Advertisement
Published: January 3rd 2007
So much for the bus taking 10 hours! We arrived at Shenzhen 14 hours after boarding and a horrendous night. The journey was really uncomfortable - the beds too short, the road so bumpy - we got about 2 hours kip all night. We couldn't wait to get off.
We walked to border immigration which was a quick, painless process and made our way to Noble Hostel in Causeway Bay. Our 'Rough Guide' said it was a good place to stay. We found it easily enough and the owners were friendly, although they wouldn't give us a discount for staying for 7 nights, which seemed a bit mean. Mr Noble told us 60% of his rooms were closed for renovation, then Mrs Noble showed us to our room. Yuk! This clearly was one that had yet to be renovated. It was tiny. One we had put our bags on the floor, there was no space to walk around the bed. But much worse than that was the musty, damp smell and the peeling, dirty 1970s floral wall-paper. We had an en suite bathroom but the sliding door kept jamming so we couldn't close it. We had read in the guide
book that Hong Kong accommodation is pretty poor so we thought this was the standard we had to expect, however we did decide to check out another place nearby, Bin Man Hotel. The room was so much nicer, clean and bright and no nasty smells. The young woman running the place was also really smiley and friendly and had her beautiful baby, Christine, with her. She said we could have a discount if we stayed for 6 nights so it was also going to be HK$40 cheaper per night than the Noble hole. Decision made. We were going to move out of Noble first thing next morning.
That evening, we went for a walk around Causeway Bay area and found an English pub called 'The Royals'. It reminded us of England as it was so cold!! (Although in this case it was due to the air-con being on full blast.) We had to leave before we got pneumonia!
Back in our horrible hostel room, we were just glad to have a decent bed to sleep in after the tiring bus ride of the night before. However this became another sleepless night. At some point, we were woken by
Happy Valley Racecourse
Getting ready for the off!the sound of dripping and Steve quickly worked out (by the water on the mattress under his head) that the air-conditioning unit was leaking. As the night went on, Orla was getting more bugged by Steve taking up loads of room and squashing her up to the wall. She kept trying to push him back to his side of the bed. It wasn't until morning that she saw the problem. One side of the bed was completely drenched. That was the last straw! Luckily, we had only paid for one night in advance so we packed our bags and walked out.
Bin Man was heavenly in comparison and we could easily have gone back to sleep but there was too much admin to do on our first full day in Hong Kong. We had to get visas sorted for Vietnam, go to a Doctor to get malaria tablets (which our Doctor in England said would be cheaper in Hong Kong - they weren't!) and Orla needed to get some new prescription sunglasses after either losing or having hers stolen in China. We went to the optician first, he kept trying to sell Orla all the expensive pairs but
of course, she was reverting to the cheapest (they actually suited her the best too, which was handy!) Then he asked her what colour lenses she would like. Orla asked what was standard and thought the reply was "green". Green?? When he repeated it, it sounded like 'grey'. Grey is fine, said Orla. "I get you best colour", Sam Lam said sincerely, like it was a matter of honour. Lovely. They'd be ready the next day.
Admin out of the way, we decided to catch a bus to Aberdeen in the afternoon and do a 45 minute boat tour of the harbour, where there are still people that live in houseboats. They fish for a living so their whole lives are based around the water. Some of the houseboats didn't look to appealing - although probably better living conditions than Noble Hostel!!
Back on dry land, we relaxed with a drink on the promenade and Orla phoned her old school friend, Su, to arrange to meet up on Saturday. They haven't seen each other for about 7 years and Su has a baby now so it would be nice to catch up again.
We got back on
a bus heading for Causeway Bay but jumped off at Statue Square. It was dark by now and the area looked amazing, with a big war memorial, amazingly-designed sky-scrapers and expensive designer shops all lit up brightly. We had dinner in 'Fat Angelo's' before going back to our cosy room for a restful night's sleep. Hurrah!!
On Wednesday 1st November, we caught the metro to Central and walked around the Bonham Strand Chinese medicine shops. There were lots of strange-looking things in glass containers and a big trade in birds' nests. We had a look around the curio shops in Hollywood too - some of them packed from floor to ceiling with odds and ends and antiques.
After a noodle lunch, we went to the Hong Kong Central library to type some of this blog. Wow! That was an attraction in itself! The modern library was MASSIVE with about 9 floors, had a cafe, nice seating areas where people could just sit and read the newspaper, loads of internet availability (which was FREE!) and it overlooked Victoria Park across the road. It certainly outdoes Swindon's portacabin!!
It wasn't long before it was time to collect Orla's
Orla and her winnings!
24 Hong Kong Dollars - all of one pound 60p new sunglasses. Sam Lam proudly handed them over. The lenses were green!! Oh well. If Sam says green is the best colour, who are we to argue!!
Having had the unexpected expense of buying new sunglasses, we decided to head to Happy Valley Racecourse that evening to try and win back some cash. What an experience! It cost less than 1 pound to get into the public area - so cheap! We'd brought in our own bottle of wine, pizza and dim sum so we had a little picnic before the races began, taking in the atmosphere and bright lights of this enormous arena set in the middle of the city. We had a fantastic evening betting on the horses and chatting to other westerners who now live in Hong Kong. We had a couple of winners but when you're only betting about 70p a race, you don't really make millions. By hometime our wallets were lighter than when we arrived. C'est la vie!
