Blogs from Hong Kong, Asia

Tour Days 143 & 144, Cruise Days 41 & 42 – Days at Sea – Both days were spent getting ready to depart ms Westerdam. I turned in my laundry and should be good to go until I get home in three weeks (counting days to return, no; counting clean underwear, yes). Both days found me spending a little time at the casino and visiting the several pubs scattered around the ship. For this two-week segment, Tokyo (Yokohama) to Hong Kong, I purchased the drinks package so I could sample cocktails I have never tried or haven’t had for so many years I cannot remember. My “never have had” list is exhaustive – Whiskey Sour, Old Fashion, Manhattan, Martini, Negroni, Tom Collins and on and on. I have lived a pretty sheltered life in the larger, ... read more

My flight was dеlayеd by morе than thirty minutеs. I was ablе to purchasе a tickеt for thе Cityfliеrs busеs an' boardеd thе highеr lеvеl to start my journеy into thе city. It madе mе think of thе largе rеd bus that wе took to thе confеrеncе in Tianjin. I guеss only in thе samе way as thе hеight; it was considеrably slееkеr. It wasn't too hard to gеt to Mong Kok and but I had troublе findin' thе accommodation I had bookеd. Upon conductin' additional rеsеarch in LP and I havе concludеd that I do not wish to rеmain thеrе. I еmailеd thеm to inquirе about rеsеrvations an' potеntial long tеrm stay discounts and an' thеy rеpliеd that thеy wouldn't providе mе a significant discount. I am gonna movе to a lеss еxpеnsivе part of ... read more

A quick day trip to Hong Kong. This time I took the train from Shenzhen North Station to West Kowloon Station. The train journey was really quick, only 20 minutes and I like the ticketless travel. However, the journey was really boring as it was mainly through tunnels so nothing to see and Hong Kong immigration took forever as it was so busy. Also West Kowloon Station isn't directly connected to the MTR so we had to walk through a mall for about 5-10 minutes to reach it. Subway to Hong Kong station was nice and quick and from there we walked up to Central. Although I have been to Hong Kong a few times and visited quite a bit of it, there are always new places to discover, even in areas and districts that I ... read more

I was up and after checking out of my hotel made my way via the subway to Central Pier. Today I was visiting Peng Chau, another of Hong Kong's many islands and I was looking forward to seeing somewhere new. I ended up grabbing another sandwich and coffee, and scoffing them down before the ferry arrived. Since the holiday was over, the ferry wasn't too busy, but I was a little surprised at how many people were on it. Since the ferry was then going on to Hei Ling Chau, which houses a medium security prison, I wondered if some of the people were off there to visit. The ferry journey to Peng Chau took about thirty minutes and was uneventful. When reading up on Peng Chau, it said online that it was a small island ... read more

We had a late start to the day. First stop was breakfast, we headed along to Wan Chai subway station and looked for a place near there. We found a restaurant that had an extensive menu of breakfast and other items. I ordered the pork and pickled vegetables noodles. While the restaurant felt very local, I must admit my meal was crap. I had hoped that they would be fried noodles, but they were instant noodles in a watery broth (one of my least favourite things) with a few bits of pork and some pickled veggies. I tried to salvage it by adding lots of chilli paste and vinegar with marginal success. At least I had my coffee to satisfy my need for caffeine. Once done we headed to the subway station and took the subway ... read more