BootsnAll Travel Network



Hong Kong Part Deux

My flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong was rather early in 945 so like many times in the past on this trip I had to get up really early.  Instead of going to bed early and being fresh, I decided to stay up till about 2am chatting with the kids from Sweden and the girl from London, who was Indian, but had the fairest skin I have ever seen for an Indian (basically as white as me).  She did have really dark hair to compensate, but really did not look Indian.  Like I mentioned we had a great chat.  So I went to bed real late and woke up at 445am.  I had to make sure everything was in order and leave myself enough time to walk with my bags the 8 blocks to the train station.  What a pain that walk was with all my stuff.  I mean carrying about 55 pounds of stuff on your front and back 8 blocks in the morning heat was awful, but I made it with time to spare.  I hopped on the hibiya line to Ueno and from there had to make a nice long trek to another station called Ueno Keisei station.  The reason why I had to go outside to another station was because I was taking the Keisei Skyliner which was on another line not owned by either the JR company or the subway, hence having to go to another companies station.  That was probably the most annoying part of Japan, the fact that so many different companies owned different rail lines in the same damn city.  Too me it is foolish, but I’m sure those crazy Japanese have a reason for it.

So I got chugged all the way to the station and tried to buy a ticket.  I had planned out the money situation perfectly, leaving exactly enough money for the subway and a ticket to the airport, with a little change to spare (mostly 10 cent yen pieces, worth nothing), and that was it.  I am trying to go home with at least one coin or note from every country I go to, which would be 12 in total on this trip alone.  So I saved a few ten cent pieces, bought my ticket and made my way to the platform.  I was catching the first train to the airport; the 630am express that got in at roughly 726.  It was only 56 minutes total, and a great deal considering the JR line was 3000 yen and took longer.  This was 1940 yen plus 160 to get me to the station for the ride to the airport, not bad, considering how expensive Japan is.  I got to the airport with about 2.2 hours to spare before my flight.  Plenty of time to check in and get my aisle seat, hopefully.  I immediately got a push cart for my luggage and backpack, so I didn’t have to hold it standing in line for g-d knows how long(in most countries I have been too outside of the USA, the trolleys for luggage is free and not some ridiculous amount just to hold your luggage while you wait).  The line took the second longest to check in, the longest wait time I had was my first flight in JFK, of course, why would an American airline be efficient?

I picked up my luggage went through customs and then got my train ticket back to the hostel.  This time I bought the three day unlimited train pass with round trip service to the airport for 300 HKD.  Not bad considering I got 50 HKD back for returning the card, so it was really 250.  Roundtrip service to the airport is like 80 or 100 in itself, so definitely a good deal for a short-term tourist like myself.

I hoped onto the airport express, a familiar train, as I had been on it like 25 days earlier.  I confirmed the exit to get out from when I got to Causeway bay, my stop on the Island line.  I first had to transfer from the airport express station, walk about a quarter mile with all my stuff, get to Hong Kong Station which became Central station, then take the Island blue line to Causeway bay.  From Causeway Bay station I got out at exit E.  Now getting out at the correct exit is crucial.  Causeway Bay station has exits A-F, so getting out at the wrong one, leaves you in a place of the unknown.  I got out at E, walked the two blocks to the hostel, 47A Patterson Street, 3rd Floor to Wan Fat Hostel.  I checked in, dropped my stuff off, changed my shirt, took off my sweatshirt, which were both dripping with sweat, since it was about 90 degrees here with a really high humidity.

The day before I arrived in Hong Kong I had booked an appointment to see a doctor who could prescribe Malaria tablets.  I needed these pills for when I was on my tour of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.  I got to the doctor around 415PM and was about 45 minutes early.  Lucky for me the doctor was available and saw me pretty much straight away.  She tried to convince me to get other vaccinations, which I told her I wasn’t interested in.  She gave me the cheap ones, with little to no side effects.  The major possible side effect was sun sensivitity, meaning you can get burned rather quickly.  I told her I was looking for a good tan, so this would be perfect for me!

After meeting with the doctor it was time to see Raymond.  He worked in Central, in the same area as my doctor.  Today he was taking stage II of a series of tests, which after completion of the III stages would enable him to become an official internal auditor.  Currently working for his new job, he was an internal auditor, but I guess unofficially.  With this new status in his back pocket he would have much more bargaining power for raises, as he would be able to go to another company rather easily and make more money there.

We met up at like 530PM in front of Marks and Spencer.  From there, we went to the Kowloon side via a really cool double decker bus.  The bus was like 9 bucks (1.50 USD), and I was able to see a lot of the city from the top of the decker bus.  Our first stop was the long awaited foot massage!  This time we were going to the same company just different location.  It was fabulous yet again.  The lady I had really knew had to work it.  They first soak your feet in a foot Jacuzzi, then take you to a really quiet, low lighted and peaceful area of the place.  From there they just massage your feet and legs for about 50 minutes.  It was awesome.  I really needed something to relax my feet, as I had been walking on them for several weeks now, for like 8 hours a day or more.

After the foot massage it was time to eat some food.  Raymond took me to this mall, where we ate at the food court.  It was not your garden variety food court.  This had great restaurants on like the 7th floor.  We decided to try some Thai food which was rather good.  We got a bunch of dishes and shared them all.  It hit the spot, and I was starving as I hadn’t really eaten much during the day.  From dinner, Raymond took me to Mong Kok, probably the busiest area of Hong Kong.  At anytime throughout the day or night there are thousands of people walking the streets chatting, and most importantly shopping.  In Mong Kok there is the famous Ladies Street market.  This market is about 4 street blocks, pedestrians only, and has everything you could possibly want to buy as a gift for back home.  I was on a mission for several things, but was open to really buying anything.  I ended up buying another set of chopsticks, a soccer jersey, a t-shirt of Hong Kong, and some other smaller things.

After Ladies Market, I told Raymond I wanted some cool electronics, mainly an external hard drive.  He knew exactly the right place, that only a local would know, without going to some stupid shiny, flashy touristy electronics store and get ripped off.  I ended up buying a 120 gig external hard drive 2.5 inches think and about the size of two motorola razor phones.  It was sweet.  The dudes at this little shop formatted it for me and everything.

Since Raymond and I had both gotten up extremely early, me to fly here, and him because he had to take his test which went from 8am till 5PM, we decided to call it an early night.  I went back to the hostel, unpacked some stuff, read a little of my book, and passed out after taking some Ambien (thanks mom).

I also wanted to mention that the doctor cost me about 840 HKD (106 bucks).  The train ticket cost me like 300 HKD and the hostel, which I paid in cash for, with deposit was 659 HKD.  So after my first half day in Hong Kong I had laid out quite a bit of money and was not happy about it.  More was too be laid out in the coming days.

Right now I am a few days behind, I haven’t had much time to update the blog, but since I had internet for free at this hostel I will try doing it tonight.

Thanks,

Josh



Tags:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *