GO ASIA 2007! Part 1: Hong Kong

Hong Kong-Seoul-Beijing
Part 1 - Hong Kong

Day 1: Sydney-Hong Kong
On November 14th 2007, my travel companion - Cindy, and myself boarded our Virgin Atlantic Flight to destination Hong Kong!!

We were both filled with excitement and disbelief that we were finally going on vacation!! For me, it had been over a year since I travelled anywhere overseas, even domestically for that matter and we just could not wait to get out of Sydney!

Significantly, this was my first time to HK in 9 years!! I was eager to discover this Asian Metropolis from the eyes of a twentysomething...explore one of those big and bright asian cities!

So besides flying for 8 hours + we didn't really do much :P By the time we landed in Hong Kong it was already 10:30pm. To my amazement, Cindy had never travelled on the HK Airport trains ever!! And she has been to HK quite a few times already in the last few years!! Being the savvy traveller that I am (not!), I was pleased to show off my knowledge of this HK Airport Rail system, even though I had only used it once 9 years ago!!! So twenty minutes later, we were at Central. We took a cab to South Pacific Hotel located on the fringe of Wanchai & Causeway Bay...Hello Hong Kong we finally made it :)

Typical Street of Hong Kong

Day 2: Hong Kong

Since we were using Hong Kong as a 'base' to travel to other destinations, we figured a trip to the travel agents might be a good idea, since we had not organised ANYTHING at all before leaving Sydney. For someone like me who generally likes to plan ahead, it was a bit strange, but we were assured by many that you can simply book a trip whilst in HK and set off the next day.

Luckily for us, Cindy had a very nice and sweet aunty that we met up with at Mongkok for a very Cantonese 'brunch' aka Yum Cha at a way too trendy yum cha place! (Why don't they have these in Sydney?) So after filling up our stomachs, we went to Wing On to book our 5 day tour of Seoul and 4 day tour of Beijing. Don't ask me why 5 days in Seoul compared to 4 days in Beijing...I think everything was happening so fast at the travel agent that I couldn't digest all the information! Woohoo - our plans were set!

Cindy & Aunty

Trendy Yum-Cha place

Once we finalised our travel plans, believe it or not, we got stuck in Mongkok shopping!! People usually go there to buy sport shoes (which I bought), but we somehow managed to do so much damage to our credit card that we even shocked some friends :P It was this afternoon that we fell into the traps of the persuasive powers of HK shop asssistants! Boy do they know how to convince you to buy things you really do not need, or will ever wear! And whilst they may not seem that expensive once converted into AUD, it really was quite expensive in HKD!!! (No, I don't think I am over it yet..8 months later!)

Now the shopping really was something, as we needed a well-deserved nap before dinner. We met up with our uni friends Louise & Peggy (she arrived fashionably late, as she always does :P) for some yummy and cheap shanghainese food around Times Square! It was really wonderful meeting up with the 2 of them!! It was good to see Louise settle into the HK lifestyle so easily; and to see Peggy after more than a year! (I last saw her in London Oct 2006!)

Cindy & Peggy

Louise & Me

Day 3: Hong Kong

A trip to Hong Kong cannot be complete without the customary visit up the steep trams to ‘The Peak’.

We tried to avoid the crowds by waking up early, to get there early, but alas, the reality was that we were on ‘holiday’ mode, so that didn’t quite happen. By the time we got to Central, the queue for the Trams were packed with tourists on this rather hot autumn day! (The weather was no different to Sydney) At least the wax-figure of Jackie Chan they place right at the entrance kept us entertained for just a bit!

So up we went on the trams. It was at this point I realized Cindy is scared of heights! She couldn’t really look out the window at all, and to her, the tram ride was like a rollercoaster ride! The trams passed mid-levels and it was at this point I remembered that the old apartment my dad used to live in back in his HK working days was along the route! I had completely forgotten about it! It’s funny how things can be triggered from our memory, even things from 9 years ago.

Once we step foot outside the trams and walked around for a bit, the view up The Peak was nothing short of spectacular. It was amazing. I think it was more unreal seeing this view 9 years later than 9 years ago. The weather was so good to us as well. We were blessed with clear blue skies and no fog or smog over the HK skyline. Breathless. I am easily amazed by urban architecture, and HK’s ability to construct extremely tall and skinny buildings always amazes me. Here are some photos:

Me at The Peak

Since The Peak is one of the most popular tourist attractions, and HK is known for the shopping, yes we didn’t escape it even up at such a high point! But luckily we learnt from the lesson before and managed to buy good but cheap stuff! (For me, a pair of ballet flats for HKD100 hehehe)

Another day, another meal of eating out! Besides shopping in HK, the other past time is of course eating. So we ate out again with the same bunch of people plus more! This time our dear friend Louise took us somewhere around Causeway Bay to eat Chinese food…it was yummy even though I don’t really remember what we ate but I know there was delicious seafood!

Not that we are really night life people, but I had never been to Lan Kwai Fung – this is apparently where all the expats hang out. (And it’s true, ALL the expats hang out here!) So we probably settled at one of the most non-HK bars just cuz it was quiet, an Australian one! (Unfortunately I don’t remember the name) We had our cocktails and martinis and chatted some more! We then migrated to another bar, with much more noise to drink and well, take silly photos as we couldn’t really hear each other with the loud music! The interior of the bar was cool, and I have a thing for well-designed interiors =)

Streets of Lan Kwai Fung (It's all expats there!!)

Us at the Aussie Bar

Day 4: Hong Kong

There is good reason to update one's Travel Blog immediately upon one's return. Why? I don't actually remember WHAT we got up to on Day 4. Yes, that's right, my memory is shocking!
So this is what I can gather from my limited memory:

• We did more shopping – this time to gather some warm winter clothes for the Northern Asian capitals. I bought a new parka, which came in VERY handy whilst in Seoul & Beijing, since their Autumn is equivalent to our cold winter! Cindy went and bought a trendy coat from Zara just cuz she really really wanted to buy something from Zara :P Little did she realise, it looked pretty but did nothing to protect her from the cold! And of course, we browsed more shops than we needed to…there are just too many distractions at that place!
• We ate more food – another yum cha brunch at some unknown place around Causeway Bay. To those unfamiliar with Hong Kong, many of the restaurants are located on Level 2 or higher! Not everything is street level like home! Between the 2 of us, we managed to get a yum cha order going (no trolley’s to come around at this joint!). They gave us a menu in Chinese, and although I can read Chinese, don’t ask me what is what at yum cha! (They have fancy names!) So somehow the 2 of us managed to tick what we wanted through a combination of Cindy saying what she wanted, and me scanning the menu to see if I could find what we wanted! I must say, we worked well as a team :) And another food stop - this trendy Japanese restaurant for our lunch/arvo snack around Times Square Causeway Bay! It was yum!! Again, why is everything so trendy in HK!!
  

I had no problems spotting 'egg tarts' on the menu!

Yummy Japanese food!
• We packed our goods – and offloaded items at Cindy’s aunts place! It’s amazing just how much shopping can be done by 2 girls within a 3 day period in HK. Of course, we were not going to bring the unnecessary stuff to China/Korea, and so we packed our goods and took the train to Mongkok, to give them to Cindy’s aunt for safe-keeping. That felt like a tiring journey just cuz our bags were so heavy!
• We went to the airport – after doing all the necessary tasks, we headed to the airport to meet our Seoul tour group and finally something apart from shopping was about to begin! (Or so we thought, stay tuned for our adventures in Seoul!)

Destination Seoul: Incheon Airport!!