Soooooooo…..I want to move to Hong Kong. What a city; what a weekend!
The trip started a bit rocky. We flew into Shenzhen instead of Hong Kong because it was significantly cheaper. We flew in on Sunday night and after a terrifying cab ride to the hotel, a quick sleep and an early start, we left the hotel for what we were told was a 1.5-2 hour trip to Hong Kong. We arrived at the train station a-ok but man, oh man, we were NOT prepared for the masses. We had to go through several customs checks (and follow a sign that asked us to “please exit the country by lift”) and exchange our Chinese Yuan for Hong Kong Dollars. It took us a total of 4 hours to get into downtown Hong Kong because of the crowds (and it would have been so so so much worse if we were Chinese nationals; we were allowed to bypass several hundreds-of-meters-long lines because of our skin colour). Between the lines and the fact that none of our phones worked (yes, Hong Kong blocked our Chinese SIM cards), we were getting pretty cranky. We had plans to meet up with a friend who finished at Acadia last year but because our phones didn’t work, we couldn’t keep her in the loop about our whereabouts or estimated time of arrival. After asking several locals on the train if we could use their phones, we finally found someone willing to send Chera a text. Magically, she appeared at the right station at the right time and that was the beginning of the best weekend we’ve had yet in China (with Beijing as a very very close second).
Once we emerged from the subway station, we knew we weren’t in China anymore! For one, because of Hong Kong’s history as a British colony, the cars drive on the left hand side of the road. We quickly discovered this when we got in a cab. We were also amused that the cabs fit 5 passengers (3 in the back, 2 in the front). Later in the trip, the cabs because a source of amusement again. One of our night-time cabbies was flying down the highway and rolled down his window. The cab driving alongside us did the same. The two cabbies then proceeded to have a conversation out the windows. At that point, all you can do is hope that they actually do know the roads like the back of their hands!
Hong Kong reminds me on many levels of Vancouver. I mentioned this to someone I met at a bar and they responded with “Why? Because there are so many Chinese people?” haha Like Vancouver, Hong Kong is built on the coast and is surrounded by mountains. Like Vancouver, the city gives off an immediate vibe; a really feel-good vibe. There is a culture that seems like a warm embrace.
Once we met up with Chera, we went immediately to her apartment. If I told you how much she pays for a space much smaller than you could imagine two people living in, you’d be shocked. That said, English teachers in the city make a decent penny so they can afford the urban, neat little spaces. Once we dropped off our stuff we headed for a phenomenal brunch (we hadn’t eaten yet that day) that included chocolate-banana milkshakes. Once refreshed, it was a full afternoon of taking a tram part way up a mountain, taking in the view then hiking (in the mist and fog) the rest of the way up and all the way down the mountain. They call this place by the simple name “The Peak” and many of the rishest people in HK live there. Sadly, the view isn’t all it’s cracked up to be….most of the time. The city is prone to intense fog and only once has Chera been to the top on a clear day. On a clear day, though, the view is supposed to be second to none in regards to cityscapes. I guess I’ll just have to go back sometime!
After the hike, Chera promised to take us to a fantastic BYOB Indian place for supper. We grabbed some (rather large and cheap) bottles of wine and followed our leader. We were SHOCKED when we ended up in a sketchy-looking food court area. In many ways, we shouldn’t have been though; the small shops are usually the best and this one was no exception. We (including Alex, Chera’s boyfriend and a former Ultimate (Frisbee) teammate of mine) feasted on many many different dishes, drank maybe a tad more wine than we should have after such a long day and then headed for the mainland and to our accommodations for the next two nights.
This brings me to one of the main talking points of the trip; our accommodations. We wanted to get a cheap place to crash in Hong Kong and since we were staying over the holiday and we were booking late, not much was available. We decided on a place called "Delta Hotel" HA! The "hotel" was located in the VERY infamous Chung King Mansion and Chera and Alex were so worried for us that she decided to escort us. We knew we were in for a treat when we had to wait 20 minutes in the lobby for the only elevator that went to the 16th floor. There was only one elevator that went to the even number floors and one for the uneven numbered floors. Apparently taking the stairs, especially alone, is a huge no-no. While waiting in line we saw a vendor selling counterfeit money in several dominations. I guess that was mild compared to some things we could have seen go down in that building. We made it to our floor eventually and were a little lost. It looked like we ended up in the back alley of a “hotel”. After navigating our way around drying sheets in the corridor, we found a door with a sign declaring “Delta Ho*tel” (the ‘s’ was covered over with packing tape). There was also a handwritten sign saying “no room”. After negotiating with the non-Chinese owners….no, fighting is more like it...re our payment – they tried to double charge us (we read online that they were scammers AFTER we booked) – we dropped our stuff in our rooms (that didn’t have lockers as promised) and followed Chera to a nearby bar that made a DELICIOUS peach mojito.
