The flight to Hong Kong takes a little over 11 hours * groan * and I do not look forward to that. Unlike the others in the plane, I don’t manage to get some shut eye before breakfast and landing in Hong Kong the next day (they’re 7 hours ahead of CET – Central European Time). I have to say I like flying with Cathay Pacific; the food is very good. I watch a "Lilo & Stitch" episode, "Flushed away", "Alien" and a snippet of "Marie Antoinette" (didn’t like the movie much, from what I saw, but it has a killer soundtrack).
I arranged a transfer to the hotel when I booked this trip. However, after waiting for almost an hour I don’t see anyone with a sign that carries my name. I ask a few people who do carry signs where I can arrange transport to Mayfair Garden, my hotel in Kowloon, Hong Kong. An older gentleman directs me to a counter with a large "Vigor" sign. And from there on things go smoother. I show the lady behind the counter my voucher and she arranges a ride – free of (additional) charges.
I think it was a 50-minute ride to the hotel (without heavy traffic). Lots of BMWs and SUVs, and the buildings look worn out on the outside. In the bus the air con was on full blast, so even though I noticed the higher temperatures when I got off the plane earlier that morning, and was sweating when I kept an eye out for my ride to the hotel, I was glad I wore one of my heavier hooded sweaters.
I had already noticed a wonderful landscape with sea, islands and mountains as the plane landed on Lantau Island – so vastly different from that Dutch flat one. Because I was early, I had to wait an hour before I was assigned a room and could actually dump my stuff. The young woman at the counter (the bell boy as well) was very helpful and called TourAsia, a local touroperator, to go through my transfer back to the airport. Even though people in Hong Kong speak English very well, I sometimes had trouble understanding them; their pronunciation of words and names sometimes differ from how Brits would pronounce it. For example: my hotel, the Mayfair Garden, was pronounced as "Mayfay".
Since I hadn’t booked any tours (I’d brought a Lonely Planet and Time Out guide to Hong Kong) the person from TourAsia asked if I was interested in a tour. Since it was my first time he recommended me the Hong Kong Island tour. I agreed on doing that tour in the afternoon of the next day. He said he’d send someone to the hotel later to hand me a voucher to the tour, and so I could pay for it.
That someone turned out to be Damian, who to my surprise, spoke almost flawlessly Dutch! Turn out he’s lived in the Netherlands for quite a while (enrolled in elementary school, and studied at a Dutch university), but worked as a guide for Gray Line Tours for two years now. He recommended me things to visit and see (I ended up booking two additional tours; one to Lantau Island - where the giant Buddha resides - and one to Macau). He gave me his phone number and told me to call him if I had any questions or if anything came up. Wow, I never got a guy’s phone number that quick and that easy ;p
I finally set foot in my room around 11 a.m. and without further ado I crawl into bed for a few hours of much needed sleep. I intended to wake around 1 p.m. but wake up (refreshed) a little before 3! Oops… I get up, take a shower and go out to venture the neighborhood I’m staying in.
I quickly find out there’s a 7-Eleven on virtually every street corner, which is very… Convenient. Bustling streets, familiar and unfamiliar smells of food and other things, and loads of people. My tummy’s rumbling, so I decide to go look for a place to eat. And with a vast array of choices, it takes me a little while to settle on something: after walking around for over an hour I decide to eat at a little hole-in-the-wall place, near my hotel on Jordan Street. I have beef satay and rice. It’s cheap (about €3,- / $4,-) and very tasty: the veal is so tender it seems to almost melt on one’s tongue, the green peppers are crunchy.
After my meal, I head for the Avenue of Stars near the harbor: every night at 8 p.m. there’s a free laser and light show. (This show is mentioned in the Guinness book of records!) Due to road works I have some trouble finding the Avenue, so I end up using an extra half an hour to get there. FYI: Avenue of Stars is Hong Kong’s version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and besides a statue of Bruce Lee, it also has hand prints of Jet Li (tiny hands!), Michelle Yeoh, Yun-Fat Chow – and many others.
There’s a light drizzle and a chilly wind. And it’s foggy. Despite all this I’m looking forward to the show, and I happily snap pictures to kill time.
The 15-minute show wasn’t as spectaculair as I hoped it would be (I blame the fog), but it’s nice entertainment. I do recommend it, though!
