Hong Kong, China
A plane, a train, a metro, a ferry, a bus, a tram and 25,000 steps later – we’ve completed our first day in Hong Kong.
The flight over (despite being nearly 16 hours long) was probably the best plane trip we’ve ever taken. We had enough travel rewards points to upgrade to business class and – holy cow – was it worth every penny (well, point)! It was so spacious that each seat had its own little pod and the seats reclined all the way into a bed with thick blankets so we were actually able to get some legitimate rest – which also explains why I am up typing this blog at 9:00 pm instead of being passed out.
We arrived in Hong Kong around 5:00 a.m. A quick train ride in the airport followed by a couple metro rides had us at the Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui located in the Kowloon part of the city within the hour. The hotel is nice and has the biggest pool and hot tub I’ve ever seen.
We were able to check into our hotel early which allowed us a chance to shower and freshen up before we started out on our first day. Even though we were able to check in early, we still had to kill a few hours before the room was finished being serviced. We killed time by visiting the Kowloon Park near our hotel.
The park is huge (33 acres) and featured a sculpture garden, bird aviary, flamingo ponds, and tons of walking trails. The most interesting thing by far was the significant – and I mean significant – number of old people exercising throughout the park, Some in groups clapping and jumping, some in pairs using equipment placed along the trails, some doing tai chi alone and one group of ladies sitting in a circle reciting some chat from a book they were all holding. Other than the physically fit geriatrics, my favorite part was spotting a Black Neck Swan – which I didn’t even know existed, but looked pretty cool (like a regular swan but with a black neck and head and a little red turkey gobbler on its chin).
After the park and our regrouping session in the room, we headed to the waterfront about 10 minutes from the hotel. There we took a short ferry ride to Hong Kong Island. On the island we took a bus to the top of Victoria Peak – the highest point in the city. The mountain is named for Queen Victoria (but also called Mt. Austin or just The Peak) and is where many of Hong Kong’s super wealthy residents live. There is a tram that takes people up and down, however the line to go up was too long so we opted for a cheaper and faster 15C bus to the peak.
All the anxiety I might have avoided on our smooth and relaxing flight over was cancelled out during this double-decker bus ride. This bus driver was whipping around curves like vin diesel – driving on the other side of the road, running into tree limbs, speeding up like a mad man every chance he could as we ascended the mountain via an extremely curvy, winding road. The small guard rails separating us from a straight drop off the cliff were of absolutely no comfort.
In Cape Town, South Africa, we also rode a bus to the top of Table Mountain on similar roads. At the time it was a little unsettling, but looking back now that was nothing compared to this ride. Once we exited the bus, I knew there was absolutely no way I was riding the bus back down – so our descent was made via the tram system which has been used as a tried and true means of transport for over 100 years.
While at the peak, we did a little hiking and visited Luguard Falls on the mountain. It was a little disappointing, primarily because there hasn’t been much rain lately so the stream going down the side of the falls was rather small.
In the afternoon we took a free walking of Hong Kong Island tour through HK Walking Tours. We’ve done countless versions of these types of tours (tour is free, guide earns money via tips at the end) and this was by far the most expansive one we’ve ever been on.
The tour encompassed history, culture, finance, religion, several food tastings, de-colonization and relations with mainland China (to which the woman in our group from Beijing always stepped away for a phone call or to admire a shop window across the street when our guide mentioned this subject).
It was a small group that also included an Australian guy, a master’s student from Kazakhstan who was studying locally, two German women named Christine (traveling independent of each other), local man who was friends with the woman from Beijing and a Malaysian couple who left early with their fussy baby. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know our tour group members but the best parts of the tour – by far – were the food tastings of Chinese Herbal Tea, Egg Custard and Hong Kong Milk Tea.
The Hong Kong Milk Tea is a unique iced tea mixed with evaporated milk that makes for an interesting, sweet but robust tea flavor – which I imagine many of our fellow southerners would actually like quite well. Our tea was from Lan Fong Yuen – the original creator of Hong Kong Milk Tea.
After the tastings, we took a ride on a portion of the world’s longest escalator followed by a visit to Man Mo Temple in Sheung Wan. One of the oldest temples in Hong Kong, it was built in 1847 to honor the God of Knowledge (Man) and the God of War (Mo).
The Temple is Buddhist and Daoist (as their philosophies don’t conflict) and our guide walked us through a demonstration of how to enter the temple and leave an incense offering for the Gods. It was a very unique experience and I was surprised at the amount of ritual that goes into worship – including banging a bell and gong three times to greet the gods, touching the gold statues a certain way and bowing three times while sharing your wish with one or both of the Gods honored there.
Closer to the end of the tour, we visited a dried seafood vendor’s stall. Our guide said that (for most people, on special occasions, like Chinese New Year), people will cook with dried seafood (which can last up to a decade in some cases). The seafood has to be soaked in hot water for about a week to change from its rock-like form to something more palatable and flavorful. This vendor actually had shark fin for sale – which our guide said was technically legal – but I’d be interested in doing a little more research on that matter.
It was around 6 p.m. when the tour ended and we took the Metro train back to our hotel where we spent an hour or so in the giant pool/hot tub area before returning to the room and ordering Taiwanese–style take out of chicken and soft, warm steamed pork ad veggie buns.
Jet lag sufficiently conquered, I’ll be going to bed as soon as this blog posts.
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