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Published: March 24th 2010
What's not to love? The streets are clean, the people are friendly and there is so much to do! We arrived jaded after a nightmare journey from Goa, via Mumbai (for 12 hours) to Delhi and on to Hong Kong. The lesson learned from the trip, is that there is a reason why weirdly connected flights are so cheap. After a sleepless night in the waiting area of Mumbai airport, we closed our eyes in Delhi and woke up in Hong Kong.
It was like waking up after a bad dream. You are left with the faint knowledge that something happened that you didn't like, but you are so happy to be awake and in a nice place that it doesn't matter anymore. Our eyes nearly popped out of our heads as we tried to drink in all the new sights around us. It was so different from India, and so similar to home that we were deliriously happy. The very act of seeing an orderly queue form for a normal double decker bus that arrived at a normal speed, was enough to have us grinning from ear to ear. As we took our seats on the bus, the views
that unfolded as the bus sped towards the city managed to reawaken our enthusiasm for travelling. Skyscraper after skyscraper. Each awesome new sight gave way to an equally new and beautiful view. We had heard that the Hong Kong skyline was an amazing sight, but after the exhausting 24 hours since Goa, we were so weary that it caught us off-guard.
Once we arrived in the city the neon lights took over. Often, when you think 'Neon Lights', it is easy to think Red Light District or tacky Christmas tree. Hong Kong is filled with Neon lights, but it rarely looks tacky. Perhaps it is because I haven't a clue what they are advertising, because I can't read the symbols, but I think it is more due to the fact that they are part of a whole mass of
in your face lighting. Huge flat screen televisions, suspended on the side of the buildings, tell you about the stock market, or the next days weather forecast. Massive billboards, often the full width of a skyscraper, demand your attention. And each and every shop was interesting to us, either because it was new and unusual, or because it from home,
and delightfully familiar.
Following the hostel instructions we hopped off the bus at stop 19 (which was helpfully flashed up on a screen in the bus in English), and crossed a street to find Continential Mansions. After finding the lift to go to part F of the fifteen floor, we were welcomed at the desk by a tiny Filipino girl. However, our room was in a building down the street, so she pulled on a jacket and accompanied us. After essentially five months of flip flops and summer clothes, it was strange, but oddly nice, to have to pull out our fleece jackets again.
The room was perfectly adequate, but the bed was a little on the short side for Philippe. How nice that I am no longer considered to be a small person here! We happily collapsed into it and slept off the discomfort of a night on hard airport seats.
Since then the most likely statement you will have heard Philippe or I utter is "Ahh, I love Hong Kong". For me, it is the nicest city we have visited on the trip to date. Either on the easy to use, efficient metro system or
on the quaint, old fashioned city tram, we have worked our way around this fascinating city.
We have measured our hands against Jackie Chan's, on his star on the Avenue of Stars. We have witnessed the amazing symphony of lights - erupting over the lit up Hong Kong skyline. We have been through the weird and wonderful markets of the Kowloon area - snaking our way around the gold fish market, the flower market, the womens market and the temple street night market. We even managed to mark St. Patrick's Day with a nice meal and some pints in Delaney's Irish Pub.
Victoria Peak stands as a proud soldier keeping watch over Hong Kong. We spent a lovely day walking around its peak after being pulled up there in the peak tram. In another burst of energy we took the metro over to Lantau Island, and spent the day exploring. We managed to climb up to see the largest sitting Buddha statue in the world, and then poked around the Po Lin Monastery. Then we caught the bus over to the charming fishing village of Tai O, where we meandered our way over bridges and walkways, soaking up
the peace and tranquility of the area.
How fortunate are we that we have even found ourselves in Hong Kong? It was never on the original itinerary. Our reason for visiting was because we had heard that this is the easiest place to arrange Chinese and Russian Visas. On our first day out and about, we dropped our passports into CTS Tours, filled in about 10 lines on the form, and, having handed over 900 HK dollars, we were told to return to pick them up four working days later. We did, and are now the proud owners of two double entry visas for China! That means we can spend up to 60 days in the country, so long as we nip back over to Hong Kong after 30 days. After the horror stories we had heard about getting Chinese visas, it was almost too easy!
Not so easy was our second round of visa shopping - we wanted to apply for Russian visas for our Trans-Mongolian trip. Having spend a day or two walking the streets of Hong Kong, researching our trip, we have decided to just do the direct, seven day train trip. On the wall
in the consulate, about three meters from the visa counter, there is a sign that says that a Transit visa is only needed if you are travelling through Russia by train. The price of a transit visa is substantially less than a tourist one, and you don't need a travel support document (which costs more money). So, high on life, having just picked up our passports that now contained our Chinese visas, we toddled over to the Russian consulate with our pre-filled in forms. We were sent away for an hour until the guy that deals with Visas got back off his lunch break. What goes up, must come down, and we came down with a bang. When we returned to the office the guy in the visa section told us that "Ve, in zis office, ghave decided zat eef you ghuse Trans Siberian trayin, ghyou must ghave ztourist viza". But? What? But the sign? Eh?
But how can you argue with it? It is
their consulate, and they decide who gets a visa. Hong Kong is our last hope at getting this visa, so, swallowing our disgust, we turned on our heels and fumed the whole way back
to the hostel. In less than twenty wordski's, the man had cost us an extra hundred euro, not to mention that we would have to stay in Hong Kong for an extra few days, and accommodation in Hong Kong doesn't come cheap!
We were gobsmacked, but determined. That evening Philippe managed to secure two 'travel support documents' online, and we marched back into the office early the following morning and smiled sweetly as we handed over a wad of cash. We won't know how we have faired until this Friday, but fingers crossed it all works out.
We will let you know in the next blog!
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Eileen
non-member comment
Great to hear ye up again after the down of India. Enjoy China