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Arriving In Hong Kong
Dec. 6th, 2017 05:03 pmThe flight to Hong Kong was largely uneventful, with the key point to note being at least I caught it. The plan had been to take the Friday (1 December) off work but with everything so busy, I had to sacrifice at least the morning before my evening flight. As always seems to happen though, things kept dropping in, pushing my time of departure later and later. At 1pm I had to call it a day and with Wolfie popping around for lunch (I was working at home) before my departure, he came back to find me incredibly stressed. Fortunately I had packed everything (apart from my neck pillow I was later to find out) so was ready to go out of the door as Wolfie returned to work, with him driving me some of the way into town. It was sad to say goodbye to him and indeed for most of the preceding week I had a strong sense of trepidation about this, with it being the main negative about this sort of trip.
The journey to Manchester was smooth and fortunately I was not needed on a 4pm conference call, which I would have had to have done in the airport. I was incredibly tired but having a lot of time to kill, I relaxed at the Grain Loft pub where I was shocked to discover there was no Mac n cheese. Over mini fish and chips I checked my work email before boarding my flight to Zurich some two hours later. The plan had been to see Arcais at the airport in the Swiss City as she too was going there, for a weekend break. Alas we didn’t get to meet though, I guess because I was transferring and she was departing. I was concerned about the fifty minute layover time but this proved to be ample, with me spending a fair amount of this time pacing up and down a rather desolate terminal. Ours was the only flight and upon boarding, we settled for the eleven hour experience. The food was quite pleasant while I entertained myself by watching the imperious Cars 3, and a Canadian/French cartoon called Bali which was delightfully twee. The highlight though was Swiss Air’s own animation - The Adventures of Bernie and Levi - which was terribly written in terms of storyline and not much better voice acted. It was charming though, albeit full of convenient coincidences, and I did rather enjoy the six short episodes which have been created so far. Will they save their uncle from the evil Dr Zack? Only time will tell.
I was a bit disappointed to discover that in Hong Kong you don’t get a stamp in your passport, but a slip of paper, but at least you do get to keep it, which is proof of having visited. Once through customs and with bag collected - a process as easy as any I’ve done - I headed for the bus terminus to pick up the A12 bus to North Point, which is where my hotel was. Hollud had put me in contact with a local fur called Tef, and his advice proved to be invaluable during my stay. Indeed before even boarding the bus he told me to get an Octopus card, which is very much like London’s Oyster. He lives very near North Point and so agreed to meet up with me that evening, with the time I boarded the bus being around 6:45pm. My body clock was all over the place, which was aided by the fact I hadn’t seen any daylight throughout the whole of Saturday, and this wasn’t helped by the bus journey which seemed incredibly long just to go the eight stops I wanted. As it turned out, the new airport is quite a way from the city centre and with the bus giving a detailed breakdown of each stop as we went, finding the place I needed wasn’t too difficult. That wasn’t the same for the Ibis hotel though, which wasn’t that well signposted at all. Fortunately, while I was looking lost, Tef turned out to be right by my side as we crossed a crosswalk. He showed me that I was basically looking at my hotel and after checking in and using the facilities - while Tef waited in my room - the two of us headed down into North Point to see what we could see.
North Point is a high rise district on Hong Kong island to the east of the city centre. It’s a little more authentic than downtown and there were a number of excellent dining facilities. Many of them only had menus in Cantonese, which we decided to skip, with us eventually finding one just a few doors down from the hotel. Soon we were tucking into a load of local cuisine - beef with sticky rice served with egg, shrimp rolls and green leaves marinated in broth. All of this was served with tea, and marked a strong introduction to a city where the food is renowned as being some of the best in the world. This continued as we walked around later, with Tef buying some puffed-up waffles made out of egg batter. They were fluffy and slightly sweet, a delicious combination. By this point - indeed before the meal - we met up with another fur who Tef knew well. He was a nice guy but his English wasn’t too strong. It was great chatting to him though and he was to prove a great guide at my first ever Hong Kong furmeet the following day.
With time pushing on, all we really did on Saturday night was walk the main streets of North Point. Tef bought a warm malt drink for me which would probably have been better cold, while a short time later we returned to the store to pick up a refund for the glass. Tef pointed out some good local restaurants while I noted the sheer number of 7-Eleven outlets in the area. There was also a 24 hour McDonald’s too should things get particularly desperate. We also headed into a couple of shops selling sweets, with my friends insisting I pick up some hawthorn candy which apparently is a good appetite stimulator. These are Japanese in origin and very tangy, although it was the potassium sorbate that came across most strongly. The gritty nature of the pink discs were the most offputting thing about them. I was also given a sweet potato soft confectionary which tasted a little like fig. It was a lot better than the gritty hawthorn.
After walking around for a while and catching a glimpse of Kowloon under the obscuring overpass built onto the bay (it limits typhoon destruction apparently), the three of us boarded one of the fantastic Victorian era trams and headed for a big shopping mall a few stops away. Introduced in 1904, these trams are incredibly tall and thin, and represent the world’s largest fleet of double decker trams. The old style entrance gates and steering wheel in ours was a particular delight and chugging between the lit skyscrapers on board such an antiquated transport in a modern city was a wondrous experience. The tram was rammed but the atmosphere was one of adventure and happiness, with the locals being quite good natured throughout.
The shopping mall was pretty much closed as we got there, but there were a few people practicing a dance choreography on the ice skating rink which I think was a temporary Christmas thing. We watched them for a bit after strolling around, looking at the gaudy Christmas tree and tacky grotto at the heart of the complex. Tef highlighted a number of his favourite restaurants to me but in honesty there was very little to do here and soon we hopped on the efficient MTR and headed back to North Point. It was here we said goodbye - to Tef’s friend first as he had to get another train then Tef after he had guided me to a 7-Eleven that was still open so I could get some beer. I was feeling quite sleepy by this stage, with the jet lag catching up (plus my three hours of fragmented sleep on the plane) but I needed a shower as I hadn’t had one since boarding the flight. This I did, watching TV as I dried (and declining to pay for the adult movies they had). It was a relaxing way to end my first evening in Hong Kong and the adventures were just beginning.
