HONG KONG

After a hectic few days we were finally on the plane heading for Cairns and then on to Hong Kong. At first we thought going via Cairns a bit strange since we live in Bowen but it turned out to be really great as we flew over the Whitsunday Islands, the Great Barrier Reef and Cape York. To make it even better, the skies were clear and we were flying low enough to be able to make out familiar places like Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays, the reefs called Faith, Hope and Charity off Bowen and the massive sand dunes on Cape York. What a spectacular country we live in!

 

The three small circular reefs are Faith, Hope and Charity just off Bowen.

 

Part of the reef off Cairns.

 

 

The coastline north of Cairns where one of our favourite bike roads, the Captain Cook Highway, hugs the shore.

 

We arrived in Hong Kong late in the afternoon and after some intensive questioning of various ‘hotel help desks’ at the airport, we found the transport provider that does shuttle buses to our hotel. You should be aware that many of these ‘help desks’ are actually limousine hire companies who will charge you up to HK$150  (about A$23) per person which seems not too bad really if you don’t want to be dragging luggage on the train. However, the road trip takes up to 1½ hours to get into Hong Kong Central while the train takes ½ hour and costs HK$160 for two people. Check with your hotel too about free shuttle bus services from the Airport Express train station.

Anyway we took the train and then caught the shuttle bus to our hotel, the Island Pacific and arrived at around 5.30. We were lucky enough to get a free upgrade to our room so instead of a corner room we got one facing the harbour.

Our hotel.

The view was fantastic!!  There certainly wasn’t a chance of us being bored with the hustle and bustle of the harbour to look at.

Tsing Ma Bridge which l the mainland to Lannau Island.

Each of these three photos were taken from our hotel room window.

Our first outing was a leisurely stroll around the nearby streets, drinks and a game of electronic darts at a local bar and then a HK$55 (that was about $8.50 total for both of us) dinner at a small noodle bar. It wasn’t fine dining but the tea was lovely and the food was filled the gap. By the time we got back to the hotel it was past 10 pm which made it a long day since we had been up at 5 am and we had put our watches back 2 hours on arrival in HK.

The skyline by night.

Next morning we were up and out on the street by around 8.30 but there was certainly no need to rush. It seems that in HK, especially on a Sunday, nobody leaves home before 10.  Many businesses don’t open until after 10 most days anyway, which probably explains why so many shops were open late at night. We wandered up to Queens Road and got our bearings so that we could navigate our way around Central Hong Kong. As in Singapore, we noticed a huge number of shops selling dried seafood. There was everything from seahorses, starfish, whitebait, abalone and shark fins to the birds’ nests which are so popular for their soup. We also visited specialty shops which sold mainly ginseng products. It is amazing what can be dried! As John pointed out, with so many shops all selling the same stuff, one wonders how long some of it has been sitting there.



There was almost every marine animal imaginable for sale.

Most of these abalone would be well undersize in Australia.
At the back are dried scallops.

 

One of the many tiny stores selling meat near our hotel. This one specialized
in pork but there were others selling poultry, fruit and vegies, bread and cakes etc. Every part of the pig is used as you can see by the delicacies hanging
on the right. We were really surprised by the lack of flies in Hong Kong considering the amount of food that is out in the open.

We found a pretty good little breakfast place called Café de Coral which was similar to the Denny’s in the US – a basic set menu, reasonable price, and it comes out quickly. It was on the second floor of a small shopping precinct and we only found it by accident – I was looking for a toilet. Again, it wasn’t gourmet dining but it filled the stomach. We discovered several more of them during our stay.

After breakfast we visited the Sheung Wan Food Markets where the locals were shopping for fresh fruit, vegies, meat and seafood. The meat section was full of meat hooks filled mostly with pork. There were also lots of eggs and the odd beef stall. On the ground floor was the seafood market which had a rather noxious odour which we avoided at first. However, curiosity got the better of us and we ventured in. Some of the seafood was still alive, kept in aerated tanks. Favourite fish was carp although we did see the odd coral trout, sea mullet and even abalone. Much to our horror the abalone were very much on the small side. Highlight of this part of the market was the cages full of frogs. They looked more like our toads than our frogs but the locals obviously love them.

John got some photos of one of the vendors cleaning some for a customer. He was very adept at gutting and skinning them and he even gave us some hints on how to cook them. Of course if any of you know how I feel about frogs and toads, you can imagine it will be highly unlikely that our household will be enjoying stir fried frog any time soon.

 



The legs were still twitching as he gutted and skinned them. I suppose it's good they aren't cooking them alive like the do with fish.



This guy was cleaning eels at the Centre Street fish market, part of another very large food market up the street from our hotel.

After some more internet research and a nanna nap for John, we ventured again from our hotel after lunch and set off to explore, Lascar Row/Cat Street area which are filled with antique shops selling jade, junk and all sorts of curiosities.

On the way we passed the Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road.
It is dwarfed by the surrounding  buildings.

