Hong Kong. It evokes thoughts of busy streets, sprawling humanity, and a waft of smells of the good and bad variety. It houses the densest populated region of humans on earth, and lays gently next to the booming industrial giant of China. Tina and I had found our way to the beautiful urban mess. It took a quick flight from Calgary to Vancouver at midnight, followed by the long leg of 13.5 hours direct to Hong Kong. With our wise choice of flight times, we arrived for the sunrise in the Far East. We even banked some well deserved sleep on the plane. Tina got 7 hours, and I think I got 10! What can I say, I’m good at sleeping on planes…
Tina’s Travel Tips
Take an Uber from the airport, as most cabbies don’t speak English! An Uber into Central costs about $40 USD
I’ve always used Hong Kong as a nice stop over on my way into Asia. It breaks up the insanely long trip, and is a fun city to visit. Tina had never been, so we were looking forward to taking a quick couple days of site seeing. For those fans of my past blogs, you will be familiar with my good friends Hollie and Chris Ivany. They’ve always been fantastic hosts to my traveling butt. This time, they had moved however, into the busy, bustling Central district. Given they were in the thick of it already, Tina and I booked an AirBnB, so as to not cramp ourselves and my friends into the small HK apartments (~200 sqft). Leave it to me to find the one place with smaller more expensive apartments than San Francisco.
We arrived to the city around 6:30 AM, and after such a long trip, couldn’t wait to get to our place and find some excitement. A small bump in the road would occur. As we waited for our bags, we heard some mumbling on the PA, and then our names. Confused, we listened and heard it again. We made our way to the info desk to discover Cathay had not put our bags on the plane. No worries though, they were already en-route, and would be delivered to us that night. Very well then, who needs clean underwear after an 18 hour trip :D.
After sorting these details, we enjoyed the convenience of Uber, and made our way to our pad in Central. A quick check in, and a purchase of some toiletries and we were good as…new? Either way, our spirits were high so we hit the streets to find some breakfast. Central district is home to the famous street escalators, and is where most of the expats call home, or at least where they hang out. The streets are jammed with cozy, small bars and restaurants with lots of charm.
After some coffee and eggs, and realizing we were a bit strung out from the trip, we committed to plan to get some sites in. First up we wandered down the escalators in Central to the sea of humanity flowing below, and hopped on the MTR for a subway ride across the water to TST station. The MTR is one of the best subways on earth, and conveniently connects the entire city. A great way to get around. On the other side we aimed to take in the walk of stars on the harbor. Think Hollywood walk of fame, but HK style. Construction had other things in mind however, so after a mindless wander, we hopped on the Star Ferry back across the water. The ferry is a great way to get on the water and have a view of the city skyline. Once on the other side we found a nice restaurant on the water, and had our first adult beverage of the trip. It felt fantastic to have the long flights over, and be sitting together once again on the other side of the globe.
That evening, we fought the jet lag pulling us into the ground, and finally met up with Chris and Hollie. They are old friends of mine that I grew up with back in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Officially expats, that have been in HK teaching for 6 years now, and proudly call it home. It’s a nice feeling to have people that understand your roots and also the love of travel and experiencing other cultures. We caught up over Mediterranean tapas and a couple beverages, but Tina and I didn’t have much left in the tank. The ripe ole’ hour of 9 rolled in and day one was almost complete. Almost meaning, we still hadn’t received our bags. Saving you frustrating story, we weren’t able to connect with the delivery guy, and went to bed bagless!
Tina’s Travel Tips
For the price of a hotel, you can get an AirBnB, and enjoy the comforts of home. We stayed here: https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/21046919
Jet lag can be a bitch, and it wasn’t letting me off the hook. I was wide awake at 5AM, and figured it was time to start the day. The morning hours are my favorite when traveling. Something about sitting voyeuristically , sipping a coffee, eating a breakfast, and watching the world come to life in front of you. Knowing that they day is all yours, and it’s up to you to find some purpose in a strange new land. Our purpose was clear, get our bags delivered. Tina called Cathay, and strong armed them into getting our bags dropped before 11AM. She sure knows how to get shit done when she needs to! A beautiful shower and change of clothes later, and we rolled into the streets once again.
Hollie had a PD day with work, and was free at noon to meet up and show us around. She had wonderfully prepared some options for us, and we followed her lead into old City of Kowloon. First stop was the largest wet market in Hong Kong. The market is very authentically Asian. For the Asians reading you can imagine what was on display. For the non-Asians imagine all the crazy things you never imagined people would eat, for sale all around you. Smelly fish you’d never seen before, chickens dangling butchered, cages full of frogs, large bins full of, well… who knows what. It’s an orgy for the senses and a great site to behold.
Tina’s Travel Tips
Grab an Octopus card at the subway (MTR), and load it up with some cash. You can use it for the subway, ferry, and also at some convenience stores!
Next stop was the old walled city park. Back in colonial times, there was one section of the city walled off that the British did not control. Ruled by the Chinese mafia factions, including the famous triads, it was a lawless land until the wall came down and the region was integrated in the early 90s. Taking in the history stimulated our appetites, so we scarfed some Thai from a famous local restaurant. Jet lag, once again had some other plans for us, so we called it an afternoon and ventured home for a rest.
That evening was our last, so once again Chris and Hollie joined us for some delicious Dim Sum at SohoFama. It had been great to catch up with these two, but as it is in life, the time ticked by, and we parted ways after a night cap drink. The next day, Tina and I were diving deeper into the region. We had a flight booked in the early afternoon, direct to Yangon, Myanmar. The country would be a new destination for both of us, and promised to bring us some adventure. That’s all from HK for now.
See you in Yangon!
