Niki dropped me off at the Taoyuan on Monday afternoon for my trip to HK! The main reason for the HK trip was to leave Taiwan so that I could come back and renew my Visa. I was originally a bit frustrated with the process because it was inconvenient and expensive to leave the country, however I took it as an opportunity to take a side trip somewhere :) Boy i'm sure glad now that I was "inconvenienced" by this Visa issue becuase I had an unforgettable time in HK of which I will now proceed to tell you about :)
Arrival in HK!
My flight left Taiwan International Airport in the afternoon and there was clear skies as far as you could see. Not too much haze which made for a great view looking out the airplane window. The flight from TW to HK is only about 1.5 hours long and China Airlines included a meal in the flight so the flight went by really fast.
As I ate my noodles and fishcake on the plane I watched through the small window as I saw the HK islands passing by me. Quite beautiful and got me excited for the trip :)
Upon landing going through immigration was a breeze and I found myself in the Arrivals terminal after maybe 20 minutes of landing.
I found an HSBC bank machine and withdrew all the cash I would need for the trip. I think it was about $275 which included my stay in the hostel and all entertainment and meals for the 5 days.
I was originally going to take the public transit bus into town because it's only a few dollars instead of the $13 express, but the express was right in front of me and it had arrived when I got there so I figured I'd spend the extra money and just take the express. It was painless and easy and I was in downtown HK within 25 min. The ride was smooth and ran along the coast line, giving me a great view of the islands and giant apartment towers sprinkled in amongst the jungle covered forests.
Seeing as how it was my first time in HK, I didn't find the signage all that great for figuring out where to go, but I managed to find the correct subway station after asking for some directions.
To preface any discussion about the transit system in HK I want to say that it is absoluely fantastic. It's called the MTR and it spans across many different islands connecting the whole region of Hong Kong. The way the system works, is that you purchase an added value card called an Octopus card. It costs $7 for the deposit and you chage it up with money. Once the card has money on it, you beep it along the turnstiles in each station when you enter and exit. There are specific fares for each section of the line, so beeping when you enter and when you exit tells the system how much to charge you. The prices are quite reasonable and I think most rides only costed me between $1 and $2. Ok I'm rambling. Let's move on. I'll refer to the subway as the MTR from now on.
OK! So I took the MTR from the airport express and made a few transfers to different lines and found myself in Tsim Sha Sui, one of the big hubs on the island of Kowloon, which is on the other side of the water from HK island. This is where my hostel was located.
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| Outside the TST MRT station |
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| That's Chungking Mansion, my shady hostel |
By the time I got out of the MTR at Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) it was dark and humid. My hostel was across the road from the MTR station exit and I had already looked at where it was on Google Street view so it was really easy to find.
I had read on the internet that there are a lot of scammers who hang outside this particular building who try to trick you into saying your hostel is booked, and to go stay at their hostel. I was prepared so when the swarm of people came my way I just looked straight ahead and pushed through, paying them no attention.
Luckily the elevator was fairly close and I got in line with a British girl who was also waiting for the elevator. We got in and I went to press the 15th floor button when I realized it was missing. I asked the brit about it and she said that this elevator only did even floors. Turns out she was staying at the same place as me so I followed her onto the 14th floor and up the stairs.
Checking into the hostel was really easy and I was given a luxurious double bed room, which in actual fact was probably no larger than 2meters square which included 2 beds AND a washroom with toilet, sink, and shower (so ur literally having a shower while standing over the toilet). It was kinda comical how small it was, but for $22/night and being in HK, the most densley populated place in the word what was I to expect? It's part of the experience right? :) (there's a video on my web album that shows the size of the room a bit better).
I quickly put my stuff down on the bed and left the room to go meet my friend Lil at the MTR station. I didn't want to wait for the extremely slow elevator so I though I'd take the stairs down. Man this was probably one of the freakiest stair trips I've ever made. The hostel was already really shady, and I was a bit blitzed from being in a new city, and the staircase was really dingy with broken windows, dirt on the ground, broken tiles, electrical pipes everywhere with flagging around them and "DO NOT ENTER" signs on floors, among some of the graffitti. It wasn't the friendliest place :) And probably the worst part is that it takes a few turns towards the bottom and it's not clear how to get back out. Luckily a group of 3 girls from Sweden were able to show me the way out as they had been staying there for a few days. The proper way out actually takes you into this crappy looking alleyway that I would never have gone out into had I not known it was the way out.
