Hong Kong - Day 4, Shopping!

This was my last day in Hong Kong. After taking a couple of pictures with my roommates and bidding goodbye, I set out with my backpack to Hong Kong Central station. I left my luggage at the train station (25 HKD), and took the subway to Tsim Shia Tsui MTR station and took it easy. I visited the Hong Kong Museum of Arts and found it a waste of time. I had a good lunch at the museum cafeteria (roast pork, chicken noodle soup and chocolate cake). I wandered along Nathan Road where I bought a couple of "imitation" brand name watches. Man, is this place filled with all kinds of fake stuff? Amazing. You see hundreds of people buying Louis Vuitton bags, Rolexes and all kinds of electronic junk. I bought a Tag Heuer watch (125 USD) and a Breitling for my friend. You can bargain as much as you want. The price started at 200 USD and I finally brought the price down to 125 USD. Perhaps, I could have gone even lower.

With a few more hours to kill, I walked back to the pier (Avenue of the Stars), bought a coffee at Starbucks and relaxed with some podcasts on my iPod. I hung out at the pier and indulged in some people watching. Nothing like not having an agenda. After many more cups of coffee and bottled water, it was dusk, and I took a few more pictures of the Hong Kong skyline.

It was time to say goodbye to Hong Kong. I headed back to the Central MTR, picked up my luggage and went to the Airport Express counter to check in my baggage. The Airport Express runs every 5 minutes or so and the trip to the airport takes roughly half an hour. The beauty of the Express is that you can complete your airline check-in at the train station in central Hong Kong, board the train without baggage and go directly to immigration check. FYI, the fare for the Airport Express is 130 HKD (~ 15 USD). I've got to say, Hong Kong has really put in an effort to make travel almost painless. In the future I'll definitely take the Airport Express. Bravo Hong Kong! Well, it was time to catch my flight to Bangkok and on to the second leg of my backpacking journey.

Hong Kong -- Macau, Day 2

I woke up early and set out for Macau, the oldest Portuguese (and European) colony in China, now under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China. I had heard about Macau, the casinos, its rising prosperity (24,000 USD per capita income), increasing tourism from Mainland China and Hong Kong, the food and the renowned banking industry, etc. -- I wanted to experience it firsthand. From a historical standpoint, Macau traded extensively with the British East India Company (later British Raj). Portugal, in the meanwhile, controlled parts of India in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1498 AD, Vasco da Gama discovered the trade routes to India and made parts of East and South Asia accessible to European colonial powers. As they say, the rest is history. Incidentally, Macau lies 70 km(43 miles) southwest of Hong Kong and is best reached by ferry.

I had breakfast (sausage and eggs) at the Ferry terminal near Cheung Wan MTR, a terrible mistake. Avoid sausage in Hong Kong -- it tastes really bad and looked like no other sausage I had ever eaten. To get to Macau use one of the many ferry operators between Hong Kong and Macau. The ferries run every 20 minutes or so. I took the TurboJet Ferry at a cost of 140 HKD (~ 16 USD); there is a first class @ 240 HKD. The trip is an hour long each way and pass through Hong Kong emigration as well as Macau immigration. Upon arrival, I took a 2 1/2 hour walking tour of the Macau peninsula suggested by Lonely Planet. I took the walk and was happy to get a feel for the city, from the new and the old to the weird and typical. I had mentioned in my previous posting that the "ladder streets" in Hong Kong were fast disappearing; Macau still has them.

Macau's casinos, financial districts and governmental buildings are connected by wide, paved streets, while the commercial and the residential areas are narrow, winding and sometimes steep. All street signs are in Portuguese and in Chinese, however, you'll have a hard time finding anyone that speaks Portuguese or English, for that matter. Portuguese has little or no significance to the people in their daily life today, perhaps only some official types speak it. You will still see a lot of Western influence in the architecture, though. Right in the middle of the alleyways, I found an Indian restaurant, something that I never expected as well as a signboard pointing to an Alliance Française of Macau. Wonders will never cease.

