This
was my introduction to Chinese trains, and the hard-sleeper berth was much more comfortable
than I had thought it might be. In retrospect, that's because the
trains from Hong Kong attract a different sort of clientele, because the
rolling stock on that route is much more luxurious than most Chinese
trains, and because getting tickets was simple and orderly.
Dim sum from Tim Ho Wan. These
signature pork buns are different than your traditional steamed buns:
they are baked to a crisp finish, with delicious crispy caramelization
on the bottom. So far as signature pork buns go, they blow away David
Chang's Momofuku pork buns.
Customs
on the train was simple, as you stay in your car and the officials come
to you. The train doesn't leave Guangzhou station until after 6:00,
which means there isn't a lot of Chinese scenery to see before it gets
dark.
Paddies, mountains, and water dominate.
The setting sun.
The scenery whips by in the twilight.
The
train arrives in Shanghai around 10:00 am. The last hour or so (i.e.,
everything since I woke up) is very urban. I arrived in Shanghai well
rested.
Everyone
says you should visit Stanley and Stanley Market. On day four, my final
full day in Hong Kong, I decided to. From Central Hong Kong, the best
way to get there is via Bus 6, 6A, or 6X.
As a village, Stanley
is interesting and pleasant enough. There are some nice beaches, a
temple or two, and some interesting buildings including a beautiful Wellcome supermarket in the old Stanley police station
across from the bus depot. Stanley Market, however, is a major
disappointment, and can be described as nothing more than a tourist
market, selling mainly souvenirs and silly tchocthkes primarily to old,
white tourists.
Relaxing near Stanley Market.
Small covered altar near Stanley Market.
Bus 52 runs from Stanley to Aberdeen.
Aberdeen is well-known for its seafood and fish market. There are floating restaurants in the bay that are also quite popular.
Altar at Tin Hau temple in Aberdeen, near where the bus drops you off.
Looking out from Tin Hau temple.
There's a fish market on the Hong-Kong side of the bay, a short walk from Tin Hau temple. It's a bunch of warehouse-style buildings willed with huge tanks of fish. I don't know when the selling goes on, but there were very few people or workers there when I was, and you could just wander around from building to building.
From just east of the market you can catch a ferry across the channel to Ap Lei Chau island for a couple of HKD. The ferry will dock at an interesting park.
Next to the ferry pier on Ap Lei Chau island. Lower some money in a basket to these fishermen, and they raise some fish for you.
To get back to the city from Aberdeen, take Bus 70 or 4C. From Ap Lei Chau, take bus 90 from the main road in front of the park, Ap Lei Chau Bridge Road.
Victoria Peak
You can't visit Hong Kong without visiting Victoria Peak. The typical way to visit is by taking the Peak Tram
funicular, but you can also take the bus. Tickets for the Tram are 28
HKD one way, and 40 HKD return. You can take Bus 1 (minibus) or 15
(double-decker) for about 9 HKD, and you can catch Bus 15 from the Star
Ferry pier. I prefer to walk down to HK via the Old Peak Road (there are
stairs that lead to it just behind the Peak Tower).
After
returning from Aberdeen, I stopped by Hong Kong MTR station for some
dim sum at the much-heralded Tim Ho Wan, then took the bus to Victoria
Peak. The tram really is much more scenic.
There's a branch of the
Michelin-starred dim sum place, Tim Ho Wan, located in Hong Kong MTR
Station. No lines or waiting at this location, and even if the food is a
bit better at the main location I was extremely impressed by the food
and prices. I came back later and bought some for my train ride to Shanghai.
The
peak is dominated by two large buildings that are essentially shopping
malls. They don't hold much interest for me, as I prefer to walk around
outside. Unfortunately I've never been up there by day, as I believe
there is decent hiking available. The city is very scenic by night, when
smog and haziness is less of a problem.
There's a pedestrian pathway, Lugard Road,
just outside the peak observatory that leads northwest along the side
of the mountain, offering great views over Central Hong Kong and Kowloon
across the bay.
The view from Lugard Road.
The farther you go along Lugard Road, the farther west you see.
View through the trees, just behind the peak tower.
After walking down from the peak, I took one of the old-fashioned, double-decker trams back to my hostel in Causeway Bay.
Traffic in Causeway Bay.
View from the tram at a pedestrian crossing in Causeway Bay. My hostel was just off to the left.
After my successful hikes in Busan and Seoul, I thought I would indulge in some of the trails I had read were available in Hong Kong. The NY Times had extolled the options available in the New Territories, and High Junk Peak in particular was highly recommended.
Getting
to the start point is pretty easy: take the MTR to Hang Hau station,
and then catch minibus 103 from nearby, getting off at Ng Fai Tin.
Alternatively, you can also take minibus 103M from a slightly different spot. Minibus 16 also runs the route, but less frequently. Your
options should be shown on the map below.
Hang Hau Man Kuk Lane Park. Hang Hau station is underneath those apartment buildings.
There are some temples and tombs in the hills east of Hung Hua station.
Incense in front of Tin Hau temple.
