Scotts Blog

Well I landed in Hong Kong about 2pm on Hong Kong Island and decided I wanted to stay in Kowloon on another island in a backpackers area. I quickly found out a heap of things I never knew about Hong Kong, 80% is forest and there are four main Islands on one of the four main islands that make up Hong Kong.

I caught the MTR (has to be the best subway system in the world that I have seen) and was lucky enough to find a place with my own room for $80 HKD a night. I was quickly finding out how expensive Hong Kong is compared to China, it is pretty hard to find any bargains at all. Just getting there I decided it was time for a walk around Kowloon, and down to watch the nightly laser show over the harbour. One thing that really catches your eye is what I coined ’the urban canopy’ where every shop and business has a sign out over the street and they are everywhere. It gets so dense at points that it is hard to see the sky.

The laser show was pretty good, there are something like 25 buildings participating and they have lots of lights and lasers lighting up the sky and buildings to music. There number of buildings on Hong Kong Island outweighed the Kowloon area so definitely watch it from Kowloon. With beers being about $8-10AUS I managed to find an American tourist to have a few cans with while watching the show.

The next day it was time to explore Hong Kong Island, so I jumped on the subway and found the Western market and jumped on a tram to check out some of the Island. The tram was a good way to see what was going on and took me to the end of Hong Kong Island where I caught the subway back to central. One highlight of the walk was going through a eastern medicine and dried seafood market. It was crazy some of the stuff they had, with one shop offering to buy gallstones.

That night I went on what is arguably the biggest tourist attraction in Hong Kong, the tram up to the top of Victoria Peak. This was pretty good ride up but a total tourist mecca. Upon arrival you are greeted by hundreds of shops and cafes overlooking the city and the harbour. I watched the laser show from here before walking back down and took the ferry across the harbour.

Day three (14th) was time to see some of the famous Hong Kong shopping so I went to the Mong Kok area where they have markets that are huge, go for around 4-5 blocks with solid stalls. The problem I was having looking at all the different things that I could buy was that I didn’t need anything and couldn’t really carry it anyway. Anything electronic is a fraction of the price that it is in Australia, so many things that I could buy but I resisted.

Right near by was a Fish market and a bird market. The fish market was insane everything you could imagine was for sale. They had hundreds of fish in bags hanging on the wall ready for sale. The bird market contained every kind of bird imagineable but they were mostly obsessed with little finches.

Nearby there was meant to be a beautiful nunnery and garden, they were really something you have to see. The Nunnery had traditional Chinese style buildings around courtyards with a great backdrop of green mountains. Across the road was a manicured garden which was amazing, it was meticulously planned with a huge center pond filled with Carp that would have to be at least two feet long. The whole surrounds were very relaxing and a great contrast to western gardens and culture.

Around this time I started reading Annapurna Circuit by Andrew Stevenson and it was such a great read it inspired me to do the Annapurna Circuit instead of Everest base camp in Nepal. Give it a read if you are thinking about heading to Nepal any time soon.

On the way back from the nunnery I went to the railway station to try and find a ticket to Shanghai which was the next step. It turned out there was only one on the 16th so I had to stay another night. That night when I arrived back at the hostel I met some English guys who were heading out so we went out for a feed. The night turned out to be an absolutely massive night ending up in a Karaoke bar at about 3am (not a good thing if you have heard me sing).

Not having felt a hangover like that in a few years was quite a shock to the system. Then looking around I didn’t have my phone either which was really annoying as it had all my music on it as well. That day I felt pretty average all day so it was a little annoying but on the other hand the perfect day for watching a movie like Evan Almighty. 

The day of the train became quite a rush, I woke around 11 and needed to be at the station at about 2, so I packed then went to get some breakfast. I needed to get some other things as well as the train was going to take 24 hours. I was lucky to have a sleeper which was pretty comfortable. I picked up some bread and finger buns which were pretty tasty. I have never been on a sleeper train before but it turned out to be pretty good apart from not saying a single thing for the whole time. Reading a copy of Newsweek cover to cover went down pretty well and I also started reading ’The Great Gatsby’ which I quite liked after a slow start.  

