Tag Archives: Hong Kong

Hong Kong and the overnight train to Beijing with my best friend’s husband

Asia August 27, 2013 Leave a comment

Hong Kong was a pretty last minute trip, and was only about a week in total. This meant that it was my favourite kind of travel – no plans and free to explore whatever we felt like.

Mike and I decided that we would spend a few days in Hong Kong and then head up into China to do some exploring. So with only a couple precious days in HK, we jumped in headfirst. I have an expat friend, Elspeth, there who we met up with, and acted as our nightlife tour guide. Without thinking, I introduced Mike to Elspeth as “my best friend’s husband” since I thought it made the most sense for the situation. Mike is still upset about that introduction (he’s since started referring to me as his wife’s friend). Elspeth brought us to some of her favourite places for dinner, drinks and views.

My best friend's husband and I on a whirlwind tour of HK nightlife.

My best friend’s husband and I on a whirlwind tour of HK nightlife.

The next few days in HK were spent checking out Mong Kok and all the markets, the fantastic architecture in Union Square and stunning views from Victoria Peak.

Mike and I happily (and haphazardly) found out that if you’re going to Victoria Peak, it’ best to go early in the morning. We showed up for the tram at about 9am, and only waited for about 5 minutes for our tickets and then another 5 for the tram to arrive. By the time we got back down to the bottom, the lines looked as if to be at least half an hour wait each, as they wrapped around the building and doubled back.

The view from Victoria Peak

The view from Victoria Peak

Since time was limited, we decided that an overnight train would be our best bet to get to China (in order to save on time and see the most). We had originally talked about heading up to Shanghai, but it turned out there weren’t any trains leaving when we wanted to, so Beijing was decided for us.

The train was a fun adventure, but was pretty uneventful. We left Hong Kong in the afternoon and spent the ride reading and trying to kill time (turns out neither of us know any 2 people card games). Really all there was to do was have dinner in the dining car and head to bed early.

Our pretty sweet compartment on the train to Beijing

Our pretty sweet compartment on the train to Beijing

We woke up somewhere in Hunan province, which was neat. It was cool to see the change of scenery from the night before. Hong Kong was pretty tropical feeling with it’s big palm trees and ferns. The landscape had changed so much by morning. It was also really interesting to see the different stations we rolled through. By the time we pulled into Beijing, we were both really impressed that we hadn’t killed each other after spending so much time in such a confined space.

Arriving in Hong Kong

Uncategorized August 26, 2013 Leave a comment

My first Hong Kong encounter embodies all of the reasons I love to travel. I travel to meet interesting people, to experience culture and above all to keep me on my toes.

Upon arrival in Hong Kong, I cleared customs, grabbed some cash and made my way down to the taxi stand for a cab. Just outside the door there was a sea of red cabs all lined up to take arriving passengers to Kowloon. I was waved over to the second cab in the line, and hopped in. I told the driver the hotel where I was meeting up with my friend, and he repeated it a couple times but it didn’t seem to ring a bell for him. Having my phone in my bag, I quickly pulled up the hotel info from my email to show him.

He took my phone (which I fully expected him to do), but then he reached down beside him and picked up a huge magnifying glass. I’m talking novelty prop, the kind you would use in a cartoon or see in a comedy sketch. He peered through the ridiculously large glass, read the hotel name a couple of times and then finally came the ‘aha’ moment when he remembered where it was.

Victoria Harbour at night. Photo: Mike Fallone

Victoria Harbour at night. Photo: Mike Fallone

The fun didn’t stop there. Once in the cab and on the road, I took a look at his dash setup. Not unlike some other countries I’ve travelled to (Ghana or India being prime examples of pimped out transit), his dash was fully accessorized. Not for fashion, but for function. He had a fishing tackle box latched with bungee cords to the top of the dash to hold his change so that it was easily accessible for tolls. There was a paper-tube taped up at the bottom to hold his pens (it looked as though it was glued to the dash). A clipboard was suction cupped to the inside of the windshield, and he also had an ipod and two cell phone all zip-tied to the air vents.

I shouldn’t have been surprised when one of the cell phones beeped, and he immediately reached for the cartoon magnifying glass to read the text message. I’m not sure whether that counts as hands free with the handheld magnifying glass.

Encounters like this always make me laugh and are one of the big reasons I love to travel.  Just from this quick cab ride to the hotel, I knew that Hong Kong was going to be my kind of place.