We really enjoyed our time in Yangshou and the beauty of the surrounding area with the Li River and the amazing karst mountains but it was time to head out for the next step in our walk around the world.
We did some research and found several transportation options to get from Yangshou to Hong Kong, our next destination. Most of the options included a stop in the border city of Shenzhen, China, then taking a short ferry ride or bus in to Hong Kong from there.
(Hong Kong is a city-state or SAR, Special Administrative Region. They have some autonomy from China and as such you actually need to go through immigration to leave China and enter Hong Kong. It’s important to be aware of this if you have a single entry visa for China and plan to go back to China after visiting Hong Kong. We saw someone make this mistake and get detained at the China border because they didn’t have a double or multiple entry visa for China. We also ran into some other travelers who didn’t realize this and had to stay several extra days in Hong Kong to get another China visa to re-enter China and resume their travels there.)
We were planning to take an overnight bus from Yangshou to Shenzhen but found a flight from Guilin to Shenzhen for nearly the same price as taking an overnight bus or train so we opted for the flight. We had to take a bus back to Guilin, because there isn’t an airport in Yangshou and then hopped on a short 2 hour flight to Shenzhen instead of the long overnight bus or train. Please note that there are only buses from Yangshou to Shenzhen and to take a train or flight you need to go to Guilin. You can get flights into Hong Kong but they are fairly expensive compared to flying into Shenzhen so I’d recommend going that route unless you find a good deal to Hong Kong.
This was the first flight we’ve taken since getting to China. It was a really nice change to just hop on a plane and be in Shenzhen a couple hours later. The bus or train would have taken all night. It was also nice to sit and relax in the big automatic massage chairs at the Guilin airport for an hour while waiting for our flight. It was just what we needed.
We arrived to Shenzhen late at night, after the boarder was closed, so just found the cheapest hotel we could and went to sleep. We slept in and it felt oh so nice. The hotel was old but not bad at all. Our room was really big and it was nice to have some space for a change. The bathroom and shower were normal size as well, no combo like at the hostels. However, the shower floor was not at the right slope to make the water go towards the drain very effectively so instead the water flooded the bathroom before finally being at a high enough level to make it back down into the shower drain. No big deal, just another funny experience to add to the pile.
Instead of heading right to Hong Kong we decided to take a ferry to Macau, another island city-state just 60 minutes away, check that out, and then come back to Shenzhen for the night before heading into Hong Kong the following day.
Macau use to be a colony of Portugal so there is still an interesting mix of Asian and Portuguese culture on the island. It’s also well known for its casino’s, which wasn’t really a draw for us since we don’t gamble. However, it is always interesting to see the architecture, lights, and artistry that go into many of the casino’s there. It was kinda like a miniature Las Vegas but much cleaner and without all the smut.
We spent most of our time meandering our way through Senate Square and the small surrounding streets filled with shops and people. We tried various local delicacy’s as we went, like egg tarts and dried meats, and eventually found our way to the old historical sights of St. Paul’s Cathedral and the old Mount Fortress. These and other beautiful old buildings date back hundreds of years to when the Portuguese were originally colonizing the area. It was a nice day and then we jumped on the ferry back to Shenzhen for the night.
It was later in the evening when we got back to the ferry dock in Shenzhen and as we walked out of the ferry terminal there wasn’t a taxi or bus in sight, earlier in the day there were lines of taxi’s waiting for people to get off the ferry. Apparently, it’s not that way at night for the last ferry of the day. A few people started to approach us and by their hand gestures I could tell they were saying that no taxis came here at night and that they were offering us a ride. I asked how much and the price was much higher than what it cost us to get to the ferry earlier that day and my attempt at negotiating was rejected. I thought that perhaps if we waited for a bit, which a few others were also doing, a taxi may come along.