I
walked to the trailhead instead of taking a bus. Be sure to buy some
water at one of the shops around Hang Hau station or at a supermarket on
the way to the trail.
The path plunges immediately into nature, and it would be easy to
forget you're mere minutes from skyscraping apartment buildings.
Looking back towards the trailhead.
You go in and out of groves of trees and tall grasses the completely obscure all traces of the city.
360° panorama after the first hill.
The city reminds you of its presence
as you go higher and enter open space. It's possible to see all the way
to Central Hong Kong and Kowloon.
High Junk Peak shows itself.
Back into the tall grass.
The ascent begins.
Hikers on their way down.
Mid climb.
Beginning to descend.
There's a plateau after the initial descent.
Po Toi O village from the trail.
Tai
Miu temple lies at the end of the trail. It took me just under three
hours to get here from the start of the trail, and it could be done in
much less time if you don't take 150 pictures along the way.
Tai Miu temple
is on the right-hand side of the trail, towards Hong Kong. Po Toi O
village is on the opposite, left-hand side. It's a small village
absolutely filled with seafood restaurants built on stilts over the
water, many of which will seat more customers than there are residents
in the village: obviously a popular dining destination (but not when I
was there, at 5:30 on a Tuesday afternoon). Each restaurant has a
display of live seafood out front, and this was the first time I had
ever seen mantis shrimp. They look pretty vicious, and they're
transported in individual plastic tubes to prevent them from thrashing
about. Compared to Jagalchi, the restaurants here seem more hygenic,
although the selection is more limited.
Mantis shrimp in Po Toi O.
Getting back from Po Toi O, you can take minibus 16 back to Hang Hau. It only runs once or twice per hour, though.
Peter Lam has some nice pictures of the trail on his blog.
Train tickets for the T100 to Shanghai
After picking up my Chinese visa in the morning and hiking High Junk in the afternoon,
I bought my train ticket to Shanghai. Trains to Shanghai and Beijing
depart for one of the cities each day, alternating between the two on
each day. I was slightly conflicted about which one I should take. The train to Beijing was abetter deal and would save a fairly long and somewhat costly trip between the two cities, as well as save me some travel time for later, especially since I could leave the next day (Shanghai was in two days). On the other hand, I've never been to Shanghai and it seemed like a bit of a shame to bypass it on my way north. Even though I've heard some fairly poor things about Shanghai, I decided I couldn't miss it. (This kind of fear/regret-based decision making doesn't always lead to the best decisions.)
Although the trains from Hong Kong all leave from Hung Hom station in Kowloon,
you can also buy your tickets at a secondary MTR tourist office in
Admiralty Station, on HK island.
Fares are quite cheap, given that it takes 19 hours to Shanghai and 24 hours to Beijing,
with the upper bunk in a hard sleeper compartment being 508 HKD to
Shanghai, and 574 HKD to Beijing (actually, I think the hard sleepers on these trains only have 4 bunks per compartment, so they are really priced for lower and middle bunks only). And unlike most Chinese trains, it's
not that difficult to actually get tickets. I booked two days in advance
without any problems (and my cabin wasn't full), whereas in
China you need to basically book as far in advance as possible and hope to get lucky.
Hard
sleeper on these trains (or at least the train I took) are nicer than
on any Chinese train I've seen. They are actually enclosed at both ends,
with only an open doorway (most hard sleepers have the end of the beds
facing the hallway exposed to the hallway), and storage in the space
over the hallway. I prefer the upper bunk, since it gives me the option
of sleeping in, laying down and reading during the day, instead of
simply sitting on the bottom bunk (with the middle bunk folded) with the
other passengers during the day. Since this is also the cheapest
option, it works for me.
I love Hong Kong. It's one of my favourite cities; it's vibrant and
alive in a way that few cities are, with a presence on the streets that
is palpable. It's like a more exotic, orderly, politer, and cheaper
version of NYC, with better food, better weather, and better scenery.
I'm sure a large part of Hong Kong's energy comes from the huge
population density, and I suspect this density would make actually
living there somewhat difficult. But as a tourist you get to experience a
city where it seems like there is something happening on every street,
at all hours of the day.
Wong Kar Wai's Chungking Express does a good job of expressing the energy and atmosphere of Hong Kong, without putting too much of a gloss on life there, but it's his masterpiece, In the Mood for Love (probably my absolute favourite movie), that really captures the way I feel about Hong Kong: full of nostalgic charm, exotic and alive, gritty and alluring, even if sometimes squalid, yet somehow reserved and formal.
Tensions with Mainland Chinese
On the ride into town from the
airport, after an uneventful flight. Best seat in the house: top floor,
front row, just behind the full-glass windshield that spans the upper deck.
I remember the first time I flew into the Hong Kong region, on a 2006 Air Asia flight from Bangkok to Macau. This was my first experience with mainland Chinese tourists, who distinguished themselves from other passengers through their behaviour, if not their appearance. Upon landing in Macau, but before arriving at the terminal, there was a mad rush of Chinese standing up, grabbing their luggage, and ignoring requests to remain seated. Once the doors opened, there was jostling to get out, and then more jostling to get into the buses that would take us to the terminal. None of it made any sense (how does being first on the bus, or first off the plane, help get you out of the airport any faster?), but it was serious, ruthless business.
