Just got back from a holiday to Hong Kong and thought I'd write up my experience to share with others who may be interested to know how it went or to learn more about somewhere you haven't visited yet.
Last year my wife and I visited Singapore and Malaysia but didn't have quite enough time to go everywhere we wanted to visit. My wife grew up in Hong Kong and has many friends there, so this year it was time to for her to go back and for me to experience it for myself.
Before we set off, I had various ideas of what it would be like. As I grew up, the most memorable visions came from Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon and James Bond's You Only Live Twice and The Man with the Golden Gun. Junk boats, neon lights, skyscrapers, crowded markets and lots of strange food. I also remember seeing countless clips of planes flying between the buildings to the old airport. There was also the Rugby Sevens tournament and a strong ex-pat community.
Since the sovereignty being handed back to China in 1997, I wondered how much it would change and would it simply become absorbed by China as another huge city within its massive country?
Well, here's how I found it, and what we did on our holiday:
We managed to get direct flights this year at a decent price - £500 return each, compared to £800 last year with a change at Doha. Cathay Pacific were very efficient thoughout the whole process. The seats had plenty of legroom. the food was decent and the on board service was great.
On arrival, the airport was very clean and smart. When we stepped outside, it was mid afternoon and you could feel the warmth and humidity, although it wasn' too hot. The taxis are all the same, red with a white roof and old fashioned but comfy enough.
The taxi ride gave me the opportunity to get my bearings and see where we were in relation to the islands and the mainland. Crossing two huge bridges over very busy shipping lanes was incredible. Take the biggest port in the UK and multiply it by ten and you may get an idea of the sheer size of the operation and the massive container ships transporting goods across the world.
As we approached Hong Kong island, there were hundreds of skyscrapers dominating the landscape and horizon. It's really amazing. You get told about it, and may have seen pictures of it on TV but to see how many there are and how far they spread it something else.
Our hotel was situated in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong on Lockhart Road, which we quickly discovered was the red light district of Hong Kong. Lots of bars on the road and madames and girls outside all of them trying to entice customers in. It's a little bit intimidating at first, walking past to get to the 7-11 (supermarket) or to the underground train station.
The Wharney Guang Dong Hotel is a 4 star hotel. At check-in, my wife was asked for the money up front which we found a bit strange. Our friends who checked in a few days later were not asked to pay up front and we concluded that they thought we were a westerner and a prostitute and so wanted their money first. My wife still has her maiden name on the passport and so this must have been the reason. Throughout the week, it became evident that the hotel is used by these type of people - every time we caught the lift there were young girls going up to meet their clients or returning back down to the street.
Despite this, the hotel was ok. The room was fairly small, but big enough for what we needed. It was air conditioned and very cool. It had a gym and swimming pool, and thankfully the gym had two Concept2 rowing machines.
After settling in and unpacking, we went to go and meet my wife's friend Christine for dinner. To get there, we had a two minute walk to the underground station and then a 5 minute ride to where she met with us. The underground is called the MTR and it puts our London underground to shame. It's very clean, the ticket system is simple - simply press the station you want to get to, pop your money in and out comes your ticket. Every platform has a glass shield between the rail line and the platform. There are sliding doors situated all along with arrows showing you where to stand. When the train arrives, the doors are perfectly aligned with where you are stood, how good is that?! It cost us $4 (40p) each to travel two stations.
I think we met Christine at Jardine House (could be wrong). The restaurant was situated at the bottom of a skyscraper. We had a great time and had some lovely food.
My first dinner in Hong Kong made me realise that they eat a LOT! There are so many dishes that keep appearing as you are chatting away and trying new things. i also learned the custom of tea drinking and how it is done. The tea is poured into glasses, starting with the eldest and workign roudn the table until you get to yourself. The person receiving the tea taps the table with their fingers to say thank you as you are pouring. The restaurant had chandeliers and a thick plush carpet, quite a common setting in many of the restaurants.