On Thursday, we caught the metro then bus to Shek O beach. It was lovely and very quiet. It was a bit cloudy but still 30 degrees! The waves were high so we
Shek O - on the beach
A procession for the 10 year prayer festival didn't go swimming, just had a bit of a paddle. There was a 10-yearly Prayer Festival in Shek O so we watched a little procession of people walking across the sand, chanting and clanking some musical instruments, then later stopped to watch a Chinese opera going on in a make-shift bamboo theatre in the town square. The scenery around Shek O was lovely and the views on our return bus journey great, looking out across the sea, beaches and green forested hills. Very nice.
Still trying to recover some cash, we had a takeaway dinner sitting in our Bin Man room that evening. Hong Kong is not a cheap place for backpacking!
On Friday, we had another morning of admin, collecting our Vietnamese visas (which took 2 minutes as there was no-one else there!), another trip to the library, then walking along the seafront to the post office to some photo CDs home.
In the late afternoon, we went on the Peak Tram to see the view from the peak. The tram was a short but steep trip! At the top, the view was a bit hazy and the viewing platform wasn't very impressive. You can't
walk the whole way round to get a 360o view and it didn't look like much thought had gone into the design. Still, it was pleasant enough and we took the obligatory photos. There are various restaurants at the peak so we decided to go for a quick drink in Cafe Deco so we could catch the view after dusk too. The restaurant was fully booked for dinner so they asked us to leave our table at half 6. The view seemed more striking at night, as the lights broke through the haze so it was nice to see it in both daylight and darkness.
Back down to earth on the tram, we walked to the main bar area in Central and had some home brew in 'Hong Kong Brew'. The area was vibrant and really busy, with all the western city slickers in their suits, celebrating the start of the weekend. It reminded us a little of Friday nights in the GW!! We had dinner in the same area, up a small pedestrianised area crowded with little eateries. The restaurant touts were clammering for our business, one of them dressed in 70s gear with an Elvis hairdo! It
The Peak
Its a long way down and I'm not opening my eyes was a bit overwhelming. They shoved menus in our faces and talked incessantly over each other, trying to coax us into their particular restaurant. In the end, we just picked the one who managed to get the menu into our hands first (by about a millisecond!) Unfortunately, Elvis lost out. He wasn't impressed.
We had delicious cheap curries in a Malaysian restaurant called 'Coco', where you could watch a chef making roti bread outside on the pavement. There were rows of tables and chairs squashed together which was a bit of a safety hazard, as demonstrated when Orla pushed her chair back to leave at the end of the meal and put it down on the foot of the waitress squeezing between tables behind her. The poor girl was in agony and bent double in pain. Orla apologised, hoping she could understand "sorry" in English and we legged it out of there, while the girl was still wailing! We walked home (probably more than the waitress could do!) - a long way but with so much good food all the time, we need the exercise!
Saturday arrived and it was time to meet Su and Megan, her
View from the Peak
Shame this couple got in the way!! little girl. We got on the KCR to Sha Tin and Su met us outside the station, in a big shopping centre. It was really nice to see them but little Megan was tired and grumpy so quickly began wailing. (Is this the effect Orla has on females in Hong Kong?!) It was lovely to catch up and Su paid for lunch (thanks again, Su). She had also brought with her Orla's dive mask that her Dad had posted from England as it wasn't ready before we left. It was like getting a present so was really exciting and there was even a nice note from her Dad inside. Orla put the mask on in the restaurant to try and make Megan laugh (she looked bewildered, as did the other diners!)
Having said goodbye to Su and Megan, we went to the Hong Kong History museum in Kowloon, which was quite good. There were some interesting displays on ethnic groups, the history of British colonisation and the handover back to China, although some of the layout didn't seem to flow very well so was a little confusing in places. After that, we walked to the Avenue of Stars at
Tsa Shim Tsui, although we'd never heard of any of the stars as they were all Asian. We checked out the view of the Hong Kong skyline from here , then walked to Temple Street market. We ate on the street at the market, from a lovely fish restaurant. The food was delicious. We've definitely been eating well on our travels so far. When we finished, we got the Star ferry back to Wan Chai then walked back to the Bin Man via the red light district. We stumbled through there by accident but it was fairly low key, in comparison to what we've heard about Thailand anyway!
The next day, Orla decided it was time she brave getting a haircut. It had been too scary a prospect in China where all the girls have identical hairstyles (one length, long, straight) but Hong Kong was extremely cosmospolitan and a lot of the hair salons looked very 'westernised', not dingy little holes in the wall like in mainland China.
There was a place opposite Bin Man called 'Hair Ragga' that was really nice but it was still quite a nerve-wracking experience wondering what she'd look like when she
Orla makes new friend!