Hong Kongers like mainland Chinese less than ever, and this anti-mainland sentiment seems likely to grow as more and more mainlanders visit and Hong Kong youth become more and more politically assertive. Part of it is because they see more of these 'locusts' than ever, and part of it is economic (they are particularly resentful of mainland mothers coming to HK to have anchor babies, as well as things like milk formula and other foods that may be contaminated in China). Much of it is cultural, however, as Hong Kongers resent the way mainlanders don't stand aside on escalators, push into subway cars instead of queuing or letting people off first, the tendency to urinate in public and encourage their kids to do so (including of parents letting their kids pee in subway cars and wondering why people get upset), and generally ill-mannered behaviour.
Scenes from Hong Kong
This dog enjoys his rightful place as the center of attention in front of the HK World Trade Center shopping complex. While Japanese city dogs pretend you don't exist—or pretend they don't exist— this dog acknowledged everyone but accepted their attention as his due.
On my first night in HK I went to the World Trade Center to look for a duffel bag. My old Samsonite duffel was on it's last legs after 20 years of service and multiple repair jobs to sew up blown seams, and instead of buying a cheap bag in Hong Kong or China like I had originally intended to, I decided to get a decent bag from a reputable company. (The fact that I had bought a knockoff camera bag that looked like it was good quality but had started to fall apart after 24 hours convinced me that it's better to spend extra on another bag that might hopefully last 20 years, too.)
The WTC Hong Kong has both Patagonia and North face shops, and I had narrowed my choice to either the North Face Base Camp or the Patagonia Black Hole, both of which are duffels with backpack straps. The only problem is that the Patagonia medium is 60 liters while the North Face medium is 72 liters (the other sizes are identical, however), and although I liked the Patagonia more I wasn't sure if it would be big enough. In Hong Kong most stores don't allow you to return things for a refund, however, so I couldn't buy the Patagonia and return it if my stuff didn't fit. As I didn't feel like bringing my bag in and unpacking it in the store to see if it fit, I eventually went with the North Face. Luckily, I found a place in Mong Kok that had them on sale—and in nice colours, too—so I ended up paying about the US price for the bag. (Like everything else, these bags were cheaper in the US than in Hong Kong, despite HK's proximity to the factories and its low tax regime.)
The International Finance Center dominates the are near the Star Ferry pier.
Sir Norman Foster's iconic HSBC
Tower. The building is essentially on stilts so pedestrians can walk
under the building, in a gesture towards good Feng Shui.
The
Bank of China Tower, by I.M.
Pei, is also iconic but supposedly has bad Feng Shui and was
aggressively oriented towards the HSBC tower. There's got to be some
irony in the British-designed building having good Feng Shui and the
Chinese designed building having bad Feng Shui.
BoC Tower at upper right and three other towers.
This was the first time I had stayed on the Hong Kong side, at an eminently forgettable hostel in Causeway Bay, just around the corner from Ikea. The next morning I saw some more of the island, walking over to the Mid-Levels and taking the escalators while checking out Hollywood Road and the like. I also did some window shopping looking for CF cards for my camera and battery chargers. Hey, DX.com is based in Hong Kong and CF cards are made in Shenzhen, so how hard could it be, right? Very hard, it turns out. The CF cards in the electronics and photo malls in the area were charging about double the price that Amazon.com does.
I eventually figured out where you can get electronics for cheap in Hong Kong—the electronics markets just east of Sham Po Shui MTR station, like Golden Arcade—but it took me a fair amount of trouble, and even the no-haggle prices at the shops there were no better than you get at Amazon. Even these shops were unable to provide the one product I was looking for from DX.com: a USB-powered AA charger. This is why you should save yourself time, money, and hassle and buy before you leave.
The
Lippo Towers, by American architect Paul Rudolph. I'm not a big fan,
but learning that some people call them "The Koala Tree" makes them feel
more humanistic and whimsical than I've ever thought of them before.
The space under the HSBC Tower has been commandeered by the Occupy Wall Street movement.
On Sundays the Occupiers in their tents are joined
by Filippina domestic workers, who have historically picnicked all
around Central Hong Kong on their day off: if there's an open space, they'll put down their blankets and chew the fat.
Typical apartment buildings in the Mid
Levels. The Mid-Levels escalator is an escalator-strewn pathway
facilitating commuter traffic up and down the neighbourhood. In the
morning the escalators run downhill, and after the morning rush they
switch to uphill.
Walking down from the top of the escalators.
Well east of the Mid Levels. These
buildings are built on slopes so steep that the southern entrance of a
building might be on the tenth floor, and the northern side the ground
floor.
I'm a Slurpee addict. Is it sad that
I had the locations of a few of the 7-Elevens that sold Slurpees
memorized from 2009 and 2006? Unfortunately, not shown on the map above.
Ladies' Market.
Window shopping on goldfish street.
Temple Street Market.
Marching band practice in Kowloon Park, just off Nathan Road.
