The most important thing to say about Hong Kong is that Sar was my favourite visitor, and is possibly my favourite person in the whole world. And though I did ask her for blog input the statement still stands.
I caught a bus down from Guangzhou directly to HK airport to meet Sar and we began our adventures.
First stop was Kowloon and our accommodation for the weekend – the mighty Chungking Mansions, stopping point of all budget travelers to the city. Chungking is a 16 (or so) storey building crammed with guesthouses, food stalls and really good Indian restaurants. There were supposedly 5 ‘blocks’ and we were in block E, which all the people hanging around outside trying to sell us things seemed to know. Spooky.
Chungking is a notorious hole but we were pleasantly surprised by our room at ‘Maple Leaf Guesthouse’. It was very clean and definitely comfortable enough for a couple of nights. Also, it was enormous.
Just check out the size of that room. There was even a bathroom as well, which consisted of a shower attachment over a toilet, and a sink. Personally I think we were spoilt for space.
The first evening we went for a stroll along the promenade to get the classic views across Victoria Harbour of the skyscraper lights from Hong Kong central. We went along the Avenue of Stars, a tribute to the Hong Kong film industry, and stopped for a drink in Starbucks.
The next day we decided to explore the city. Hong Kong is a very expensive place but thanks to my purse having been stolen and Sarah forgetting to bring hers every time we left our room, we actually spent very little money that day. This financial anomaly would not be repeated, but it was nice to start off on the right foot. In the morning we had dim sum, a typical Cantonese breakfast.
We took the Star Ferry over from Kowloon to HK Central.
Then navigated our way through the walkways to reach the Mid-Level Escalators.
They were basically just escalators. But outdoor ones, that took you up the hill to various residential areas. In the mornings they run downhill for people to get to work and the rest of the day they run uphill. Useful.
They were basically just escalators. But outdoor ones, that took you up the hill to various residential areas. In the mornings they run downhill for people to get to work and the rest of the day they run uphill. Useful.
Hong Kong is not a big city, but I didn’t think it felt crowded. It’s well designed and space is utilised to its full potential by subways underground and walkways above. And shops are basically built on top of each other.
Views from The Peak, over Central and Victoria Harbour, were amazing. The guys told us that the past week or so had been quite foggy so we were very lucky to have the weather we did. After accidentally ditching the guys, Sar and I went up to the top of a shopping plaza to watch as the sun went down and the city lights gradually came on.
It was all very beautiful. Then we went to McDonalds.
The next day was our last day in Hong Kong, so we had to check out of Chungking. John Smith, our happy Chinese guesthouse owner, wasn’t awake yet, so we also had to carry our bags everywhere. We felt it added a nice gap year effect.
We decided to visit Lantau, the biggest and best of the Outlying Islands. After metro-ing to Tung Chung, at the foot of the Ngong Ping Plateau, we got in the queue for tickets on the Ngong Ping 360 cable car. About 2 hours later we got in the cable car. Queues in Hong Kong are hefty.
It was all worth it though. The cable car had a glass floor and panoramic views of Lantau’s coast, the ocean, and Hong Kong airport. I was pretty excited about the airport. Sar wasn’t.
At the top of the mountain and up a fair few steps was the Tian Tan Buddha, better known as the Big Buddha. It was big.
Sar and I were enlightened by Big Buddha. We had to be enlightened pretty quickly, because we needed to get back down the mountain, have lunch and be on a bus by 3pm, but there was enlightenment nonetheless. Sar realised that she could climb a lot of steps with her rucksack, and I realised that Sar is probably the best person ever.
We briefly dropped in on the Po Lin Monastery, the largest temple in Hong Kong.
Shame about the crane in the background.
All the mountain scenery was very picturesque though.
After our swift enlightenment, we made our way back down on the cable car (no queue this time), had lunch in a food court, metro-ed, unintentionally scammed a couple of foreigners out of 3 dollars and found the bus station, where we got on a bus back to Guangzhou.
I really enjoyed Hong Kong, mostly because Sarah is amazing, but also because it didn’t really feel like China. It was just as neon, but somehow seemed more civilised. Also, everyone spoke English. Maybe that was it.
