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Sunday, December 14, 2008
Hong Kong 2008 - Day 2
So there we were, in Hong Kong International Airport, the biggest hotel room I've ever slept in. It wasn't that bad though, instant noodles from the 7-11 kept us well-fed and we had internet, and a confirmed room.
Dawn broke and while there were no planes to see, we got our first daylight views of Hong Kong (or rather, the surrounding mountains). Our plan was to take the bus over to our hotel in Kowloon, rest a little and find some brunch, rest some more, then head for Shenzhen. We took the bus over to Kowloon, and I took the chance to enjoy the views along the way, which were quite pretty.
We arrived at our guesthouse. Not only was it conveniently located just above Mongkok MTR station, it was clean, nice and had free WiFi. The only drawback was the size of the room (or lack thereof), and translucent bathroom door. After dropping off our stuff, we headed for Hong Kong. As we wanted to check out the views of the skyline, instead of taking the MTR, we took a bus to the ferry terminal to enjoy the Star Ferry.
I love Hong Kong's skyline, by night or by day. Though fog and pollution obscured the view, it was still possible to enjoy the sight. The Star Ferry is one of the most famous modes of transport in Hong Kong, and with good reason. It is cheap, and affords excellent views of both Hong Kong and Kowloon. We boarded the ferry and it sailed across the harbour, docking at the Central ferry terminal, where Jinjun lost his Hong Kong virginity.
We took a walk over to the International Finance Center (IFC), where we would take the MTR to Admiralty to find some food. Why we decided on Admiralty, I have no idea. We passed under the IFC2 tower, the tallest building in Hong Kong and one of the tallest in the world.
We had breakfast at a small coffeeshop-like establishment, serving porridge and noodles. Both were good, and we left satisfied. We headed back for the hotel via MTR this time, and took a rest.
In the early afternoon, we again boarded an MTR, this time for Kowloon Tong station. Once there, we transferred to the MTR East Rail Line (formerly known as the KCR) and headed through the New Territories for Shenzhen.
We crossed the boarder into Shenzhen and transferred to the Shenzhen Metro. This line was much less complicated than the Hong Kong MTR, featuring only two branches. We took the longer one and covered the whole line to the Windows on the World station. Incidentally, the single trip tickets consisted of tokens, which you would tap a la ez-link /Oyster/Octopus/Touch 'n' Go on your way into the station, but drop into a tray on the way out.
We waited for a while outside the station until Meiyi's relatives picked us up. They drove us over to their place, where we had an excellent dinner. The food was known as, if I'm not wrong, cai cha, which consisted of fried mixed vegetables and peanuts in soup. It was excellent, though I'm not sure where my colleagues got the impression I don't eat vegetables. I guess they were confusing me with Paul.
We also picked up some pastries (eg. lao po bing) and crabs(?!) before heading back for Hong Kong, as it was getting late.
Aside from noticing a sign at the immigration for "Mainland Residents, Hong Kong Citizens and Taiwan Compatriots", the trip back was uneventful and we were all exhausted. By now I was used to the exertion caused by travel, but even I felt the pinch. I think we were all happy to get back to the hotel room. The lack of space on the bed meant that one of us had to sleep on the floor, but we were too tired to care.
The next day's events were planned out. Meiyi needed to settle immigration-related stuff, so we would go to the government complex near Lai Chi Kok. She then wanted to visit her grandmother, and as she was not an aviation enthusiast, the three of us decided to visit the key aviation location in Hong Kong. Yep, back to the airport, to visit the SkyPlaza rooftop spotting area and aviation museum. Since we were on Lantau, Meiyi would then join us and we would go up to see the Buddha at Ngong Ping village via cable car. At night we would go to see the daily laser show, as Monday had it in English. This was the plan, anyway. Check back on the next post to see just how far the plan failed.
Posted by Aaron