As we waited the same people kept making gestures telling us that no taxis were coming. I was a bit annoyed at this point so began to just ignore them. After several minutes I could see a taxi headed down the road toward the ferry dock and I thought this was our chance. Unfortunately, so did everyone else that was waiting and it was obvious that the taxi drivers preferred taking passengers whom they could easily communicate with instead of driving around some foreigners half the night trying to figure out where they wanted to go. I can’t really blame them J
At this point I was seriously considering just taking one of the cars for hire up on their offer because I didn’t know if or when another taxi might come along. Just then a few taxi’s came around the corner and we jumped in one and attempted to explain where we wanted to go. It was clear that the taxi driver didn’t understand us. We tried to explain, using various gestures and our phone as a prop, that he could call the phone number we were showing him to talk to the hotel and get directions from them. After a few minutes of this, and wondering if he might just give up and ask us to get out, he finally understood and after a couple failed dialing attempts he got through to the hotel. We weren’t sure but he seemed to know where they were telling him to go and he looked back at us, said some things we didn’t understand and started driving. He kept talking to us as if we might understand a bit of what he was saying and when he realized that all we could say was xie xie, thank you, and ni hao, hello, he had a good laugh.
I wasn’t sure if we were headed the right way or not but thankfully Julie, with her amazing memory, was able to recognize various things from earlier in the day when we were driven to the ferry station. Julie kept letting me know that she remembered this or that as we passed things and then after we had been driving for about the same time as it took us to get to the ferry that morning she started to say that nothing looked familiar and it was starting to feel like we were on the wrong track and possibly lost at that point. The driver didn’t seem entirely sure either but thankfully after a few more minutes and the driver asking directions at a tollbooth, the hotel came into view.
Getting around in Shenzhen has been interesting. Out of everywhere we have been in China, here we have found the least amount of English spoken. We really haven’t run into anyone that speaks much, if any English. Not at the hotel, not with taxi drivers, not with shop owners, and not at the ferry dock. I thought we would have found a fair amount of English in a border city that seems to be a popular crossing point for travelers going to and from Hong Kong.
The next morning we packed up, caught a taxi to the Ferry station, and headed over to Hong Kong. The ferry dropped us off on Hong Kong Island and our hostel was in Kowloon, which we didn’t realize was across the harbor. The map showed some bridges and a tunnel to the other side so we figured a taxi could take us there. We jumped in a taxi and he started driving while we explained where we needed to go. He explained that he doesn’t drive to Kowloon and we’d need a different taxi. So, after a trip around the block, during this conversation, he let us out and we were on the hunt for another taxi. At this point I figured there might be a subway/metro that could get us there and asked an English looking passer by who pointed across the street and said we could get on right there to get where we were going.
Hong Kong has a great subway system that goes nearly everywhere you could possibly want to get while visiting there. I always feel like it’s easier getting around unfamiliar cities via a subway/metro system versus taxi’s or buses so it was nice to be back in comfortable territory. Our stop was only two stops away including one transfer so it didn’t take much time at all.
We came up out of the metro, got our bearings and headed toward our hostel in the Chungking Mansions. Accommodations in Hong Kong are very expensive. A basic hotel room cost $300+ per night. Before getting to Hong Kong we found out about some relatively cheap hostels in a place called Chungking Mansions. It is the melting pot of Hong Kong. It’s estimated that people from at least 120 different nationalities pass through Chungking Mansions each year, making it one of the most culturally diverse locations in the world. Chungking Mansions contain the largest number of guesthouses in Hong Kong in one building, with 1980 rooms in total. Since it offers some of the cheapest rates in town, it has become a legendary haunt for backpackers and budget travellers. The bottom floors are more like a big Souq market where you can find anything from curry restaurants, African bistros, clothing shops, sari stores, foreign exchange booths, cell phones and a myriad of other things from all over the world. Many of the things we read online said to avoid staying there and that most of the hostels were dirty and covered with bugs. The pricing was so much better than anything else we had seen though so we kept looking in an attempt to find a hostel in the group with some decent reviews. We found one that sounded relatively clean and bug free so crossed our fingers and booked The Apple Hostel online. We booked two rooms because each room was designated as a 1-person accommodation.
