Honkers part 1

1 March 2008

Hong Kong, China

 

We have one sea day today before we reach our next port in Vietnam. A little while ago one sea day would have seemed like an eternity, working day and night and waiting for that next port. Today it seems like barely enough time to write about what I saw and did over two days in Hong Kong before a whole lot of new experiences come crowding in and Hong Kong is relegated to the status of “been there, done that”.

If I forget things then forgive me, there are so many sights and smells, tastes and sounds clamouring for attention at the moment that my fingers may not work fast enough or I may gloss over the finer details in my haste to get them down. If you have been to Hong Kong you’ll probably know what I’m talking about and if you haven’t then get yourself on a plane and find out. If my mother was ever to express a desire to experience a little of the East then this is a place that I would even recommend to her, maybe.

We docked right next to the Star Ferry Terminal in Kowloon and it’s hard to imagine a better place to have been based for two days. From the deck of the ship the face of Hong Kong Island was spread out across the water of the harbour and the high rise buildings are everything that you imagine and more. We’d had two days of rough weather getting there and I had been eagerly waiting for the international weather reports on CNN, watching the forecasts and hoping for fine weather. The gods of travel smiled on us and we arrived to clear skies (for Hong Kong) and a crisp day that promised to be pleasant in the sunshine but to have a bite if you found yourself in shade.

I had a tour first thing in the morning, a 9am departure for a Hong Kong Highlights bus ride that promised to show me a couple of places that I wanted to see while acting as a good introduction to the entire area. I think I’ve already said that I’m starting to become a fan of doing these taster tours first up in a port and getting some sense of a place before striking out on my own.

Meeting in the show lounge to gather my gear and the passengers gave me my first view of Hong Kong through one of the windows and my relief at the weather and the sunny sky gave me the feeling that the next two days were going to be good ones. Getting outside I was glad that I’d watched those CNN reports and had been forewarned about the temperature and had something warm to put on. In the lee of the ship, while I watched passengers filing onto the bus, it was cold; probably the coldest so far and I looked longingly at the sunshine splashed on the side of a building at the end of the dock. We got away a little earlier than we were supposed to, everyone obviously as eager as I was to see what there was to see. This gave us a bit of an advantage and even though we were bus number 2 we arrived everywhere first and got the pick of the parking spots and a first look before all the other tourists arrived.

Our guide was a small Chinese man who had a softly spoken English accent and a subtle and almost apologetic sense of humour. He was knowledgeable, friendly and by the end I was getting comments from passengers that he was the best guide they had had so far, high praise given how many tours these people have taken. We set off into the traffic, heading along the waterfront, past the Peninsula Hotel with its green Rolls-Royces parked in the driveway and merged with the all the other traffic trying to squeeze into the cross harbour tunnel. The guide explained that with the space restrictions Hong Kong has a private car is a bit of a luxury and that an extremely efficient public transport system doesn’t make it a necessity anyway. Out the window of our bus it did seem that most of the vehicles were either little red taxis or big double Decker buses. Hong Kong has the largest number of double Decker buses in the world, obviously a throw back from the English and there are three major bus companies all vying for the same bus routes, creating havoc at bus stops as they all try to pull in to the same stops and compete for business. It may make the bus stops crowded and confusing but it does mean that you never have much of a wait for a bus.

We managed to force our way into the tunnel and a few minutes later emerged onto Hong Kong Island itself. Our first stop was the funicular tram station at the bottom of Victoria Peak. The Peak is the highest point on the island and a great way to get a view of the harbour. The tram ride is a bit of excitement as well.

We were given a ticket by the guide as we got off the bus and then we passed through the turnstile and crowded into a small station. The tram was already there and I swear that it looked like it had been operating nonstop for the last 70 odd years. Not that it looked run down in any way, just that it was a timber tram with the wood having achieved that worn and polished look of age from contact with many, many hands, arms , legs and things that sat there over the years. With a bit of a jerk we set off and the true novelty of the funicular kicked in. We were being pulled up the side of the hill by an enormous cable that runs up the middle of the track and once we had latched onto it and begun to move the ride smoothed out a bit but as soon we left the station the track took a forty five degree turn up and the little tram followed it. It felt a little like being in the space shuttle during launch as we leaned back into our wooden seats and headed upwards. We began passing buildings built into the hill and from our angle they looked like they were leaning out and down. I’ve been in the cabin of a yacht at sea and not realised how much of an angle I was on until I saw a light in a bracket heeled over and realised that it was level and I was on the angle. We stopped at a couple of platforms part way up and I had the same feeling. The ground the people were standing on and the people themselves were at such an angle as to make no sense. It was a great ride.

