Hong Kong

Day 21 - Yangshuo to Hong Kong

Up by 8:00 for a run and breakfast. Justin and I were packed and checked out of the hotel by 12:00. Nevertheless, the bus to the train station did not leave until 3:30, I so spent a couple hours catching up on e-mail. The bus trip took about 1.5 hours. Once we boarded the train, it was another 14 hours to get to Guangzhou. After arriving at about 8:00 the next morning, we took a 40 minute bus ride across town to another train station. Here, we had a short wait before passing through customs and boarding another train that took us the rest of the 1.5 hours to Hong Kong.

To cross from mainland China to Hong Kong, you still have to pass through a sealed border. Our tour leader, Shirley, left the group in Yangshuo since she lacked the necessary permit to travel to Hong Kong (Kal was leading this part of the tour). In effect, China treats Hong Kong as something of an autonomous region. Although, recent protests by residents of Hong Kong would seem to indicate that some believe there is not enough autonomy.

After arriving in Hong Kong, we checked into our hotel in Kowloon and later met the group for a farewell dinner. This was the last official day of the tour, although several of us had a some extra days. The group took the ferry to Hong Kong Island, and Kal found an Indian restaurant that had good chicken masala. We took the subway back and realized that it was a quick 3 stops to get pretty close to our hotel.

Day 22 - Hong Kong

We slept in this morning, leaving the hotel by 10:00 AM. We wanted to get to Lantau Island to see the Tian Tan Buddha, the largest outdoor bronze Buddha statue in the world. Our map indicated a ferry that would get us there, but it only ran on the weekends (today was Sunday) and would not be running tomorrow (our last day in Hong Kong). So, today had to be the day.

Arriving at the ferry terminal before 11:00, we found that we had a little over an hour before the next ferry departed. We walked along the water taking in the sights. I found a tailor and ordered some dress shirts. Amazingly, they can make these in less than a day and the cost of buying them in Hong Kong is well below what one would pay in the US, even for mass produced shirts.

We made it back to the ferry just in time. The ride took about 40 minutes to get to Lantau Island. It was an overcast day, but the views of the various islands were still pretty impressive. After arrival, a bus took us another 40 minutes up the mountain to the Po Lin monastery that contained the statue. It was an interesting site. After 1.5 hours, we grabbed a bus back to the dock and soon boarded a ferry back to Hong Kong.

After landing back in Hong Kong, we decided to head up Victoria Peak to see the city lights come on as darkness fell. Along the way, we traveled up the world's longest escalator, which is actually a series of escalators and moving walkways that runs over 800 meters. To get to the peak itself, we boarded a trolley-like funicular. This being a weekend night, there were lots of people trying to get to the top along with us. At the top, we ran into Richard. After watching the lights come on, we did not wait around very long before heading back down to meet Hannah and Stephen for dinner. We returned to the same area we had eaten in the night before and even had Indian again (but at a different restaurant).

Day 23 - Hong Kong to Home

Woke up with a head cold this morning. Seems like I probably got a little too much air conditioning during the night.

Justin and I packed for most of the morning and checked out of the hotel at noon. We left our bags with the valet and just spent the day walking through the streets of Hong Kong. Around 4:00, we circled by the tailor's shop to retrieve my shirts. Everything seemed in order - they fit perfectly. We then walked through the night market, a pedestrian zone in which vendors set up stalls each night. It was pretty touristy.

By 7:30, we returned to the hotel to get our bags and board the shuttle to the airport. Anna's flight to Paris left a half hour before ours, so she was taking the same shuttle. When we got to the airport, we grabbed dinner and headed for our respective gates.

Justin and my flight to London lasted 13 hours. At the start, my cold was raging and making the trip pretty miserable. However, at some point, the ibuprofen I was taking finally seemed to kick in and I began feeling a lot better.

In London, Justin and I went through security together but then parted as his flight to Miami and my flight to New York left from different terminals. I was pleasantly surprised as I boarded the plane to find that British Airways had upgraded me to Business class. I guess they had overbooked economy. Sometimes its better to be lucky than good I suppose.

The End