Day 21: Hong Kong Adventures and our search for a taxi

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It was a little past midnight once I got to Singapore from Perth. Scoot airline runs almost all its flights through Singapore. The unique feature of the Singapore airport is that even thought you are only transferring planes you have to do the immigration check. It is only one form and I got through it fast enough. Singapore airport is also quite beautiful, modern and full of art features like fountains. I also had to collect my bag and check back into Scoot Airlines and boarded the flight to Hong Kong. I will say there is something strange about the airplanes on Scoot Airlines. First off there is no entertainment system and I had to pay for food. In this case some curry and rice. It has more to do with the air on the plane which made me very groggy and I could not explain why. Beyond that it is affordable flight and will get you where you need to go.

Landing in Hong Kong I was in fairly bad shape from lack of sleep and overall grogginess. This would explain why I made another oversight. I am quite good about making sure all my stuff is with me when I leave the plane. In this case I forgot my Ziploc bag of electronic cables and a MP3 player. It was over an hour later when I realized it and than it was too late. I would have to replace all that equipment in Hong Kong. Oh well I would have to be more careful in the future.

Hong Kong immigration had a long line and it did take a while to process everyone and some passengers were making some loud noises before it was done. For me it was fairly seamless and I got breakfast before heading out. I was at first shocked at the price $68 before I realized it was actually about $8 Canadian. Hong Kong has a number of ways to get into the city centre but you need to make sure whatever you choose gets you close to your destination. I chose the bus because it came within a block of my hostel. In case you stay at the same hostel it is the number A11 bus that I used to get into Hong Kong. My hostel was called Checkinn HK and has a great reputation. It is located in an apartment building and I walked past it a few times before I found it. The hostel is located on floors 3, 14, 15 of the building. Reception and a few rooms are located on floor 3 and all other rooms are on floors 14 and 15. I checked into the hostel and went up to my room. My room had 9 beds in it and I will say it was fairly crowded. My bed was the floor underneath the bed above me. Mattress was comfortable thought and it had power outlets for each bed. I didn't have an overall plan for Hong Kong so I talked to a few people at the hostel to see what they had done. It was an interesting collection of people at the hostel. From English teachers, travelers, People who were working in nearby China. I decided on the Big Buddha at Ngong Ping. I had to take 2 subways to get to the cable car location. Before I went up I stopped at a post office to mail some chocolates and the Hawthorne Hawks hat to Megan back in Ballarat Australia. I also mailed some chocolates and some soaps and other things I had stolen from a hotel to my friend Romy back in Sydney Australia. Besides that I mailed my last batch of postcards. I would find out a few weeks later all my postcards made it to their destination. Lunch today would be in a restaurant at the mall. It was a good meal and they cooked it right in front of me.

It was time to head up the mountain. You have the choice of a regular cable car or one with a glass bottom on it. It cost $150 HKD and I will say the cable car ride alone is worth it. It gives you an incredible view of Hong Kong and its airport and surround regions. It goes quickly you will get some great pictures. Near the top it is you will see the Big Buddha and I mean it is BIG. I exited the cable car and after passing through the souvenir shop I walked through a Chinese village which has tours as well. I started the walk up the Buddha and it is a lot of steps to get up there. It is quite a pilgrimage walk up the steps and I saw a few people trying it in high heels 😊. I got up to the top and walked around I was impressed by the size and its location at the top of the mountain. It must have been a lot of work to get all that material up there. There is one thing you may notice when you are up there. On some of the fences you will see what appears to be Swastikas. I did some research and the swastika is not only a symbol of Nazism but is originally an ancient Buddhist and Hindu symbol before it was coopted. After my walkabout I heading back down and back to the hostel. Before going back to my room I went to a nearby electronics store and replaced all the cables I had left behind on the plane. Hong Kong has cheap electronics so I replaced everything for a good price.

Getting back to my room it was almost 5pm and I had no real plans for the evening. After checking around I went out with 2 hostel mates, Ian and Vera. Ian is Dutch and is working in China and was going to Hong Kong for a weekend vacation. Vera is a German woman who was on Sabbatical from her job for 6 months and was travelling the world. Both are nice people and I was glad to hang out with them. After getting some advise from the hostel we went to the Crystal Jade for dinner. I was amused that I was only one of our group to use a fork instead of chopsticks. When we saw the menu contained pigeon we decided we had to have it. Pigeon was edible but not terribly delicious. It is all dark meat because pigeons didn't have a lot of fat on them. Feel inspired after this we went out drinking. Vera had been in Hong Kong for a few days so had the transit system down pat. Hong Kong has a very active night life with a large number of bars available. We settled into our first one and drank some local beers as we chatted. First bar was crowded but the drinks were good. We took turns buying drinks before we headed out to a nearby alleyway. This alleyway was popular with ex pats and was full with people drinking. We got some drinks from the nearby 7/11 which is much cheaper than drinking at bars. After awhile we went looking for a bar to sit down. I couldn't remember the name of the bar but they put us down in the basement where there was live music. When we sat down Vera noticed that there was guy sitting by himself. We decided to invite him over to sit with us. He was good guy as well. A Greek who was living in London and was in Hong Kong on vacation. We chatted and listened to the band which was a singer with guitar player. She played western music and she took requests from the crowd which we sang along with as well. After awhile we joined a table of Belgians. 2 of them were living in Hong Kong while the other 2 were sisters visiting the first 2. We sat drank and talked well into the evening and it was lively conversation and I was sad when the bar kicked us out around 3AM.

At this point we went looking for a cab to take us home. The first few refused to take us and I thought it was because we were really drunk. I found out the next day it was because we were suppose to get the taxi at the front of the line. The front of the line was full of people trying to get the taxis thought because all the bars were kicking people out. We finally stumbled onto the main road and got in a taxi that took us back to the hostel. It was only $30 HKD and I was glad I remembered the code to getting into the building. I promptly went to sleep at this point. It had been a fun and exciting first day in Hong Kong and had 2 more days to go until my trip was done.

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