Hong  Kong Photos 

Scott

Well I arrived in Macau from Guangzhou on the bus and it was pretty painless. It drops you off at the border and you walk across, I think there was a little creek separating the countries but all there seemed to be was buildings so it looks like they have built over it now. Getting into Macau was pretty painless. I knew the place I wanted to stay San Va Hospedaria which was cheap(a bed with four walls) in the middle of town and looked like some fun! So I jumped on a bus that went virtually around the whole Island, it is tiny only 28 square km.

After checking in, if you would call it that I decided to go for a walk and check out the place before a night at the casino. Macau is small so it was easy to walk around. It was surprising to see how built up it was, there was no wasted space and it really reminded me of Europe apart from the lack of Europeans. I walked up the road dropped in my washing off, then it was off to Largo do Senado which is a square in the old part of town. I was already getting a feeling that Macau was really expensive compared to China, then when i added things up it was expensive compared to anywhere i have ever been. Without a word of a lie I saw coffees for 95 Macau dollars that is $15 and it is also insane.

I walked up to the ruins of the church of St Paul (Which was just the front wall), and above that on the hill Monte Fort. This was pretty good, the fort had a great view over the city but the view effect of the view was dampened by the haze hanging over the city. There were some absolutely gargantuan casinos under construction that towered over the city. It truly is the best place for casinos in the world. It is next to over 1 billion gambling addicts. On top of the fort I sat on the wall overlooking the city and finished my book The Damage Done

After this it was time to get cleaned up for a night at the numerous casinos, so I donned my best attire and then started heading to Casino Lisboa probably the most famous in Macau (not nearly the best). It was pretty lame and I was thinking I really don’t want to gamble so it was boring but I still wanted to check out some of the others. I went to the Wynn casino but they didn’t like thongs so it was off to another one, they were all pretty much the same at this point. I decided to check out the most grand and newest of the lot the Venetian, it was meant to be amazing so what they hell. I asked where it was because I was going to walk there they said it is just across the bridge and a bit further, it ended up being about 7kms and was a really long walk after walking about 3kms to the first casino.

On arrival however I was amazed they had recreated half of Venice, they had the San Marco Tower, the Re alto bridge, during the day you can take gondola rides on the lake. Upon entering you walk into the main gaming room which is around 300m X 300m it is insane. The place is all looking Italian, including a cafe that looks as though it is a beautiful blue sky all the time. I know all this is already in Vegas but I have not been there so this was great. After watching a show (some girls singing on stage) and having a $10 beer I decided to head home, there was not much else going on around town but it was still fun to be there. I decided to head off in the morning to Hong Kong.

After I picked up my washing I headed off to the ferry which was really fast about 60km in 80mins.

Macau photos

Well after a good nights sleep it was time to find out how easy it was going to be to get into China. According to the lonely planet you can not cross the border here unless your visa was issued in Hanoi or Beijing as the case may be. Mine was from sunny Sydney! Well after a brief breakfast I headed the 500m or so to the border. It could not have been easier, exited Vietnam in about two mins, walked 200m across a bridge then got into China in about 2 mins. It was quite funny on the Chinese side they were renovating their border building and you had to get your passport stamped in the middle of a construction site. There was jackhammering about 4m away, and then walking through a myriad of bamboo scaffolding and wires along the floor was something different.

Upon arrival I changed my money for Yuan, then went to the bus station. I was in Guangxi province (state) so heading to the capital seemed like a good idea. After about 30mins I was off to Nanning. The bus was easy and after managing to get a nap I was in sunny (extremely hot would be better) Nanning. A girl helped me onto the bus and I got to my hotel without any problems at all. One thing I was quickly realising is that English is next to useless in China, hardly anyone speaks it, and if they do it is like me trying to speak Chinese reading straight from a book, really hard to understand. The people were all nice though so that was good. One thing that really surprised me after going to India is how modern China is. In a lot of ways Nanning was more modern than Sydney, all the buildings look brand new, there are apartments everywhere, great shopping malls. Well that is how is appeared on the surface. I guess I was expecting a bit of a shambles.

