Hong Kong Morning

Our night in the cell sized room was okay, despite the cramped quarters. We woke up around 7:30am (even though the alarm was set for 8) and decided to start our day.

We had until about noon before we had to make our way to the airport to fly to Bangkok so we decided to find something to eat for breakfast and do some exploring. Eric had been awake for a while and had done us the favor of looking up some places to eat and things to see.

We left the hotel and went in the direction of Kowloon park, a park built on top of what used to be the Kowloon walled city, a fully enclosed city that existed in Hong Kong prior to 1996. (wiki link). The park itself was beautiful, lots of exotic trees and gardens and temples. We strolled through at a leisurely pace, stopping to take photos and take in the experience. As we wandered we came across what seemed to be a service of some type, with people singing and chanting and playing different instruments while people did tai chi in the background. We sat and absorbed the scene in silence before continuing our walk and commenting on how peaceful the people in general seemed.

On the way to Hong Kong they had been serving what sounded like "kanji", and we'd cracked some jokes about not understanding how we were supposed to eat the Japanese alphabet. While doing his research Eric discovered the word was actually "congee", a rice porridge that is very popular throughout Asia.

After leaving the garden we aimed towards the Cafe de Coral, an Asian food chain that is similar to Tim Hortons or Mcd's. We decided to get breakfast. I got the congee (I love to try the things that the locals love) with some fried noodles and a coffee and the boys each got some variation on bacon and eggs that came with a bowl of what looked like beef tomato noodle soup.

After breakfast we wandered along Shanghai street snapping photos while heading back in the direction of the hostel. We stopped for a coffee along the way at a little cafe and were surprised when it was given to us to go in a little brown paper bag! It was, for lack of a better word, adorable.

Photo courtesy of Ren Bostelaar

Back at the hostel we navigated the maze of shops in the building and went upstairs to pack our stuff and check out. It was almost sad to leave our tiny little room we'd gotten used to but at the same time very exciting to be off on the next part of the adventure.

Bags on our backs we headed towards the harbor to catch the Star Ferry to Hong Kong central where we were going to take the airport express back to the airport. The ferry was short, but a great way to see Hong Kong from a different perspective. At the cost of $2.50 HKD ($0.35 CAD) it would be silly not to check it out.

We had a bit of time to kill while on the island before going to the airport so we walked along the waterfront and then back on the elevated walkway to the station.

Not certain whether we'd have food on the plane and eager to use up some of our HKD, we decided to get some lunch at the airport. Seeing as we were in china we decided on some traditional style foods-BBQ pork buns, glutinous rice dumplings and some noodles with BBQ pork. It was an awesome meal! And at only about 300 HKD it was only about $42 CAD... Or $6 each.

We finished up and made our way to the gate, got some coffee and waited. Used the Internet (which sort of came and went) and then boarded the plane. We were flying with Cathay pacific from HKG to BKK, and knowing the airline's great reputation I was excited to see what the service would be like.

The plane itself wasn't anything to be overly excited about but the fact that we were served a full meal, wine included, was! The food was delicious and the flight attendants were completely adorable and so polite.

Arrived in Bangkok without a hitch and collected our bags and went through customs.

Thailand!! Let the fun begin!

A Day in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Day 1

Our flight arrived at Hong Kong airport on time at about 1:30pm on Tues afternoon.  Slightly tired but pumped about being out of the plane, we gathered our luggage. Headed towards the airport express train into the city. We found some machines dispensing tickets but couldn't decide whether to get a oneway or return so we went to the counter. Got a good deal on some tickets by purchasing a pack of 3 going just one way.

Swollen feet from 15 hours on a plane

Got off at Kowloon station and wandered outside of the building to get some fresh air. We were amazed to see  lush gardens and towering sky scrapers. It became evident that we had no idea what direction we were to go if we were to attempt to find a hostel, so we hailed a can to take us to Nathan Rd, which is where a couple of the hostels I'd checked out were. I didn't have wifi access so we just said "Nathan Rd" figuring it couldn't be too hard to find something once we got there.

The cab dropped us off and we stood on the sidewalk looking in either direction. I knew the hostels were in the direction of the harbor so we aimed ourselves in what seemed to be south and started walking. Along the way Eric picked up a free wifi signal and we were able to get the address of one of the places I'd noted from hostelworld.

Little did we know that the hostel was actually in Chungking mansion, a massive building with 4 blocks and 17 floors filled with various businesses that Ren had requested we check out. He cited some facts about the number of cell phones that had traversed through the building on their way to sub-saharan Africa and I debated replacing my quickly dying Sony phone at a discount price.

