| Submitted by: Evelyn C. LeeperUnited States |
| Submission Date: 09 February 2005 |
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October 4, 1990: Though the log starts with October 4, 1990
(my parents' 47th anniversary, coincidentally), the planning for
this trip started over a year earlier. In fact, it actually started
as a trip to Bhutan and Sikkim, but eventually mutated to the
present plan: Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. And the
dramatis personae also fluctuated, ending up with five of us, all
from Bell Labs: Steve Goldsmith, Binayak Banerjee, Barbara Iskowitz,
Mark, and me.
So here we were, several thousand feet in the air, winging our
way toward Hong Kong. By much searching we got our plane tickets
(New York to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Bangkok, and Singapore to New
York) for US$1225 each and we hope to do the whole trip for under
US$2500 per person for three weeks.
October 5, 1990: At some point it became October 5 (whenever
we crossed the International Date Line). The whole New York to
Tokyo flight was in daylight, but we each managed to get a few
hours' sleep. At 131/2 hours, this is my longest flight ever--when
we went to Tokyo last time (1982) it was with a change in Los
Angeles.
We spent the two-hour layover in Tokyo in a rather boring
waiting lounge, planning our time in Hong Kong: how to get to the
hotel, what to do in the New Territories, and how to deal with the
varied wildlife in the stairwells of the Chungking Mansions.
We arrived in Hong Kong pretty much on time, about 9:30 PM.
Coming in to Kai Tak Airport is not the nerve-wracking experience
the books claim, or maybe we came in on a different approach because
it was night.
After collecting our luggage and clearing customs, we changed a
small amount of money and caught the A1 airbus which stops at
Chungking Mansions. While we were waiting in line for the bus a
woman came over and asked if we were looking for a guest house. I
guess people with backpacks in line for the bus to Chungking
Mansions look like good prospects for guest houses.
When we arrived at Chungking Mansions, there were more touts
for guest houses. I suppose I should explain what Chungking
Mansions are. They were originally built as apartment blocks, but
converted into guest houses, three or four to a floor. Though the
halls and stairwells are pretty grubby, our guest house (the Peking
Guest House) was quite clean. Sheets were provided but not towels
or soap (actually a day later, they asked if we wanted towels, so
this must have been an oversight); luckily we had brought our own.
The shower was the sort that had a heater for the hot water that had
to be turned on manually.
We wrote in our logs a bit and then, after the air-conditioning
cooled off the room a bit, went to sleep. The combination of jet
lag and an extremely firm mattress and pillow made me wake up a
couple of times, but I did get about five hours of sleep.
October 6, 1990: Though people had thought they would sleep
late, it didn't work out that way. Binayak, Barbara, Mark, and I
went out for a walk at 7:30 AM. (Steve was temporarily at another
guest house and couldn't be reached. We had managed to make
reservations by having a friend who spoke Cantonese call up the
Peking Guest House from the United States, but there turned out to
be one night that they were short a room and so arranged for Steve
to stay about two floors up.) Since Barbara and Binayak wanted
coffee, we ended up at McDonald's. How embarrassing!
AT 9 AM we met Steve back at the guest house and went out for
dim sum breakfast. The first thing we learned was that in general
it's faster to walk down the stairs than to wait for the elevator
(which will probably arrive full anyway). After all, it's only
twelve flights.
The first recommendation we had for breakfast (from a
guidebook) was the Capital Restaurant, right in the Chungking
Mansions. True to Luck of Leeper, it had closed down. But Binayak
had a second choice lined up, the Ocean Centre Restaurant. Since it
was down by the Star Ferry Pier and the office of the Hong Kong
Tourist Association, we stopped there first to pick up maps and
brochures, and then by the water itself to take pictures of the
harbor and Hong Kong Island.
Finally we got to the restaurant. It looked pretty fancy, and
was in a fancy mall. As we picked dish after dish, I had visions of
a huge bill arriving at the end. But what the heck--we could
splurge on one meal. So we had several kinds of dumplings, congee,
a couple of desserts--nothing you couldn't get in New York, but good
anyway. And when the bill arrived, it was about HK$36 (US$4.50) a
person! (That sounded cheap by American standards, but in
retrospect, for Southeast Asia it was pretty high. Everything's
relative.)
After that extravagance, we went to a bank to change more money
(having changed only minimally at the airport). We then decided to
book a half-day city tour--the HKTA had suggested booking at one of
the hotel tour desks, so we went to the Hyatt Regency across the
street from where we were staying and signed up for a tour of Hong
Kong Island.
Since this wasn't scheduled to start for another couple of
hours we filled in the time at the Kowloon Gardens just up Nathan
Road. This is a park something like Central Park with attractions
like a sculpture garden, a turtle pond, an aviary, etc. Except for
the people who kept trying to pin fake flowers on Mark (in return
for money, no doubt), it was a nice place to relax.
At 2 PM we were picked up at the Hyatt Regency for our tour.
