Day 1 – Good things come to those who wait.

I boarded a domestic flight to Manila at 7:30 am although my flight to Hong kong wasn’t until 4PM. Waiting at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport the whole day, was a pain in the ass.

I just couldn’t wait to get on the plane! I arrived Hongkong at 6:40 pm after the short 2 hour flight from Manila, and the long walk to the baggage counter, I took the Airport Express train going to Tsim Sha Tsui station. There are actually 3 modes of transportation from the airport.

1. By BUS, which is the most economical way at 33HKD, and stops at the a few bus points in Kowloon and Hongkong Island.

2.

By Taxi, which is the most expensive, and

3. By TRAIN • or the Airport Express which is the fastest, and connects you to all the train stations in the entire Hongkong Peninsula at an ok price of 90HKD.

 

In the airport, there is a tourist information center at the arrival section where you can purchase the “OCTOPUS CARD”. It is a card at 150HK dollars, and allows you to board the train, ferry, and busses on the entire peninsula without the hassle of having to line up and purchase single journey tickets on every station/pier or carry around exact coins to pay when taking the bus. It is actually very convenient as you can even use it in paying for your food at McDonalds and or other convenient shops. The best thing about it? You get the fares cheaper than the usual as you would if getting single journey tickets, and the remaining value on the card is reimbursable when you would want to surrender it.

 

Taking the airport express can either take you to 3 stations, Hongkong, Central and Kowloon, where you can then transfer to another train to get you your destination.

I got off Kowloon, took the red train to Tsim Sha Tsui. Thank God my hostel, on the 13^th floor of Mirador Mansion was

 just a few meters away from the station.  I was expecting it to be a modern/new building, and it was just the complete opposite. Although it was it a very good location at Nathan Road, it was very old, there were small shops on the ground floor, and also smelled kinda funny. It just wasn’t what I expected from Hongkong. I decided to choose “Mirador Hostel” in the said building instead of Chunking Mansions when I booked online the week before as the latter were supposedly a lot dirtier.  The dormitory beds only cost USD8.99 per night for a mixed room.

I was entertained by the Chinese hostel owner who then informed me that the dorm room I am supposed to be in didn’t have a single woman inside the 12-bed room.

Grrrr. He instead, offered me a single room at 550HKD for 4 nights which I gladly took.  My room was a lousy one. Had 2 single beds in it, a plastic looking TV, which had 3 channels (all in Chinese), a rusty ceiling fan, and a really small window, just enough to fit your head in. 

 

Thirty  minutes later, I was wandering on the Avenue of the Stars which was conveniently a kilometer or so walk from my hostel.  The view of the Hongkong skyline was lovely. The skyscrapers looked well arranged on the hilly island making each of them visible from  the Avenue. Lights of different colors laced the outline of buildings, each with its own unique design.  Although it was almost 11 pm, the avenue was packed with people, either just strolling and enjoying the view or busy picture-taking with the skyline in the background, and or with the hand imprints of Chinese stars on the floor. There were also several statues on the avenue strip. One of Bruce Lee in a fighting stance, and several other generic ones holding cinematography items. I was really starting to realize why locals and tourists alike love it here. Hongkong is a very vibrant, cosmopolitan city, and being on the avenue gives you a “refreshing” feeling, with the bay, the island, and the modern skyscrapers all in harmony.  The weather was very ideal too, at 17C, I strolled for another hour more before heading back to the hostel.