Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of the best places I’ve ever been to in my life. I just wanted to get that across nice and early.

Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997 when it was handed over to the Chinese, however it still governs itself in a few areas most notably in having its own currency and controlling its own immigration. This has lead to Chinese to coin the phrase “One country, two systems”. I left Guilin on an overnight train however had to stop at Shenzhen just outside the Hong Kong border to deal with customs and immigration. This took quite a while and resulted in a lot of queuing, where I noticed an unfortunate German girl had finally made it to the front of one before being turned away for not filling in the right form. Having finally passed through into Hong Kong I boarded another train to take me to near my hostel.

Although all considered Hong Kong the place actually consists of many different islands (of which one is called Hong Kong Island) and an area attached to mainland China. My hostel was in a district called Kowloon on the mainland directly across a short span of water from Hong Kong Island. While waiting 7 hours at Guilin Station I realized I hadn’t booked anywhere to stay in Hong Kong so had get on the phone with Mum who sorted me out somewhere. I easily found the hostel in a building called Chongqing Mansions which was a 16 floored building containing about a dozen hostels per floor but which in no way justified the use of “mansions” in its name. The first level was an amazing maze of shops and stalls all ran by Indians serving some great looking Indian food which I would definitely be trying at some point. Despite having booked into the Germany Hostel I was actually put up in the Paris Hostel as all the different accommodation options on the seventh floor seemed to be owned by the same people.  Amazingly I found I was sharing my dorm with the German girl who was initially turned away at immigration. This was by quite a way the worst hostel I had stayed in so far, given that the rooms were incredibly small and you had to sit on the toilet in order to have a shower. But the Indian guys who ran it, although fairly slow and unaware of my booking at first, where a good source of entertainment.  Shame it cost over twice as much as anywhere I had stayed before, but seeing as it was actually the cheapest accommodation in the entire of Hong Kong I was happy. The high price of a tiny shared room was a warning of the massive price hike after crossing the border from China.

Hong Kong Island skyline seen from the Kowloon side of the water

I had selected my train from Guilin to make sure I arrived in Hong Kong with enough time to find my hostel then locate a sports bar in which to watch the first race of the Formula One season. I had found one on the internet but it wasn’t nearby and meant I had to get the subway to Hong Kong Island which would take up time I didn’t have. Although I arrived 20 laps into the race it was very enjoyable as I could also watch the Hong Kong Sevens (a three day rugby tournament being played just a few miles away) on a second screen while I enjoyed a very western lunch. I returned to the hostel in the early evening to find a sports bar almost immediately next door.

Unlike all previous destinations I chose to abandon my trusty Lonely Planet guide and instead relied on information from the parents who are big Hong Kong fans, especially seeing as Dad used to live there as a wee lad. My first full day would be based around the cities sightseeing bus as it provided three routes around different areas and included lots of additional extras included in the ticket. To get to the bus I had to take the Star Ferry from Kowloon over to Hong Kong Island, which as well as being as great way to cross the water is also as much an attraction. Having bought my 24 hour ticket I boarded the Green Line tour which would take me out of the city and to the south side of the island. Here I got off at the last stop in a town called Stanley and visited the famous Stanley market where I bought a Chinese rugby shirt having been caught up in the excitement of watching the Sevens the previous day. Stanley was very nice to wander round as it still features some colonial architecture as well as more modern restaurants and bars.

The view across Stanley Bay

Following Stanley I boarded the tour bus again and, having passed through Dad’s old neighbourhood of Repulse Bay, got off in Aberdeen. I haven’t been to the one in Scotland but I’d be prepared to guess that this Aberdeen is a little nicer. Here I could use my first added extra from my bus ticket to take a tour of the town’s port on a traditional sampan boat, where I got the delight of American group who felt the need to photograph everything, including zoomed in shots of the water, and who moved around so much the driver was worried about the boat flipping over.

The sampan pulling up in Aberdeen Harbour

Late afternoon I ended my first tour and so immediately got on the Red Line tour which would take me round the high rise business and shopping districts of what could be considered central Hong Kong. The island is split by a mountainous peak (imaginatively called The Peak) and included in my ticket was a trip to top using the funicular railway, so I got off the bus at the relevant stop and joined the queue for the train. After almost an hour, half spent in the wrong queue, I took my seat on the train which takes an incredibly steep route up the Peak resulting in quite a few worried Chinese people. From the top the view was breathtaking and I really didn’t feel like going back down anytime soon, but if I didn’t I would miss out on seeing things before I left the following day. However, moments before boarding the train back down I decided Hong Kong was too good to rush through so would stay an extra day, and consequently stayed up the Peak for a couple more hours. This time included having dinner in another very western restaurant – Bubba Gump’s Shrimp – but I could sit at the bar directly overlooking the skyline which was great. Eventually I felt I should go back down and following another long queue, reached the city again. On the walk back to the Star Ferry pier I visited the Mid-Level escalators which are a series of combined moving walkways which would transport me to the pier about 10 meters above the ground. This made covering the distance very easy as you never have to pause to cross at level crossings. On arriving back at the hostel I was asleep pretty quickly as I was well and truly shattered after a thirteen hour day.