(Well, actually it was 2:10 PM.) The tour guide came through and
asked (to verify) if we were staying at the Hyatt. No, we said, but
that's the right drop-off point. But where were we staying?
Chungking Mansions. Oh; but you booked at the Hyatt? I got the
impression she thought the Hyatt shouldn't let such riff-raff in.
Our first stop was at the Aberdeen Fishing Village, where
people have lived on boats for generations. However, by the end of
next year, all the boats will be gone, the people moved to public
housing, and the harbor filled in to create more land. Given the
amount of water being constantly pumped out of some of the boats, it
might not be so terrible an idea. On the other hand, what will
become of the Jumbo floating restaurant? So since this was
disappearing we decided to take the 'optional' sampan ride (at HK$50
each, or about US$6.50). This price seemed a bit steep, as the
whole tour was HK$120. And it bothered me how everyone (myself
included) frequently treated these people's lifestyle as a photo
opportunity rather than someone's life. So I compromised and took
pictures of general views, rather than snapshots of people brushing
their teeth.
Our next stop was a jewelry factory. This had been mentioned
as a footnote in the tour brochure and Repulse Bay as a major
attraction, but the time devoted to the two was exactly reversed.
Nothing of interest happened here except Mark's camera slipped off
the strap and fell onto the floor, breaking the plastic over the
flash. Not an auspicious start to the trip, though so far Barbara
and I forgot our AT&T Calling Cards (though we remembered the code
for USA Direct), Steve forgot his swimsuit, contact lenses, and
toothbrush, and Binayak misplaced his key to his luggage lock and
can't quite remember his Visa PIN. Luckily we have enough
redundancy that we'll manage.
Needless to say, the 'factory' was almost empty (with the
excuse that it was Saturday) but the showroom was full of stuff.
Next stop was Repulse Bay, but not a stop as implied in the
brochure. No, it was more like, 'On our right is Repulse Bay. Next
we see....' In fact, the guide probably spent more time saying
negative things about China than about some of the sights.
Our next stop was another shopping opportunity, this time at
Stanley Market. (Mark calls these 'K.O.s'--kick-back
opportunities.) Last time we were here we bought a thermometer;
this time we bought two silk scarves as gifts. We're not big
shoppers. The guide offered to show people where they could get
fake Rolexes, as if it were difficult. But we found it impossible
to walk down Nathan Road without being offered them. She also
quoted a price about three times what they are in New York. But
then again, it's possible the Hong Kong police are trying harder to
crack down on this counterfeiting than the New York police.
Our last stop was at the top of Victoria Peak, though not by
tram, but by bus. The sky was a bit hazy for a really good view,
but the skyline was still impressive. And the haze produced a very
photogenic sunset on the other side of the parking lot as well.
We napped for about an hour after getting back to the hotel,
then went to the Temple Street night market about 8 PM. This is
basically a giant flea market set up in the street, with so much
stuff that only a narrow path down the center remains, with booths
separated by racks of hanging goods on either side.
We were really hungry at this point but couldn't agree on a
place to eat. One restaurant looked good, but wanted to put us
inside in a 'VIP room' (translation: higher prices, worse food).
Another gave us a menu and then seemed to be out of everything
interesting. Finally we settled on the Tong Tai seafood restaurant.
Now I know you're thinking Red Lobster, but it wasn't like that. We
sat outside and picked what we wanted from the fresh (translation:
still wiggling) assortment. We had shrimp and crayfish, both stir-
fried in their shells with seasoned salt (messy to eat), crab in a
sauce with scallions and a *lot* of ginger slices, steamed
periwinkles, and a dish of greens. All this and sodas came to about
HK$60 (US$7.20) a person (and the portions were quite substantial).
One problem in traveling in a group, even of just five, is that
restaurants become complicated. You need a bigger table and if
there are no menus, it's harder to find five things other people are
eating to point at and ask for.
After dinner we all split up. Mark and I wandered around a bit
and eventually went back to the hotel, our final sight of the market
being a man slicing and cooking octopus.
October 7, 1990: Today we toured the New Territories. In case
you didn't realize it, Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, which is what
most people think of when they think of Hong Kong, is only a small
part of the colony. Most of the land is the New Territories--in
fact, about 98%. This is mostly rural farming areas, with some
industry. We had planned out our itinerary, including what buses to
take, etc., from the Lonely Planet Guide and other books. So after
a quick breakfast, we began.
We started by taking the Metro from Tsim Sha Tsui, the stop
near our guest house, to Tsuen Wan. This normally would cost
HK$4.60 (US$0.55), but we bought a card for HK$20 (US$2.40) because
we also planned on returning via the Kowloon-Canton Railway and
could use it there. (It turned out we could have saved HK$9.60--
US$1.25--by buying the individual tickets, but we didn't know that
at the time. We ended up using most of the card anyway, though.)
You use the card by inserting it in the turnstile when you enter the
station. Your entrance point is encoded on the magnetic back. |
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| Copyright © - "Evelyn C. Leeper" |
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