Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
So this morning was one of those unfortunate ones. Our train got in an hour later then it said on the ticket, making a 13 hour train ride into a 14 hour train ride, with mom getting motion sickness. Finally we arrived at the shenzhen train station, which is located at the border between china and hong kong. Off the train, we walked about 15 minutes, following the signs saying 'hong kong'. Then we were met with line up after line up. The passing out of china line up, the passing into hong kong line up, the health check, customs, etc. Not that much fun, as the building was really stuffy and hot and we were pretty hungry at that point. Finally we made it through though, and I'm honestly just thankful we managed to catch our train last night!
We hopped on hong kong's MTR on the other side, which is their version of the metro. We took it for maybe a half hour, then transferred to another line to take us closer to our hostel. We then walked the short distance to majestic guesthouse.
All hong kong guesthouses (hong kong's version of a hostel) are built in 'mansions'. So they will occupy a small suite of rooms of a portion of a certain floor of a giant building. Our guesthouse is on floor 15, block 11 of Haiphong mansion in Kowloon, the mainland portion of hong kong. There was a 10 minute line up to go up the elevator. Apparently it's common in every mansion. It's funny, this was our most expensive accommodation so far and the room is no bigger then a walk in closet. Mom and I have to duck into corners to squeeze past each other. And the bed is baby, for 2 of us. The shower sprays over the sink and toilet. Sigh expensive hong kong.
But we don't hear much traffic and it's very tidy with ac and wifi, so can't complain. It was around 2pm when we had finally gotten our bags in our room, and we were very tired and very hungry. We sat down at a nearby restaurant to recoup.
We decided to scrap our plans for the day of market hopping, as we had gotten in so much later then expected. It was a sunny day and around 20 degrees, so we decided instead to head up to Victoria peak and take in the views.
We walked about 15 minutes to the tsim sha tsui star ferry pier and took the iconic star ferry from the mainland to hong kong island. We decided to walk to the lower peak tram terminus, and after failing to follow the map successfully, we managed to find signs pointing the way. It was another wait in the tram line up before we really got going.
The tram is another icon of hong kong. It's red and rustic, and is hoisted up and down the peak by a cable, as the climb gets pretty vertical. We paid additional for access to a viewing platform at the top. It gave 360 degree views across hong kong. It was pretty spectacular being above all the giant sky scrapers, backed by the harbor. We wondered around a bit and got some stomach meds for mom, but it was pretty windy so we scoped out the bus terminus to get us back to the star ferry terminal instead of waiting in the tram line up again. Well, turns out there's a bus line up. But it took less time then the tram, and we made it back to the star ferry as it was beginning to get dark. We walked along the ocean front tsim sha tsui promenade for a bit to admire the city lights lighting up. We were too tired to stay for the lights show though so we made a goal to return tomorrow night, and walked back to our guesthouse.
So far, hong kong hasn't stuck with me like other places have. For one, there is a line up for everything. Everything! Also, it's just significantly different from china. I miss the openness of the Chinese culture, people selling their wares on the streets, everyones bicycles, and everything typically 'china'. It's much more cosmopolitan here, and more of a mish mash of cultures, nothing really unique to asia. We really haven't been around much yet though, so I'll see if this opinion changes!
- comments