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Hong Kong Skyline
As seen from the top of the mountain.We made our way from our Manila hostel to the Manila airport by taxi trouble free, and then went about trying to spend the rest of our pesos.
We didn't have enough that it would have been worth converting into Hong Kong dollars (losing a bunch to the exchange counter thugs in the process) and definitely not into Canadian dollars (where we would likely get an even worse rate). So the only logical thing to do was to go on a very tiny shopping spree.
We bought lunch and some chocolates. Not that exciting. The chocolates were actually from Hawaii too.
Our flight was a bit delayed, and the plane smaller than the one we flew on on the way to Manila. But it got us there, and they gave us another hot lunch.
After estimating how much money we needed from the ATM, we set out into the city to try to find a place to sleep. After searching a while on the internet before we left Manila, I found about a dozen that were all located in the same building, so we figured we'd try this magical place first.
That place is called Chungking
Entering Hong Kong
See? Look at that green space. Mansion and it's right on Nathan Road in Kowloon, near the harbour. So the location is good. Walking inside we were immediately approached by touts trying to get us to go to particular guesthouses... and also copy watches... and SIM cards...
The main floor of the mansion is a large marketplace and it's actually mostly immigrants to Hong Kong that are working there. Definitely different from the other places we'd been in Hong Kong, and would be a good place to explore. But not as much fun with your backpacks (which must look like ATM's because every time we wear them people start trying to get money from us).
And it's a bit of a maze. There are four blocks, “A” thourgh “D” each with their own elevator banks. Each elevator bank has two elevators. One of the two elevators only stops at odd numbered floors, and the other one only stops at the even numbered floors. So if you know where you're going, first you have to find the right bank of elevators, and that's not as easy as you'd think. It's easy to get disoriented.
The good news about Chungking Mansions is that there really
are dozens of affordable guesthouses here. The bad news is that Hong Kong is busier on weekends, and without reservations, you might have to try a few places to find a bed. It's a bit confusing, but a lot of the guesthouses are affiliated. One guy explained that it's how they get around some tax laws. There might be three or four different small guesthouses in the same building that are owned by the same person, but they all have different names to remain “independent”. But there's usually only one reception desk for all of the guesthouses owned by the same person. So you might show up at the one that you were trying to sleep at only to discover a sign saying that reception is on another floor, and in a different block.
After going up and down elevators, stairs, accidentally walking outside, back inside, and trying several places, we finally made some progress. After failing to get into one of the guesthouses, we met a Nigerian man by the elevators that tried calling the owner for us. It turned out that the guesthouse we tried was full, but he worked for another group of guesthouses, and found
us a room for 200 HKD per night, which is very reasonable for a private room.
It was clean, had a toilet seat, hot water, towels... we were living large compared to most of the places we had stayed back in the Philippines. Sure, it was still small, but we didn't need much for just the two of us.
So we celebrated our success with a quick nap.
Upon waking up, we made our way through the crowded sidewalks along Nathan Road, and past all of the touts approaching us selling copy watches. It may seem rude, but you're best just to ignore them completely. They don't really expect you to acknowledge them necessarily, since what they are doing is technically illegal, although obviously not that strenuously enforced. Every polite “no thank you” and brief exchange gives them false hope that you are in fact interested, and it would also mean you'd never get where you're going. And they only approached foreigners, so I imagine the ex-pats around here get pretty used to ignoring them too.
Don't get me too wrong though. Before taking this trip I was pretty excited to buy a really crappy fake
watch. But I wanted a really cheap one that looked bad, and was really poor quality. And maybe the second hand falls off after a week. This may not make any sense to you, but if I'm getting a fake watch, I want people to know it's a fake. I'd be quite proud of my fake watch.
But I didn't get one for two reasons. One, it's illegal to import them into almost every country in the world, so bringing it home might cause trouble at the border. Most likely they wouldn't ask at customs or wouldn't be too strict if you just had one for yourself, and may confiscate it and give you a stern lecture. But I didn't want to risk it. It just didn't seem worth it given that the second reason I didn't bother to buy a fake watch is because they aren't really that cheap. Well, at least the “copy” watches aren't. I guess if you're buying a fake $3000 watch, paying a couple hundred for a passable fake still seems like a really good deal. I would have been more interested for, oh, say $10. And they did have cheap fakes like that
in the street markets, but I wasn't really that interested to be honest.
I guess a third reason would be that I never wear a watch...
We decided that for our last dinner in Hong Kong that we would have sushi. I'm not saying that makes sense, it's just what we decided to do. There are probably hundreds of sushi restaurants in Hong Kong, so it seemed right to try one. And the real draw for me was that I had located one with a conveyor belt!
I loved conveyor belt sushi when I was in Japan briefly a few years ago. It's never the highest quality sushi, but it's still excellent (especially in places like Japan and Hong Kong where it can be so fresh), and it's cheap. If you see something you like, you grab it and eat it. At the end of your meal, they just count up your plates and give you your bill. It's so simple and convenient.