The hostel/guesthouse itself was clean, albeit tiny. We were shown a triple room for $300 HKD, but Ren told the guy that we'd been told $250 by someone downstairs. The guy took us to the other side of the guesthouse and showed us the room in question: It consisted of 2 single beds and a bathroom(wet room)... I imagine minimum security prisons have similar space allowances. However it was cheap and we were just needing a place to sleep so Ren and I opted to share one bed while Eric claimed the other.

my back was on the wall and I could reach the next bed.

The boys showered and we headed out to take pictures and find coffee. Up and down Nathan Rd we went before we eventually gave up the coffee quest despite the fact energy reserves were low. We settled on a ramen place for dinner, assuming dinner and a beer would give us the much needed gumption to make the most of our short time.

The weather was rainy and kinda foggy so we weren't sure we were going to make the trek up to the Peak on the Peak Tram. However, being that it was on Ren's list of things he really wanted to do, and we weren't coming back we decided to go anyway.

We found the subway station to take us to Hong Kong central, got on and made our way to the island. From the station we meandered through the streets towards the Peak Tram and marvelling at the contrast of the architecture of the business district to what we'd seen in Kowloon.

Once at the tram station we debated getting the ticket that allowed us access to the viewing platform. The price difference was about $25 HKD more (less than $4 CAD) to go onto the platform. Again, with the logic of "we're here now, we should just do it" we purchased the more expensive tickets and got on the tram.

Now, most of my train experiences are debatable at best-I now try to avoid them due to the fact that something always goes wrong when I'm involved. However, I'm glad I went because it was an incredible experience. I'll justify it by saying it was a tram and not a train... And trams make me think of Melbourne..

Originally built to allow access to the much cooler climate of Victoria Peak, the tram goes up the mountain at least a 45 degree angle. It felt like the beginning stages of a rollercoaster. As we crept up the mountain gravity held us in our seats while we stared out the windows at the gorgeous hong kong skyline.

Once we arrived at the top, we were glad we'd opted for the platform tickets because without them we would have missed out on the view. Even though there was still a lot of fog, we ventured outside and joined the crowds snapping photos over the ledge. Amazingly, after about 15-20 min the    mist started to clear and the harbor became much more visible. Definitely worth the trip. (and at about $8 CAD there was no reason we should have missed it!!)

We eventually made our way back down to the tram loading area and defended back down to the bottom of the hill. Being the 3 photographers we are, out trek back to central station took a while as we all kept stopping to snap photos of the illuminated city.

We made it to Hong Kong Central station and got tickets back to Kowloon, but not without a quick stop at 7-11 where Ren grabbed a can of Pocari Sweat, presumably a Gatorade style drink. It lived up to it's name however- it tasted like someone had been wringing out tshirts and saving it for human consumption.

We took the metro one stop further than we needed but it gave us the chance to stroll back down Nathan Rd and get more photos of the lights. Once back at the hostel the boys decided to explore the building while I explored the "wet room"... The shower/toilet all in one. They got back just as I finished and they told me about their adventure. Apparently the building was just as creepy as they'd hoped it would be.

We took advantage of the wifi and then settled into bed sometime between 11:30 and 12, proud of ourselves for beating the jet lag and doing so much in only about 8hours. That being said, I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say we were all totally asleep within 5 minutes of turning out the lights.

And We're Off!!

Asia

I came up with the brilliant plan to stay up all night so that I would be sufficiently tired for the flight from Toronto to hong kong. It was kinda working too until I caught my second wind and the realization that I am indeed going to Asia set in.

Ren and Eric met me at the airport and we checked in. They had followed my logic and also stayed up all night. Because Hong Kong is 12 hours ahead of home I wanted to trick myself into thinking it was night time when I got on the plane. After dropping off our stuff we made our way through security and found a spot to sit and eat some breakfast - which was the saddest excuse for breakfast ever.

Waited around and took silly pictures with the bronze cats adorning gate 173 of terminal 1, and eventually boarded the plane.

Would you believe it's my first time flying Air Canada- with the exception of a couple weeks ago when I flew from London to Ottawa for my cousins surprise birthday party. I'm pretty impressed with the seat back entertainment and size of the seats thus far. However I might not feel the same 15 hours and 16 min from now, since that's when I get off this plane. At least I can plug my iPod in and charge it up, since it would pretty much be dead after a few hours.

