Our fourteen-hour flight overnight from San Francisco to Hong Kong passed in a blur of films, but we didn't get much sleep. The Cathay Pacific plane was much newer than those operated by AA, but had terrible seats that rather than reclining backwards just slide your bum forward while keeping the seat-back in the same place. Entirely unsatisfactory. We therefore arrived in Hong Kong at 8am feeling jet-lagged, short of sleep, and generally exhausted, but at least caught up on the latest movies. We caught the bus from the airport to Kowloon, crossing the impressively enormous Lantau Link bridge (and driving on the left side of the road, hurrah!), and walked ten minutes from the bus stop up to our hotel.
Driving past Hong Kong's huge port
Irritatingly we couldn't check in until 2pm, so had four hours to kill before we could curl up in bed. The hotel (a bit of a splurge, partly because we couldn't find anything particularly cheap that didn't look horrible) did at least have an unoccupied reception area. Clem managed to sleep on the sofa for a couple of hours while I, in between checking sports websites, booked our hotel for Kathmandu and sorted out some other admin. Once Clem had managed to vacate the sofa we went for a walk through Tsim Sha Tsui, one of Hong Kong's most touristy shopping areas, before finding a restaurant serving excellent Chinese. After lunch we had a quick stroll through Kowloon park, a surprisingly peaceful island of grass and artificial lakes in a sea of neon. By then it was almost 2pm so with great relief we made our way back to the hotel, checked into our 21st-floor room with harbour view, and collapsed in bed.
We set our alarm for 6pm, but managed to sleep through and only woke up at around 9pm. We were sorely tempted to continue sleeping all the way through to the next morning, but ultimately our stomachs prevailed and we dragged ourselves out of bed. We had no intention of going very far, so were relieved to find a decent noodle place just around the corner. We filled up and headed back to the hotel for more much-needed sleep.
8th December
We only had one full day in HK, so were determined to make the most of it. We managed to get up fairly early (at least the jet-lag was useful for something) and set off to explore, armed with insider tips from Lizzie Fraser (whom you should be sure to contact for yacht trips etc. around Hong Kong). Make the most of Hong Kong's unique culture? Our first stop, after taking the ferry across to Hong Kong island, was the huge Apple store in the International Financial Centre. We'd seen numerous great offers for iPads and MacBooks in the shops of Tsim Sha Tsui, so wanted to get a feel for the proper price (which turned out to be around 75% of the European price) and just have a bit of a play around.
View of HK island from the ferry (that's the IFC in the middle)
The harbour is home to boats of every shape and size
We dragged ourselves away from the pretty electronics to have some food, making our way to Hong Kong City Hall (partially hidden behind construction works) for dim sum with a view over the harbour. The Maxim's Palace restaurant is set in a large, British-style reception room. Rather than ordering from the menu, you cast an eye over the trolleys of dim sum being pushed around by waitresses. Signs on the front of the trolleys advertise their contents. We went for shrimp, pork, and vegetable dumplings (separately, that is) and finished off with an incredibly heavy sesame and peanut butter concoction.
A trolley laden with dim sum goodies
Sipping at some jasmine tea
The waitress ticked the card on the right after each dim sum
With the tank on full, we left City Hall behind us and wandered along the main street looking for the escalator up to the mid-levels. This contraption, designed for the lazy, those who don't want to risk the traffic below, and (more legitimately) those with mobility issues, carried us up to Hong Kong Soho. Here we walked along streets of antique sellers, browsing for artefacts that we couldn't carry or afford, and wandered through the "wet market" to peer at the lobsters and crabs crawling over each other in small tubs of water (this probably has nothing to do with the name "wet market", but it was what we found most interesting).
Stairway to mid-levels
Checking out the lobster; I prefer mine cooked
We paid a quick visit to a Buddhist temple nearby, and then walked east to catch the tram up to the Peak (a viewpoint over the city). On the way we meandered through the city's zoo and botanical park, which had a small collection of reptiles, apes, and birds.
Temple looking slightly out of place
I don't see the resemblance
Botanical gardens in the heart of the city
The tram up to the Peak was an old carriage pulled up a steep slope that had us clinging slightly too tightly to the handrail but offered great views back down the hill. At the top was a gleaming multi-storey mall that seemed slightly out of place but was probably to have been expected in HK. On the way up to the top Clem had to drag me away from the shop selling sunglasses with a video camera attached.
