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Published: September 4th 2012
Day 75 Thursday 29
th August to Day 80 Tuesday 4
thSeptember.
Going Honkers in Hong Kong? Well not quite.
Well ‘The Bug’ has finally hit. After 75 days on the road, we have all finally come down with a stomach bug with the plumbing working overtime. Melissa was hit the worst with 2 days in bed. We knew from the onset of this trip that this was always going to happen, but when and where was always the question. Now we know.
We were extremely lucky that Melissa didn’t come down with this bug 24 hours earlier, as the bus from Yangshuo to Shenzhen was horrid. Sleeper buses are not designed for anyone over 5’10” and the roads are not built for cars or buses, but for monster trucks!!! As I finished my last blog with the quote, “When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” – Clifton Fadiman, I didn’t think that Melissa, Jackson and I would experience this first hand only a few hours later. Harrison and Hunter (well under the magic 5’10”) slept for the entire 9 hour overnight to
Shenzhen without even stirring. Once we arrived, getting from Shenzhen to Hong Kong is pretty much straight forward. Follow the crowds to the Hong Kong MTR (Metro) and go through the standard border formalities twice. Leaving China and entering Hong Kong.
If you are going to spend 2 days in bed, a 5 Star Hotel in Hong Kong with amazing views over Kowloon from the 16
th floor is the place to do it. We found a bargain on-line and grabbed it while we could. I can thank my ‘travel crazy’ sister, Anita, for bringing our attention to
www.hotelscombined.com. This is our most used website, along with
www.tripadvisor. These two websites work great in conjunction to find and then review ‘value for money’ hotels (let’s not mention the Super 8 in Beijing). We were even fortunate to have received an upgrade to a 2 bedroom suite for the 4 nights because the hotel thought it would be fine for the 5 of us to sleep in a King sized bed together for 4 nights. Because the Chinese do, they thought we would!!! I kindly told them otherwise and as soon as you request to speak to the ‘manager’, you end
up with an upgrade. Nice!!!
We originally planned to have only 3 nights in Hong Kong, but because we were unable to get a train to Nanning in southern China until the evening of the 3
rd of September, we ended up staying an extra night. With Melissa being sick, it worked out perfectly. It’s amazing how things always work out for Team Free. God is looking after us with everything including the weather, as we have had only minimal rain (a few showers) for the 4 days in HK and hardly any rain in the last 80 days.
The first 2 days were pretty quiet; we mostly stayed by the pool of our 5 Star ‘Backpackers’. I took the boys out for lunch and in the evenings for a look around while Melissa rested.
The second 2 days therefore required us to step up the pace. In saying that, a lot of people only go to Hong Kong for 2 days anyway. We had always intended taking the boys to Hong Kong Disney. Yes, we know it’s not the original and yes, we hadn’t heard fantastic reviews about it. However, we don’t have any immediate plans to
head to Anaheim, USA, so we always had this on the agenda, just like the Eiffel Tower, The Great Wall of China and Red Square. I know, it’s among some pretty impressive company, but we are travelling with 3 boys aged 13, 11 and 7.
However, Hong Kong Disneyland was a pleasant surprise. It’s smaller than Anaheim, but it’s half the price. Even the food and drinks inside are at reasonable prices. We were extremely lucky with the crowds. The Chinese mainland tourist are notorious in Hong Kong (and elsewhere) for being rude and pushy etc etc. We didn’t see any of that behaviour, or no one wanted to take on ‘Team Free’ in a line-up for the ‘Mad hatter teacups’ ride!!! Anyway, we had a great day, a full 12 hour day. It was very hot, but we managed to do everything the boys wanted. As we arrived nice and early, we had a massive head start on the crowds. The boys managed to do a few of their favourites, which includes the legendary ‘Space Mountain’ 2 or 3 times before the lines grew, plus we had the advantage of using the ‘Fast-Track’ passes effectively throughout the day.
We didn’t stay until the fireworks, as we were keen to get a late night swim back at the ‘backpackers’ before the pool closed at 11pm after such a ‘hot day’.
