Our excitement, therefore, was barely curbed by the fact that we had to set off for the airport in the middle of the night in order to catch our 7:55 am flight. It wasn't until we arrived at the check-in desk that the dream holiday threatened to turn into a nightmare before it had even begun. The friendly clerk took ages looking at our documents, then made a phone call then told us that he was sorry but he didn't have us on the reservation list. A moment of complete shock and painful disbelief later I was on the phone to the company we'd booked through- at this early hour they didn't have anyone in the office who could speak much English, and I was too upset to produce anything intelligible in Chinese, so all I could get out of the girl on the line was "Cancel, cancel". Her response to my question as to why in the world our booking was cancelled was to put me on infinite hold, so after a brief discussion Himself and I ended up in front of the little airport ticket sales window.
Since this was the first day of the October holiday week, all flights to Hong Kong were booked out, the girl there told us. After what must have been another five minutes we were informed that the same was true for Tuesday, and Wednesday morning. At this point I couldn't contain my disappointment anymore, and broke into tears there and then. As if on command, the girl then told us that there were to seats available with Dragonair today at 12:55pm- first class and 5900 RMB (almost 600 Euro) per person, one-way. We swallowed hard at the price but of course ended up taking those. That way at least we were rewarded for our early-morning scare with a pre-flight lounge, incredibly comfy seats, great service and lots of free booze.
So after a few hours of luxury on the flight we finally approached Hong Kong. When I saw the bay with its sparkling blue water and its hundreds of slim skyscrapers, I squealed with excitement- this is what I'd seen in all these movies! (Well, I had had a good bit of champagne at this stage.)
Around five o'clock, when we finally stepped out of the plane and into Hong Kong's sunny 30 degrees, the hassle of the cold Beijing morning was finally forgotten.
A short and convenient train ride brought us to our destination Kowloon, which is on the peninsula part of the city and connected to Hong Kong island to by underground.
Here we were faced with a crass contrast to our in-flight luxury, as the guest house we'd booked turned out to be far more of a kip than their web site makes you believe. Sure, we knew we'd booked cheap and all (and not that cheap at almost 40 EUR/night), but we weren't quite expecting the 6 or so sqm that we got, with half of them taken up by the massive bed and everything covered in what must have been the smell of mothballs.
Our first though was to look for another place to stay, but a quick look at the flight receipts helped change our minds quickly. The less time we spend at this place, the better, we thought, and headed off into the adventure.
The first place we went to was Mong Kok where we spent Monday night, and which I only knew as a seedy hellhole from Derek Yee's splendid 2004 film, One Nite in Mong Kok. As you can imagine, I was quite intrigued.
One of the world's most densely populated areas, Mong Kog is inseed full of people, neon lights, and funk. Its narrow streets are packed with the young, the hip and the trendy, and above their heads hover the flickers of a thousand neon signs, just like you see it on postcards and in the movies. The funky folk rush through the streets from shop to shop, buying electronics, clothes (funky, of course) and CDs and DVDs by the dozen. On our first night there, I treated myself to a few of those as well.
So after a few hours of luxury on the flight we finally approached Hong Kong. When I saw the bay with its sparkling blue water and its hundreds of slim skyscrapers, I squealed with excitement- this is what I'd seen in all these movies! (Well, I had had a good bit of champagne at this stage.)
Around five o'clock, when we finally stepped out of the plane and into Hong Kong's sunny 30 degrees, the hassle of the cold Beijing morning was finally forgotten.
A short and convenient train ride brought us to our destination Kowloon, which is on the peninsula part of the city and connected to Hong Kong island to by underground.
Here we were faced with a crass contrast to our in-flight luxury, as the guest house we'd booked turned out to be far more of a kip than their web site makes you believe. Sure, we knew we'd booked cheap and all (and not that cheap at almost 40 EUR/night), but we weren't quite expecting the 6 or so sqm that we got, with half of them taken up by the massive bed and everything covered in what must have been the smell of mothballs.
Our first though was to look for another place to stay, but a quick look at the flight receipts helped change our minds quickly. The less time we spend at this place, the better, we thought, and headed off into the adventure.
The first place we went to was Mong Kok where we spent Monday night, and which I only knew as a seedy hellhole from Derek Yee's splendid 2004 film, One Nite in Mong Kok. As you can imagine, I was quite intrigued.
One of the world's most densely populated areas, Mong Kog is inseed full of people, neon lights, and funk. Its narrow streets are packed with the young, the hip and the trendy, and above their heads hover the flickers of a thousand neon signs, just like you see it on postcards and in the movies. The funky folk rush through the streets from shop to shop, buying electronics, clothes (funky, of course) and CDs and DVDs by the dozen. On our first night there, I treated myself to a few of those as well.
Mong Kok by nightOn our second day we went up to one of Hong Kong's top tourist attractions: The Peak, or Victoria Peak, to be more precise. Or to be even more precise- a massive tourist trap. While the view from the top of the mountain is gorgeous, and while the walk around the top is quite scenic, "herding" was the first word that came to my mind when the uphill tram stopped right inside a huge shopping centre full of overpriced "Chinese" rubbish. We were hungry, but prices at Dublin level and above quickly managed spoiled our appetite. We ended up having dinner outside after fighting our way out of the massive centre and still paid far too much, but at least we were right on the scenic spot. Aside from the gorgeous view, one highlight on The Peak was Madame Tussauds Hong Kong. We posed with lots of Chinese and international celebrities and had heaps of fun. See photos here.