The group split apart for the second day. Hong Kong has several amusement parks (including Disney) and Laura and Jess opted to head to Ocean Park for the day. The rest of us played tourist. We started with a good, nutritious McDonald’s breakfast and made our way to the Avenue of Stars (like the stars on the sidewalks in Hollywood, but with Chinese celebrities) and Star Ferry which we took across to Hong Kong Island. Once on the island, we grabbed a double decker hop-on, hop-off bus and got a tour of the downtown core before heading off to the coast and…..THE BEACH! We were drenched in sweat the whole time we were in Hong Kong so the change to jump in the ocean was so very welcome. In addition to cooling us off, it made me feel a bit more at home. After trying to dry off our undies, we made our way back to the bus and moved on to Stanley. Stanley is just a section of Hong Kong that is home to a boardwalk, a nice market (where we actually found some unique art) and some tourist traps. We enjoyed our time immensely….until the monsoon hit. Man, it rains hard and fast in some countries. One minute you’re enjoying the beautiful day and swimming at the beach, the next, you are running for cover and trying to tuck your camera away. The big yellow ponchos the bus later supplied provided plenty of laughs for the rest of the afternoon.
The evening was spent on the town and Chera showed us the ropes. Like many countries, you can drink in the streets and we would go into a bar, grab a drink and dance for a few songs then mosey on to the next bar.This made for some RATHER interesting adventures/stories including one group of Chinese boys who took a liking to Alyssa and I (and one tried several times to hypnotize me....for real). We later found out they were born in 1994! At one bar, there was an elderly gentlemen being totted on by two young beautiful girls. Turns out (and the only reason I believe this is that two guys from Guam told me part of this story earlier on the ferry) he is one of two brothers in their 70’s who control all of the blue jeans that come in and out of Hong Kong and they are LOADED rich. Shocker! Haha
We had little sleep that night and were on the go at the crack of dawn to start our 11 hour journey back home – but it was quite the trip! It may not sound like it in words, but Hong Kong stole my heart!
**Note 1: In addition to us being super duper lucky to have Chera as a guide, Angela (Duquette) was SO SO helpful and I printed a nice big list of suggestions from her before we left. After cross referencing Chera and Angela, I think we came out with the best 2 day visit you could muster!
**Note 2: I have added more pictures to the Suzhou album, Shanghai album and Life in China album (in addition to the Hong Kong album). Enjoy!
The trip started a bit rocky. We flew into Shenzhen instead of Hong Kong because it was significantly cheaper. We flew in on Sunday night and after a terrifying cab ride to the hotel, a quick sleep and an early start, we left the hotel for what we were told was a 1.5-2 hour trip to Hong Kong. We arrived at the train station a-ok but man, oh man, we were NOT prepared for the masses. We had to go through several customs checks (and follow a sign that asked us to “please exit the country by lift”) and exchange our Chinese Yuan for Hong Kong Dollars. It took us a total of 4 hours to get into downtown Hong Kong because of the crowds (and it would have been so so so much worse if we were Chinese nationals; we were allowed to bypass several hundreds-of-meters-long lines because of our skin colour). Between the lines and the fact that none of our phones worked (yes, Hong Kong blocked our Chinese SIM cards), we were getting pretty cranky. We had plans to meet up with a friend who finished at Acadia last year but because our phones didn’t work, we couldn’t keep her in the loop about our whereabouts or estimated time of arrival. After asking several locals on the train if we could use their phones, we finally found someone willing to send Chera a text. Magically, she appeared at the right station at the right time and that was the beginning of the best weekend we’ve had yet in China (with Beijing as a very very close second).
Once we emerged from the subway station, we knew we weren’t in China anymore! For one, because of Hong Kong’s history as a British colony, the cars drive on the left hand side of the road. We quickly discovered this when we got in a cab. We were also amused that the cabs fit 5 passengers (3 in the back, 2 in the front). Later in the trip, the cabs because a source of amusement again. One of our night-time cabbies was flying down the highway and rolled down his window. The cab driving alongside us did the same. The two cabbies then proceeded to have a conversation out the windows. At that point, all you can do is hope that they actually do know the roads like the back of their hands!
Hong Kong reminds me on many levels of Vancouver. I mentioned this to someone I met at a bar and they responded with “Why? Because there are so many Chinese people?” haha Like Vancouver, Hong Kong is built on the coast and is surrounded by mountains. Like Vancouver, the city gives off an immediate vibe; a really feel-good vibe. There is a culture that seems like a warm embrace.