On day three I did the final tour included in my 24 hour sightseeing ticket which took me around Kowloon including passing by the Chongqing mansions. The pickup point for the tour by the Avenue of Stars which is the Hong Kong version of Los Angeles’ Hollywood Boulevard, as it contains tiles set in the floor with names and hand prints of famous Chinese actors. Needless to say I knew none of them except Let Li, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, but was very entertained by the lesser known actors whose names were followed up by the English names they had given themselves like: Ho Kwong Cheong, “Leonard”.

If I hadn’t have added an extra day to my time in Hong Kong I would have had to leave at this point, but instead I could enjoy a trip to Lantau Island. It was quick enough to get to the island via the subway but then you need to take the rather expensive cable car to reach the island’s main attraction, other than Hong Kong Disneyland, which is an enormous metal Buddha on top of the hill. The cable car was fun and offered excellent views of the island as well as some good conversation with some Americans who were just pleased to have something to distract them from the height. The Buddha itself is quite amazing in its height and I enjoyed visiting it a lot, but downsides included the 250+ steps and the fact that, despite what I believed, seeing it wasn’t included in my cable car ticket. It turns out the ticket I bought, which included something called “Walking with the Buddha” didn’t actually mean walking up to the Buddha but meant I could go and watch a very cheesy animated video about how the original Buddha came to be. Not worth the extra £5. In addition I could have gone to watch another one entitled something like “Monkey Business” about a group of animated monkeys who learn the benefits of sharing, but really didn’t feel like surrounding myself with excitable children and their bored parents would add much to my trip. Following this I headed back to the cable car and then to Kowloon for a few hours rest before exploring the local area at night.

The aptly named Big Buddha on Lantau Island

At 8pm every evening the skyline on Hong Kong Island performs a rather impressive laser and light show including all the buildings’ differently coloured lights and green lasers emanating from the tops of the tallest ones. Don’t get me wrong as I did enjoy it, but there was a part of me that thought the choreography was merely all the buildings showing off what lights they had rather than anything organised.

Following the “Symphony of Lights” I headed north to explore the various night markets on offer including Temple Street market and Ladies market which despite its name is not female specific. As I would be heading into Vietnam in the next few days and hopefully away from the grey skies of China I chose to buy some sunglasses following some expertly carried out negotiating. Partly because I wanted it, but also partly because of my previous negotiating success, I later bought a new shirt which I’ll probably regret as it is far from the kind of clothes you need in hot and humid south-east Asia. I returned to the hostel where I joined a group of Indians watching Sri Lanka beat New Zealand in the cricket world cup and bought some sort of chicken curry to take back to my room. I’m not sure the Chinese girl in the room appreciated the smell but I certainly enjoyed my dinner.

A typical Kowloon street at night

On my final day I found myself genuinely disappointed to be leaving Hong Kong which as far I could see was the perfect place. I use the term “place” as it is not only a city, but a beautiful set of islands with stunning colonial towns linked by great transport, offering brilliant attractions, filled by friendly people with the added bonus that lots of them speak English. I could so easily move to Hong Kong.

Before leaving the hostel the owner effectively forced me to review his hostel on the internet while he watched over me. I did enjoy my stay and would have left a good review by choice, but I feel I may have been slightly overgenerous given that he was reading every word as I typed, despite me asking him not to.

I took a different route out of Hong Kong as I had taken in, by choosing to take a 2 hour train to the city of Guangzhou, formally Canton, where I boarded a following train to the town on Nanning further south. I had booked a room for one night in Nanning but seeing as I had spent an extra night in Hong Kong than originally planned I just stayed there a few hours where I could shower and rest before my overnight train to Hanoi in Vietnam. Feeling considerably refreshed, and following an emotional farewell to my Lonely Planet guide to China, I headed back to the train station. The train to Hanoi had to stop twice so everyone on board could get off in the dead of night, with their luggage, to first exit China at their immigration point and then a few hours later to enter Vietnam at their immigration point.

So a month after landing in Beijing I have left China and can now look forward to two months in south-east Asia followed by two and half in Australia and New Zealand. But more importantly, in two hours and twenty-four hours I’ll have someone to enjoy it all with. Enter Linsey...