There are loads of first impressions at the end of my first day in Hong Kong: the majority reminds me of mainland China (Beijing) and even Indonesia. There’s more racial diversity here than in Beijing: I’ve seen Indians (from India), Indonesians, Brits (locals as well), Americans, Germans, French… And I’m constantly addressed to in Cantonese! I admit I blend in perfectly, but I don’t think I look Chinese.
I’m plagued by jetlag my first night here. I wake up every now and then and around 3 a.m. I am really hungry and wide awake. I decide to ask for a supermarket nearby to stock on fruit and bread in the morning – in case I wake up with a rumbling tummy again the next nights. Also, I wish I’d brought my laptop with me: I have WiFi in my room!
***
The tour of Hong Kong Island was great. I saw Man Mo Temple (I somehow missed the famous escalators nearby), went to Vistoria Peak by tram (I’m glad I didn’t hike the 3K uphill; it’s very steep – and once up there it was quite chilly), Aberdeen (a fishing village), Stanley Market and Repulse Bay (where there are nets in the water to keep the sharks at bay). Joelle, our guide is a riot: she says the most hilarious things with a straight face. A British couple – clearly jetlagged – assure her that if they do fall asleep it won’t be because of her. I find myself talking to another British couple, a young Indonesian woman who came to Hong Kong accompanying her husband who’s here for bussiness. And there’s a cute American chica, from a Californian town near the coast (majored in Psychology, with Sociology on the side – she thought I my job’s cool). We actually started a conversation when she noticed we wear the exact same watch… Boy’s watches – heh.
That night I have dinner at Yoshinoya, a Japanese fast food chain (in no way comparable to the fast food served by Mickey D’s or Pizza Hut). I go for the "terriyaki chicken bowl", which is basically a bowl with rice, chicken breast with some kind of soy sauce and veggies (carrot, French beans, brocolli and cauliflower). And a tall Coke. It’s fresh and really tasty, and it costs €2,40 (which is roughly about $3,-).
***
I start International Women’s Day with another breakfast consisting of French Toast and fruit juice. This morning there’s company: some young Chinese guy – who finishes with a helping of rice noodles. I notice he keeps looking at me, and it’s not until a couple of minutes into my breakfast that I know why. He was entering data into his Palm Pilot when he looked up and spoke to me. In Cantonese. He repeated his question, and I replied I don’t speak Chinese. He then repeated his question in broken English: he wanted to know about my T-shirt (I was wearing my Deftones/Dickies logo T-shirt). I told him it’s a band. A music band.
After finishing breakfast I head for the post office, which is about a brisk 5-minute walk away from the hotel (head north on Nathan Road), to mail postcards for a few relatives in Indonesia. Walking out the post office I notice an Internet terminal and I couldn’t resist sending friends and relatives an update, as well as quickly checking my E-mails.
The afternoon tour of Lantau Island was an interesting one. After a (relatively) short bus drive, we went up a mountain by cable car called the Ngong Ping Skyrail 360. Unfortunately, the higher we went the foggier it became. And very cold. After stepping off the cable car the tour guide gave us some time to wander through Ngong Ping village (which basically lies at the feet of the Buddha.) I saw three Buddhist monks (there actually was one female monk, dressed in brown) and I couldn’t resist taking a picture of them. It was fun to watch them talk quietly, but excitedly amongst eachother.
The giant Buddha was also shrouded in fog – which sort of added to its air of… Spirituality. The tour guide told us that this was the kind of weather they usually have in April. Say what?! There’s also a very long stairway leading up to the Buddha. I went down (and up again) in less than 10 minutes – including taking several pictures. (I outwalked a few American girls on my way back up – heh.)
Shek O was once a flourishing fishing village, but now the waters around Hong Kong don’t contain any fish and Hong Kong actually has to import its fish from countries like Malaysia and Indonesia(!) and so Shek O is slowly emptying out. Watching the remains of that once thriving village somehow makes me feel sad.
I have grilled duck for dinner that night at a place called "King’s Taste" on Chatham Road South. I like the stylish design like interior. The grilled duck isn’t half bad either, but I realize I like it crispy. The entire meal costs me about €7,- (which is about $8,50 I think).
I’ve shot 4 rolls of film in a short period of time and I’ve taken them to a photo shop to have them developed. I can’t wait to see how they turn out!
No comments:
Post a Comment