The next day, we went out for breakfast in a little cafe round the corner form the hotel. It's very basic and cheap, but it's exactly what you want to get you going for the day. Tammy had beef noodles and I had pork and egg rice. The egg is added late on in the cooking process and is therefore when you are eating noodles or soup, the egg is runny and this enables the flavour and texture to mixed with the rest of the dish, yum yum!
Something else you can see in the photo is the ice coffee - an important part of my diet for the week. It's very refreshing whilst delivering the caffeine fix you need to perk you up!
After breakfast, we took the MTR to the Central district. We arrived close to the foot of the IFC2 building and I took a snap of the viw looking north towards Kowloon. You can just see the water that separates Hong Kong from the mainland to the left of the shot.
We then went up the Mid Levels so that Tammy could show me where a lot of western workers live and to see the Soho district where there are lots of bars and restaurants for lunch meetings and so on.
"The Central-Mid-levels escalators in Hong Kong is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. The entire escalator system covers over 800 metres in distance and elevates over 135 metres from bottom to top. It was constructed in 1993 to provide a better commute by linking Central and Western District on Hong Kong Island." [wiki info]
Needless to say, the journey up was easy! Coming back down was another matter, Tammy got sore feet but at least we stopped for a drink on the way down. Here's a snap I took as we were passing through one of the streets on the way down:
And then when we got back down to the bottom, I can't remember the name of the square, but the view looking up was awesome:
When we got back to the hotel we had a few hours until we were due to meet with more friends for dinner. I took the chance to go to the gym and do some rowing to try and keep some fitness levels up. The rowing machine was an old Model C version with a PM2 monitor (old technology for those who aren't in the know). I did 10 minutes first to test the water, found it hard to keep the rate up so settled into a low rate rhythm. Then I did some quick sprints, but about half the volume as I normally would and then another 10 mins to 'cool down'. The gym was air conditioned, so it wasn't hot - it was just so humid. The body sweats so that as the moisture evaporates, it cools the skin down and helps to regulate your body temperature. The problem is that in a humid environment, the sweat does not evaporate as much due to the atmosphere being already saturated so the body tries even harder and sweats even more.
*** TIP - It's really important to keep your fluid levels up, whether you are training or just walking around. ***
Later, we went for dinner in the CITIC building, meeting Sarah and Christine. Sarah wanted me to try the hairy crab dinner, a local speciality. We had soup to begin with, and I have to say, a chicken foot staring back up at me from the bowl is not my idea of beautiful presentation! But, I must say, the soup tasted lovely even if I left the foot and chose not to nibble on the toes!
The hairy crab dinner was an interesting operation. Having been a lobster fisherman in 1996, I had a good idea of how to get the meat out of the beast, legs and all. I found it easy enough to break the shell with my hand and then poke the meat out with the utensil that was provided. The meat was just gorgeous. When I finished, they brought another one out for me.... it seems like the food is never-ending!
Sarah, and a hairy crab!
After dinner, we went for some drinks in the Roof Garden at the foot of the IFC2 building. It's very trendy with low level lighting in the trees and a wonderful view of the bay.
The Roof Garden
Two IFC
The Two IFC, or IFC2 is the world's 9th tallest building. It stands 415m tall and has 88 floors. To put it in perspective - One Canada Square, or Canary Wharf Tower is 240m tall, so the 2IFC is nearly TWICE as tall! Mind you, the new Burj Khalifa in Dubai is 828m tall - that is one place I have to see. As you can see, I was inspired to do some research and reading on skyscrapers due to the fascinating nature of them when you see them.
The next day, we ventured across to Kowloon which is on the mainland. It's only a 10 minute journey by MTR which goes under the water to Tsim Sha Tsui. This district was very busy with lots of small shops along the streets and a lot more people rushing around. It's great to mix with people as they go about their daily lives, not too dissimilar from London in that respect.