Then we went further up Hollywood Road and checked out the Central–Mid-Levels escalator and walkway system, which is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. The entire system covers over 800 metres and elevates over 135 metres from bottom to top. It was constructed in 1993 to provide a better commute by linking areas within the Central and Western District of the island.

The covered escalator is on the right.

Of course like most of Asia the backstreets and alleyways aren't so pretty!

The area adjacent to the escalators to the east of Hollywood Road is crowded with numerous more upmarket restaurants and bars and we noticed that there were decidedly more Europeans in this area than the one where we were staying. The escalators will take you uphill, and then you turn around and walk down, either on steep concrete footways or stairs. As we discovered, the downhill trek is not kind to old, worn out knees. We were glad to get back to the hotel, cheap alcohol from the local 7/11 store in hand, for a sit and a quiet drink before dinner.

On Monday, we decided to visit The Peak, which has an altitude of 552 m and is the highest mountain on the island. We doubted our knees would stand the walk up to we decided to take the Peak Tram. It’s route from Central district to Victoria Peak covers a distance of about 1.4 kilometres and a height difference of just under 400 metres. It began operation in May 1888. The grade was quite steep in places. I could feel the strain on my back and neck even though we were seated. I was glad to get to the top. Later when we went back down we were seated backwards and it was much easier on the back and neck.

 

 


The company running the tram must be making a fortune. Every carriage on every trip was packed!



At the top we hooked up with some old friends at Madame Tussauds.

 

Givin' Liz a break!

 

 

 

Are you paying attention?

 

 

 

Madame Tussaud herself!

 

 

 

 

 

There's a new star in "Monkey"!

Then we headed up to the roof of the Tower to the viewing platform to check out the 360⁰ views of Hong Kong Island and its surrounds. It was quite spectacular and we were lucky enough to get a clear day!

Central Hong Kong

 


The new Peak Tower. There was an older one which was replaced by this one quite recently.

 


Residential block at The Peak.

 

 

Looking east toward Stanley on the other side of the island.



New construction on the peak with the tramline at lower right.



Looking toward the piers at Kowloon. The tall dark building at left is the Finance Building, second tallest building in China.



Victoria Harbour

The cables that pull the trams up and down the hill.

Going down!

We were going to get a taxi back to our hotel but when we looked at the map it wasn’t that much further from our hotel than where we had been on Sunday so we decided to drop into St John’s Cathedral and have a word with the big guy upstairs (and rest the feet) before heading back via Li Yuen Streets east and west to check out the markets there.

There are actually wild creatures on the island.
This one lives in the grounds of the Cathedral.

We also dropped into the Gucci store where John picked out a lovely leather wallet for me. It was only Au$600 but I didn’t fancy it. I later found a really nice one at the market for Au$40 so I was happy with that. I was also disappointed that the local gold shop didn’t quite have what I wanted. Most of their items were 24 carat gold which is more popular with Asian residents and I was looking for 18 carat gold for my charm bracelet. Never mind! There were some pretty ostentatious items there though.

Nearly bought this to wear down to the Grand View in Bowen!

This section of Queens Road is obviously where the rich and famous shop. As well as Gucci we saw several other high end designer label stores.

We also passed the beautiful building called The Centre again where there is a lovely piece of sculpture of two bulls.

The Centre at night.

When we got back to the hotel we priced the laundry service there but at Au$11 per T-shirt we decided to look for a local laundry. I found one just a block and a half away where I could have up to 7 kilos washed for Au$5. Needless to say we opted for the local laundry.

Dinner was at the Queen Street Cooked Food Market near the Ibis Hotel at a restaurant called the ABC Kitchen. It had received rave reviews on Tripadviser but to be honest the Indian/Nepalese called Chautari Restaurant, which was located in the same food court was better. We had also dined at our hotel restaurant the previous night and although slightly more expensive, it was much better value with its buffet dinner and all you can drink beer and wine.

Queens Street Cooked Food Market where there are about 6 different food outlets including traditional Chinese, Thai and Indian. The atmosphere is nice.

On Tuesday morning we jumped onto the complimentary bus at the hotel (most of the bigger hotels run courtesy buses to the train stations, ferry terminals etc) to catch the ferry across to Kowloon. The ferry is cheap at only HK$3.50 (that’s less than Au50c). An alternative is the train from Hong Kong across under the bay.

The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre is a
lovely building right on the harbour.



The harbour is teeming with ship of all shapes and sizes
and is a never-ending hive of activity.

After breakfast at Café de Coral which we again chanced upon, we strolled down to Kowloon Park, which is a lovely big garden in the middle of Kowloon.

 

 

 

It was interesting how this old fig had been shaped.

 

The park was a lovely tranquil spot which is well used by the locals.

We saw several people doing their Tai Chi exercises or just relaxing in the many secluded little areas of the park.

 

I nearly lost John in the maze!

 

This avenue in the Park was flanked by statues of
well-known Asian cartoon and manga characters.

 

 

 

Next, we bought a day pass for the trains for about Au$40 each. It is valid for 24 hours unlimited travel. We used it to get up to the Mong Kok markets where we visited the flower and bird markets.