The other day we managed to head out to Lantau Island and take the impressive 25 minute cable car ride to the Big Buddha. We then had a great afternoon with Des and Kaye Hastie. Des and Kaye are very well known among the TSS (The Southport School) community and have now been living and teaching in Hong Kong for the last 7 years and are due back in Australia in 12 months. But having seen how happy they are, it wouldn’t surprise us if they do another 2 years!!!
We had lunch at the Hong Kong Football club at ‘Happy Valley’. I wonder if they only named it ‘Happy Valley’ after Des and Kay arrived? Des and Kay covered lunch which was 1. Totally unexpected and 2. Very much appreciated. Des and Kay have this amazing talent/ability to be able to remember hundreds of ex-students names and the year they graduated. I can’t even remember who was in my year 12 Basketball team (Rowing I remember!!!).
They can also remember sporting teams, their results and any politics that may have occurred each season.
Des and Kaye showed us around the club, which mainly consist of ex-pats, and we managed to have a beer and watch the Titians lose to Manly. But hey, we still won State of Origin!!!! With all the facilities at the club, we can certainly see why so many Australians live in Hong Kong. It’s your little or should I say massive oasis away from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong and China. Thanks Des and Kaye, it was great to catch up and to enjoy your wonderful hospitality while in Hong Kong.
That evening we went to the famous ‘Peak’. This offers million dollar views of Hong Kong. When I mean million, I mean it as Hong Kong has some of the world’s most expensive property. We even bought a souvenir photo. I know!!!!
We walked down the Temple Street Markets and were surprised by how quite it was and the sales staff were extremely tame. I am comparing it to the ‘Silk Street Markets’ in Beijing however. We made a few offers on a few items and
the answer was ‘no’. No counter offer, no effort at all to close the sale. Obviously they are used to dealing with ‘wealthier’ backpackers and Hong Kong locals, compared to Beijing.
Day 79 saw us cross back into Mainland China on the train through Shenzhen to Guangzhou. You know you are back in China the moment you cross the border. The rubbish is immediately noticeable, and so too are the quality of the buildings, cars and of course no more western toilets for a while.
From Guangzhou we caught an overnight train to Nanning as we head closer to the Vietnamese border. We are now seasoned pro’s on the train and by the time we got settled into our cabin, had our customary ‘Noodles’ for dinner, we were all sound asleep.
Today saw us arrive in Nanning at around 9:00am. As the next train wouldn’t arrive at the boarder until after 6:00pm, we decided to look at the bus option to Hanoi instead. One agent wanted to charge us over $250 for the 5 of us. Team Free, even the kids, can spell a scam a mile away. We kindly asked directions to the bus terminal and
found tickets for under $100. The good thing about the bus is that it took us all the way to Hanoi. The train was only going to the border then we would need to make our own way across and then find another train to Hanoi.
The bus ride to the border was comfortable for Chinese standards. The scenery slowly changed from flat planes to hills and then mountains with plenty of lush green rice fields on either side of the road. Some of the scenery looked a little like Yangshuo with the karst mountain formations. As the bus was only half full, the boys could spread out a bit. Like the train last night, we were the only westerners aboard. Where are all the travellers that supposedly come through this part of the world? It’s great being the only westerners on a bus or train; it makes the adventure feel a whole lot more genuine.
The border crossing formalities were quite simple. We exit the bus in China, catch a golf buggy to the Chinese processing area, get our passports stamped, walk to Vietnam (all of about 50 metres), have our passports stamped and then catch a
second buggy to another bus and catch that to Hanoi.
Yesterday and today have been quite massive and Jackson, Harrison and Hunter are superstars. 36 hours of travel from Hong Kong to Hanoi by 2 trains, 2 buses, 2 golf buggies and 1 taxi and not one single moan or grown.
We arrived into Hanoi at 11:00pm tonight on Day 80. Tomorrow, Day 81, we begin to explore Vietnam…..
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Tracey
non-member comment
WOW!
Great to hear about the adventure as always! Glad Melissa is feeling better, nothing worse when getting a bug and no western toilets plus bus travel! You were very lucky with the timing! Have fun in Vietnam - look forward to the next instalment. Hope those boys don't get mistaken for girls ... man that hair is getting long! Maybe you could sell it - perhaps as good luck charms? xxxx