Category Archives: Hong Kong

Blog, Hong Kong, Overland

Bye bye Hong Kong

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I awoke with a heavy head after a late night in the entertainment area.
Today was my last day in HK and the last day to finish off my trips with the Big Bus company. The green route took me from HK to Hong Kong island with the sandy beaches. Sadly the weather although warm was overcast and showery. Despite the threat of rain i sat in the open topped bus as we headed for the beaches at Stanly bay and Repulse bay.

One of the highlights of the green route was going to be a trip on a traditional Sampan boat. This turned out to be basically a crap old boat. The lady driving was far too busy eating to acknowledge us on board and as soon as the tour guide left the boat she rammed it in reverse whilst still eating her meal. It was interesting to see somebody drive a crap old boat that had two hand controls (one for the throttle, one for the steering) whilst still managing to shovel food in her face using chopsticks.

Big Bus tours Sampan Boat
Big Bus Sampan Boat

 

The second half of the trip was better as we headed in the other direction and saw the biggest floating restaurant i have ever seen in my life, quite an extraordinary sight.

hong kong floating restaurant
Floating Restaurant

She showed us the delights of the busy marina as she drove us through a lot of derelict boats, zig zagging to get the most distance she could in the small amount of space she had.

If you ever wondered how they did scaffolding in Hong Kong they use bamboo canes. I wondered how they would do it on higher buildings, well this one i counted over 30 storeys high !!

Hong kong
Bamboo scaffolding

 

I left the lady and the food behind to join my favourite red bus for the last time, i headed back to the ferry and back to my guest house.

More to add on this day but nearly time to get my flight to Auckland so i’ll update more later.

Looking forward to getting on the plane with my new favourite airline Cathy Pacific.

Blog, Hong Kong, Overland

Hong Kong day 2.

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After a good nights sleep i felt ready to tackle the mighty HK city and make the most of being here. Off i trotted back down to the waterfront to do all things touristy.

Bus tours here i come !!

A ticket was purchased from the big red bus company for the 48 hour delux sight seeing tour, there was no stopping me now !! 4 bus trips, 1 boat trip, a cable car ride, 4 single ferry trips and a ride on a traditional Sampan boat (basically a crap old boat).
The day was great touring around different areas in the open top bus learning about the different areas/regions.
The suburb of Kowloon has 2.1 million people in an area of 40 sq kilometers making it the second most densely populated area in the world. Think of the rubbish.
The bus trip also told me where the man entertainment (pub) center was which was good.

Most things price wise were fairly reasonable, a sausage McMuffin with coffee was about £2.20 so that was breakfast sorted everyday.

After a good days sightseeing i headed back to my Chinese size room to lay down in an awkward position to rest my feet before heading back out to Hong Kong islands entertainment center.
Undecided about the type of entertainment i might be interested in i headed to the pub to think about it.

One part of town is renown for its nightlife and partying until the early hours. The beer is expensive at about 6-7 pounds a pint, although they did do a nice 1664 blanc and Leffe blonde – ouch !!
Sadly a lot of the bars were full of young Americans smashing shots down, yelling and generally being sick.
Managed to get the last underground tube home and found my guest house quickly which was a result !!
Also no suits, watches or massages were purchased on the trip home.

A great 2nd day in barmy HK.