Bruce Lee's wax figure at Mme Tussaud's...On Wednesday we went down to Victoria Harbour and took a walk on the sunny promenade along the Avenue of Stars. It's exactly what it sounds like- a Hong Kong Walk of Fame, with signatures and hand imprints of Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, Jet Li, Tony Leung and many others embedded into the concrete and free for everyone to pose with. (And pose we did. And so did half of mainland China.)
... and his statue on the Avenue of Stars.Thursday ended up being yet another movie-related day as we put on our hiking shoes and climbed all the way up Hong Kong's steep hills to visit the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery. This gorgeous temple with its countless statues is featured in one of my favourite films from Hong Kong, Infernal Affairs. Though the hike up there was rather exhausting, the site was absolutely worth it. This place deserves its own blog entry, which it will soon get.
The incredibly steep path up to the monastery
Friday and Saturday were dedicated to one of life's great pleasures: shopping. And though everything is not as conveniently laid out as I'd hoped and many malls feature too much luxury and not enough high street for my liking, both of us more than got what we wanted, and more. Shopping in Hong Kong is hugely attractive to many mainland Chinese as the former colony doesn't only feature a number of brands unknown up north, it also comes without the nasty tax the mainland government put on all these fancy bags and cosmetics. Like everything in Hong Kong, shopping is pricey, but it's no later than the moment you find yourself surrounded by all these Japanese styles, Korean accessories and general funkiness that you forget all about what money even is.
Sunday was spent preparing for our flight back, the tickets for which we'd been able to aquire in Hong Kong, and we passed the last few hours before take-off in a conveniently located shopping centre just next to the airport line.
Is that the end of the story already? Of course not! There's much more to tell- about the nightlife, for instance. We spent three of our evenings on a set of streets called Lang Kwai Fong, a little party district full of restaurants and bars of all sorts. Its diversity of people and venues reminded me very much of the Altstadt in Duesseldorf, as did the pully, heated up atmosphere. in many places. Even on a Wednesday night it seemed that many people were out solely to be picked up by someone, or simply to show off their latest threads. Many of the patrons are foreigners, among them many British and Americans, many more than in Beijing. But the locals also know how to get it on and join in the merry partying and posing, also in much higher numbers than in the capital.
This is something I've noticed about Hong Kong in general- just how Westernized it is. Of course I had expected the century of colonial rule to show off somewhere, but I wouldn't have ever thought the differences between here and the mainland to be this big. As already mentioned, both shopping and nightlife show strong influences of Western culture- where it's markets and teahouses in Beijing, it's M&S and snazzy cocktail places in Hong Kong.
Victoria Harbour in the eveningAnd it's not just the city that's quite different, but naturally also the people. The first thing I noticed when stepping out into the streets was that everything appeared much more civilised than in Beijing. There was no pushing when getting on the subway, no jaywalking (and they certainly didn't learn that from the Brits), no loud talking in public, and no spitting. (Well, there was some, but that's how you'd spot the mainlanders.)
At the same time I also noticed how much colder people are. They may dress more fashionably (or rather, more people dress fashionably then in Beijing), but they also pose a lot more, and in Beijing you probably won't find as many girls sitting on the subway staring into a mirror adjusting their make-up over and over. Service is more like what you're used to from Europe- much slower, and if you have a query or request, they don't exactly rush to help you, whereas in Beijing, if the person doesn't have a solution, you'll have three people rushing over to assist. Also I generally didn't get the same friendliness or enthusiasm from the Hong Kongers I spoke to- like your average central European, they're usually polite but reserved. In Beijing that's quite different. And I'm not just talking about people who are excited simply because you're a foreigner- I find Beijingers are generally much more neighbourly to each other.
Another thing which Hong Kongers must have adopted from their colonisers is cynicism. On our first night at Lang Kwai Fong I ended up being a little underdressed- you should have seen some of the sneers I got! All in all I didn't appreciate the general arrogance, which I'd quite gotten used to living without.
Food was a similar experience- we had lots of lovely salads and sandwiches, but not a lot of Chinese food. The restaurant scene in Hong Kong could be found in Dublin, or Frankfurt, or anywhere in Europe- you get the Japanese, the Thai, the Lebanese, and the Chinese places almost appear like yet another foreign cuisine. Don't get me wrong, all the food we had was delicious, it just didn't feel quite as authentic as the spicy barbeque or Hot Pot we'd have over here.
So, with all its star power, shopping opportunities and Western comforts, Hong Kong is not somewhere I'd live, but it sure is a bloody exciting place to visit. So, get your bags packed already!
Oh, but don't book through elong.net- bastards may just feck up your reservation.
Bis dann,
Nadine
Here's all the pictures:
And here's me posing with the hand imprint of my favourite actor and absolute idol, Tony Leung!
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