We met with Sarah for lunch in the Star of Canton restaurant which is on the 24th floor and is famous for its Dim Sun specialities. It's also worth pointing out that despite training to be a pilot when I was younger, I am not good with heights. Actually, it's tall buildings I am not good with! When I stand at the base of a skyscraper and look up I go wobbly and my tummy flutters. When I am up high in a building and look down I feel very wobbly. So it's a bit strange when eating a lovely Dim Sun to look out the window and see a helicopter fly in and land on top of the next building's roof!
I did manage to pluck up the courage to venture over to the window and snap the view back south towards Hong Kong, and there's that 2IFC again, with a helicopter flying just to the left of it.
After lunch, we went for a walk around some more shops and into a small shopping arcade packed with tiny boutiques. They are about 6ft wide and about 12ft deep. Each has is own unique range of speciality clothing and souvenirs. I had to smile when I saw this vacancy advert, one which would never be allowed in the UK!
I then immediately saw this next sign and let out a loud "OOPS"!
Later that evening, we met up with Christine and Veron for drinks at the Mid Levels. Tammy told me that this is where the Westerners go for drinks and the business people unwind and let of their steam. You would not believe the cars that were driving past - Aston Martins, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porsches, Bentleys, Maseratis, etc. I am not exaggerating, not just the odd one here and there, a constant flow of the things!
As we were waiting for Veron, I looked up and had to take a photo of this stunning view:
One thing I should point out is that drinks are very expensive in Hong Kong. The four of us shared a two bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon plus I had a snack and it came to around £100. I don't know if it's any coincidence, but I noticed that there is much more emphasis on food than alcohol. Quite the opposite to the UK drinking culture, it's not bar hopping that's en vogue, it's food hopping. from cafe to cafe to restaurant to cafe to dessert cafe, etc. I like it.
Next day, we went to the Admiralty district after breakfast (ham, egg, noodles). We walked around the huge shopping malls, stopping every now and then for an ice coffee and window shopping. We then walked to the Sheung Wan area which is west of the Island. There are lots of antique stores and traditional items on offer for those looking for something special to take home. Walking back along Hollywood road towards the Central District and then to the MId Levels for a Haagen Daz ice cream dessert and Pacific Coffee for Iced Hazelnut latte.
I had time for another session in the gym, and pushed it a little more this time but still hard going. The afternoon nap was a welcome rest before venturing back out to meet Christine for a traditional Hot Pot dinner in the Baby Pig restaurant, not far from the hotel.
Hot Pot Dinner. You have to try one of these when you go to Hong Kong! It is two large metal soup bowls placed in square holes in the middle of the table on top of electric cookers. You can choose the flavour of your soups - we chose satay and coriander for ours. You make yoru own dipping sauce before you start too - Tammy suggested lots of garlic to go into the soy sauce, and not so much chilli.
Next, they bring out lots and lots of different meats, seafood, tofu, dough balls, and the like. You take a piece of beef for example, then place it in the soup bowl to cook it yourself. It only takes 30-60 seconds to cook as the meat is sliced very finely. It took us two whole hours to eat our dinner, chatting away whilst picking pieces of different dishes, cooking and then eating them. There was a dish of large skewered shrimps placed next to me (liek the one in the photo below). One of them jumped, scaring the living daylights out of me! tammy and Christine didn't believe me, but I saw it moving and it's antenna feeling around... needless to say I gave it an extra few minutes cooking time just in case!
Once you have finished eating all the meats and whatnots, you can take some of the soup to finish off with. By this time, it is flavoured with everything that you've been cooking in it and has the most amazing flavour.
We then walked back towards the hotel and had a couple of ice coffees just around the corner. Christine and Tammy were chatting away in Cantonese, I was feeling full, relaxed and very pleasant. I saw a couple more Porsches drive past so I started to count the number of 911's to see if I was imagining things. I counted 5 out of the next 300 non public transport cars, so 1.7% of all private vehicles were Porsche 911's, and that wasn't even the 'posh area'!
