Arrival Lindsay warned us that the red taxis are the urban ones and they are less likely to know where Sai O was and that it would be better for us to take the green ones since they were local to the New Territories and most of them by now know where the college was. Upon arrival my sweetheart and I consulted one another and decided that it was the red ones, not the green ones that he advised us to take. So, in we go, like sheep to the slaughter and rode the red one and the flag fall was 12.50 Hong Kong Dollars and we were told that it costs about 50 HK $ to get to our destination. Soon after the ride the meter read 50 Dollars but the driver showed no sign of slowing down and he sped on and we began to get a bit uneasy. But thinking that the amount may not be exactly $ 50, let’s wait a bit and then we can talk to Jane, so we thought. After reaching the bank of Sai kung village the meter read 140 dollars and we were then almost sure of either this that the driver had no idea of where he was going or he was trying to rip us off. We talked to him in Putonghua (Mandarin) which he understood a bit but talked to us mostly in Cantonese which was Greek to us. Upon departure he did speak to someone on the radio and he got a response and was told the whereabouts but now we were lost and angry too. We rang up Jane and she talked to the driver and gave him a new direction and the driver took us back which was basically driving back the same way. When we reached Sai O junction we decided to get down and perhaps talk to Jane and may be get another taxi or wait for them to pick us up. We appeared very angry and upset and talked to the driver and insisted on paying him 50 dollars since that was what people usually pay from the University station anyway. Surprisingly enough, he was okay with the amount and he went off leaving us quite relieved in a way. We had thought that we were really in for it but to get off rather so easily was unbelievable and we just shot off a quick thank you note upwards. Just then a Caucasian looking guy was by and seemed like he was looking for someone, when he saw us getting off the cab with our backpacks he enquired if we were us, and we were so happy to see him. That was our first meeting of Lindsay, a colleague whom we have never met before. We also met his wife Jane on the way to the campus and she was so kind to cook us dinner as it was already getting a bit late to go elsewhere. Entry Cost Food is really expensive here but more familiar dishes could be found and there are quite a few Indian restaurants as well. Signs and menus are bilingual and a number of people speak English and this is such a great relief because as soon as you cross the border at Shenzhen, which is just half an hour away you could become a complete illiterate and also not too many people speak English. Transport in Hong Kong is excellent and most of the important places are accessible by either the Mass Transit Railway or the KCR. Octopus card is a necessity for people who are going to stay for more than two or three days. The card is accepted in a number of shops, ferry, buses and trains. You can get back the remaining amount of money and the rent (50 HKD) before you leave the city. Places We accidentally found out that most of the museums offer free entry on Wednesday including the Space Museum and the Art Museum. In the space museum, however, if you want to see the Omnimax show you have to pay around 20 dollars for the front stalls. The show was quite interesting. Walking along the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade that include the Avenue of Stars was a wonderful experience with the latest addition being a sculpture of Bruce Lee which was the right answer to the otherwise empty avenue. There you can trace Jackie Chan’s handprint which turned out to be quite large and also Jet Li’s and other famous Chinese stars and directors. The Ferry ride across the Hong Kong harbour was an experience to remember not only for its unbelievably low price (of 2 HK $ for the top desk) but for the wonderful view and experience it affords you for eight minutes. Information Shopping Somebody was realy glad to find an Indian shop run by a Nepali family who sells things Indian mostly including jalebi and rosagulla and some Indian DVDs as well. However, we weren’t upto buying the red lentils (Dal) which was available for HK $ 160 a kilogram! That is 896 Indian Rupees, my word, that’s just way too much! Don’t be surprised if you see some Indian children playing crickets in the parks because a lot of Indians have settled down here since some of them came in here as British soldiers more than a hundred years ago and many other Indians are illegal immigrants as well. You might meet some of them trying to sell you ‘copy watch, copy watch’ as you walk along the touristic areas like Tsim Sha Tsui. For those of you who are really into shopping you should drop into the Chinese embassy to get a visa to the mainland and go to Shenzhen where you can find most of the things you want at half the Hong Kong price. However, be prepared to face the crowd which can get really crazy and so much denser than it is in Hong Kong. Pollution What is sad though is the pollution of some of the beaches here. Some of them are so polluted that people don’t swim anymore. Well, I don’t know too much to write more about that but that’s what people say anyway. Hong Kong provides a wonderful get away and it’s friendly and accessible for everyone, that’s its uniqueness and its beauty.
Hong Kong is one of the few foreign shores where you don’t need a visa even as an Indian passport holder. We do a bit better than Pakistan whose nationals need a visa to enter the city, but we are in the same categories as the Bangladeshis who can enter and stay for 14 days without a visa. As we crossed the border at Shenzhen we were held up at the immigration for about half an hour and were asked various questions which annoyed us a bit. It was more or less understandable since we heard of many stories about Indians and other illegal immigrants living in Hong Kong. The immigration and the taxi experiences put us off initially but the kindness and hospitality we received from Jane and Lindsay really made our day and we rest happily in our room at night.
Hong Kong is not that expensive if you think in terms of American Dollars, but for people like us who think in terms of Renminbi, things could be quite expensive. For example, a litre of milk costs 5 Renminbi in the mainland but here it costs 15 Dollars, that’s three times over. This is not expensive at all for the locals because they earn much more than the mainlanders. It will be more expensive if things are in terms of INR. What Lonely Planet said about the city becoming pricier is quite right.
There are many interesting places to visit in the New Territories, Kowloon, Hong Kong Island, Lantau Island, Lamma Island and the outlying smaller islands but the best place to start in our opinion is the Victoria Peak. There’s a tram that goes up the peak every few minutes and the round trip will cost you 33 dollars which is a pittance when you consider the magnificent view it affords you from the Peak Tower. This trip is a must especially on a clear sunny day which we didn’t get when we were there. Pity!
The HKTB provides many booklets laden with priceless tourist information free of cost and make sure you pick them up at the airport or the border crossing at Shenzhen. They also provide a very informative tourist map and make sure you get the MTR, KCR and Ma On Shan Railway routes. The tourist information booklet will have the location of most of the important destinations right down to which exit you have to take in the subway and also which bus can get you to there.
Lindsay introduced us to this saying about Hong Kong: If it’s not in Hong Kong, it may not be invented yet. This is a very unique city in the world where mostly anything could be found. You can shop till you drop here, literally. The business minded people mostly go to the whole sale market where you can find a lot of African (mostly Nigerians I guess) importers but not too many retail shops though. The Ladies’s Night Market has enough to drive any lady out of her mind for want of more money to buy more, and the Temple Street Market is as good a place as any in terms of choice and price but bring along your mastered art of bargaining.
A lot of Hong Kongers are complaining about the quality of air in Hong Kong which has become very polluted in recent years mainly due to the factory smoke from the neighbouring Guangdong province in the mainland China. But when you dig deeper into it you realize that most of the factories in Guangdong are owned by the Hong Kong businessmen. There you go, as people sow, so they do reap, don’t they? Ha-ha.
Chp 905. TWENTY YEARS a blogger!
5 weeks ago