I visited the very informative and interesting Macau Museum, passed through the various shopping districts similar to those in Hong Kong. The final stop in my 3 hour walk was lunch at the highly recommended A Lorcha, very close to the A-Ma Temple. This restaurant carries traditional Portuguese cuisine. I had a sopa de marisco (seafood soup), porco balichao tamarino (pork with tamarind and shrimp paste) washed down with an excellent oporto (port wine). The lunch tab was 160 Macanese pataca or MOP$; MOP$ is pegged to the Hong Kong dollar.

With a few hours to kill, I hopped over to the Taipa village, which, to my chagrin, was a waste of time. Avoid it! To get around, I used the excellent public transport system in Macau. The signs and directions are neatly marked and the cost was approximately 2.5 MOP$ a ride. I also peeked into a couple of casinos -- Golden Casino and the newly opened Wynn casino. According to Wikipedia, the Macanese casinos have revenues greater than those of Las Vegas. Imagine that! Many more casinos are expected to open over the next couple of years.

After a long and tiring day, it was time take the one hour ferry ride back to Hong Kong. I took the subway back to Wang Fat Hostel, and I managed to get the crazy Korean guy moved to another room. Good riddance! I met my new roommates, Arnold from Taiwan and Rod from Calgary, really nice guys. Since I was feeling a tired and satiated from all the food, I had a couple of fruits and some yogurt and called it a night.

Hong Kong MTR: The subway system is fantastic, frequent and easy to use. All signs are in English and Cantonese. A typical ride is 10 HKD (~ 1.25 USD). MTR is huge and reaches the all the important parts of Hong Kong. There is no graffiti to speak of and cellphones work even underground. You can purchase an all day pass on the MTR for 50 HKD (~7 USD) and travel between Hong Kong Island, Kowloon as well as Lantau Island, the home of the new Disneyland Resort. BART in comparison is dirty, expensive, infrequent and overrated. Whoever called BART the number one public transportation system in the US has not seen the subway system overseas. We've a lot to learn from them.

Hong Kong - Day 1

This was the beginning of my month-long and wonderful trip through South and Southeast Asia. This was also the very first time I traveled overseas as an American citizen - a strange feeling, to be sure. After more than four decades of calling myself an Indian, I now identify myself on all official documents as a citizen of the Red, White and Blue. No matter, in my heart I am still an Indian. Now on to the story.

A long 13 hour flight from San Francisco ended at the Hong Kong airport at 6.25 am on September 19th. I quickly passed through customs, obtained some local currency (1 USD = 7.8 HKD) and took bus number A11 (cost HKD 40 ~ 5 USD) for a 45 minute journey to Causeway Bay - Stop no 13 on the Hong Kong main island. The first thing that hit me after alighting from the bus was the crowd at the traffic lights-- man, millions appeared from nowhere.

Wang Fat Hostel:
The directions given by Wang Fat Hostel (No A2, 3/F, Patterson Bldg, 47 Patterson Street) on Hostels.com were quite accurate, but it took quite an effort locating it. In addition to the street address, you have to know on which story/floor of the building the hostel is located. In the example above, 3/F is the third floor, A2 is the house number on the 3rd floor and finally 47 is the street address for Patterson Street. Hong Kong is a vertical city much like New York City, only more densely populated. At any rate, I arrived at Wang Fat Hostel at 8.30 am very much jet lagged and exhausted. I checked into the Hostel and found my "room" -- a tiny one approximately 8 feet by 12 with bunk beds! Damn, the last time I had seen bunk beds was about 22 years ago in Germany. Now this room was one of 3 bedrooms in A2 the entire apartment was no more than 800 square feet. The bathroom was a mess, but at least there was some TP.

The cost per night was approximately 17 USD -- not a bad deal at all. It is a win-win situation for the budget-conscious travelers and the hostel owners. In terms of access to public transportation though, you just can't beat it. It's right near the Causeway Bay MTR (Mass Transit Railway) station on the Hong Kong island.