We reached the top and the station there was a complete departure from the one at the bottom. It was large and modern with restaurants, cafes and shops. I found an ATM, stocked up on Hong Kong dollars and then made my way over to the first of the viewing spots.

The view is impressive. The view is spectacular. The view is down onto the buildings of Hong Kong Island and then over the harbour to Kowloon and the equally impressive buildings there. The Amsterdam was visible and we had managed to get a day were the sky was blue and the permanent haze that seems to lay over Hong Kong was at its least and let us seemingly see all the way into mainland China itself.

I walked along a path that wound around the side of the peak, new views appearing occasionally through breaks in the trees. By the time I turned around and headed back towards where we had arranged to meet more crowds of tourists had arrived and the first viewing platform had become full of people taking photos.

The bus driver had driven up and was waiting for us in the car park and we began the exciting descent by the Peak road. This is a road that, by its very location, can’t be widened a great deal and has probably been a similar width for over a hundred years. It did mean that every time we met another tour bus making its way up we had to slow and inch our way past at the peril of side mirrors and paintwork.

Our next stop was Aberdeen on the other side of the island. This is where the fishing fleets moor and is home to the famous floating villages and equally famous floating restaurants. Fishing is not paying the bills these days the same way that it did and many of the small sampans are now operated by woman and offer rides out among the fishing boats and the village. We stopped and those who wished had the opportunity to take a ride. I wished, so I climbed onto the little boat, readied my camera and we set off.

The sampan was wooden, about two and a half meters long and almost as wide. If it was a converted fishing boat then it had been cleaned to within an inch of its life and every surface was spotless and shone. We sat on seats running down either side of the hull and the woman manning the tiller sat in the centre stern. As we made our way around she attempted a rudimentary commentary, I think she said “fishing” as she pointed to a few big fishing boats moored together and one other time she said “fish” as she pointed at two rows of fish drying on lines aboard another boat. Luckily I think we got the idea without much explanation.

We motored out onto the water and passed the famous Jumbo Floating Restaurant. I’ve heard a lot about this place but never thought I’d actually see it and it sat in that typically opulent gold and red splendour that only the Chinese can manage. If I was ever tempted to jump ship then passing this place with the promise of lunch was the closest I’ve gotten. Continuing on past the restaurant we came to dozens of boats moored in the middle of the river, various sizes and states of upkeep from big ocean going fishing boats to others that looked barely bigger than the one we were on. Where we were taken lacked the claustrophobic feeling of hundreds of boats moored cheek to jowl that I was expecting but it was only a short ride and I doubt that the people who genuinely live in floating villages are impressed by hordes of tourists motoring past their front doors. It was nice to be out on the water though and I guess I can tick sampan off the modes of transport I’ve experienced.

Back on the bus we headed off to Repulse Bay, scene of a number of movies that had the passengers murmuring in an impressed way but that may have been a little before my time, the titles ringing only the vaguest of bells in my mind. When we got there it turned out to be a beach. The story the guide told of how it was a pirate lair in days of old was interesting but now it seems to be just another place for people to go and swim and potentially become shark fodder. I must admit to spending my time in the Seven Eleven across the road finding a teriyaki chicken sandwich to fill the gap left by the lack of breakfast.

From Repulse Bay we turned back towards the tunnel to Kowloon and the ship, passing high-rises balanced on the sides of near sheer hillsides and road signs for places that I seem to have heard of but didn’t really know why. It started to bug me until I figured that it was probably from James Clavell’s books Taipan and Noble House. They may not be the best source for historically accurate facts on Hong Kong but they gave a sense of having been there before that I couldn’t shake.

We also passed a giant cemetery perched on the side of a cliff that overlooked the ocean. Our guide explained that the spot fit all the requirements for the perfect Chinese gravesite and that it had been full for some time. It had an amazing view that may have been wasted on the dead but to the Chinese way of thinking it kept the ancestors in a good frame of mind and that is vitally important to all the family members who follow.