Managed to get almost 2 hours of sleep in before food came around.  The options were chicken or pork so I said chicken. I was actually surprised-chicken in a white peppery sauce with pasta. On the side some cucumber salad and bread. Chocolate cake for dessert. Definitely better than I was expecting.

Torn between staying up and watching movies and napping. I think sleep will still make the most sense.

8:07am hkg time
Have managed to sleep off and on for the duration of the trip. Watched a couple movies and seem to wake up just in time for food. They brought around some ramen and sandwiches. More than anything I'm feeling dried out from the stale air.

Only about 5 more hours. Can't believe I've been on this plane for 10 hours already. I've probably slept for about 6 of those hours though not consecutively.

Upon arrival in HKG the idea is to find a hostel and drop our stuff off before wandering around. We've got plans to see the Peak, taking the tram up to the top and seeing the harbor. I wouldn't mind hitting up a market and looking at all the random stuff. There was something else on the list but I don't recall what it was

Hong Kong en route to Bangkok

I've never been to Asia. Well, I *have* but only to Singapore and only for 3 days.

So, ever the "most bang for my buck" kinda gal, it was decided that we would incorporate a stop in Hong Kong on our way to Bangkok. We have 26 hours to land, find a place to stay, roam the city, and make it to the Peak.

We're going to do the Peak Tram at sunset. It looks awesome. Check it out: Hong Kong Peak Experience

I found this article from Time with the Top 10 Things To Do In Hong Kong in 24 Hours

1: Victoria Peak (already on the list!)
2: Lin Heung Tea House
3: Charter a Junk (makes me think of an ad we ran here at work.See below)
4: The Intercontinental's Infinity Pools
5: Temple St. Night Market (loooove markets, so I'm putting this on the list also)
6: Heli-Tour of Hong Kong
7: Cha Chan Tang
8: Star Ferry
9: Chungking Mansions
10: Roof of the IFC Mall

Thailand Planning

In about 5 weeks I'm taking off on my next adventure. As I mentioned before I'm off to Thailand with two of my good friends. We've only got about 10 days to see as much of the country as possible. We are all photographers, so we want to be able to hit all the photogenic sites (and a beach or two for me, hopefully...)

Here's the itinerary (for the most part) if you're interested. We're trying to not plan too much of the trip and just let it happen, but with only 10 days we're forced to set a few parameters:


Depart from Toronto at 10am. Convince myself to sleep on the plane so that I can function when we arrive in Hong Kong. Spend 24 hours in Hong Kong just because we can. Hopefully do a whirlwind tour of the city and see what we can in a short period of time. I'd love to hit a night market if possible.

Hong Kong at Night  (Google Image)

We fly out of Hong Kong in the afternoon and arrive into Bangkok in the late afternoon. We've got an airport hotel booked, so we'll drop off our stuff and probably take a bus into the city (or maybe just sleep, it's hard to say).







Next morning we have a relatively early morning flight to Chiang Mai. We have about 3 days in Chiang Mai to check out the temples, elephants, markets and hilltribes.

I've been given a heads up that we know a family that operates a bar/restaurant that we should check out, The Lost Hut, so we will definitely do that. I've also heard that if you're going to do a cooking class in Thailand, the northern part is the place to do it.

Long Neck Tribe (Google Image)

 


After that we head to Phuket to take in some beach action. The guys aren't as stoked about the beach as I am but I refuse to go to Thailand and not see at least SOME sun. They're more than welcome to go do their own thing while I frolic in the water. I have full intentions of attempting to surf ... and probably doing some snorkelling. Will probably look here for more ideas on what to do in Phuket

Koh Phi Phi (Google Image)

From here we're going to hit up Krabi province and it's islands (Ko Phi Phi for example), the backdrop for the movie The Beach.

After some beach time, which I'm sure will also include lots of party time, we're heading back up to Bangkok for the last few days before returning home. I've already made some Twitter friends that we are going to meet up with to get a photo tour. Since it's our last stop before heading back, I'm really looking forward to some night markets and maybe the Ampawa Floating Market, if we have time.

There are so many things I'm looking forward to doing on this trip - eating being a huge part of it. I love Thai food. Well, lets be frank, I love food. I'll try just about anything once... and if this includes some of the stranger things like roasted tarantulas or crickets, I'll give it a go. Rice and rice noodles, I live for those things. I think I'm going to be the only person who comes back from Thailand having put on weight.

 

 

 

image courtesy of wikipedia

Overall, I can't wait. It will be a fantastic trip and I'm sure I'll have a million awesome photos to share when I get back so that I'm not forced to steal images off the internet to fill my blog with :)