The next day, we travelled to Christine's place of work to meet her for lunch. it was a place called Fanling which is quite a way to the north, about a 45 minute journey with 4 trains, 16 stops. Christine works in a family business that produces displays for exhibitions and shows. One of the projects they were finishing off was a large eco-car model for a display to be used in a large shopping mall at an exhibition. The factory was full of carpenters, I counted about 8 of them all cutting, shaping, spray painting and so on. It was amazing to see the standard of the productions they were making.
We went to the local town for lunch and had salmon and a drink with red beans in it. It was tasty and supposedly good for you so I ate as much as I could!
After lunch, we travelled back to Hong Kong island to meet Tammy's friends Sarah and her husband Colin who had just flown in from California. Tammy got to know Sarah through Facebook and so this was the first time they had met in real life, quite an exciting time for them both!
They had plans to meet their family that evening but had tickets for an exhibition that they gave us to use as they couldn't go. It was for the River of Wisdom animated recreation at the AsiaWorld-Expo exhibition centre near the airport. I'm not sure what Tammy thought before we got there, but to me, to go and see a painting recreated by electronic means and to make an exhibition of it - what would it be like, boring? Anything but boring it turned out! Amazing to see the combination of a Chinese national treasure and new technology to produce a screen that was about 100m long by 6m high with 12 projectors displaying a seemless animated depiction of everyday life from the Song Dynasty.
The next day we had a relaxed day, doing a walkabout, eating when we fancied it, iced coffee when we fancied it and generally just unwinding and taking things as they came. By now, I was settling into the lifestyle quite nicely!
We met a couple more friends that evening for a Japanese dinner with sushi, wasabi and allsorts of different dishes again. I got to try Misu soup and cold Japanese noodles too. You have to be careful with the wasabi because it is authentic and extremely strong, take too much in a mouthful and it hits you right up the back of your mouth and behind the nose up to the bit between your eyes! You've heard of brain-freeze right? Well this is like brain-scorch!
I tried the eel sushi, and found it to be really tasty!
After dinner we headed to a bar for some drinks while everyone caught up on each others' news.
Me, Christine, Sarah and Tammy
The next day was very exciting! We were to go and meet Sarah and Colin and then travel to see the Big Buddha. When we got to where they were staying, Sarah told me we were going up to the 36th floor of an apartment block. More heights! I felt wobbly whilst in the room and looked out of the kitchen window to see this view down to the water below:
When we went to the lift, there was an engineer working on the broken one (!) - the door was open and he was tinkering with the lift suspended 36 floors up. I felt much happier when my feet finally touched the ground outside!!!
A short walk along the promenade to the Tsin Yi MTR station for the train to Tung Chung and the cable car.
When I first caught a glimpse of the cable car up to the Big Buddha, I was amazed and filled with a little trepidation of what lay ahead. We got a glass bottomed cable car just to make it even more special and frightening!
This picture was taken looking back towards the first pylon (the building on the far side of the water where the cables are heading towards).
When you get to the top, eventually, you can see the Buddha statue from a long way off sittting high above the trees and mountain. It's quite a sight. Here's a snap of Sarah and Colin at the place where you get off the cable car:
The walk towards Buddha takes you through a little village which has refreshments and souvenir shops.
Me standing in front of the General of my birth year.
You will need to allow at least half a day for the trip to see Buddha, and it is well worth it! Coming back, the cable car may not be quite as scary but it's still incredible to see the views, one of which is of the airport watching Jumbo jets landing and taking off.
When we got back, we had a short rest before we split up and Tammy went to meet the girls for dinner whilst Colin (Sarah's husband) took me out to show me more of Hong Kong, particularly Kowloon on the mainland.
