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Published: June 18th 2006
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Hong Kong Island
View from the Star Ferry going to Hong Kong Island I made my previous entry just a few hours before taking my plane to hong kong on Thursday June 15th in Vancouver. After writting my blog entry in downtown Vancouver I took the bus to the airport and within an hour and 3 bus transfers later I was in Vancouver International Airport. My flight was with Air Canada so I did the check-in/baggage check at their booth. I've heard so much bad things about Air Canada I almost feel bad not to join the chorus but I must say every time I flew with them they have been good. The employees are nice and helpful, everything is on time and they're generally cheaper than the competition.
Anyway, on the flight I was sitting next to a very nice canadian-hongkongnese named Kathy who came to Canada to visit her family. She was raised in Hong Kong until 15 then moved to Edmonton for 10 years and she moved back to Hong Kong for the last 3 years to live with her boyfriend. She was very nice and gave me a few tips about Hong Kong and we talked for a while. The flight was 13 hours and we finally landed in
Night skyline
Just before the light show Lantau Island of Hong Kong at 18:30 on Friday June 16th. After my bus ride I thought this was fairly short. At the airport I passed throught the temperature controller which scans the body temperature of people so that people with fever get a more thorough inspection to ensure they don't have SARS. My temperature was normal so I got my passport stamped by a very nice lady who was either talking to herself while she was doing it or who thought, for some reason, that I could understand cantonese being spoken at lightning speed.
While waiting for a HSBC ATM machine I noticed 2 french girls behind me. At first I thought they spoke some unknown european language because they had such a thick french accent but after a few sentences I recognized the language so I joined in and we smalltalked while waiting and said goodbye after I got my money. I bought my bus ticket and went to the bus where I met the girls again who didnt buy their ticket first so they had to pay more. We talked a little bit more in the bus and it turns out they've been working in Bangkok
Night skyline 2
Just before the light show. That is only a small part of HK skyscraper. I couldn't get a picture of the rest because of the crowd for more than a year and are just visiting Hong Kong for the weekend. I was so tired by this point I didn't keep the conversation going but I did manage to get their name at the end (Claire and Pauline, so french).
As soon as I got off the bus I was harassed by the usual touts and I told them no but one of them was really persitent and I realized that she was the woman from the hostel I had booked (because I knew I'd be too tired to make a good choice by this time since it was the equivalent of 5AM for me by then) so she showed me the way to the hostel. I just checked in, went to the dorm, threw everything on the ground and fell asleep amid the incredibly hot heat. Two hours later a girl came in the dorm and woke me up. She also told me that there is AC in the room which was great. We talked a little bit and it turns out it's another french girl named Leslie (the first 3 westerners I talked to are (cute) french girls. Maybe french won't be that useless
in Asia). She was on her very last day of a 8 months around the world trip and was flying back to Marseille on Saturday. When I asked if she was happy to go back home she said she missed the french bread and cheese...
I went back to sleep and woke up really early and said bye to Leslie when she left at 5:30AM. I forced myself to sleep until 7AM (to readjust my body clock to the new time) and then took a shower and went out. I walked around Nathan Road, which is the crazy commercial street on the Kowloon peninsula, being stopped every 30 seconds by an Indian guy trying to sell me fake Rolex watches. I tried to find a Pacific Coffee to eat breakfast because they give internet if you buy anything there but didn't find one and I was getting pretty hungry so I went to one of the many Starbuck and got a small breakfast for a huge price. Hopefully this will be the last time I go to Starbuck this year. I walked back down the road and went to the Star Ferry that link Hong Kong Island with Kowloon
My room
My bed is on the bottom right. The mattress is hard but okay and the temperature just perfect with AC. Notice the 3 TV under my bed. I have no idea what they're doing there. (where my hostel is) and took the boat ride to the Island which was fairly cool.
Once on the Island I just walked all day on the Island going as far east as Victoria Park and the Central Library. I didn't do any major sights, I just wanted to experience the city a little bit and it was quite interesting. Hong Kong is definately a nice place to shop but things aren't as cheap as I though they would. Leslie told me many things she saw in Hong Kong she saw in Singapore at half the price... I havent experienced a big culture shock yet. I mean Hong Kong is either so westernized that it just looks like Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver or in the less Westernized place it just feels like Chinatown of a Western city but bigger. It's definately a nice place though and I think it's one of the few big city in the world that I'd recommend to go to just to see it. The whole setting is truly beautiful.
I bought the new Lonely Planet Philippines guidebook even though it was like 270 HK$ (divide by 7 to get the price in canadian) because it was published in mid-june which means that when I'll be done with it in a month I'll be one of the first person on the planet to have bought and used the book so I should be able to sell it for a decent price. I came back with the Star Ferry back to Kowloon and went crashing in the dorm because I was really tired at around 17:00. There I found Kevin from the USA and Richard from England and we talked a little bit while reading. Richard is on a 1 year around the world trip like me and is right in the middle of it while Kevin is an expat that is working in Chengdu. Both are in Hong Kong to get their chinese visa. A little while after Laura came in and suggested we go together to see the light show at 20:00 and then go watch the Mondial in a pub (Kevin might have made the second suggestion). It turns out Laura is a fellow Montrealer (she lives 20 minutes walk away from me) and is on a 3 1/2 month trip across Asia. She's also heading to China after Hong Kong.
I quickly went down on Nathan Road to eat some cheap Samosas I had spotted earlier in the day and we went to the waterfront to watch the light show. They play music and change the lightnings in the building synchronously. It's pretty cool to see the buildings light up in different colors and the experience was interesting. After that we walked on the Avenue of the Star which is like the one in Hollywood except it's about Hong Kong movie stars. After that we walked to an overpriced Irish Pub near the hostel and watched the first game (Portugal - Iran, Portugal won). Richard left in the middle because he was tired and me and Laura left after the first game but I think Kevin stayed up until 6AM to watch all 3 games (the US was playing from 3AM to 6AM).
So I really enjoyed my first day in Asia. I was really tired after walking all day at the end of the afternoon and I was a bit depressed probably due to jet lag and tiredness but the evening was really fun. I really like how easy interaction between travellers is. You just talk wtih everyone and within minutes you're making plans to do something together. I hope it's gonna be like that more often. However I'm pretty much done with the city now (except for watching the Mondial, of course) and I'll spend the rest of my stay in Hong Kong either trekking or going to the outlying islands, except for a visit on Victoria peak on Hong Kong Island.
V
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Adriana
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I love how detailed your blogs are Vic! I have to say though, you're making me miss my europe travelling! I just got back-and so I know you're going to have an amazing time! and your'e right, everyone is super friendly-take advantage and make friends!!