Once we met up with Chera, we went immediately to her apartment. If I told you how much she pays for a space much smaller than you could imagine two people living in, you’d be shocked. That said, English teachers in the city make a decent penny so they can afford the urban, neat little spaces. Once we dropped off our stuff we headed for a phenomenal brunch (we hadn’t eaten yet that day) that included chocolate-banana milkshakes. Once refreshed, it was a full afternoon of taking a tram part way up a mountain, taking in the view then hiking (in the mist and fog) the rest of the way up and all the way down the mountain. They call this place by the simple name “The Peak” and many of the rishest people in HK live there. Sadly, the view isn’t all it’s cracked up to be….most of the time. The city is prone to intense fog and only once has Chera been to the top on a clear day. On a clear day, though, the view is supposed to be second to none in regards to cityscapes. I guess I’ll just have to go back sometime!
After the hike, Chera promised to take us to a fantastic BYOB Indian place for supper. We grabbed some (rather large and cheap) bottles of wine and followed our leader. We were SHOCKED when we ended up in a sketchy-looking food court area. In many ways, we shouldn’t have been though; the small shops are usually the best and this one was no exception. We (including Alex, Chera’s boyfriend and a former Ultimate (Frisbee) teammate of mine) feasted on many many different dishes, drank maybe a tad more wine than we should have after such a long day and then headed for the mainland and to our accommodations for the next two nights.
This brings me to one of the main talking points of the trip; our accommodations. We wanted to get a cheap place to crash in Hong Kong and since we were staying over the holiday and we were booking late, not much was available. We decided on a place called "Delta Hotel" HA! The "hotel" was located in the VERY infamous Chung King Mansion and Chera and Alex were so worried for us that she decided to escort us. We knew we were in for a treat when we had to wait 20 minutes in the lobby for the only elevator that went to the 16th floor. There was only one elevator that went to the even number floors and one for the uneven numbered floors. Apparently taking the stairs, especially alone, is a huge no-no. While waiting in line we saw a vendor selling counterfeit money in several dominations. I guess that was mild compared to some things we could have seen go down in that building. We made it to our floor eventually and were a little lost. It looked like we ended up in the back alley of a “hotel”. After navigating our way around drying sheets in the corridor, we found a door with a sign declaring “Delta Ho*tel” (the ‘s’ was covered over with packing tape). There was also a handwritten sign saying “no room”. After negotiating with the non-Chinese owners….no, fighting is more like it...re our payment – they tried to double charge us (we read online that they were scammers AFTER we booked) – we dropped our stuff in our rooms (that didn’t have lockers as promised) and followed Chera to a nearby bar that made a DELICIOUS peach mojito.
The group split apart for the second day. Hong Kong has several amusement parks (including Disney) and Laura and Jess opted to head to Ocean Park for the day. The rest of us played tourist. We started with a good, nutritious McDonald’s breakfast and made our way to the Avenue of Stars (like the stars on the sidewalks in Hollywood, but with Chinese celebrities) and Star Ferry which we took across to Hong Kong Island. Once on the island, we grabbed a double decker hop-on, hop-off bus and got a tour of the downtown core before heading off to the coast and…..THE BEACH! We were drenched in sweat the whole time we were in Hong Kong so the change to jump in the ocean was so very welcome. In addition to cooling us off, it made me feel a bit more at home. After trying to dry off our undies, we made our way back to the bus and moved on to Stanley. Stanley is just a section of Hong Kong that is home to a boardwalk, a nice market (where we actually found some unique art) and some tourist traps. We enjoyed our time immensely….until the monsoon hit. Man, it rains hard and fast in some countries. One minute you’re enjoying the beautiful day and swimming at the beach, the next, you are running for cover and trying to tuck your camera away. The big yellow ponchos the bus later supplied provided plenty of laughs for the rest of the afternoon.
The evening was spent on the town and Chera showed us the ropes. Like many countries, you can drink in the streets and we would go into a bar, grab a drink and dance for a few songs then mosey on to the next bar.This made for some RATHER interesting adventures/stories including one group of Chinese boys who took a liking to Alyssa and I (and one tried several times to hypnotize me....for real). We later found out they were born in 1994! At one bar, there was an elderly gentlemen being totted on by two young beautiful girls. Turns out (and the only reason I believe this is that two guys from Guam told me part of this story earlier on the ferry) he is one of two brothers in their 70’s who control all of the blue jeans that come in and out of Hong Kong and they are LOADED rich. Shocker! Haha
We had little sleep that night and were on the go at the crack of dawn to start our 11 hour journey back home – but it was quite the trip! It may not sound like it in words, but Hong Kong stole my heart!
**Note 1: In addition to us being super duper lucky to have Chera as a guide, Angela (Duquette) was SO SO helpful and I printed a nice big list of suggestions from her before we left. After cross referencing Chera and Angela, I think we came out with the best 2 day visit you could muster!
**Note 2: I have added more pictures to the Suzhou album, Shanghai album and Life in China album (in addition to the Hong Kong album). Enjoy!