48 Hours in Hong Kong

The holiday was nearly over before it started..... our taxi driver taking us to the airport was checking his phone for messages, and having been in this cab for about two minutes (we had not left Claygate), we found ourselves on the wrong side of the road on a blind bend... it did not get any better as his phone seemed to be more important than his passengers....won't be using that cab company for a while!!

Thankfully, the 12 hour flight from Heathrow to Hong Kong passed fairly quickly, especially as we both got some sleep, our arrival was a lovely 25 minutes ahead of schedule, this was then eaten up by the taxi from the runway to the stand which took what seemed like ages, in reality was probably around 10 minutes, perhaps explaining why there are 3 runways and Hong Kong airport is reported to be the world's busiest cargo gateway.

Once inside the terminal, had we measured the walking distance, it would have been at least a good half mile (helped by some travelators, but not enough) then it was speedily through a queue free border control, on to the enormous baggage pick up zone. 

Without missing a step, it was like a scene from a movie as we approached our baggage carousel, Jo managed to pick up her bag in one cool move without missing a step just as it arrived on the carousel, leaving me with a little bit of "bagxiety" just about long enough for me to ponder if my bag was still at Heathrow and if so - would any of her clothes fit me in an emergency?

Despite putting air tags into our hold baggage, when I checked my bag's location, it was still showing as being at Heathrow, a short while later it made an appearance-  to my great relief!! Technology eh??

Within an hour we were out of the airport and at our hotel (Grand Harbour at Fortress Hill on Hong Kong Island).

The hotel had a rather grand marble entrance, but a little soulless, the rooms comfortable and spacious.

The transit system was speedy and seamless, despite us faffing about for a ticket at the airport train station to Fortress Hill Station, noting that if you buy a AirPort Express ticket it's HK$50 more (about £5) from a self service machine than going to the desk and buying a ticket from real life person. Luckily we went to the person desk first, as we only realised the discrepancy on our return back to the airport for our next leg onto Auckland.

So Hong Kong in 48 hours... what to do??

We had a few ideas a left field entry came in from Jo, as she happened to mention whilst on the plane, "Did you know there is horse racing on this evening at Happy Valley (Hong Kong's horse racing venue) ... and it's just one stop away on the MTR (public transport system) from our hotel".

So after the check in at the grand marble spacious hotel, a mere 45 minutes later we were walking into Happy Valley.

A surprise bonus was as a visitor and by showing your passport you gained free entry. We'd read that there is a rule of needing to carry your passport on you for ID purposes in Kong Kong, so dutifully passports were shown to the gate staff and we were in! ... a surprise saving of 200HK$ - about £20 ....result!!

The place was impressive, Happy Valley's tall 7 storey spectator stand could hold total up to 55,000 people, however its compact course was just 1450m, probably due to the severe lack of land,  as they have a reclaim land project ongoing to help support infrastructure for the 7.4m population.

Hong Kong (the Chinese name is "fragrant harbour") is home to the world's largest number of sky scrapers (a building taller than 150m), and they are all crammed into this tiny parcel of land straddling the Kowloon Peninsula, with mountains on each side pinching it all in.... FYI London is bigger than Hong Kong.

Back at Happy Valley, Jo had a winner, winning 68HK$ (about £6.50) for a £1 bet, the betting exchanges so complicated that our horse choices were a bit multi guess work. My best out of the 4 races we watched was beaten by a nose to 2nd. 

The race track's atmosphere was half party (the ex-pats), half serious gambler (the locals) noting the areas with rows of self service betting machines to gamble with multiple computers all quoting odds in Chinese.

Leaving the race track before the mass exodus, we hailed a cab back to the hotel, and were taken on a magical mystery tour, the driver had no clue where he was going and had to ask pedestrians for directions, the detour was amusing, his driving had us wondering if he had a license.

Our second taxi shenanigans, but it was not an issue, more rather amusing as he was getting increasingly frustrated, likely with himself.

The next morning we were up and out early, heading for "The Peak" a funicular tram taking you up above the city.

We took the MTR to the central area and after a short uphill walk we were on the Peak Tram, a mile or so journey that climbs the hill up in parts at a 75 degree angle, seat belts were optional! The route took about 10 minutes to the top.

On arrival the views were spectacular, the peninsula, the islands, the multitude of sky scrapers, the wrap around green mountains, this was well worth the trip.

We spent about 2 hours wandering around before the crowds started to build, this was our cue to leave and head downhill and onto the Star Ferry, which would take us across from Hong Kong Island to the Kowloon side.

The Star Ferry Company had been transporting people across the water between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon since 1871, and the ferries in current operation have been in use since 1956, truly pieces of maritime art and engineering magnificance, as there were still running on what seemed like the original engine, albeit with some tlc and paint touch ups over the years.

Engine noise, smoke and fumes were strong and heavy on the lower deck, which we later found out was the cheaper option, as on our return we took the upper level for a change (there are no stairs between decks, you board and disembark either upstairs or downstairs). The cost of a single trip was around 30p for the lower deck, the clean air upper deck was an upgrade for an extra 10p.

Whilst wandering about, we happened to stumble across a tourist information office, so took the opportunity to se if there was any things "not to miss" and were given instructions of best places to visit, given instructions to the "ladies market" the "goldfish market" and the "bird market". I was rather amused that the helpful lady in the tourist office had a name badge on stating "Windy" I was unsure if it was her name or an instruction to stay upwind!

The ladies market was thankfully not as visitors to Amsterdam may think, but full of ladies clothing, lots of linens and knitted items, the goldfish was ... lots and lots of fish and other animals - some a little harrowing to see, we skipped the bird market!

Later that evening we took the MTR to Causeway Bay, a place that seemed to be more of an evening hub with plenty of noodle bars, shops, cinemas and shopping malls, had some dinner and then pottered back a little knackered, part jet lag, part due to the amount of walking we had done all day.

Next morning was check out day, so we had a later check out at 13.30 so took the opportunity to try another form of transport, (their MTR is very comprehensive and easy to use) so we opted for an old tram and went back to Causeway Bay.

The trams are very colonial and plentiful, turning up every other minute, but they are not the most comfortable of travel options, the demographic using was more elderly, and the cost was half the price of the more cushioned buses, at 30p per trip.

So back to the airport we went, taxi to Hong King Central MTR and then onto the AirPort Express which took just over 20 minutes back to the airport.

Our next destination was Auckland on New Zealand Airways.

Footnote: There is a huge number of McDonalds in HK, according to Google there are about 245 - so around one for every 30k of people... the ratio of noodle bars and the like is probably around 1:200