I lazed around for a while and got a coffee and a scone at the neighboring Starbucks, perhaps the only place to get a decent coffee in Hong Kong. It appears that coffee drinking is not such a popular activity. Over coffee, I consulted my trusty Lonely Planet guide and took the subway to the Peak Tram station, from then up an interesting funicular (cable railway) that cost 55 HKD. On the way, I met Darren, an English doctor from Bristol on his way to New Zealand. The destination was Victoria Peak, which at approximately 552 meters from the sea level is the highest point in Hong Kong and supposedly provides fantastic views of the skyline. Unfortunately, the sky was smoggy and consequently, no "picture postcard" views. Pollution was a familiar sight throughout my Asian trip. Incidentally, the Peak is a tourist trap with the usual shopping malls and overpriced restaurants. Anyway after a quick look-see, we hiked around the Peak for a couple of hours in the intense heat and passed through Po Lam reservoir. The brochures said it was great, but in reality it was a letdown. It was nice to see some greenery though.

After the strenuous hike, we went to one of the restaurants on the Peak and had some Tiger beer and an excellent dim sum (130 HKD per person). After lunch we rode the funicular down to the base and took the subway to the Sheung Wan MTR station on the main island. We strolled through Hollywood Road, a road filled with antique stores, jewelery shops and carpet shops. Earlier this area used to be famous for its "ladder streets" (steep inclined streets with steps) giving it a Shanghai like atmosphere, but much of it has been torn down today to make way for new buildings.

We took a peek at the 18th-century Man Mo temple, perhaps the oldest and the most famous in Hong Kong. Enormous incense cone coils hang from the ceiling, each representing a fervent wish made by a worshiper. The whole interior has a mysterious feel to it -- intriguing, smoky and hot. We were very thirsty and it was quite an ordeal locating a pub near Sheung Wan MTR. Finally, we located a dive and got a local San Miguel beer. After a good hour-and-a-half, Darren left because he had to catch his onward flight to Auckland. Goodbye Darren!

I took the subway at Sheung Wan MTR, switched trains at Central to Tsim Sha Tsui MTR and reached Kowloon island. I strolled along Nathan Road and the Kowloon Pier, more popularly known as Avenue of the Stars. This Avenue is the Hong Kong equivalent of Hollywood Walk of Fame. There are huge statues of Jackie Chan, Andy Lau and other cinema giants, none that I recognized though. Although touristy, it was a pleasant enough to while away the time. I hung out there and gazed in awe at the imposing skyline. It looked much better at night. I was tired and around 8 o'clock rode the subway back to Causeway Bay MTR and ate at a neighboring traditional Hong Kong restaurant. As I recall, I ate some fried flat noodles with chicken (65 HKD). I headed back to the hotel for presumably a good night's sleep, but there was a nasty surprise waiting for me....

So, I walk into my "room" and there was this Korean guy, Winston. We introduced ourselves and he mentioned that he was a writer. His computer was on and he was typing frantically on it. He was approximately 45 years old, scrawny and he smelled awful -- think of the homeless guys you see in San Francisco. For all I know, he must have worn the same clothes for at least a month. At any rate, I wanted to sleep desperately because of the jet lag and I bade him good night. I climbed up the bunk bed with great difficulty, given that it was not built for adults and I had no prior experience climbing bunk beds. So much so for saving money! I listened to my iPod and tried in vain to get some sleep. I twisted and turned and woke up abruptly around 11.00 pm, and there he was, Winston still typing something.

He was ready to eat -- at 11.00 pm. He filled his rice cooker with noodles and from a drawer near his bed took a couple of eggs from a whole stack and tossed them into the noodles. The vapors from the rice cooker added to my discomfiture. He ate noisily, slurped and smacked his lips loudly. Damn! I slept fitfully yet again for the next couple of hours and woke up at 2.30 am and there he was, Winston, cooking yet again, this time, some plain rice with some unfamiliar powder. His computer was still on and a bedside lamp was on as well. After another bout of fitful sleep, I woke up all tired at 6.00 am to face a brand new day. God knows when he sleeps or where he works. His co-workers must certainly hate him, at least I do. Oh well, so it goes...