HongKong 2011

Our Hong Kong journey began when we jumped onto a Sky-train from Richmond into Vancouver and the airport. Some people call Vancouver, "Hon-couver". The line between west coast Canada and Asia is blurred, but for us we were in Asia as soon as we stepped on the plane. Aboard the Cathay Pacific flight, there was a group of Sikhs traveling and when one of them reached into his bag for a paratha and a jar of mango pickles, we knew this was going to be an interesting journey. Sheila watched 7 movies on the flight, short of her personal best on one flight.

From the HK airport, we were whisked onto HK island by the incredibly efficient public transportation system. We had booked a room at a guesthouse in the shopping district of Causeway Bay. Although we found the address right away, it took us some effort to get to reception. The guesthouse is in a residential building and is not signed outside, nor did we know the access code to enter the building. The guesthouse has terrific reviews, so when we were shown to our room, it was hard to conceal our initial disappointment. It was tiny. Keep in mind, we had just traveled the Oregon coast in the off-season where there were miles and miles of deserted beaches. You could "swing a cat" in the room, but it would have to have a very short tail. We adapted to HK space soon enough and the Alisan Guesthouse lived up to the reviews and turned out to be an excellent choice (location, location, location, super-clean, economic, etc.)

HK is EASY Asia. It is so clean. "Everyone" speaks English. The transportation system is second to none. Select a destination and take the MTR (underground/train). The stations are modern and user friendly. Double doors only open when the train comes to a full stop so no one can slip off the platform. Large TV screens advertise products and movies. Transfer to other lines are normally made by walking across the platform. Once you disembark, signs direct you to the correct exit. At street level, more signs point the way to landmarks, especially temples. Simply connect the dots. It's so user-friendly!

It is even easy to pay, no more fumbling for change. Buy an "Octopus" card, load it up with money and just swipe your card when getting on trains, buses and ferries. It gets better; pay for parking with your Octopus card. Stop at a convenience store and pay with your Octopus card. Hungry? Pay for your meal with your Octopus card. Supermarket check-outs move quickly because of, yes you guessed it, the Octopus card. How easy is that?

Everyone is wired in HK. The pace is fast and just about everyone is using a smart phone or tablet on the MTR. Some are checking Facebook, emails or reading. However, the vast majority were playing games on the go. I much earlier visits, we felt that the HK people were on the serious side, all business. Now they are smiling and laughing. It must be the games!

We learned quickly that mornings are the best time to get around HK. Pedestrian ways and transport slowly builds through the day, then the kids get out of school and the evening rush hour fills the sidewalks with a mass of well-dressed people. Queues for taxis sometimes extend a block in length. Shopping areas fill up to the brim; the SOGO department store was having an anniversary sale and we decided that the Causeway Bay store was "impenetrable" and gave it a miss. When it rains, stores put out slender plastic bags at entrances so that customers can put their umbrellas in sleeves to keep the floors dry.Gosh, Hong Kong is a well organised city.

We met up with HK friends during our week-long visit. Ian & Grace drove us in their posh car to the HK Jockey Club and treated us to a delicious meal in the clubhouse.

Fiona also treated us to sumptuous meal at a Shanghai-style restaurant. We mostly got the hang of using serving chopsticks (the black ones) and eating with the ivory coloured pair. It will be difficult to match the Chinese food of Hong Kong. We wandered the labrynth of traditional streets on the island, visited museums and temples in the New Territories. We visited Victoria Peak and Stanley with Fiona (highlighted by a wonderful vegetarian dim sum lunch). We road the timeless trams, cruised the harbor on the classic Star Ferry and traveled the elevated walk-ways of Central.

We caught a ferry out to Lantau Island. It was like landing in another country; rural and laid-back. We took a bus to Cheung Sha Beach but it was slightly unnerving because it was virtually deserted. Another bus brought us to Ngong Ping and the Giant Buddha. The throngs of tourists who had arrived by cable-car were oddly comforting. We walked down the mountain on a concrete path (it was Hong Kong!) meeting only a monk on her way to a meditation centre on the isolated slopes. An hour and a half later, we arrived a a modern, recently constructed planned community (Yat Tung) and wandered around. It was almost too well-planned with tall apartment buildings, shopping area, communal areas with leafy walk-ways and cycle paths. It felt part sci-fi, part futuristic. The signage pointed to various temples but we couldn't find public transportation. We also discovered that not "everyone" speaks English, so we pulled out our Octopus cards and pointed to them. We were directed to the central bus station and we were back on HK island before we knew it with the MTR. That was easy!

On our last morning, we wandered the food markets of Wanchai. Whilst HK supermarkets offer an impressive array of products, you can't beat the colours and freshness of (clean) street markets. We left the womb of the Alisan Guesthouse, easily reached the impressive International airport and flew into the humid warmth of Penang, Malaysia. But that is another story.