Saturday, 1 August 2015

HONG KONG BLOG

After getting to bed at only 1.30am on Friday 24 July, I woke up at 10 o’clock to a grey morning. Luckily, that nice Chinese man had helped me the night before when I got off the airport bus with all my luggage. What I didn’t mention before is that we got lost looking for Austin Road when we should have been going to Austin Avenue! He ended up calling a taxi and telling the Chinese driver – in Chinese of course, where to take me – and off I went – luckily to my hotel! I had bought an octopus card at the airport and this is the most wonderful thing to have – it covers you for all public transport – and I used it on ferries, trams, buses, the Metro and even the fast train to the airport when I left.

For my Hong Kong stay, I was very blessed to have my dear friend, Janique Klingelhoeffer, who is a total HongKongophile, draw up “Christalla’s Hong Kong Adventure” – my own private itinerary and boy was it detailed and absolutely fantastic to have with me in such a huge and daunting place as Hong Kong! It was Janique with whom I chatted to on the bus from the airport (free WiFi on public transport) and I checked in with her each night too.

On my first day in Hong Kong, I decided to see the Peak and walked all the way down to the harbour. It was fascinating seeing such western shops, a Christian church, a mosque, and lots and lots of people. At the harbour, I jumped on the ferry – again enjoying the water – and after a short trip of about eight minutes was in Central and following Janique’s instructions to find the tram which would take me up Victoria Peak. I started chatting to young Chinese chap from Beijing called Forres (doesn’t sound very Chinese?) and as we were both going to the Peak, we agreed to go together! He was very sweet and his English was good! The tram was very efficient and it managed to get up a very steep incline fairly quickly. We reached the top and then had to go up about six escalators to get to the Sky Terrace. It was a bit cloudy up there, but the views were still wonderful. I chatted to some lovely ladies from Dubai who were quite taken with my adventures. We decided to come down by bus and that was fun – lots of spinning and looping. I seem to always be in buses in quite hair-raising places, but always with excellent drivers!

I wanted to go on to Stanley and Forres was meeting his friend to start the 23-hour return train journey to Beijing so he very kindly took me to the bus stop and we said goodbye! Stanley is a pretty fishing village. I got off the bus and saw a nice man also getting off – and he seemed to know what he was up to – so I asked him for some help. We ended up chatting for about an hour about various places to see and what to do in Stanley. His name is Gerald and he had worked in Hong Kong at HSBC and then returned to England, but like me, he chose to escape from work early and so he had resigned and come back to Hong Kong. It seems that if people love Hong Kong, they really do love Hong Kong! I left him and had a good walk, a look at the markets – looking only…..remember, I don’t shop anymore! – and some lovely sole for lunch/supper. I then found the bus back to Central, got back on the ferry and walked back to the hotel after a really lovely day out.

The next day was quieter – I decided to have a break from find-a-friend …. and to try the Metro (underground train). It was fantastic – spectacularly clean and efficient and very easy to use! I opened a packet of puffed rice and then looked up and saw a sign – “No eating or pay a fine of 2 000 HK dollars!” Oops! I put the packet away very quickly. From the station, I took a bus to Sai Kung – on the recommendation of Gerald – and found myself in a pretty little fishing village. It is so nice to be able to explore a city from different angles and it was great to see this place. I took the bus back to Diamond Hill and then went into the Po Lin Nunnery – beautifully calm and peaceful, with bonsais and many pretty plants in the gardens – and lots of Chinese tourists on three tour buses! When I went to find the Metro home, I went into a huge shopping mall, complete with Marks and Spencers! I may as well have been in England. Still …. only looking! I went back to the hotel so I could print my newest proofreading job and get started on it.

On Sunday, I took the Metro again and went all the way to the end of the line to get the cable car to see the Big Buddha. Find-a-friend mode was back on – so I found two! I was chatting to Nelissa and her brother, Avolino, from Melbourne and I asked if I could hang out with them – they are both in their thirties and we had a great day – and they gave me tips about Melbourne! Avolino is also travelling and he had just had his phone stolen at Hong Kong airport – with none of his photos backed up! I felt so sorry for him. We queued for nearly two hours to get on the cable car – and there were lots of them, not like Cape Town’s big one. Each cabin took ten people. This is where we saw some of the Chinese doing one of the things they are very good at – pushing in! Janique had warned me not to get frustrated, but I must admit that my elbows did come out sometimes! The ride was quite scary, but definitely worth it for the views of Hong Kong and the airport, and to see the Big Buddha. You go through a whole village – shops, coffee shops, Subway… and then you climb many many steps to get to the top for more spectacular views.

We only came down after 6pm and then parted. I took the train back to Central at the harbour and then jumped on the ferry to see the city by night and to watch the laser light show at 8pm from the Walk of Fame. I chatted to some young Thai girls and told them how much I loved their country – and they said they are also going to travel lots when they are big like me! Then, I went to the Temple Street Market – still managing not to shop – and finally, it was back home to finish my proofreading. Luckily, Hong Kong is 7 hours ahead of South Africa!

I got up late on Monday, packed and left my luggage with the concierge and had a good walk down to the harbour and back through Kowloon Park. The concierge got me a taxi to the train station and once there, I checked in for my flights to Singapore and Brisbane, left my suitcase and got on the fast train to the airport – so efficient and painless! I love my purple suitcase, but I also love seeing it go! I was really looking forward to seeing family and friends in Australia – Merlene, my sister-in-law, and her fiancé, Wayne, in Airlie Beach, Brian and Theresa Breetzke and their children, Callum and Jenna  on the Gold Coast, Leane Kopke and her fiancé, Ben, in Sydney and finally, another Airbnb – this time in Melbourne. I had managed nearly two weeks on my own and learned a lot! Time to see Australia!



 
Spot the missing numbers on the lift panel! Apparently 14 means, "you might die!" and 4 means "you will die!"

Tallest building at 88 floors

View from the walkway to the ferry

More skyscrapers

Taxis - red and white Toyota camrys

Super modern shopping malls
More interesting architecture


View from the Peak
Harbour at daytime

 

And at night...light show


Even George (Clooney) is in town!

Sometimes I feel more like, "Where's Christalla?"

Knotty old tree in Stanley

Printing proofreading job with Raymond at my Hong Kong hotel - proof for Kate!

Quirky scene in front of a posh hotel

With Forres at the Peak




With the lady from Dubai
 


Columbian couple


Another view from the Peak

 

At Sai Kung fishing village

Choose your meal - fish or crustacean

 

Fishermen on the wharf

What a lot of contrasts - nunnery in the front, skyscrapers in the background



The front of the nunnery



And even more contrasts


Doesn't this man look like Jackie Chan? He was very tickled when I asked him if he was Jackie Chan incognito!
 

With Nelissa and Avolino from Melbourne

Cable car going up...

And higher.....

to see the Big Buddha

 

 

Holy cow! Literally!

 

 

Shop near the Big Buddha

View from the Big Buddha

Typical scene - tech savvy little boy!

 

 
 

Do you see the humour in this?!!


 

Super clean underground



Didgereedooo player - time to go to Australia......

Look at this lovely plane - at Hong Kong airport!

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