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Published: June 14th 2013
Cable Car Ride out
This is looking back over Hong Kong IslandI had to leave mainland China to get my visa processed. Theoretically, overnight processing is available in Hong Kong. But my story lasted longer than that! Fortunately I had booked an extra day there for sightseeing anyways!
I must mention that this was not my first trip to Hong Kong... well, at least not if airports count. My other Hong Kong experience was when I was five. I got motion sick on the flight into Hong Kong when I was little, so I threw up in the middle of the airport! Neither me nor my mother have forgotten that one!
I left Urumqi for Hong Kong on Monday morning, August 27. I was in the taxi before realizing that I had forgotten my camera! I quickly checked my phone to make sure that its camera worked, which it did, so I at least have pictures. I flew through Beijing, so with two 4-hour flights, it took until midnight to get to Hong Kong. I took the subway to my hotel, which ended up being a little hostel-type place on the fifth floor of some apartment building in Kowloon. I had been given very detailed and good directions from a
co-worker here in Urumqi about how to get to the hotel (he had stayed there while getting his visa earlier this year), so I was thankful for that.
The next morning, I headed to Hong Kong Island to find where I was supposed to get my visa... which turned out NOT to be the place called the immigration tower! But nothing was to be done before visiting a coffee shop (there's a distinct lack of coffee shops in Urumqi), so I had breakfast on my way.
I got in the visa line-up around 9am. I had heard that it was long and terrible, but I was out of there by 10 or so. However, they sent me away saying that I had everything but a copy of my company's business license. My laptop was a subway ride away at my hotel and I had no phone. The solution was more coffee! I found an internet cafe and emailed my boss to fax the business licence through to my hotel. Then I went back to my hotel. By that time, I had received my fax, but it was on the old-style roll fax paper, so it wasn't very clear.
In any case, computer in hand (or in backpack, more accurately), I headed back to the visa place. By this time, they were closed for lunch. So I wandered around to try and find an adapter for my electronics (I think I'm now equipped to handle ANY outlet in the world!). Then I went back to the visa place and took my paperwork up. I was told to sit and wait. Forty-five minutes later, I was told that the business licence wasn't clear enough and that I needed a better copy (why it took 45 minutes to determine this I'm not sure). So I headed out to the nearest coffee shop - this one was a for real Starbucks! I emailed my boss to attach the documents this time. Then my 45-minute connection time expired. So I went to a new coffee shop (one that I had been to earlier, actually - I asked if I could please use their internet for free since I had purchased something earlier, and they graciously allowed me to). I had received emails back by this time, so I had my documents. But I had to save them to my flash drive and then
find a print shop. By this time, it was 5pm and the visa place had closed. So much for overnight processing when I had lost a day anyways! So I headed to supper - lasagna!!! which was very welcomed after all of the Chinese food I had been eating - and then found a print shop to print my stuff. I got back to the hotel at an early hour and went to bed! The next apartment housed a "music studio," if you can call banging on drums music, so I was thankful for the air conditioner, the overhead fan, and, most of all, the very, very noisy bathroom fan. With all of them running, I was able to drown out the noise and get a great night's sleep!
On Wednesday morning, I headed back to the visa place, now fully equipped with paperwork, laptop, and adapter! I got everything submitted uneventfully sometime before noon, so I headed to a cafe and then to see the Tian Tan Buddha. This Buddha was constructed in 1993 and is on Lanteau Island near the Hong Kong airport. It's accessible by bus or by cable car. I chose round-trip cable car, and
it was a beautiful ride! Then I went to the nearby mall and experienced Hong Kong McDonalds (disappointingly close to North American McDonalds, I must say. I was looking for a new experience), got back on the subway and returned to my little hostel room and turned on the fan, the air conditioner, and the noisy bathroom fan.
I had a leisurely morning on Thursday since I couldn't pick up my visa until 2pm. I made my way downtown by subway, hit a cafe (I really, really enjoyed all the cafes and coffee shops since Xinjiang doesn't really have stuff like that!), and went back to the visa place. I picked up the visa in short order. I had made arrangements to meet up with Rhonda. I had her name from people here in Xinjiang as being interested in coming to Urumqi, so I had contacted her to see if we could meet while I was in Hong Kong. It was meant to be, because she had flown home to Hong Kong from the States the day before, so our only chance to meet was the one day. We took the "Peak Tram" together to check out the view
over Hong Kong. It truly is a neat city - very Western. It boasts that it is the NYC of the east, and I would have to agree that it's pretty close! After visiting the peak, we went down to the harbor at nighttime and walked and took pictures before finding an Italian restaurant for dinner.
On Friday morning, I flew back to Urumqi. Again, I had two 4-hour flights, so it took the whole day! But I had my visa, and I had a great trip to a new city!
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