Weekend in Hong Kong

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I’ve literally been dreaming about this day for weeks and at last we are on our way to the buzzing centre of Hong Kong. We’ve heard and read so much about it, so we’re looking forward to finally joining the elite group of people who have actually visited it. It’s a crazy dash when we finish work to get some food and beer ready for the bus journey ahead. Travelling doesn’t really bother us much as we enjoy the anticipation of going somewhere new, and of course having a few bevvies along the way! The bus journey to the immigration check point doesn’t seem to take as long as we had anticipated, and before we know it, we’re making our way towards the border and can see HK beyond… That is until the security guard suddenly waves at us frantically and we start to panic, until we realise he is simply telling us we are in the ‘Chinese nationals’ queue instead of the foreigners queue, doh! How did he know? Finally we’re through and head out to try and find our connecting bus outside.



It’s already ten times busier than Shunde, and we have absolutely no idea where to go. The only indication is the orange sticker we have stuck to our t-shirts from the bus we just came off of, but we’ve no idea what it says or where it means we’ve to go. Thankfully a worker spots the badge and directs us into a line to wait for the next bus. Everyone else seems to have the same little orange sticker stuck to them, so it’s a welcome relief. Eventually we’re back on the bus and finally making our way into Kowloon, across from Hong Kong island J



After a few stops, we get off the bus in the middle of what seems like nowhere. We’re in the middle of a tangle of back alleys with no clear directions or sign of where we are. In our typical unplanned manner, we simply start walking blindly in the hope we’ll stumble upon something we recognise. What ensues is us wandering around in a circle for about 20 minutes having an argument about which way is the right way. In the end we stop to look at the map (disconcertingly it’s not the first thing we do), after more guesswork, we manage to make it onto the main road where our hotel is. We check the street numbers and see we are at number 632, when our hotel is number 34, so we’ve got a bit of a trek on!



It’s not actually as long a walk as we were expecting, and I happen to look up and see the sign of the building where our hotel is. We head inside, and realise that on the ground floor it is a labyrinth of little narrow corridors with indian shops everywhere, and a distinct smell of curry mixed with stale sweat, not quite what I was expecting! There are loads of sweaty indian men with prying eyes, all trying to tout their business in your face- tailors, fake watches, drugs, hotel room, massage. It’s a bit much and we’re glad to eventually find the tiny little elevator which takes us up to the floor where we are staying. Well, what can I say? I knew we weren’t expecting anything remotely fancy and knew from the pictures and reviews that the rooms are tiny, but it’s still a complete shock as to what we are faced with. The entrance to the ‘hotel’ is a shutter gate beyond which we can see a woman lying down on a bed in the smallest of areas ever. At first I think Greg has mistakenly booked us into a brothel, but the next minute a friendly little Asian man appears to show us to our room. He totally reminds me of the gay Asian guy out of the hangover, and he kindly offers us the option of two rooms. I’m not sure there’s any difference between them, but we decide to go for room number 7 anyway. Once we’ve ‘settled in’ we decide to head out for a wander and to get some food.



We can’t fault the location of where we are, as we are only a 2 minute walk from the river front which has unspoilt views all the way over to the island. It’s a great view and we get some great pictures. The promenade is also home to the ‘walk of stars’ which is the Chinese equivalent to the LA walk of fame. We manage to find Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, and then that’s us pretty much exhausted our knowledge of Chinese movie stars! We do spot a star named ‘Le Tit’ that makes us giggle. Right on queue I trip over the pavement and wittingly remark ‘I just went arse over ‘Le Tit’, which makes us laugh even harder (you had to be there). At this point we realise it is midnight, so probably time to find somewhere to eat. I’m sure we saw lots of restaurants on the main street as we headed down, so we make our way back to it.



