I'd booked a month-long organised trip to China with Gecko's but since there wasn't any time included in the itinerary for sightseeing in Hong Kong, I decided to arrive a few days early to see the sights. I was flying with KLM, which involved a change in Amsterdam. The Amsterdam flight left at 5.10pm Wednesday (19 Aug) and took only 45 minutes, with a quick transfer to next flight which took ~10 hours to Hong Kong, arriving ~2pm local time the next day.
Thursday 20th August. Pre-tour: Hong Kong Victoria Harbour
The weather was absolutely scorching when I ventured out into Hong Kong. I got the Airport Express to Kowloon Station and then a short taxi ride to the Evergreen Hotel, all in it came to about HK$120 (~£10). The hotel was situated in Kowloon (the part of Hong Kong on the mainland) just off the main street, Nathan Road and there were lots of restaurants and shops nearby. The hotel room was pretty good considering what I paid (3 nights for ~£70, including breakfast) - a double bed, en-suite, clean bathroom, a/c, kettle, LCD TV, and there was a free internet room too (although usually full of annoying Chinese kids online gaming).
I ventured out into Hong Kong in the afternoon - it was hot and sweaty, very smelly in parts (not in a good way), and very crowded with people rushing about with mobile phones glued to their ears. I walked through Kowloon Park which contained a bird lake and was a relaxing oasis of calm from the hectic hubbub of Hong Kong life. I walked to the waterfront, visited the Avenue of Stars (including Bruce Lee statue), and took in the view across Victoria Harbour to the skyscrapers of Hong Kong Island. Then, at 8pm, I watched the Symphony of Lights – a 15 minute sound and light show played out to pumping music with lasers firing out from the tops of Hong Kong skyscrapers which pulsate with multi-coloured lights. A pretty good show, worth watching. I finished the day off with a meal at the restaurant next door to the hotel, the “Delicious Restaurant”. The food was very good, mains were around £4-5, and beer was cheap, about £1.50 for a 630ml bottle. The waitresses also wore a mini-skirt and kinky boots but of course, this had nothing to do with my enjoyment of the restaurant.
Friday 21st August. Pre-tour: HK Victoria Peak & Lantau Island
On Friday morning, I had a big breakfast at the hotel, self-service so you could stuff yourself to cover lunch too - hot dog sausages, ham, boiled eggs, jacket potatoes, beans, pasta and salads, toast, orange juice, tea and coffee.
My first trip was the Peak Tram to Victoria Peak for views over Hong Kong Island and Kowloon across Victoria Harbour. I bought a 3 day MTR (Hong Kong underground) pass, got the MTR from Jordan (the stop near my hotel) to Central, then followed the signs to walk to the Peak Tram Station. I arrived about 9am and there was hardly any queue, the ticket cost HK$33 return (~£3). Hong Kong Island is built on very steep slopes, hence the funicular to Victoria Peak and the escalators they have between the mid-levels. The ride up was great, supposedly at an incline of 27° but it seemed a lot steeper. The skyscrapers along the side of the track looked like they were leaning or toppled over. At the top, I had a quick wander round and took some shots, a great view and a lovely clear day.
Next, I visited the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens - signposted from the Peak Tram Terminus, but uphill all the way. A few interesting birds in aviaries and a variety of primates – gibbons, lemurs, orang-utans, etc, but everything was in cages so difficult to photograph. I also visited Hong Kong Park, which was just across the road from the Peak Tram Terminus. This contained a walk-through aviary, which attempts to recreate a SE Asia rainforest region, with a boardwalk at canopy level. There are supposed to be ~600 birds in the aviary from ~90 different species, although I didn’t see anywhere near this number.
