"What's the temperature going to be like in Hong Kong, Becca?" Sam asked.
"Netty said it will be around 18-20 degrees" Becca replied.
"So, we just need a couple of jumpers/sweaters" we both agreed.
In our last post on Friday, we talked about checklists before going on a holiday. Well, we knew we forgot our adapter, but it was fine as our friend's house had U.K. style sockets (and luckily many in our allocated room). However, what we did not know was that the crucial element of this trip would be: winter clothes.
Friday 26th of January - Bangkok to Hong Kong
Rushing from our respective origin, Becca from home and Sam from University, as he did a half day to ensure he did not miss too much from his classes, we both arrived at the airport on time and managed to get 'Hot Seats' on AirAsia without even asking. We must have been one of the first passengers and you know what they say: first come, first serve. We have been to Don Mueng airport (domestic and regional airport in Bangkok) so many times that we knew how long immigration and security checks would take. We had enough time for a quick lunch, to buy some essential snacks and the crucial duty free shopping (to get gifts for our hosts). Like any low-cost airline, there was a delay in boarding the passengers - due to the delay in arrival of the previous flight. Once we managed to get on, our excitement to see a new country and old friends were starting to sink in.
We arrived in Hong Kong after a three hour flight from Bangkok. We don't remember much about the flight as we were sound asleep. We guess our week of working and studying had tired us.
From our plane, it took ages to get to immigration (passport control) as we took two different internal airport trains to get from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 arrivals. What surprised us was the constant lookout from staff for any poorly/sick passengers and a few staff had 'thermometer guns' pointing at passengers as they passed to check their body temperature. Even just before landing, there was an announcement that any passenger can be denied entry to the country if they have serious flu like symptoms. Does everyone remember the avian flu (H5N1) pandemic? Well, there was one in Hong Kong back in the late 60's and the more recent ones are prone to happen in hubs like Hong Kong. Fortunately, even though Becca had the sniffles, she passed 'the men in the white coats' undetected.
Our friend was waiting for us at arrivals and you know it is such a good feeling seeing a familiar face and to be greeted at the airport. She has been living in Hong Kong for the past seven years and she has mixed views about the place. Luckily, she lives in a quieter part of Hong Kong on Lantau Island, which is close by to the airport. We were reacquainted with her husband and her two little ones. They even took out a cold bottle of bubbly for the occasion! There was a lot of catching up over a late dinner and our bubbles. Adjusting to the time wasn't bad as Bangkok is only an hour behind Hong Kong. It was good to get an early night sleep as we would have a whole day in central Hong Kong.
We were ready for the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong
Saturday 27th of January - Central Hong Kong
We made our way into 'Central', the business and bustling hub of Hong Kong with the ferry from Mui Wo on Lantau Island. Our friend, Netty, dropped us off and gave us their spare Octopus cards (public transport card like Oyster card in London and Rabbit card in Bangkok). The ferry ride in with the fast-ferries takes about 25-30 minutes whereas the slower ones (ordinary) take 45-50 minutes. The price of 31.50 HK$ for the fast one and 15.20 HK$ for the slow one (one way).
Central Pier - major ferry port terminal
We got into Central Pier (Pier 6) and the first thing we noticed were the tourist big bus. We wanted to inquire about the price, but we also knew that it is a place where we could get a free map (always useful). The price for the tourist hop-on, hop-off buses were 480 HK$ for one person for one day!! That's like £45 or $55. We thought that was quite pricey for a tour that we could do most of it on foot. We took the free map and headed for the Observation Wheel to take the opportune photo shoot of the high rise buildings of Hong Kong in the background.
Similar to the London Eye - Hong Kong Observation Wheel
*The IFC (International Finance Center)*
Old school trams
We ventured deep into the city passed the tall skyscrapers and through shopping malls to finally reach Queen's Road and the start of the escalators. We didn't do our research before, so we thought the escalators was just a name for the way the streets went up - making it easier for residents and tourists to walk up hilly Hong Kong. However, the escalators were actual escalators in the middle of Hong Kong. It is a system and series of escalators that will take you from Central to Mid-levels of the city. Basically, almost to Victoria Peak which is at the top. We were slightly amazed, but understood the need of this constantly operating machine. Once we reached the top and again having no plan, we saw the signs for the Botanical Gardens and we were hooked to see what Hong Kong's botanical gardens had installed for us. We were informed as the sign did say it was a twenty minute walk, but we love exploring a new city by foot unless we get lost. Yet, even then we would retrace our steps and get our bearings back.
Walk up towards the escalators
One of many parts of the escalators
The Botanical Gardens was doubled up as a zoo too, but not a big one with many animals. We saw a variety of birds, primates and tortoises. We're big fans of animals, but not caged animals. Unfortunately, we do not know the full story of these animals and maybe they cannot be released into the wild. The information on each animal was quite brief.
The gardens had meerkats
The tortoise preferred the heat and since we didn't have our coats on this cold day in Hong Kong, we were longing to snuggle up with it!
After our time in the gardens, we headed down towards the Peak Tram to go up to Victoria Peak. Being a weekend day (Saturday) and apparently one of the most popular tourist attractions, we sadly had to give this a miss. The queues were as long as this post! That long! We did not want to waste our time queuing and we were getting quite hangry. We quickly dashed back towards Soho around the escalators to look at all the restaurants there. There were mainly Western food, so we were bad and our first meal in Hong Kong was Greek food. We know, this is not even close to being authentic Cantonese food at all. However, we enjoyed our meal and slightly over-ate as our hungry levels and eyes were bigger than our stomachs.
Chicken Toulaki for Sam
Vegetable Toulaki for Becca
Netty got in touch with us to see how we were getting along and we thought 'Maybe we should head back soon, we shouldn't come back too late'. So, we quickly rushed over to see one of the many temples in Hong Kong. Man Mo Temple is not one of the most famous temples in the city, but popular among the main-landers (Chinese tourists) as they are called. This incense filled temple was like any other Chinese Buddhist temple: packed with visitors giving offerings and clueless looking tourists unsure whether they can take a photo or not (we were one of these).
Man Mo Temple
Having a glance at the ferry timetable, we hurtled across Hong Kong like the locals do (you know we had to blend in somehow) to catch our ferry. As our ferry was leaving Central back to Lantau in the late afternoon, we took those necessary photos of Hong Kong as we left the pier. We had a sniff of the air and it smelt like any other city; dense and heavy which circulated around this compact city that is the home to eight million inhabitants. After a rushed day, we truly felt exhausted and, what can we say, we were truly welcomed to the concrete jungle!
Hong Kong city as we left on the ferry
Looking back to Kowloon - which we never got the chance to visit
Stay tuned for our second part as we visit more of Hong Kong and explore Macau next week!
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[//]:# (!steemitworldmap 22.285324 lat 114.162111 long Throwback Thursday's: Hong Kong d3scr)