This was Vanessa's first conveyor belt sushi experience, and she enjoyed it. We were hungry, and by the and we both had a huge stack of plates in front of us. I think
we had more plates in front of the two of us than tables of four nearby, if I'm honest. I'm not ashamed though. Opportunities to stuff our faces with fresh sushi at a reasonable price are rare or nonexistent back home, and there are exactly zero conveyor belt sushi places in Edmonton... at least, none that I'm aware of. And we were definitely satisfied when we left.
We had to walk it off a bit, so we walked north through Kowloon Park and through the Temple Street night market. The night market seemed to us to be... pretty much identical to the day markets with the same stuff, just at night. Still, a good walk to burn off some sushi.
Then we caught the metro to the peak tram. The peak tram is a popular tourist attraction, and it's a funicular railway that takes you to the top of the mountain overlooking central Hong Kong, the harbour, and Kowloon.
There was quite a long line to get on the tram, and we ended up waiting about an hour before we got on. It's apparently popular on Saturday nights with a clear sky... I guess that should be
no surprise.
It's an impressively steep ride up the mountain, and it feels like you're going up a roller coaster. It was after dark, so we had views of the night skyline as we ascended. When we got to the top, it took us quite a way to get outside. The station at the top is inside a mall, and like most malls, there is no easy escape. We eventually found our way out to the viewing deck and took in the view.
Unfortunately, it was pretty windy and cold so it wasn't exactly pleasant at the top. So we got ice cream at the Haagen Dasz store (yes, I realize there's no logic to that) and then got in line to go back down. After another long wait, we boarded the tram, but all the seats filled up before I could sit, so I stood.... And it was steep! The floor in the tram has deep ridges almost like stairs so that when the tram tilts down hill you still have something to stand on. So I could do it, but I was standing at at least a 30 degree angle to the horizon, so it was
definitely strange.
We were pretty worn out from another long day, so getting to sleep that night was pretty easy.
The next morning was our last day of the trip. For breakfast, we headed over to Central, rode a couple of travelators, and had some udon. Possibly. I don't really know Chinese food well. It's the last day, so it's probably time to own up to that fact. Also I can own up that it doesn't really matter because there are pictures in most menus, so you just point at something that looks tasty in the unlikely event that there's no English translation. I'll eat almost anything, but I'm sure I could have really tested that statement in Hong Kong if I had wanted to. The bottom line here is that finding tasty and affordable food in Hong Kong is very, very easy.
The real reason we were in Central was pretty much so that I could play a video game. I'd found out about a place called Sideways Driving Club that has Formula 1 racing simulators, so naturally I was curious. They have mocked up formula 1 style cockpits that you sit in with a steering
wheel and pedals and a screen in front of you. It doesn't move around like a ride or anything, so you're stationary. And you play a video game that's supposed to be as close to a simulation as possible. You can race against other people (but there was no one else there at 10 am on Sunday morning) or against computer opponents.
It was my first time, so the clerk started me with a Renault Clio, then a Porsche 911, then a Formula BMW, and then a Formula 1 car. Bragging time: I was pretty good at it right away. I finished third in my first race (probably could have finished first but I made a couple of mistakes), first in my second race (in the Porsche), and obliterated the field when I finished first in the Fomula BMW. I was ready for F1.
Shame time: I did not do well in the F1 car. He'd cranked up the difficulty since I had been doing so well previously, and then I got caught in an accident when another car spun around in front of me (not my fault at all), so it took me a while to recover.
And then I struggled after that still. So it was harder. I guess I'm not ready to start my Formula 1 career just yet. I still had a blast.
While I shamelessly played video games, Vanessa finished writing the post cards to her friends that she had been working on since Sagada. So after I finished up, we made our way to the only post office that we could find that was open on Sunday's according to the internet. She successfully mailed her Philippines post cards from Hong Kong, one day before we returned to Canada... It's always nice to get mail from cool places though, right?
We were near the harbour so we went to take a look, but it was really smoggy. Between Hong Kong and Manila, I've realized that I under appreciate the clean air we have back home.
After a walk through Kowloon and the markets one more time, we headed out for one more Hong Kong meal. We tried to go to the dim sum place where we had eaten at the beginning of our trip, but there was a pretty long line and we were running low on time. So we
found another place nearby and enjoyed some other tasty food.
It was time to get our bags from the guesthouse, take the train to the airport and put an end to this fantastic trip.
And we kept it going in Vancouver. We took advantage of our five hour layover to meet up with some friends and go out for sushi in Richmond. It didn't come around on a conveyor belt, but it was delicious, and it was great to see some people we don't get to see that often.
Oh, and having hit “elite status” on Air Canada (the one perk of all the work travel I had to do last year), we enjoyed some time in the Maple Leaf Lounge, enjoying free beer, snacks, and in general, some peace and quiet compared to the standard crowds and constant announcements of the main terminal. I guy could get used to that...
But that was it for our trip, and it was pretty satisfying overall. We climbed a volcano, met lot's of new friends, tried surfing, and had one out of this world experience in Mainit. And a bunch of other stuff too... Still, I could have
easily kept going. There's a lot of Asia out there...
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