Since it had only just gone past noon and I had already finished what I originally thought was going to take all day, I decided to visit Lantau Island and the Big Buddha which I had planned for the following day. The Bid Buddha is the largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha in the world. I walked back to Central Station, crossed over to Hong Kong Station, then get on the Tung Chung line to Tung Chung Station on Lantau Island. At Tung Chung, I found out the cable car to Ngong Ping (the highlight of the trip to the Big Buddha, a massively long cable car ride over the tree tops) was out of service for a month so had to catch a bus instead. At the Big Buddha, there are ~260 steps to the top where the statue is situated, it was definitely worth the effort to see it. The Po Lin Monastery next door was nothing special - incense burning, and some ornate golden Buddhas inside.
I headed back to the hotel (bus back to Tung Chung MTR Station, MTR to Central, then another MTR to Jordan), had dinner at the Delicious Restaurant again (beef with black bean sauce and chillies) and then paid a visit to the nearby Temple Street Market which abounds with a mixture of tourist tat and knock-off designer gear. I got a nice Quicksilver top for ~£5 and some good shorts for ~£6. Also, there were some really cool large holographic pictures at ~£2 each.
Saturday 22nd August. Pre-tour: Hong Kong Museums
On Saturday, I paid a visit to a number of museums. I bought a Museum Weekly Pass, a bargain at HK$30 (~£2.50), which allowed multiple visits to any museum within one week. At the History Museum, I joined the early morning English-guided tour which took 1½ hours and was very interesting, narrating the history of Hong Kong from hundreds of millions of years ago to the handover to the Chinese in 1997. The Science Museum had a few exhibits that I specifically wanted to see - the World of Mirrors, the Bed of Nails (unfortunately, I couldn't lie on it as had an 80kg limit), a world population clock which continually updated (6.8 billion and counting), and an interesting optical illusion room, with sloping walls and floor, but which looked square due to use of perspective, lines, etc! At the Space Theatre. I wanted to visit the Stanley Ho Theatre where they had a 75ft IMAX screen but my intended shows were all sold out so couldn't go. The museum itself was reasonably interesting and included some interactive displays (eg. try zero gravity) but I couldn’t be bothered to queue up for them. I rounded the day off with another meal at the Delicious Restaurant (lemon and sesame chicken) which lived up to its name again.
Sunday 23rd August. Tour Day 1
This was the official start of tour day with a Pre-Departure Meeting in the evening. The tour joining hotel was the Caritas Bianchi Lodge so I had to move all my stuff over there (the room cost £50 a night, hence, why I stayed in another hotel for my previous nights). I had intended to go the Wetland Park today but it was so hot and it was so far away that I couldn’t be bothered. Instead, I decided to do a 1 hour Star Ferry tour of Victoria Harbour in the afternoon, which turned out to be not very exciting but passed away some time.
Back at the hotel, I met my room-mate, Stephen - he was ~55, an Aussie, and looked like a cross between a member of ZZ Top and Professor Dumbledore from Harry Potter! He was here with his sister Robin and her husband Paul. The Pre-Departure Meeting was held in the Tour Leader’s Room. His name was Deng Nan (pronounced Dung, but I couldn’t really call him another name for a turd, so he said people could call him Daniel instead). Everyone else then introduced themselves - Dave and Jenny from England, Travis and Krystle from Australia, Tim and Lou from Australia, Stephen, Paul and Robin (mentioned already), and the rest were single females, Jo from England, (older) Jo from Australia (but originally Dutch), Beth from Australia, and Sam from England. Some of us then went to see the Symphony of Lights, and since no-one else appeared interested in sitting down for a meal, I headed to the Delicious Restaurant for one last time.
Monday 24th August. Tour Day 2
On Monday, I had breakfast at the Lodge, a "minute steak" with fried eggs, I'd never ordered a "minute steak" before and didn't think I would again - it was tiny and more like a shoe insole than a steak. We then caught the hydrofoil up the Pearl River estuary to Guangzhou, from where we would catch an overnight train to Guilin and then a bus to our next port of call, Yangshuo.
My first taste of the Orient
Monday, August 24, 2009
Hong Kong, China
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2025-02-07