My Flying Visit to Hong Kong

Hong Kong was amazing... and yet it wasn't. I don't know if it was my level of exhaustion (no sleep at all on the overnight flight from Melbourne), or it was that I was comparing it to Thailand, but Hong Kong both did and did not meet my expectations. To give you an idea...

The Hotel

God it was appalling! I mean, I wasn't expecting luxury or anything, but compared to any other place I have stayed in it was a veritable hole! I've been spoilt yet again. Having recently surveyed a large proportion of the five star hotels in Sydney and stayed in a couple, I have a really distorted view of what a nice hotel room should be. In comparison, my room at the Dorsett Seaview in Kowloon was a shoe box. I had to laugh at myself. Expectations were probably a little high but I found it funny to gauge my reactions anyway. The Shower - for which I made a beeline the minute I walked in the door (and all credit to the hotel - they allowed me to check in before 7am!) - was less than my shoulder in height, and stood in a bath, if you could call it a bath, of less than a meter in length. Peeling ceilings, toilet that didn't always flush, soap that came out of the type of dispenser you usually find in public toilets and sink taps that leaked, in a space - well, it had to be more than a meter long because the bath was that long, be it couldn't have been more than a meter wide. And the bed - which was my second priority - was as hard as a rock. There wasn't enough room to roll my suitcase into the room - the entrance was too narrow - and how they ever managed to get TWO beds in there I'll never know 'cause I swear there wasn't room to fit them!

The Markets

The street markets - the 'Ladies Market' and the 'Night Market' were markets exactly as I had experienced in Thailand. Only the Chaing Mai markets were much better. The same junk was at both, but there was more character to the ones in Thailand.

The one 'Mall' I ventured into gave me claustrophobia. If I'd been a little taller, my head would have hit the ceiling, and the walls seemed to press in on me from both sides. I got out of there quite quickly I can tell you.

When I ventured beyond the Ladies market I found shop after shop selling fish in bags - it fascinated me. Apparently it's very good fung shui to own a fish. But I'm not sure I really liked the way they were stored and on show. I felt very sorry for them, and I don't even like fish!

But then I found the Flower Market... oh it was beautiful! So many strange and wonderful plants and the Smells!!! I took my time wandering through - it was a little piece of heaven!

After that however was the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden, where they sell birds of all shapes and sizes as well as every size of bird cage in Teak wood. It was very, very noisy, and actually quite disturbing. I felt very sorry for the poor animals. But it's part of the culture here I guess.

The Peninsula

Now this is supposed to be one of the most famous hotels in the world. A place the guide books say is a good place to have high tea in, so you can at least enjoy a little of the luxury, because you won't ever be able to afford to stay there. And ok, the passion fruit iced tea was lovely - it came with it's own silver side jug of sugar water to sweeten it so that you didn't have to try and dissolve any lumps of sugar in a cool drink - and the lemon tart was perfect I have to admit - just the right amount of lemon - and the service very good - but it is no more impressive than many of the five star hotels I've visited recently. And at $50 aus for the two food items, I would kind of expected a little more... Even with it's fleet of Rolls Royce's dedicated to the patron's of the hotel.

The River Cruise

Now this was pretty. A one and a half hour tour of HK harbour including the very touristy and very kitch 20 min public light show which occurs on the harbour every evening at 8pm. I took lots of photos trying to catch the show. None very successful. But the quite interlude - and the free drinks - were lovely. On the way home, we picked up about 50 odd 50 plus persons, and they were drunk as skunks! I had a very hard time not to laugh out loud, and people watching was a fascinating exercise I can tell you. These people were of my parents generation and were acting just like teenagers, flirting and boasting and giggling and generally having a fantastic, unstable time. It was great! Watching them wobbling all over the place. They'd been out to dinner somewhere enjoyable obviously.

The Tour

Day 2 and I had booked a tour of HK island. It was ok, but it was far from brilliant. The best part of it all actually was going up to the top of Victoria Peak, the highest point on HK island, in the tram - built in 1888 - which is so far from vertical it really distorts your sense of the vertical. I liked it up there and bought and absolutely massive (and very expensive) ice cream from Hagan Dass there. Oh but it was lovely! Raspberry and Lemon sorbet with almond slivers and chocolate. I've never had a better ice cream in my life! After that the tour went down hill - literally and figuratively - although it remained interesting. We went on to a visit to the fishing village of Aberdeen, where our guides persuaded us to part with more money to go on a tour in a Sampan, then onto a Gem shop - and more sales people trying to part us from our money, then onto the Stanley market - and yet more sales people. Not too impressed. To add insult to injury, our guides had taken photos of us at the top of Vic peak earlier in the day and at the last stop tried to persuade us to part with yet more money for the privilege of buying these photos. Unhappy Jan!

The Jade Markets

This was a welcome and refreshingly original market, where very few of the sellers tried too hard to get my attention and the wares on show were fascinating. Unfortunately I don't know one sort of jade from another - and there appear to be many sorts! - so I felt unqualified to try to bargain when I had no idea what I was buying. So, although I looked, I didn't touch!

All in All...

Hong Kong was a strange mixture of western and eastern influences - and it didn't seem to be able to make up it's mind what it was. The prices and malls are western, the markets and road stalls eastern... it was very strange. I was intrigued but not in love with it. Unless I was going into China proper, I'm not sure I'd go again.