We made it back to the ship, taking a different tunnel under the harbour and I dumped, sorry, I mean returned my carefully and thoughtfully filled out assessment, at the tour desk and then eagerly made my way out into Hong Kong on my own. I was looking forward to getting lost since I had two full days before I had to be back on board and, luckily or unluckily, I managed to get lost within about 5 metres of stepping off the gangway.

Entering and exiting the ship on foot meant a higher deck than the one we had used to go to the bus and it also meant negotiating the port building. This is a huge building and it feels more like we had docked next to a big shopping mall and were simply stepping out of the car park and into the building. The problem was that rather than coming in the front door we just stepped into the middle and I immediately had no idea where I was or how to get out. A bit of wandering and a stop for a few games on a playstation 3 demo that had been set up in an open area later and I found the exit. From there I walked out into real confusion.

The first thing I wanted to do was find the railway station for the train that would take me to Disneyland. I had earmarked the second day as Disney day and wanted to make sure that I knew where to go so that I wouldn’t waste time in the morning trying to find my way during peak hour. I’d already done my research online and had a vague idea where the station was, I just had to figure it out specifically and get my bearings. The first moments in a new place are always a little disorienting but once you get a few landmarks sorted out then it’s just a matter of working everything in relation to them. Luckily I had come out of the port building/mall on the right side to be staring directly at the Star Ferry Terminal and knew that there was an information office there. All I needed was a map and I would be right for the two days. A map was procured from a little office jam packed with people off the two cruise ships in port; I orientated myself (no pun intended) and headed off up the street.

I’ve read a lot about the number of people in Hong Kong, the lack of space and the population density and I have to say that I never really felt the crowds to be that bad. They were certainly no worse than you would find in any large city although that may have been partly because I was about a foot taller than 99% of the people around me.

There were plenty of people though and like in any city they all seemed to know where they were going and to be on a mission to get there. I was on a bit of a mission myself but I still found myself getting in peoples way as I stopped to look in shop windows or at the massive neon signs along Nathan Road.

The subway or MTR station I was looking for was on Nathan Road and eventually I found it and descended underground in search of an octopus card. I had been talking to the tour guide when we had been stopped at Repulse Bay and getting his opinion on whether it was the smart way for me to go. My research on the MTR system had kept pointing to octopus cards and he agreed. What is an octopus card? It is an electronic smart card that you purchase, deposit money to and can then simply swipe when you get on the train rather than having to buy tickets or tokens. What makes it so handy is that you can also use it on the ferry, buses, trams, funicular, in McDonalds, Seven Elevens, KFC and probably dozens of other places that I don’t know about. The card is not tied to you in any way so if you lose it it’s just like losing cash but you can add money to it whenever its running low and it sure saves hunting for exact change in an unfamiliar currency when you want to use public transport. Plus it sounded cool. The card started in Hong Kong and is now being used in many places around the world.

I bought my card, added some money to it, figured out exactly where I had to go the next day to catch the right train to Disneyland and then climbed back out of the subway and into the sights, sounds and smells of Hong Kong.

Well, as I sit here now in my cabin, tired and ready for sleep before another early tour tomorrow, it’s obvious that I am not going to get anywhere near describing my entire two days before I start writing about Halong Bay, Vietnam. I’m either going to have to save the rest of the story until a day that I have port manning and can devote plenty of time to it or whet your appetite by saying that…

 

I took the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island.

 

I rode the world’s longest escalator.

 

I explored the nooks and crannies of the island, up and down little alleys and market places.

 

I ate everywhere from a mystery dish in a seven eleven…a Guinness at a tiny corner bar in Soho with a giant picture of Chairman Mao staring down on me…a little restaurant in an alley where I was the topic of conversation among the men in white singlets sitting at the other tables…Dim Sum at Disneyland…a seafood restaurant off Nathan Road…a soft serve ice cream from a Mr Whippy van…and a myriad of other places big and small.

 

I rode the MTR to Disneyland including the best train I have ever been on.

 

I explored the Jade Street Night Market.

 

I took lots of photos.

 

I had 5 hours sleep in two days.

 

And I enjoyed every moment of it.

 

Right now some sleep and tomorrow Vietnam.