It only took a few minutes to walk to the Chungking Mansions. Before we even made it into the ground level we were inundated by people asking us if we needed a hostel. I guess our backpacks were a dead give away. We made our way through the crowd and the market to the elevators and got in line. The elevators are slow and small and have a ton of traffic going up and down so there is always a line. We got onto the elevator and realized there was no option for the 10th floor, our hostels location, so we got off on the 11th and walked down the stairs but couldn’t access the 10th floor from there. We realized we must have taken the wrong elevator so headed back to the elevator to wait and go back down. It was going to take a while so we decided to just take the stairs down. The stairs let us out in a little ally full of little shops. We made our way to another entrance to the Chungking Mansions and found the right elevator. Next to each elevator there is a list of all the hostels and things accessible from that elevator. Our hostel was on the list, (there were so many things on each elevator list and we didn’t realize there were multiple elevators, so we just figured some things were left out on the other elevators list, that’s why we took it.)
We got up to the hostel, checked in, and asked if it was possible for us to just stay in the same room. They said it was too late to cancel for that night but if we really wanted to squeeze into the same room we could for the other nights we were there. We decided to just consolidate everything into the same room starting that night. Reviews online weren’t kidding the rooms are tiny. The one we stayed in was about 7ft x 7ft, that included the single bed we both squeezed into each night and the bathroom/shower combo. Space was most definitely at a premium but staying at the Chungking Mansions is a right of passage for any world traveler and at only $40 a night we couldn’t pass up the experience.
Julie was nervous about the possibility of bugs, especially cockroaches, so it was much to my dismay when I walked into the bathroom that evening and saw several scurrying around. I quickly dispatched them and determined to continue to eliminate the cockroach threat to the best of my ability while we were there without Julie noticing. During our stay I saw and killed many, stealthily and quickly. Thankfully Julie didn’t realize it and only ever saw a couple.
We just relaxed the first day and caught up on work and the blog. It’s nice to give yourself some time out days while traveling for extended periods of time.
Hong Kong is a fun city to explore and, like most cities, you can see and do a lot in just a few days. We started things off one evening with a nice walk around Kowloon Park and the surrounding area. It’s a beautiful park right in the middle of the city high rises in Kowloon. It’s kinda like a miniature Central Park with a variety of things to see and do. It was fun to see kids play soccer, people practice martial arts and tai chi and do a variety of other things.
The next day we slept in and then headed out on the subway to Ngong Ping, Lantau Island, to see the 2nd largest bronze seated Buddha statue in the world. The Tian Tan Buddha, also called the Big Buddha, sits atop a platform on a hill overlooking the beautiful hilly countryside around. It is 112 feet tall and weighs 250 tons. To get to it you can either take a bus, taxi or cable car gondola from the subway station. The cable car is more expansive but gives you beautiful birds eye views of the Hong Kong airport, the ocean, and the surrounding hills as you approach the site of the Buddha. It was a fun experience and some beautiful scenery, definitely a must see attraction if your travels take you to Hong Kong.
After visiting the Big Buddha we jumped back on the cable car to the subway and headed into Central Hong Kong to take a ride on the Central–Mid-levels escalators. These aren’t your typical shopping mall escalators I’m talking about. It is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. The entire system covers over 800 meters (2600 feet) in distance and elevates over 135 meters (443 feet) from bottom to top. More than 55,000 people use the escalators each day, including business commuters, school kids, tourists and the general public. It consists of twenty escalators and three moving sidewalks. According to Guinness World Records, these escalators together form the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. The escalator runs daily, downhill from 6:00 am to 10:00 am and uphill from 10:30 am to midnight. Apart from serving as a method of transportation, it is also a tourist attraction and has restaurants and shops lining the route. There is an entrance and exit on each road it passes, often on both sides of the road. This is a great way to start making your way up to The Peak, our next stop.