We walk for about a mile before we realise that everywhere is shut, so half-heartedly we opt for the only reliable choice we seem to have – McDonalds. It’s not exactly what we had dreamt of eating, but it’ll do. And to be honest, it’s been a while so the burger actually tastes pretty good! You can see the accusatory look of all the people around us who are clearly thinking “typical westerners who won’t eat any ‘foreign muck’” when in fact we want to scream “all we’ve eaten is rice and noodles for the last two months!” After our gourmet double cheeseburger meal, we head out to search for a pub which is showing the man united game (could we get any more British at this point??) and end up in the only pub we can find which is an irish bar. However, the only irish thing about it is the fact they sell guiness. Inside it’s unsurprisingly filled with pretty much Hong Kong’s quota of ex-pats. It’s annoying for us as we usually tend to stay away from places like this, but needs must… The price of beer here is a reflection of the customers who are drinking it and willing to pay for it, and we end up paying over 100 dollars (nearly 5 pounds) for a bottle of beer each. We only stay for two, then begrudgingly head back to our abode for the evening. We’re so knackered though that hopefully we’ll get a sleep quickly enough. As we get to the lifts, a complete jake with one leg approaches us asking in Chinese for what we assume is money. We ignore him and get in the lift and he follows suite. We realise this lift doesn’t go to our floor, so we get back out again and wait for the next one. The jake also gets back out of the lift, which is slightly disconcerting as we now wonder what his intentions might have been… Thankfully when the next lift comes he’s disappeared again. We manage about 15 minutes of a film before falling miraculously falling asleep.



The next morning we are woken up by drilling from one of the floors above. I have to laugh as we thought we’d escaped that from our building back in China, but it seems everywhere we go they are building something new. We get up anyway and get ready, as we’ve got lots to do today. We’ve absolutely no idea what the weather is like as we have no windows in our room, so it could be raining heavily or really sunny, and therefore we have to take a gamble as of what to wear. As it turns out, it’s neither raining nor sunny, just a grey overcast day unlike Glasgow. First things first we head to the post office to send our xmas presents home, and are astounded it will cost us the same amount to send everything home as it did to buy them in the first place. Oh well, needs must.



Next we make our way down to the ferry to head across onto Hong Kong Island. We have high hopes that it will be amazing. The ferry only costs us the equivalent of about 15p each and has breathtaking views so it’s definitely a bargain. When we disembark from the ferry we have no idea where we are going, but dutifully follow the mass of people who seem to. Next minute we are being swept along a corridor that branches off in several directions and is crammed full of people. We knew it was busy, but we are still unprepared for it now we are here. Our aim is to head up to Causeway Bay, but we need something to eat first. Only problem is we have no idea where to go… We walk around aimlessly for a while before we spot an Asian fast food chain which will do us nicely. It’s not gourmet cooking, but it’s fast, we’re starving marvin and we’re also still on a budget. Refuelled, we then decide (beyond any particular reasoning) to walk to Causeway Bay from Central. It doesn’t look to far away, but after an hour of wrong turns and dead ends, we realise it probably wasn’t the best idea we’ve ever had. By the time we get there, I’m on the edge, and am not in the freshest of moods. It’s not that I mind walking, but it’s the fact it took us so long, and that we didn’t really look at directions before we headed off (will I ever learn??). We’re keen to find Causeway Bay harbour as it looks like a really interesting place to see loads of old Chinese fishing boats mixed in with the modern ferries, but we soon discover that it’s all blocked off because they are doing more building work and from what we can see, it doesn’t look like there is much to see anyway. It’s a major disappointment. But, determined not to let it ruin the day, we make our way into the shopping area to see if we can burn a hole in our pockets… I check our guide book and see that there is a big supermarket not far from where we are, so we might as well go on our Irn Bru mission while we’re here. As we walk down the aisles, our excitement grows, but is then scuppered as we find the drinks aisle and see there isn’t any irn bru there. My smile drops, but then I hear Greg excitedly call me from the next aisle- could it be? Yes, it is indeed! I am ecstatic and we almost do a little dance in the middle of the aisle! A woman standing next to us turns around in bemusement and asks “Is this your home product?” to which we claim it is. She smiles and tells us “Congratulations”. We explain what it is and what it tastes like and urge her to try some, but she unsurprisingly declines the offer stating it is too sweet for her tastes. We’ll take it to the masses one day! Anyway, for all the Scottish people out there in Hong Kong, if you ever want a taste of home, head to the large Wellkome store on Great George Street, Causeway Bay J Not only do we find Irn Bru, I also find SR flour, baking powder and most importantly, icing sugar. My store cupboard is almost complete…



After the excitement of our successful irn bru mission (you can take the people out of Glasgow and all that), we head into the shops for a browse of what’s on offer. Greg mentions there is a cool little wet market somewhere nearby that has lots of things going on, including little stalls where they prepare the meat and vegetables right there on the street. It sounds interesting, but the problem is we spend another hour wandering round trying to find it! Eventually we manage to navigate our way there, but although it’s interesting to see, there isn’t as much going on as we expected, and it’s like many of the streets we walk down near enough every other day back in China. By now its late afternoon, so we decide to head back to Central so we can find some more shops and have a proper look around- this time opting to take the metro!



