Tag: transportation

It’s finally raining for real

Downpour and cold. Put the damper on shopping in the market.

Because I travelled light today and didn’t bring my umbrella to Stanley near the south end of the island.

HK$9.9/US$1.15 one way by minibus, 15km and 30min for the route I took.
Saw some other seaside towns and beaches on the way.
I hadn’t realized how mountainous the entire island actually is.

HK: Day 2/Sun summary

Here’s what I managed to do on my second day (a Sunday), with more details and photos to follow in later posts.

  • Did some research and blogging over breakfast and coffee at Cafe de Coral (a chain); the millet porridge was surprisingly tasty but the sandwich and coffee were disappointing (I was expecting a fresh sandwich, but maybe not for HK$20/US$2.60 for the set breakfast)
  • Tried to go to the Peak (as you might imagine, it’s the tallest point on Hong Kong Island, just south of Central), but didn’t want to wait in line an hour for that tram
  • Meandered around Central a little, including Hong Kong Park next to the Peak tram (random: the park also houses the HK Squash Club)
  • Noticed the large number (many hundreds? a thousand?) of F Filipino maids hanging around Central, especially Exchange Square, anywhere they can find shade (this is Sunday, remember, so it’s their day off it seems)
  • Hopped on a ferry to Cheung Chau Island for seafood, a temple (home of the annual bun festival coming up), a beach and a long scenic walk ending with a pirate’s cave and a “resting” (perilously perched) boulder (and a surprising amount of trash, mostly in the form of discarded water bottles);
    it’s also the childhood home to HK’s only Olympic gold medal athlete (windsurfing in ’96 Atlanta games).
    Definitely recommended (thanks Yin)!
  • Saw some of the nightly Festival of Lights, where buildings in Central, Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui are lit up in a “moving” light show

HK: More random observations

ok, it’s day three and here are some more random observations:

  • There is an IKEA (with big blue and yellow sign) in the basement of a building in Causeway Bay retail area (i.e. downtown in expensive real estate, something unheard of in North America). And twice now I’ve seen someone carrying a large IKEA item – once downtown, and once off the ferry on Cheung Chau island
  • Octopus card – can use for contactless payments at some stores (e.g. 7-11, Circle K, St@rbucks)
  • Octopus card – can go negative HK$35 (comes off next top up or card deposit refund). A very handy feature as yesterday my HK$2.30/US$0.30 tram fare was more than I had on my card. Oops. No problem – it just debited the fare and I had negative one HK dollar on my card…
  • Octopus card – the card checking machine (which shows balance) also shows last 10 transactions (amount and date), although you’d have to have a good memory if using that to  double-check usage
  • The tram runs on dedicated right of way, and very frequently – often two or three trams back to back. Reasonably quick, with stops pretty much every major block or two.
  • Traffic lights go red-yellow before green, like in Europe
  • Cantonese/English Look Left and Look Right messages are painted on pedestrian crosswalks (both are needed because of one-way roads, and of course it depends which way you are crossing
  • My St@rbucks card worked: similar price $3 for grande soy misto (we’ll see if it counts towards my rewards program, although it’s probably a bad exchange rate :-)
  • $150 for a pair of not-so-fancy name-brand pants (Tommy Hilfiger?) in Sogo department store. Really?
  • One morning I saw 29 wi-fi signals at breakfast. Crikey!
  • Steps tend to be rather steep and narrow here – I don’t think I’ve ever used handrails so much!
  • Some eateries use stainless steel plates instead of styrofoam – I applaud them.
  • Quite a few pedestrian flyovers, as well as long pedestrian bridges (sometimes next to a raised road, sometimes freestanding)
  • Lots of A/C everywhere; annoyingly you get blasted by it while walking on sidewalks due to open doors. How is that excessive power usage environmentally friendly? (for that matter, how is making everything electric/automatic, like faucets and advertising signs on subway escalators, green or helping reduce dependency on oil?)

 

HKG airport, hotel

Not surprisingly, HKG airport is modern, clean and efficient (the immigration line was long, but it did move quickly).

Going into town, the Airport Express MTR line (HK$100/US$13) is fast (~25 minutes to Central) and only has a few stops. It even has wi-fi if you have signed up for that service.

As expected, there is English on virtually all signs (even in the city), so it’s easy to get around.

I should have bought my Octopus Card (the stored value transportation card) at the airport, which would have given me a free connection to the MTR subway (as I arrived too late to use the free hotel shuttle bus at Central for Airport Express passengers). Oddly, you can’t buy the Octopus card from a machine (though you can check the balance and add value from machines, once you have one). I ended up asking the 7-11 clerk who sent me back upstairs to buy one from the MTR customer service desk.

The Octopus card costs HK$150/$20, though a third of that is a refundable deposit. Like other decent transportation systems with smart cards, you touch a reader on entry and exit of subway stations and buses (though not the fixed price double-decker tram)

My hotel in Causeway Bay was easy to find, just a 5 minute walk from the MTR station of the same name. It’s a small (about 8×8 feet, including the ensuite bathroom, by which I mean picture a large shower stall with the toilet and sink thrown in there too) windowless single room (small twin bed with a thin but firm mattress) in a good location. And a TV – with only a dozen Chinese channels – woohoo! All for the bargain price of HK$400/US$52 a night!).

YYZ: new Nexus lane at T1 security!

Woohoo, finally an expedited security lane in T1 at YYZ (Toronto) for Nexus (US/Canada trusted traveler program). It was empty. (asdie: T3 has had one for a while).

Gives me more time in the nice Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge (Star Gold access), which is better than United Clubs – real food like soup, salad and humus, plus serve your own beverages (even alcoholic). Nice.

Oh, did I mention I got a status upgrade on both flights today, even though they were booked using United frequent flyer miles. Sweet.