Tram coming into the station
Hanging out the window, San Fran style
We'd had to pay a little extra to be allowed on to the terrace at the top of the building, but the incredible view was well worth it. After posing for photos (while squinting into the sun) we took a stroll through the woodland around the top of the hill, from which we looked out over the South China Sea and then over the Victoria Harbour again.
On the terrace, after giving in to the sun
View back across to Kowloon. That's the ICC reflecting off the harbour. Ozone bar's at the top (see below).
Indian rubber tree; also grows in HK
After taking the tram back down to the mid-levels, we walked across to the harbour, taking the ubiquitous overhead walkways rather than navigating the broad roads. Surviving the maze created by the construction works around the convention centre, we arrived at Golden Bauhinia square, which holds a monument donated by the Chinese government to mark the transition of sovereignty from Great Britain. We didn't linger for long, put off by the hordes of tourists that seemed to have been brought there on a fleet of buses, and took the ferry back across the harbour to Kowloon.
Looking across to Kowloon from Golden Bauhinia square
We made our way across Kowloon to the International Commercial Centre because I was determined to have a drink at the world's highest bar. Clem decided that she preferred the Ritz-Carlton's reception area on the 9th floor, while I took the elevator up to the 118th floor. The bar itself was starting to fill up with tourists planning to watch the harbour's son et lumiere show from on-high, sipping champagne in the dim light. I took the requisite photos and sank a Hong Kong beer, since I couldn't leave without having a drink, then travelled back down to join Clem in the safety of the 9th floor.
Looking down on the harbour from the 118th floor; there was no terrace, disappointingly
Not convinced by the decor
From there we walked back to the harbour and took up position by the water's edge to watch the son et lumiere. Neither of us are usually fans of such things, but we rather enjoyed the amusing electro music and flashing lights, as well as the gasps of the crowd at particularly staccato passages. The show also had the great virtue of relative brevity. Video below:
By then we were famished, since we'd only had a snack since our 11am dim sum. Too hungry to search for something new, we returned to the previous day's restaurant, then retreated to the hotel and collapsed.
December 9th
With a flight at 5pm, we had a morning to shop. I wanted a new camera (since my three-year old pocket camera wasn't doing justice to the magnificent sights we'd been enjoying, and I was envious of the wonderful G12 bought for Clem by her parents) and we had also been eyeing up Macs. We did a tour of Tsim Sha Tsui, comparing prices for cameras and MacBooks. When we eventually found the lowest price, in a place that looked respectable, we only narrowed escaped from a major mistake (largely of our own making). We were on the point of agreeing to buy a Canon S95 and MacBook Air when we discovered that the MacBook Air was the 2009 model and didn't even have wifi. Yes, we can be that naive and stupid (at times). We left that fairly unpleasant experience behind us and decided just to buy from the Apple store, which was in any case an excellent saving on European prices.
We went back to the hotel and collected our bags, then took the metro to Hong Kong station, which has an incredibly convenient "in-town check-in" where we left our bags (crossing our fingers that they would make it onto the plane). Freed from this encumbrance, we entered the enormous mall above the station. After some credit card issues -- this was proving to be a stressful day -- we eventually bought a MacBook Air from an authorised reseller for the same price charged by the Apple store, but with a few accessories thrown in. I also managed to find a good price for my Canon S95 (a simple but good quality point-and-click, since I have minimal camera skills).
Last view over HK from the hotel room
We made our way back to the station and caught the express to the airport (more expensive than the bus, but much more convenient). There we boarded our DragonAir flight to Kathmandu (via Dhaka, curiously), which passed fairly pleasantly (although again with the ludicrous faux-reclining seats; I really hope these aren't becoming standard on new planes).
At Kathmandu airport we took a taxi to our hotel. As we left, a guy jumped in the front seat and started trying to convince us to stay at his hotel. He even offered to host us for free that night, so we could then go to our hotel in the morning and decide which we preferred. He then offered free breakfast the following morning so we could look at his hotel. We resisted (without being rude), said we'd maybe make it for breakfast if we woke up early enough, and managed to get to the hotel we'd booked online. Hotel Moonlight was large, faded, and apparently empty. We were shown up to our room, also large but faded, and jumped into bed to escape the cold.
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