Victoria Peak, known by locals as The Peak, sits on top of Mount Austin, the highest mountain peak on Hong Kong Island. It is a major tourist spot due to the incredible views it offers of the amazing Hong Kong skyline below. There are several restaurants, a shopping galleria and condos at The Peak and for a few dollars you can go to the top of Peak Tower for the best view of the Hong Kong skyline.
From the top of the escalators we asked some locals the best way to get to the peak from there and they said you can either take a taxi up or you can hike up The Morning Trail, a popular climb for locals that winds it’s way through a beautiful forest up to The Peak. We opted for the hike, which was much longer and steeper than we had originally anticipated but was really beautiful and we eventually made it to The Peak. We went up to the top of the Peak Tower and were rewarded with the most beautiful city skyline view I’ve ever seen. We’d heard it was better than NYC but were skeptical, however, I must admit, it blew NYC outa the water. The nighttime city scape was lit up by all the buildings and the skyscrapers seemed to just go on and on. It was really breath taking. Pictures just don’t do it justice.
From there we jumped on a bus and headed down the mountain to the to have dinner on the roof overlooking the Hong Kong harbor and Kowloon. There are several roof top restaurants available but if you’re not into any of them or are just looking to save a few bucks you can opt to grab dinner to-go downstairs somewhere and bring it up to the roof. There is plenty of open seating not controlled by the roof top restaurants. It was a great way to end a wonderful day.
The next morning we packed up our bags and headed to the Hong Kong Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in the northern part of Kowloon. It's a beautiful building and it was nice to take a time out from our travels to remember what life is really about
As we were headed back to the subway/metro I noticed a lady trying to figure out how to get two roller suitcases down the stairs to the trains. I asked if she needed help and grabbed one of the bags and we headed downstairs. She spoke very little English but turned to Julie to ask for help finding a specific exit out of the metro to get where she needed to go. She pointed at a piece of paper in her hands with the name and address of where she was trying to go and it turned out to be the Hong Kong Temple we were just at. Julie told her we were from Utah and members of that church and had just been at the Temple. The lady was so happy and excited. She had traveled all the way from somewhere north of Beijing to come to the Temple. We quickly decided that it would be easier to walk her to the Temple instead of trying to give her directions and run the chance of getting her lost. A few minutes later and we dropped her off at the Temple. She was so grateful and gave Julie a big hug as we parted ways. I’m glad we happened to be in the right place at the right time to help her out. It always feels great to take a time out from your own life to reach out and help someone else with theirs. The simplest act of kindness can make all the difference in the world for those you help and for you and the ripple effects can go on to touch the lives of countless others.
We headed back to the Hong Kong harbor and took the short trip across the harbor aboard the Star Ferry. For nearly a quarter, US $, you get a 10 minute trip across the harbor and some great views of the Hong Kong skyline, definitely recommended. We still had some time to kill before heading to the airport so we walked over to the nearest Hong Kong trolley stop and hoped on. The Trolley runs the length of Hong Kong Island and is a cheap, fun way to see the city, experiencing the energy and architecture that permeates Hong Kong. The best views on the trolley are on the top level at the front. An older Asian man got on the trolley and came up by us, urging me to move my bag over for him and when I did he just put his stuff down and remained standing, hovering over me, continually slamming the trolley windows shut, which would just keep popping open causing him to curse at them and slam them shut again. After repeating this for a while he nearly got into a fight with another man who wanted the window nearest him open. He was eyeing Julie’s window but I think he could tell that she was willing to fight him to the death over it and let it be. Then he started talking to us and said he hated Hong Kong and that only fools came to Hong Kong. He said that Australia was the best country on earth, much better than the US, although he’s never been to the US. He also started grilling me about Iraq, asking why we attacked and started a war with Iraq and proceeded to lecture us on the causes of war, “AMBITION” he said and ranted on for a while about it and told us to ask our teacher about wars. I think at the end of it all we were friends.
We got off the trolley and headed to the airport via the Airport Express train from Central Station. (Side note, the tickets for the airport train were cheaper to buy from the attendant than from the automated kiosk.) A long flight awaited but we were excited to head down under to Australia.
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