The Bird Garden was full of birds of all different shapes, sizes and colours all for sale as were the many different styles of cages.

While the birds were beautiful to look at I felt sad to see them in cages.
 They certainly didn't look thrilled to be there!

The flower market covered several streets and lanes and was full of amazing colour. Both cut flowers and living plants were for sale along with any gardening needs and accessories you could imagine. I bought a tiny little figurine of an old Chinese man to put in my bonsai pot.

These little succulents were one of the most unusual plants we saw.

Later we lined up for dim sum at One Dim Sum, rated the No 1 dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong. We had to wait for about 45 mins but it was worth it. The food was excellent and at HK$120 it was cheap as chips, literally. Talk about fine dining at budget prices. We hopped into steamed prawn dumplings, braised ginger chops, etc as well as the usual cup of tea. The tea here is much nicer than the tea we get at home. The tea itself is not the fine leaves that we use but much coarser and it is lovely with a slice of lemon.

The queue at One Dim Sum.

After lunch we wandered through more of the local markets of which there are plenty before jumping on the train back to Sheung Wan Station at the end of the Hong Kong island line, then another walk back to our hotel. Once you get used to the train system it is a fantastic way to get around Hong Kong. If you want to go lots of places buy a day pass. It's cheaper. There are other attractions along the foreshore in Kowloon like the Avenue of Stars, featuring statues of famous people and of course the nightly 8 o’clock light show on the harbour, but we were pretty tired by about 3.30 so we gave them a miss. Dinner that night was back at the Queen Street food hall and Chautari indian restaurant. As I said before we thought it was better value and tastier than the ABC. 

The trams here are really skinny compared to the buses.
They look like they should topple over.

There is building going on everywhere and we were surprised to see bamboo scaffolding still in use. We had seen it in Singapore in the late 80s but thought it would have been phased out by now.

We had originally extended our Hong Kong stopover to include Wednesday so that we could go to the Wednesday night races. Friends told us it was a unique experience with lots of atmosphere. However, while at the indian restaurant on Tuesday night we met a really nice Canadian guy called Michael who told us about a free stand-up comedy night that was going to be held on Wednesday night at the Hong Kong Brew House. We decided that since we aren’t really interested in horse racing we would go to the comedy night instead.

After a little more research we also found a great dim sum restaurant close to our hotel. It is called Lin Heung Kiu. It’s on Des Voeux Road West but was a bit tricky to find as it is located above a bakery. Anyway we ventured in there on Wednesday morning. When the lift door opened the place was packed with locals. We were the only westerners there and although the staff had next to no English, they were really friendly and helpful. Once we established that the dishes were priced from around HK15 to HK$25 ($6-$12 Aus) we started selecting from the trolleys as they came by, which is how dim sum normally works. When you do dim sum though, don’t hurry to pick the first thing that comes along. We made that mistake and were soon inundated with food, some of which we probably wouldn’t normally have picked. The manager also helped us out with selections including a delicious light cake which he assured us was a Hong Kong specialty. It seemed like a honey cake and was delicious, although not what we would normally have for brekky. Our meal was also made more enjoyable by the company of a delightful old local Chinese man of 86 with whom we shared a table. He had travelled a little to Europe and Canada and although his English wasn’t very good, we had a lovely little chat.

After so many hectic days of sightseeing, we decided to have a lazy day and just wandered through town then spent some time at the hotel, catching up on the blog and chilling out. We had such a nice time at breakfast that we thought we might take the plunge and return to Lin Heung Kue restaurant for dinner. We hadn’t yet tried any duck which we both love and had seen pictures in the restaurant in the morning. When we arrived we were obviously a bit early and the head waiter quickly informed us there was no dim sum in the evening. After telling him that we were more interested in a duck dinner, he assured us that goose was much better so we ended up having a terrific goose dinner and a bottle of wine for a very reasonable price. We were lucky we went early. Within half an hour the place was packed and we were obviously a source of curiosity among the rest of the patrons as they were again all Chinese.

The staff at Lin Heung Kue Restaurant were very pleasant and helpful. 

The goose really was delicious.Of course there was an
argument over who should have the head!

Then it was off to the comedy night which was in the basement of the Brew House. It was quite small but the atmosphere was really good, the free “monkey nuts” were pretty good. The drinks were more expensive here but that didn’t surprise us as the pub was in the Hong Kong Central area which is the hang out for lots of expats who are working in Hong Kong. On the way there we again passed lots of the very up-market stores like Ralph Lauren, Gucci etc. All of the comedians were amateurs, some doing their first gig, but generally, apart from a couple who were terrible, most were quite good. Many of them were expats teaching English in HK. It was a fun way to end our Hong Kong stopover.

The streets in Central Hong Kong are really busy, even on a rainy night.

Next morning we were up at 5 to catch a taxi to the Airport Express train station where it was really easy to jump on the train to the airport. Our plane left at 9 so we had plenty of time to grab some breakfast and drop into the duty free to spend the last of our Hong Kong dollars on a bottle of Pernod (what else???).