Orla's charm worked a treat on Megan! came out. There was a young guy that washed hair who could speak a tiny bit of English but the hairdresser didn't speak any English at all. Orla had to tell the hair washer what she wanted, hoping he understood, then he relayed something in Cantonese to the hairdresser. Then he began snipping. Orla sat there wishing for Lyn, her hairdresser from home. As it turned out, he did a really good job. She wasn't quite brave enough to broach the subject of highlights though! A trim would have to do.
Sam Lam had let Orla down. The frames on her sunglasses had cracked! So we had to go back to see him. He had another pair of identical frames so he just swapped the lenses over, reassuring Orla that they will be ok. We'll see.
We got on the MTR to Admiralty, then walked to Hong Kong Park. There were several weddings going on. We've seen a few wedding parties whilst we've been in China and it's really odd because the bride and groom dress up in wedding atire but all the guests are really scruffy, wearing jeans and t-shirts. It seemed even more bizarre in Hong
Kong because so many people wear stylish, designer clothes but it comes to a wedding and their wearing rubbish!
We climbed up the tower in the park to get a good view of the area and then walked through the park's aviary. That was lovely with lots of bright coloured birds flying around amongst the trees.
We had a late lunch in the nearby 'Super Sandwich'. They had a song on a loop that just kept playing over and over again...."I'm a big, big girl in a big, big world, it's not a big, big thing if you leave me......" After hearing it the 5th time, we asked the staff if they had any other music. They hadn't even noticed it kept playing. Must be too engrossed in their work!! They laughed when they cottoned on and swapped the tape. That song was stuck in our head for days after that!
After lunch, we walked to the Star Ferry as we wanted to head over to Kowloon. We had to pass underneath the HSBC Headquarters which, when it was built in 1985, was the most expensive building in the world. It was designed by a British architect
called Norman Foster and has a massive walkway under it. The entire area was full of women sitting on sheets on the floor, chatting, eating, showing off their shopping, playing cards. It was amazing. A sea of Chinese women relaxing and having a good time. Perhaps they get Sundays off from looking after their families.
When we got to the ferry terminal, there was a protest going on. Orla asked a guy what it was all about. He spoke very good English and explained that the pier is being closed down due to more land being reclaimed from the sea. There is a big clock at the pier that he said was made by the same people that made Big Ben and was steeped in history. A new pier (Central) was being opened but the Hong Kong people are very upset that the old pier is closing and the clock is being moved. It was a peaceful protest by artists, who had pinned up loads of photos of the pier with the clock cut from the picture. They were also asking passers-by to write messages or draw pictures on the ground in chalk as a sign of support to
Ladies that lunch!
Sunday afternoon at HSBC!!! save the Star pier. It was interesting to hear his perspective that most people in Hong Kong are not happy about the increasing land reclamation but it's driven by big businesses.
Over in Kowloon, we visited a lovely flower market awash with colour and lovely smells (rare in China!!) and Steve bought a rose for Orla when she wasn't looking. What a romantic!! We then had a look around the bird market. Some of the cages for sale were beautiful, ornate wooden creations but the market wasn't very nice as there were hundreds of birds crammed into tiny cages. We quickly left and moved onto the goldfish market - an entire street full of shops selling fish of all types, colours and sizes.
When we had arrived in Hong Kong, we picked up some flyers advertising a bierfest in the Marco Polo Hotel in Kowloon. There was cheap entry for foreign visitors so we decided to go and have a look. Even with cheap entry, it still cost us 4 pounds each to get in so we were deliberating giving it a miss. We were glad we went though. They gave us a free beer stein each and
our first drink for free. Drinks were pricey so we only had one more after that! There was an oompah band playing and everyone had inflatables they were waving in the air and smacking together in time to the music. It wasn't a very big beer festival - they only had 2 types of beer (Becks and Lowenbrau) but the atmosphere was really good with lots of Chinese getting drunk and dancing all over the place. The best thing for us was the fantastic night-time view of the Hong Kong skyline. It was absolutely stunning.
We didn't want to miss the ferry back to Hong Kong island so left before the party ended. We had also missed dinner but managed to find a late-night noodle place on our walk home from the ferry terminal. The food was lovely and the waiter was very excited when he saw the rose Steve had bought Orla. He made lots of fuss, getting us a small vase so we could have it on the table while we were eating and insisting he took a photo for us. It was very funny. Our romantic meal in the middle of the fast food joint.
Hong Kong Skyline
Taken from Marco Polo Hotel Bierfest! Our week in Hong Kong had whizzed by and the next day was our flight to Hanoi, Vietnam. The bus to the airport left from a street really close to Bin Man so that was very handy. Our backpacks are heavy!! On the way to the airport, we passed the harbour with THOUSANDS of sea containers. Amazing.
Hong Kong was so modern and vibrant. Wonder what Vietnam will bring......
Advertisement
Tot: 0.118s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 10; qc: 66; dbt: 0.0841s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Su
non-member comment
Nice pic :)
Hiya Orla, hope you had a good time in HK.... sorry Megan wasn't feeling too good that day but she remembers you and Steve somehow. I think it was your diving goggles that did it. Now, you have to wear those goggles next time you meet her. hahahahhaha :) Good luck with your next destination and take care. Hope it won't be another 7 years til we next meet up.