Wednesday 6 November 2013

Hong Kong Trip Report

Trip to Hong Kong


On top of Singapore and Macau, I recently also spent some time in Hong Kong. I had by far the best time in Hong Kong out of all 3, but that may have been in a big part thanks to my amazing tourguide, Iris. I had met her on the ferry from Hong Kong to Macau and she had treated me to the best Chinese food of my life! I knew she travels back to Hong Kong every weekend and she had offered to show me around if I also happened to be there during a weekend. So, I sent her an email and we decided to take the ferry together on Friday from Macau and she said she'd show me around Friday evening and for most of Saturday.

Before meeting Iris at the Macau ferry terminal, I checked out of Hotel Lisboa and went to the City of Dreams to exchange some money. At Hotel Lisboa, a concierge handled my baggage and put it in the taxi's trunk for me. Because I didn't put it in there myself, I didn't make a mental note that I had to take out my suitcase when I arrived at the City of Dreams nor did my taxi driver remember that a suitcase was put in his trunk. So I paid, got out of the cab and went to exchange some money leaving my suitcase in the taxi's trunk!
About half an hour later waiting in line at the bank, it struck me: "I forgot my suitcase!". I rushed back to the Hard Rock Hotel(a hotel at the City of Dreams where I got out of the cab) and talked to the concierge. They called security who went through everything that had happened with me and set out to investigate using their security cameras. For a while I was pretty sure it'd work itself out eventually, but after about 30 minutes I was getting quite nervous that I probably wouldn't get it back. Fortunately enough after about an hour the superhelpful and friendly Hard Rock Hotel staff told me the cab was on its way with my suitcase and eventually I got my suitcase back just in time to rush to the ferry terminal and meet Iris.

As soon as I met Iris at the ferry terminal a supersmelly Chinese guy came up to us asking us for money for a ticket back to Hong Kong. It wasn't the first time I encountered supersmelly people in Macau, but this guy was something else. He did look presentable in a suit and presumably he was a businessguy who had gambled his last money away. Still strange he didn't have any credit cards left or anything. Either way, Iris being her supernice self eventually gave him the 20$ for his ticket back to Hong Kong and we also bought our tickets and got on our way.

During the ferry ride to Hong Kong I asked Iris what the ferry ride is like when the weather is bad. She recalled one ride back to Hong Kong where she had taken the last ferry before they stopped going because of a Typhoon. It sounded pretty freaking scary. And dangerous too! Especially when she mentioned there was a grownup man crying during that trip! Fortunately enough the seas were quiet when we took the ferry back to Hong Kong.

EPIC Bar in Hong Kong


After arriving in Hong Kong we took a cab to my hotel. Cabs in Hong Kong are just as cheap as in Macau, but they seemed a lot better to me, because in contrast to cabs in Macau they have seatbelts. Little did I know what kind of cab ride we'd experience the next day where some chauffeur went wild after we wanted to go to the ferry and take the ferry across the bay instead of him taking us to the other side. He drove like a maniac and a visibly disturbed Iris told me the cab driver kept saying things like:
"I'm going to kill us all"
"I'm going to hit someone"
"I'm going to crash into that car right in front of us" and then barely braking on time.
All the time acting as if he was speaking to someone on the radio. I obviously didn't understand the Chinese at the time and thought this guy was just in a mad rush, because he drove like a maniac and nearly hit someone at some point. After we got out of the cab and Iris told me, I was almost as shocked as she was.
Anyway, after we got to my hotel I checked in and dropped off my suitcase and then we took another cab to the Aqua Spirit Bar.

I've actually been to an Aqua restaurant in London which disappointed me and my friends severely. The Japanese food wasn't up to our (back then pretty low) standards for Japanese food and it was superexpensive. However, this place in Hong Kong they could've served me my most hated food and honestly I wouldn't have cared and still enjoyed myself. The venue is just amazing with one of the best views I had ever come across. I'm not gonna try describing this, I think it's much better I show you:




 They have a daily light show around 8PM!




Is that a SICK view or what? On top of that the food actually wasn't bad at all. Not amazing or anything and definitely a bit pricey for somewhat small portions, but considering you mostly pay for the view here I thought the food was surprisingly good.

Definitely FAR AND AWAY the best bar I had ever been and when we left I grabbed their business card in anticipation of a return visit the next time I'm in Hong Kong. However the place we went to the day after made me rethink that statement!


After dinner Iris showed me around the area and we walked along the pier for more amazing views of the world's #1 skyline. Here's the rest of the pictures I took:








Chinese Temple and Zodiacs


The next day Iris took me to a chinese temple nearby my hotel. Up till that point I had only seen Japanese temples and although I generally prefer modern city type of stuff, it was really interesting seeing how different Chinese temples look compared to Japanese ones. I also had my fortune told, by probably the worst fortuneteller ever! But it was fun nonetheless.