A few stops later we’re back in central and try to decide where to go. There’s no shortage of malls and shops around, but most of them are designers stores such as Armani and Louis Vuitton, whereas we’re more about the primark and H & M. We search for ages for something in more of our price range, but without an insiders knowledge, we soon realise we aren’t going to find what we’re looking for. Hong Kong is a vibrant bustling city, but it’s also quite claustrophobic and a concrete jungle, and we’ve actually came to realise that we prefer a smaller and more greener, open place. I never thought I’d see the day I’m looking forward to getting back to China.



According to our guide, there’s lots of shops back in Kowloon too, including an H & M, so we decide to head out in search of some clothes, as so far we’ve only got a few cans of irn bru to show for our trip. Someone up there doesn’t like us much today, as once again we’re thwarted the maze of zig-zag roads and unclear directions. We walk for about another 2 miles only to realise we have been heading in completely the wrong direction, ad actually the place we want to be is all the way back where we started. As we turn around to head back, I stub my toe, and my toe starts bleeding heavily with blood, soaking my flip flops. At this point I start laughing and then crying, there’s nothing else for it. Greg manages to calm me down until I’m semi-normal again (no comments please) and we go on our H & M finding mission. After another 20 minutes, I can see the red glow of the sign from a distance, and almost start into a canter in a bid to get there. Greg tells me I’d better bloody buy something, but I don’t need to be told twice.



30 minutes later I am a happy bunny, having bought some new clothes, all for only 20 quid! Shopping is certainly therapeutic and I once again feel calm and happy. We go in search of some food to end the evening, but once again we are stuck as to where to go. There isn’t really any clear indication of restaurants apart from one or two dotted down some dodgy alleys. Quite ashamedly we end up in Pizza Hut, but to be honest we haven’t ate this type of food for a long while, so in our heads it’s acceptable. We make our way back to our prison cell (lock down is at 10pm lol) and watch a film with a few needed beers before falling asleep.



I’m woken up by three things this morning- the noise from the little lady who works here yapping away loudly to someone else, being bitten by god knows what and the smell of curry mixed in with a germoline anaesthetic smell. I must admit I am looking forward now to getting out of this place and getting back to our ‘home’ J We get ready at light speed and ‘check out of the hotel’ (basically we leave the key in the dorm door and walk out) and then head outside for some fresh air! I am so gutted we didn’t have the amazing Hong Kong experience we were hoping for, but well, it was still great to get here. I’m not ruling the place off based on this experience, as I think there is so much more that Hong Kong can give us, and we didn’t even scratch the surface. The crap weather and accommodation certainly did nothing to help us, and I think we probably weren’t as clued up before we went to enjoy it to its full potential. Next time, I will be in charge of planning our itinerary (seriously, Greg read his HK guide book solidly for 3 weeks before we came and he still didn’t know where or what we were doing!) and I think we’ll book somewhere else to stay!!



Anyway, we once again make our way up Nathan Road (the main street) which we have now walked up and down at least 5 times, and stop off at a coffee shop to refuel and give us some well needed caffeine in preparation for our long bus journey back. It’s actually one of the best coffees we’ve had since being in China, and they even throw in a free English newspaper! Back outside, we continue onwards, until we are back at the street where it all began 2 days ago… only trouble is, we can’t remember exactly where we got off the bus, as it was dark and of course we didn’t think to pinpoint the exact place in our minds! Once again we are wandering down streets without much clue, until Greg thinks he has found the bus stop. I’m a bit more unsure as there is absolutely no one about, and the bus stop doesn’t seem to have much information on it…. We keep walking to the next corner and Greg recognises a shop straight ahead of us from when we first arrived- halleluiah! So where is the bus stop then? We are having a debate and looking intensely at the map for 5 minutes, when we happen to look behind us and see about 20 people all sporting those infamous orange stickers, and a big bus stop sign with the bus logo on it! There is also a member of staff handing out the orange stickers so we double check by showing her our tickets and she nods at us that we are in the right place. What a huge sense of relief as I was imagining we’d miss our bus and be stuck here for another 3 hours… The bus arrives and we get on along with our other orange stickered friends and settle in for the journey home. Bye bye Hong Kong!

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