Greg & Penny’s Chinese Adventure 2016 – Part III
And so, we come to our brief stop-over in Hong Kong on our way home. Our flight from Guilin to Hong Kong was at the very reasonable time of four in the afternoon so we had a leisurely start to our final day in Yangshuo. We gathered our possessions and packed our bags ready for the ride to the airport which was due to depart the Outside Inn at about 1.00 pm. Adam and Ava came out to the Inn along with Jessica and Ava’s mum and we were delighted to be able to spend a bit more time with each other before having to say good-bye.
Eventually, though, the driver arrived and it was kisses, cuddles and hugs all round. Even the hotel staff were sorry to see us go considering that we had provided them with so much entertainment and amusements, especially the dive into the muddy ditch alongside the rice paddy.
The drive up to Guilin Airport is very civilised now – there’s a motorway all the way from just a few miles outside Yangshuo to the airport door and we were deposited there in plenty of time for our flight. Fortunately, the typhoon they were expecting in Hong Kong was still a long ways off and the flight was straight-forward and efficient bringing us in more or less on time.
Once we had negotiated immigration we came out to be greeted by our friend Clive who has lived and worked in Hong Kong for about ten years now. Clive was a primary school teacher in Oxfordshire who acquired an interest in ICT and our paths crossed frequently when I was working at the Oxfordshire Computer Education Unit. He even came and did a few stints for us at the Unit helping deliver various projects. Ultimately, he and his wife Jacquie fancied a change and Clive applied for and got a job as IT Co-ordinator at the Kellett School in Hong Kong, largely on the strength, no doubt, of the glowing reference I provided for him.
Clive shepherded us aboard the appropriate airport bus (A10) which took us from the airport to within about 50 metres of our hotel in Kennedy Town, Hong Kong Island (the Mia Casa Hotel which Clive had recommended and which was very good). He also handed us a couple of pre-paid “Respected Old Person” metro cards which solved all our transportation needs during the three days we were there.
The drive from the airport to Hong Kong Island was stunning – it was dusk and we watched from our vantage point on the top of the double-decker bus as the bright lights of the skyscrapers twinkled in welcome.
After a quick brush-up and shower we met Clive for dinner in a local hostelry which was very good indeed and it was a treat to catch up with him after all these years. Sadly, he and his wife Jacquie split up not long after they arrived in Hong Kong but they have both stayed out there and indeed both still work in the school Clive went out to join. Clive has since remarried and is the proud father of a delightfully energetic two year old. He is responsible for IT across the school and Jacquie has been instrumental in helping the school expand from its primary-only provision in the early days and is now Deputy Head of the thriving Secondary School.
Clive and just about everyone else we spoke with suggested that we visit The Peak in Hong Kong so on the Tuesday morning that’s exactly what we did. On Clive’s advice we took the bus from the central bus station up to the peak which gives you a fabulous view and oversight of Hong Kong as the bus winds its way up the mountain. At the top we exited the bus and made our way to a viewing platform at the top of about eighteen escalators. To say the view was stunning would, of course, be an understatement – the skyscrapers of Hong Kong below us and Kowloon and mainland China across the water in the distance. The rest of the day we spent simply meandering and soaking up Hong Kong’s unique atmosphere. The ride down the hill by way of the 19th century funicular tram was a delight – considerably quicker than the bus ride up and with a very different perspective of the city.
That evening we were to meet up with Jacquie at another fine dining establishment she recommended, conveniently near a metro stop on our line where she met us. It was simply wonderful to catch up with her and to hear of all her achievements since coming to Hong Kong. (When we were organising our trip and contacted both Clive and Jacquie to set up rendezvous Jacquie helpfully reminded me that it had been 29 years since we first met! She was a newly qualified teacher at Donnington Middle School in Oxford and they spent their first Inset day of term at the Computer Unit. Talk about how to make someone feel old! Obviously, I look and feel that old while she still looks about eighteen and far too young to have a twelve year old son.)
During dinner with Jacquie we remarked how we really didn’t feel as if we had even a cursory understanding of Hong Kong’s history. Jacquie suggested we visit the Hong Kong Museum of History in Kowloon the following day so that’s exactly what we did.
We took the Star Ferry across the water and then a taxi to the Museum and we were not the least bit disappointed! The Hong Kong Story is a fabulous exhibition covering the history of the area from some millions of years ago (not very exciting or interesting to me, I’m afraid but I’ve no doubt those of you interested in geology would have found it fascinating).
The portions of the exhibition covering the British involvement and the Opium Wars were fascinating. I had not appreciated that the Opium Wars were, essentially, the fault of the Brits who were anxious to open trade arrangements with the Chinese but who had little to trade which the Chinese actually wanted. So, the Brits brought opium from India and proceeded to enslave huge numbers of Chinese to the drug. When the Chinese authorities decided that promoting opium addiction was perhaps not the most sensible way to improve quality of life and tried to stop the trade, the Brits brought their heavy guns to bear and forced the situation. As we know, the Brits won, Hong Kong became a British colony and the rest, as they say, is history.
The rest of the exhibition was equally fascinating – Hong Kong during the colonial period, Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation and so on.
After the exhibition we made our way back to the ferry and back across to Hong Kong where we set out to find “The Lanes” which again had been recommended by Jacquie as a place where we could pick up some odds and ends as gifts for friends back in the UK. Suitable purchases having been made it was back to the hotel and one final dinner before the following days’ flight back to the UK.
Adam had “recommended” a restaurant owned by an acquaintance of his, Chino, which had the benefit of being just around the corner from our hotel. It was described as a modern Mexican restaurant using Japanese ingredients and techniques. What’s not to like?
Adam had warned us that it was “a bit pricey” but we thought what the heck? We’re not likely to be here again any time soon so we decided to push the boat out.
Again, we invited Clive to join us and while the food was certainly tasty, pricey does not begin to adequately describe it. Astronomically extortionate would be more accurate. And, the portions were small. Just one example – the equivalent of £15 (about $19) for a small bowl of fried rice with chorizo. Please! Be serious. We’d become used to delicious fried rice with meat and vegetables at the Outside Inn in Yangshuo for about £2 – and the bowl was about twice the size!
At the end of the meal we felt markedly poorer and somewhat in need of a filling meal! Fortunately, there was a bar just down the road selling extra-large frozen Margaritas in which we proceeded to drown our disappointment. No, that’s not really fair – the food was good although nothing extraordinarily special, just astonishingly expensive for small portions for no good reason. I’m afraid the TripAdvisor review I submitted was not terribly flattering.
And so, the following morning we made our way down to the bus stop for the ride back to the airport and the flight back to the UK, all of which went very smoothly. Another great adventure in the People’s Republic under our belts.
Much love to you all,
Greg
Some of you had the very good fortune to be on Ms Playchute’s mailing list for her account of the trip. I have to say, Penelope is a considerably better writer than I am and the account she wrote is significantly more interesting (and detailed) than mine. If you unluckily were not a recipient of her travelogue you can download it here. It’s a hefty download (10Mb or so) but worth it! I guess you also need to know that it originally started life as an e-mail which vanished into the ether and then morphed into an extensive diary of our trip. Enjoy.
Penny’s Chinese Travelogue 2016