After I settled it was time to walk around and see what was going on around town. I quickly started to realise (and had also read) that they have not really let anything stand in the way of progress. In Nanning they had no nice old buildings, the architecture was all extremely functional and cutting edge but lacked the human touch. The brand new malls were bustling but were all perfectly square, they did not have common areas like open food courts or something just corridors to fit in lots of box shaped shops. It was good to have a look around, but the problem with shops is they are only any use if you want to buy something.

The next day I booked a night bus ticket to Guangzhou which is the capital of Guangdong province, it was a sleeper and was meant to take 11 hours but I was surprised how expensive it was compared to what I had been paying in Vietnam. When I say a sleeper I really mean a sleeper, the bus was full of bunk beds, three across, two high and about maybe 8-10 deep.

Once in Guangzhou I made it to a hostel after some agitation on the buses, trying to find one to go where you want to go is very hard, but they are very cheap about 2 RMB which is about 30 cents. The hostel was good, it was clean and air conditioned which makes all the difference. I have a long much needed shower with hot water! That was joy! It was only about 9am so I decided to go and check out Guangzhou it is a great town with plenty to see and do.

I decided to spend the day walking around, I mapped out various things to go and check out, temples, parks, shops and food. The temples were good and there were hundreds of incense sticks burning all over the place. The highlight would have to be when I went to a great park called Yuexiu park, it was similar to the botanic gardens I guess with a lot of different paths and sculptures. A great thing about Guangzhou was their subway it was amazing, so fast and really easy to use, Sydney needs one desperately to get around the city and near by suburbs.

The next day it was off to Maccau so I jumped on a bus that took me to the border!

I can’t access my photos in China but you can see them at www.flickr.com/photos/fletch007  

Well arriving in Halong Bay was not all it was cracked up to be. I arrived after the last ferry had left to Cat Ba island so I stayed in Halong City for the night and planned to get on the ferry the next morning. That night I picked up some great food at the local market, some spring rolls, some warm potato dish and some bread. There was not a lot to do in the town so I relaxed and then went for a run(first one in about two months). I have been walking a lot but the fitness is really different, I kept going as I wanted to run over a huge bridge, which included jogging about 12 stories of stairs to get to the top (now that was tiring). By the time I was back at the hotel sopping it was a great feeling

The next day I caught the ferry to Cat Ba along the way we stopped at some caves and a floating village. The bay is amazing with hundreds of limestone islands rising sharply out of the water. The water is also an amazing emerald green colour and it truly is a great sight. The Islands (almost all of them) are not inhabited as they are too small and inhospitable. Cat Ba is the largest island at about 17km long. On arrival the Cat Ba town i found a hotel (with an awesome view over the harbour and a balcony) and proceeded to have a snooze. This was a welcome siesta and well worth the time. Since arrival I had a strange feeling that there was absolutely nothing to do on Cat Ba Island, and I was soon to be proved right. Don’t get me wrong there are a few attractions and they are beautiful but they are hard to get to unless you are on a tour.

That night I met a few people from Spain and Belgium and had a few drinks which was a welcome change from the towns pace of which there was none. The next day I decided to go to China, I was so close and had a visa so why not. I caught a local ferry to a town called Hai Phong (2 hours), then a bus 6 hours to a town called Mong Cai which is on the border with China. I arrived there at about 10pm and found a hotel which was good. I did not find anyone who speaks English all night and then went to bed watching some average movie. Mong Cai is an interesting place. The town is literally split in two halves China half Vietnam, obviously different names. Every shop is full of useless shit and heaps of it. Apparently lots of Chinese bring over all their goods to sell and a good profit to Vietnamese.

This brings me to a point of contention that I can usually deal with but it is starting to get to me Dual Pricing. When I boarded the ferry I saw the lady holding a ticket book and she reached in her bad to get another ticket book, I said I wanted the original ticket book and she said no you have to use this one. It was either 30000 Dong or 70000 Dong(Westerner). I can understand this at national monuments or points of interest for a moderate tax on tourism but transport is ridiculous. It is getting a little bit old. Can you imagine if in Australia we charged people with Blue eyes double for everything. So you go to buy a coke and they say $5, there would be absolute mayhem. Maybe it is me being tired or whatever but they really need to respect tourists more and not just treat them all as rich westerners especially when we are travelling on a budget! 

Scott Fletcher

Halong Bay Photos