The journey to Manchester was smooth and fortunately I was not needed on a 4pm conference call, which I would have had to have done in the airport. I was incredibly tired but having a lot of time to kill, I relaxed at the Grain Loft pub where I was shocked to discover there was no Mac n cheese. Over mini fish and chips I checked my work email before boarding my flight to Zurich some two hours later. The plan had been to see Arcais at the airport in the Swiss City as she too was going there, for a weekend break. Alas we didn’t get to meet though, I guess because I was transferring and she was departing. I was concerned about the fifty minute layover time but this proved to be ample, with me spending a fair amount of this time pacing up and down a rather desolate terminal. Ours was the only flight and upon boarding, we settled for the eleven hour experience. The food was quite pleasant while I entertained myself by watching the imperious Cars 3, and a Canadian/French cartoon called Bali which was delightfully twee. The highlight though was Swiss Air’s own animation - The Adventures of Bernie and Levi - which was terribly written in terms of storyline and not much better voice acted. It was charming though, albeit full of convenient coincidences, and I did rather enjoy the six short episodes which have been created so far. Will they save their uncle from the evil Dr Zack? Only time will tell.
I was a bit disappointed to discover that in Hong Kong you don’t get a stamp in your passport, but a slip of paper, but at least you do get to keep it, which is proof of having visited. Once through customs and with bag collected - a process as easy as any I’ve done - I headed for the bus terminus to pick up the A12 bus to North Point, which is where my hotel was. Hollud had put me in contact with a local fur called Tef, and his advice proved to be invaluable during my stay. Indeed before even boarding the bus he told me to get an Octopus card, which is very much like London’s Oyster. He lives very near North Point and so agreed to meet up with me that evening, with the time I boarded the bus being around 6:45pm. My body clock was all over the place, which was aided by the fact I hadn’t seen any daylight throughout the whole of Saturday, and this wasn’t helped by the bus journey which seemed incredibly long just to go the eight stops I wanted. As it turned out, the new airport is quite a way from the city centre and with the bus giving a detailed breakdown of each stop as we went, finding the place I needed wasn’t too difficult. That wasn’t the same for the Ibis hotel though, which wasn’t that well signposted at all. Fortunately, while I was looking lost, Tef turned out to be right by my side as we crossed a crosswalk. He showed me that I was basically looking at my hotel and after checking in and using the facilities - while Tef waited in my room - the two of us headed down into North Point to see what we could see.
North Point is a high rise district on Hong Kong island to the east of the city centre. It’s a little more authentic than downtown and there were a number of excellent dining facilities. Many of them only had menus in Cantonese, which we decided to skip, with us eventually finding one just a few doors down from the hotel. Soon we were tucking into a load of local cuisine - beef with sticky rice served with egg, shrimp rolls and green leaves marinated in broth. All of this was served with tea, and marked a strong introduction to a city where the food is renowned as being some of the best in the world. This continued as we walked around later, with Tef buying some puffed-up waffles made out of egg batter. They were fluffy and slightly sweet, a delicious combination. By this point - indeed before the meal - we met up with another fur who Tef knew well. He was a nice guy but his English wasn’t too strong. It was great chatting to him though and he was to prove a great guide at my first ever Hong Kong furmeet the following day.
With time pushing on, all we really did on Saturday night was walk the main streets of North Point. Tef bought a warm malt drink for me which would probably have been better cold, while a short time later we returned to the store to pick up a refund for the glass. Tef pointed out some good local restaurants while I noted the sheer number of 7-Eleven outlets in the area. There was also a 24 hour McDonald’s too should things get particularly desperate. We also headed into a couple of shops selling sweets, with my friends insisting I pick up some hawthorn candy which apparently is a good appetite stimulator. These are Japanese in origin and very tangy, although it was the potassium sorbate that came across most strongly. The gritty nature of the pink discs were the most offputting thing about them. I was also given a sweet potato soft confectionary which tasted a little like fig. It was a lot better than the gritty hawthorn.
After walking around for a while and catching a glimpse of Kowloon under the obscuring overpass built onto the bay (it limits typhoon destruction apparently), the three of us boarded one of the fantastic Victorian era trams and headed for a big shopping mall a few stops away. Introduced in 1904, these trams are incredibly tall and thin, and represent the world’s largest fleet of double decker trams. The old style entrance gates and steering wheel in ours was a particular delight and chugging between the lit skyscrapers on board such an antiquated transport in a modern city was a wondrous experience. The tram was rammed but the atmosphere was one of adventure and happiness, with the locals being quite good natured throughout.
The shopping mall was pretty much closed as we got there, but there were a few people practicing a dance choreography on the ice skating rink which I think was a temporary Christmas thing. We watched them for a bit after strolling around, looking at the gaudy Christmas tree and tacky grotto at the heart of the complex. Tef highlighted a number of his favourite restaurants to me but in honesty there was very little to do here and soon we hopped on the efficient MTR and headed back to North Point. It was here we said goodbye - to Tef’s friend first as he had to get another train then Tef after he had guided me to a 7-Eleven that was still open so I could get some beer. I was feeling quite sleepy by this stage, with the jet lag catching up (plus my three hours of fragmented sleep on the plane) but I needed a shower as I hadn’t had one since boarding the flight. This I did, watching TV as I dried (and declining to pay for the adult movies they had). It was a relaxing way to end my first evening in Hong Kong and the adventures were just beginning.