We got off the MTR at the Jordan station and walked towards Temple Street which is a huge street market. Here's a snaphot of it, but it goes on for streets and streets with all sorts of shops, cafes and souvenirs. It's really cheap in the markets, you can pick up almost anything you can think of - I got a Bruce lee T-Shirt for £3.50 and a couple of King and Queen keychains for Tammy and I for next to nothing (but if she asks they were hundreds of pounds ok?!). hehe
As we went along the street Colin asked if I was hungry, the answer of course was "Yes!". He took me to a street cafe where we sat at a table outside next to some guys who looked like they were from the Middle East. One of the guys mentioned that wherever he has travelled all over the world, instead of choosing a high class restaurant in which you could feel like you were anywhere, he prefers the local cafes to sample real food amongst real people. I quite agree with him.
We had clay pot rice meals. Here's Colin's with that runny egg on top before he stirs it in to spread the flavour. The rice is kind of sticky and you have to scrape it from the pot because of the way it is baked on. It's so tasty and very filling!
After dinner, we carried on walking through the street market for a while before catching a bus to the ferry pier to catch a ferry from the mainland back to Hong Kong island. The ferry was $2.50 - about 20p! Colin told me that when he was a schoolboy before the MTR was built across the water, he would catch the ferry to get to and from school.
Hong Kong at night is simply stunning! I took a lot of blurry pictures from the ferry but managed to get one that was pretty good. The building on the left with the bright white triangles is the Bank Of China building, the one on the right is Two IFC in case you don't recognise it yet.
When we got back to Wan Chai district, I suggested we had a pint before going up to the hotel. Picking a bar was tough as they all had either lots of rowdy westerners or young girls and grannies pestering people. We found one that was a little more relaxed despite the music being very loud. It was called the Dog House, somewhere I felt strangely quite at home in!
I bought us a pint of Murphy's each which cost about £12. Drinking is expensive, be prepared if you are the type to booze it up all night long. Me, I prefer to eat!
We talked about lots of stuff, but mainly sport. Now Colin has spent the last 10 years in California and is into his American Football. He's not so keen on baseball, but after I tried to explain the game of cricket to him he was astonished!
"5 DAYS.... and a draw?!!!" "They can just block the ball?!"
"Some people take sick days off work to watch it?!"
It struck me as I was explaining the rules and how to play how silly a game it really is!
The next day was our last day in Hong Kong. It was a fantastic day filled with eating, walking, exploring, eating, ,walking and so on with a lot of our friends. Here are some pictures from the day:
Japanese Lunch - eels and rice on the left.
I'm not sure what part of the cow this meal was but it was slighty chewy and unusual!
The guys in the street cafe loved my Bruce Lee T-Shirt!
So did 'Tammy's girls'!
Now they are BIG pumpkins!
I would say this is not a slow car, despite the reg plate.
A cat in one of the cafes took a liking to my wife, and she to her!
Tofu dessert - another stop along the way and another bite to eat!
A huge Hot Pot dinner to finish off with, love it!
A great way to finish the holiday, eating wonderful food amongst great friends.
Without broing you to death (unless I already have!) the journey home was 24 hours from setting off to getting home. The flight took longer due to strong headwinds most of the way. It was -3C at Heathrow when we landed, brrrrr! The drive back to Devon was really tough, next time I think we'd better stay overnight near London or ask someone to pick us up as I struggled to keep my eyes open at some points.
Summary
If you ever get the chance to visit Hong Kong, do it. There's something for everyone; tradition and history, fashion and cosmopolitan areas, great food, amazing sights and experiences, warm climate and lovely people.
Expect drink to be expensive and food to be cheap.
Most other items seem to be on a par with UK prices.
Public transport is efficient and cheap.
The streets are generally very clean.
There are luxury shopping malls for the affluent, and street markets for the bargain hunters.
I am sure we will return before too long, hopefully next time we can combine a week in Hong Kong with a week in Singapore.
Baldy, signing out!
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