police always have looked away from the so called “hawkers”, Street Vendors who without a license sell their food on the streets. Especially during the Chinese New Year’s it has almost become a tradition in HK to eat their street food. This year however, the police decided to crackdown on to the Hawkers leading to a violent clash between Police and Protesters.

Meanwhile we went back to tsim tsah tsui to see a big New Year’s Parade right in front of our Hotel. Besides the famous Chinse Dancing Dragons there were a bunch of drummers, dancers and other performers.

On the next day Laura, Torstein and I went on climbing up to the Victoria Peak. The Last time I went I took the convenient train up the mountain, but hiking up wasn’t that bad at all. It takes around 45 Minutes to get to the top and we had a great view. At the top we waited to the sun to set to enjoy the view on to Hong Kong at night. After that we hiked back down and went back to our Hotel to get ready for the night. We went on to the famous Lan Kwai Fong Pedestrian Street in Hong Kong, an area near the central station of Hong Kong notorious for its European style bars, restaurants and clubs. We decided to grab some drinks from one of the three 7-11 in the street and to have a look around. Quickly the streets became extremely crowded with people from all over the world. We ran into a group of American/ Canadians and joined them on partying in the streets and clubs of Lan Kwai Fong. Long before midnight the first 7-11 was completely out of drinks, lucky us there were two more. Later on a couple of Bars turned their Music up and a huge dance battle aroused for hours on the streets. We went outuntil late into the night before Torstein, Laura and I took a cap to get back to Kowloon. After some breakfast we returned to our Hotel.

On the afternoon we took a ferry to one of the many islands around Hong Kong. Pretty much aimless we went on hiking for a couple of hours. After being in Japan and Hong Kong for so long, always surrounded by huge crowds of people, it was awesome to enjoy the see and landscape of Hong Kong. After finishing our hike we went on back to Kowloon at night. There we met two Hong Kongnese friends of Laura, Kasa and Erin. After a delicious dinner they took us to get some of the street food we missed out of on the other day. Not only was the street food exceptional good, ranging from fish balls to delicious roasted pineapple, but also the atmosphere was damn god. The streets were busting with people, selling or buying food. After trying almost everything offered on the street, it was time for me to so say goodbye to everyone. I had gotten a new hotel for the night (still in Chunking Mansions) and while Laura was going back to China, Torstein was going to the Philippines on the next day and I had to get up early because the Visa Bureau was opening on the next day in the morning.

After accidently sleeping in I tried to rush to the Bureau but, while having my breakfast outside of a 7-11, was slowed down by some drunk guy who offered me either to attack me with a glass bottle OR buy me a pack of breakfast milk to go with my sandwich (obviously what I choose, milk was indeed a really good idea to have with my sandwich, can’t argue that). I rushed to the Bureau at noon where I could grab a visa application form before they closed for two hours. On my way out I met Jan from the Netherlands who was also just about to apply for his visa. Together we sought (just learned that apparently seeked is wrong, the more you know) out the next Star Bucks to get our stuff together. 2 hours later I had to print some stuff out which was a lot harder than I expected it to be since the first 3 shops I came across were all closes due to the Chinese New Year. Finally I found one and could print my stuff to go back to the Visa Bureau. While I had read on the internet that the office would always be extremely crowded (especially after them being closed for a couple of days) after 10 minutes of waiting I could get to one of the Visa officers. From her I got the great news that in order to get a new visa I should go back to Germany and there was no way to get one for me in Hong Kong. To this date I still have no clue what her reasoning was, especially because she didn’t want to explain it to me……. So yeah….. Completely demoralized (again) I retreated to my new Hostel which, while being pretty far away from the center of Hong Kong, was freakin awesome. I still shared the room with 3 other people but the room was probably about 7-8 times the size compared to the one in Chunkings and even equipped with a kitchen. Also “Campus Hostel” is equipped with a Gym and Sauna. Sweet. Here I formed a new tactic to contact a Visa Agency to help me with my problem. After contacting three and making meetings for the next day I went on to buy some groceries for dinner and to make use of that kitchen.

On the next morning I’ve met two of my room mates, Fraser from the UK and Alain from South Africa who were also in HK to get a visa, and we promised to get some drinks later. First I had my meetings with the Visa Agencies. I found a competent Visa Agency called Pan Pacific Immigration Service who, even while there office was hard to find ( Robert, seriously, get a sign on your door ; ) ) took their time with me and promised to help me out.

At the evening I returned to meet up with my roommates and after a nice chat and a couple of beers we decided to go for some night McDonalds’. After taking the shuttle bus from our Hotel we sadly had to find out that they just closed so instead we got some deluxe frozen-food from the closest 7-11 and took the last shuttle bus back. At our Hotel we prepared our gourmet food before calling it a night.

On the next day I changed Hotels again. The Prices which were extremely high because of Chinese New Year had finally come down and I found a nice Hotel near Central. After Checking-In I shortly after ran into my new roommate. (Yeah only one for a change). Wang Jia is a Chinese studying Japanese in Tokyo. It was not only awesome to speak mandarin again but also to talk about all the places in Japan I just been to. At night we decided to jump on to one of the stylish looking Trams of HK to get some dinner and drinks around the Central station.

On the next day we went to see the University of Hong Kong and afterwards to an art district. HKU has a beautiful, surprisingly big Campus and the art district had work from people from all over the world. Because Wang Jia changed his hotels, I got a new roommate in the evening, Romain from Ukraine. With him I went out to get some dinner around our Hotel. On the next day my main agenda was watching the new dead pool movie (awesome) and to have a look at the Causeway Bay’s shopping street (the rent was ranked as the world’s most expensive for the second year in a row). The rest of the day I basically spent in my bed procrastinating.

Sunday Romain and I first got lost in a traditional Chinese cemetery before finding our way to the Ten thousand Buddha Monastery. While the Monastery doesn’t have any resident monks (thus not actually being a Monastery) against what the Name suggest, the Monastery actually has 12.800 (!) Buddha’s. Climbing up the Mountain, hundreds of individual looking, man-sized Buddha’s are waiting belong side the path. To top it all of on top of the Mountain stands a huge Hall containing thousands of small Buddha’s. A truly worthwhile trip.

Monday Roman and I first took the Railway and then a Bus to get to the famous Dragon back hike trail in the south of the Hong Kong Island. The trail is the last part of a 50 Km long hiking trail on the Hong Kong Island and features a beautiful landscape and view onto the see. After about 2 hours on the dragons back we hiked down to a small village right next to an amazing beach. We had lunch on the beach, enjoying the beautiful scenario before returning to our Hotel in the evening.

The next day was finally the day I could get my Visa. With the Visa Agency it was no problem getting me a Visa. After saying goodbye to Roman and getting my Visa I took the next available ferry back to Zhuhai. An hour later I was back at the Zhuhai port. This time everything went fine and I could finally reenter China.

Looking back I had a fantastic time in Hong Kong. While sorting my problems out was very stressful and tiring at times, I had the luck to meet awesome people on my Journey! Exploring the Night Life, experiencing Chunking Mansion, the Street food, Bars, Restaurants, the Islands of Hong Kong and celebrating the Chinese New Year with all the people I’ve met was truly special. So Thanks again Torstein, Laura, Kasa, Erin, Robert, Wang Jia, Jan, Fraser, Alain, Roman and all the other people I ran into.

As always, thanks for reading, don’t forget to check out the pictures below and feel free to leave me a message.



Linus

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Photos

Torstein and I
Victoria Peak

Outside of the closed Visa Bureau
Awesome

Comments

[FrAnk]

Nice
Spannend!