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Published: June 14th 2007
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the Fragrant Harbour!
That's what the Chinese characters for Hong Kong mean... Well, I am ruined for economy class now, I have to say. It is going to be a serious blow next time I have to wait in line with the rest of the plebs and then sit with my knees jammed up around my chin for 12 hours. There was a hitch before I got to check in because Northwest Airlines apparently doesn't allow any lighters to be taken even as stowed luggage, and the x-ray showed I had a lighter somewhere in my small suitcase. I didn't remember having a lighter in my luggage and couldn't find it anywhere, but eventually it turned up in a back pocket- I think I had some incense in there as well at one point and had forgotten about it. Anyway the Japanese security guy was incredibly friendly and patient about it- wish all security staff in this new paranoid environment we travel in were all like that!
So after a leisurely check-in we wandered to the NWA business class lounge where I ate large amounts of little cheesy things wrapped in cellophane- you don't get those out by the gate...
Then onto the plane- I found I had really picked
my seat well (was able to select it online when I booked) as my seat was in the old First Class section- it seems NWA did away with First Class a few years ago and turned it into "World Business Class" but pretty much kept the same seating arrangement. The old business class section had wide seats, sure, but they were in a 2-3-2 configuration, so still fairly packed in. Our section however, which got narrower towards the front as we were in the nose cone of the plane had just 4 seats in a row - 2 on each side, with a large empty space in the middle which had a small table with a selection of newspapers. Even if I reached out with my toes pointed I could barely touch the seat in front of me- heaven for someone with disproportionately long legs who usually spends flights with her legs on a weird angle, painfully jammed against the seat in front.
The service wasn't fantastic and neither was the food- I hear for the real business class experience you need to take one of the Asian airlines like JAL or Singapore- but the seats and the space
IFC2- the tallest building in HK
This dates from about 2003 I think so wasn't built when I was there in 2000. were well worth the money- oh wait, did I mention it was free? I used my points and didn't even have to pay!
Anyway, enough about that. The flight passed too quickly (I don't say that often!) and we arrived late at night in Hong Kong. Unlike Tokyo, Hong Kong has wisely chosen to actually locate its airport within shooting distance of the city so after a short train ride and even shorter taxi ride from the station we soon arrived at our hotel, which in spite of being part of the YMCA is actually a proper hotel- it prefers to be known as "Harbour View International". Marie had arrived a few hours earlier and was sleeping. The room wasn't very big and looked even smaller with the extra bed for Yoko, but it did have a harbour view as promised and was straight across the road from the huge Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre where the yoga conference was to be held. With the 3 of us in there it resembled a university dorm room but the location couldn't be beaten and the price was pretty good.
Not wanting to have to jump straight into a
6.30am yoga practice the morning after arriving we had given ourselves an extra day for sightseeing, so the next day after locating what was to become one of our favourite places in HK- the Pacific Coffee Company- we set off for Central. I had seen a lot of the sights before when I was there 7 years ago but it was mostly through swirling fog and misty rain, so I was pleased to have the chance to see everything again in fine weather- and with a digital camera this time as well.
First on the list was the Peak Tram, which takes you straight up the hill to Victoria Peak. Then after spending about twice as long again on the escalators which take you up through the Peak Building (they make you walk from one side to the other each time so you go past all the shops) we arrived at the top. Great view- really I can never get enough of Hong Kong's cityscape, as you could probably already tell if you have looked at the photos! And I could actually see something but the inside of clouds this time, I tried last time, but think I got
about a 2 second glimpse of Central when the clouds briefly parted.
So after taking lots of photos (I love digital cameras) we went back down again and walked over to the Mid-Levels Escalator. Since Hong Kong is even hillier than Auckland and much hotter this is a really nice idea, instead of sweating up the streets you can just stand on an escalator and be transported from shop to cafe. We were in yogi paradise at one point when we found there were so many organic and vegetarian cafes that we couldn't decide which one to go to, a dilemma I can safely we are never, ever faced with in Tokyo. Life Cafe won out and I had quiche and fresh juice- yum!
After lunch we continued along to the streets (actually had to walk this time, no more escalators) where they have lots of market stands and small shops selling "antiques", Chairman Mao badges, fright wigs etc. One day when I live in a house or apartment bigger than our present shoebox I would love to come back and buy some of the things we saw, although probably not a fright wig.
I had been
wanting to go back to Man Mo temple, which was one of my favourite places in Hong Kong last time I visited- there are hundreds of spirals of incense hanging from the ceiling, which can probably burn for 24 hours or more and make the inside of the temple very smokey and atmospheric. A word of warning though, if you plan to take any shots from directly underneath watch out for the falling hot ash which doesn't really burn but is surprising and probably bad for your camera...
It was reaching about 35 very humid degrees by the time we came out but happily there was another branch of the Pacific Coffee Company (hereafter known as "PCC") across the street so we retired there for a while. I was overjoyed to discover they had lamingtons- colonialism has some positive legacies after all! I hadn't had a lamington in years. They also have free internet for customers, further endearing them to me. I then had the great idea of catching a tram back to Wan Chai. It would have been a great idea if a tram had come within 10 mins or so but as we stood in the sun
the steep bit
I tried, but the it wasn't the smoothest ride... with our brains boiling I was wishing for the air-conditioned subway, however quaint and atmospheric the tram ride turned out to be. Finally one came though and we headed back to the hotel for a while.
Before the trip I went out and bought a mini-tripod especially for taking photos of the night skyline from Kowloon, so what did I do when we decided to catch the ferry to Kowloon an hour or so later- I forgot it. We thought we should actually make an attempt to try some Chinese food since we were in China and we found the ironically named Golden Tripod restaurant down a side street and mistakenly ordered huge amounts of oil-dripping fried tofu. It was good but not ideal when you have a vigorous yoga practice planned for about 10 hours later as you can usually still feel last night's dinner when going into some of the deeper twists, headstands etc.
Anyway, that's the touristy stuff, next report will be on the conference itself, although I did get a bit more sightseeing in (had to use my new tripod!)
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Scottywag
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Spiders have disproportionatelylong legs, too.
Your best photos, ever. Very fun read. Were you drunk?