 Looks so much like a Fox, but I guess it's the Dog?
 Rooster?
 The Monkey reminds me of Kung Fu for some reason.
 Clearly Goat
 Horse, right?
 My favorite Zodiac statue. I thought it was a lizzard, but they don't have one so it must be the Snake.
 The Dragon looks a bit angry and seriously out of shape. Can't imagine him flying!
 Rabbit I think.
 Tiger?
 Ox presumably.



 Me trying to shake out exactly one stick which I need to have my fortune told.
Iris told my fortune meant that everything will only get better for me in life from here on out! SICK!

Hong Kong's City Centre


After the temple we took the underground to Hong Kong's city centre and ate some more Chinese food.

 Big shopping mall


 Dim Sum
 Some vegetable dish
 Tofu
 Some weird jelly thing with some chicken and vegetables and sesame dressing
Eel

This definitely beats Chinese food in the west quite hansomely. I didn't like the vegetable dish that much, but the tofu and weird jelly thing with chicken and sesame dressing were really nice. I do prefer Japanese Unagi/Eel over this Chinese version, but it was good nonetheless. The Dim Sum was good, but I remember eating better Dim Sum in one of the Macau casinos.

If Friday's bar was EPIC... there is no word in the English language to describe how awesome THIS bar is!!!


After our lunch Iris had planned for us to go to the peak, a mountain with a sick view of Hong Kong. We aimed to be there around sunset which is the perfect time, because you can see Hong Kong in daylight, see the sunset and see it during nighttime! On the way to the peak I took more pictures of various skyscrapers.








Having arrived at the tram and bus stop that leads to the peak, we found out that we weren't the only ones with the genious plan of going to the peak around sunset and it turned out we'd have to wait in line for 2 hours. We decided this was a waste of our valuable time together and decided to go to the OZone bar on the 100th floor of one of Hong Kong's tallest buildings. This sounded pretty freaking sweet to me! So we went to work finding a cab that could take us there. Sadly enough after about 30 minutes we still hadn't been able to get a taxi, so instead we asked at a hotel if there was a bar with a good view within walking distance. We were told to try the bar in Upper House, a hotel with what I thought was a not so cool sounding name.

After arriving at the bar called Café Gray on the 49th floor, my opinion of the place quickly changed. Not only was the view breathtaking, the way they had furnished the bar was simply fantastic. In the Aqua Spirit Bar from the night before, you couldn't sit anywhere near the windows, but in Café Gray you sit down right next to the windows in perfect couches! When we arrived it was still light:




But not long after the sun started to set:






And soon thereafter complete nightfall followed:






Even in the bathroom I couldn't resist to take a few pictures, because this has got to be by far the nicest bathroom I've ever been to!


 
I think these pictures speak for themselves!!  (^o^)

Afterwards we had to take the ferry across the Hong Kong harbour that's starting to turn into a river, because they keep turning parts of it into land.




Iris had to meet friends for dinner, so we sad goodbye and parted ways. The following day I flew back to Japan PRAYING that immigration would give me another tourist visa and would let me in, because I still don't have my investor visa. Fortunately enough I was let in without being asked a single question. Saweeet!

The best thing about Hong Kong is...


You may think that the most awesome thing about Hong Kong were the views of it's spectacular skyline, but you'd be wrong. While Hong Kong is definitely one of, if not the most beautiful city I've ever been to and while the views, especially from it's seemingly many bars on top of skyscrapers, are simply stunning! The best thing about Hong Kong for me was hands down my tourguide Iris.

Just like our dinner in Macau we had seemingly effortless endless conversations and I feel like I could've talked to her for much MUCH longer if I hadn't had to leave. At first we talked about pretty simple topics but by the end of Friday we started to talk about the more interesting things in life such as childhood experiences, religion and love. I can count the number of people I've ever had such deep conversations with in my life on 1 hand, the vast majority of which were with my mother. But never ever before have I grown so emotionally close to someone in such a short period of time(just 3 days!).

It was a wonderful hopefully not once in a lifetime, but definitely very rare experience. And to think we randomly met on a ferry makes it an even bigger coincidence! I'm sure we'll keep in touch and eventually meet eachother again some time some place.

Iris, thanks again for the wonderful time, amazing conversations and of course for showing me around! All the best to you and I hope to see you again sometime either in Japan, Hong Kong or some other place!

Last but not least, here's the picture we took together on the pier.


The best thing about Hong Kong is... spending time there with an amazing friend!