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| secret alley entrance/exit. This was a lot scarier when I found it the first day because it was dark. |
On a side note, my Taiwanese SIM card (phone card) wouldn't work in HK which threw a bit of a wrench into making it easy to meet with Lil but I was able to call her from the hostel phone and confirm our meeting time and place.
I hussled across the crosswalk and got to the MTR exit just as Lil was arriving. perfect timing! I gave her a hug and we said our hellos having not seen eachother for more than 4 years when she moved away to HK (Lillian and I used to work as media technicians at the SFU library together).
We walked back out of the MTR station and lil took me to a restaurant high up in a skyscrape along the coast of Kownloon Island. "Welcome to Victoria Bay HK!" she said when we sat down at our seat along the window. It was so sureal sitting in a Shanghainese Vegetarian restaurant up top of a skyscraper overlooking HK with my old friend Lil. I had only realized she lived in HK the day before I had arrived so it was a real treat to see an old friend in a new city.
Our whole meal was vegetarian and I must say they did a great job of simulating meat texture. We had a peanut soup with noodles, some honey vegie bacon, and a fake pork and rice cake stir fry thing. Oh yes and also some yummy dumplings. Lil and I chatted as we ate and caught eachother up on what's been happening in our lives since we last saw eachother. At the end of the meal I pulled out my wallet but Lil insisted it was her treat. Such a nice way to start my time in HK!
We left the restaurant and walked towards the waterfront. My camera fogged up pretty bad from the AC when we walked outside. I'm suprised that that's the first time to happen to me. I guess the humidity/heat difference in Taiwan maybe was not as much to cause it.
The waterfront was only a few minutes away and when we arrived I was treated to a beautiful view! The HK city skyline is one of the most beautiful skylines I've ever seen. All the lights of the different companies lights everything up like a christmas tree.
Along the waterfront is the "Avenue of Stars" which is a bit of walkway dedicated to famous HK movie/tv actors. Among the stars I recognized Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and the lady from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Some of the stars have their handprints in it. Apparently Jet Li's hand is the same size as mine? I don't think so... cause that guys a small guy.
Lol one funny thing I thought is that the Jet Lee star is almost directly underneath a food vendor selling fried cuttle fish. lol. His legacy.
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| Jet Li underneath the cuttle fish vendor |
There was a statue of Bruce Lee, and one girl who went to go get a picture with it got on her knees and put her hands in the air as if she was worshipping him! haha awesome.
Lil and I walked to the end of the avenue, and then walked back along it to the Star Ferry terminal. The Star Ferry is an old ferry that takes passengers back and forth from the HK island to Kowloon Island. Apart from giving us a spectacular view of the city, it's extremely cheap. Maybe 30cents per ride. You can't beat that for a tourist attraction!
When we arrived on the HK island we walked along a network of raised and covered walkways. There are so many buildings and so many roads all crammed into such a small space that there's not too much space to walk around on the ground, which is why they have built all these walkways that weave around the buildings and get pedestrians to where they need to get to safely.
Lil took me through the city to Soho, which is the night club/foreigner area. I haven't seen this many white people all together in one place since I left Vancouver! It was actually weird walking around and being able to understand most of the conversations going on around me. Along the tightly packed narrow roads there are many bars and clubs playing loud music and it seemed like the cool place to be :D
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| Soho clubbing district |
After checking out soho, lil and I stopped in at a small juice bar where she ordered fresh watermellon juice and I had a Kowloonada which was I guess Kowloons take on a pina collada. It was refreshing and hit the spot cause I was thirsty!
We left the juice place after 30 min or so because it was close to midnight and the MTR closes around 12:30. Before parting eachother we stopped in at a 7-11 to see about me buying a SIM card for my phone so I could get in touch with lil more easily. The 7-11 had a card for $6.50 which seemed to do the trick perfectly! I purchased the card and we headed our separate ways with plans on meeting up again the next evening after she got off work.
Upon arriving back at the hostel I had a quick shower and passed out ready to wake up early the next day for Lantau Island!
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