February 24, 2006
Going home
My last evening in Hong Kong, and South East Asia for that matter, was spent checking out of the hotel and enjoying a long dinner with my friend Alice on the Kowloon waterfront. (I had a vegetable curry with, strangely, fruits in it like grapes and pineapple. Alice had a veggie pizza.)
After dinner it was time for me to head for the airport and I caught the A21 bus for HKD36. It was a double-decker and I scored the top front right bench. It was only then that the “I am leaving” feeling set it. It was mildly surreal. 
Once arriving at the airport with plenty of time to spare for my Swiss International Airlines 00:05AM flight LX139, I headed for the business class check-in desk. On presenting my upgraded economy ticket, the check-in clerk informs me that my ticket is for yesterday’s flight. Because I had changed the flight after buying the tickets, they put a little sticker on the ticket and did not issue a new ticket. So the ticket was a little bit ambiguous and I misread it. Stunned, I asked her what was going to happen next. First she said I had to pay a rebooking fee and then “Well, the flight is pretty full so we probably you probably will have an economy seat.” I took my glasses off, stared at my passport and sunk into a deep depression. This is costing me money, I’ve lost the business class upgrade, and might not even be able to reclaim the miles spent on it. I put my Travel Club Gold card down on the check in desk and asked her to do her best. She went over to the manager and told me that I was on the flight and on priority standby for a business class seat. I thanked her and headed for immigration and the terminal.
I was pretty much convinced cattle-class was my fate for the 13-hour flight. Twice I asked at the check in desk how things looked and they informed me that they were reorganizing the now full flight and that we would know once the passengers actually boarded the aircraft. 
Thirty minutes later when boarding began, the attendant put my boarding pass into one of those little ticket machines, but it spit my ticket back out and she gave me a new boarding pass—seat 4k. Business class, baby! I nearly did an American football touchdown dance on the spot.
The flight was pretty comfortable and I slept a good eight hours, read some, and watched a movie about an intern doctor in a San Francisco hospital (Reece Witherspoon) who was in a coma because of a car accident. Total “chick flick” but I was really into it and actually teared up and sniffed a bunch. Nobody seemed to notice in the noisy, dark aircraft thankfully.
The newish Airbus 340-300 landed about 6AM, I breezed through immigration and customs and was met by my friend Nina who’s been watering my plants. Very nice of her. Once home I jumped straight into my initial day back in town. First things first: grocery shopping. Second, register with the Swiss unemployment bureau (RAV). Third, start the process of going through five months of paperwork. Ouch. Fourth, make some calls and write some emails to meet up with my Zürich friends.
I am home now, although it doesn’t feel like home as it did before leaving. There are lots of little story snippets that will make the blog in the coming weeks, post mortem analysis of my trip, etc. So keep on visiting for a while.
Posted by stu at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2006
Three final days in Asia and Hong Kong
After my exhilarating chopper ride, my last three days in Asia degraded into one folly after another. On top of that, my tolerance for travel was minimal. The HeliExpress port was at Sheung Wan station which required an MTR ride with a switch to get to TST where I walked to my room at the New World Renaissance Hotel on the northern shoreline of Kowloon. The ten minute walk was bearable with my pack and all. The NWR is in the New World Center where they had several early automobile displays, including this 1920s vintage Chevy Capital.
Quickly I checked into room 1430, ripped into my pack to find some clean clothing, turned on the television and drew a bath with bubbles and all. Time to unwind. After about three minutes in the tub I heard someone enter the room through the front door—I freaked out and yelled “who is it???” “House keeping” was the reply. “I’m taking a bath, not now” was my agitated response. “But may I come in?” the housekeeper pushed. That is when my weakened patience lost it and my vicious retort was “No! Just get out!!!” That did the trick, but by then I was livid.
So, I called the guest services number on extension 10 to complain, explaining that I had just checked in, there was no reason for housekeeping to be popping in, especially without using the door bell, and that I just wanted to relax in my bath. The lady on the other end said she would look into the problem and rectify it. Quickly, because I’m getting the chills standing there naked in my room talking on the phone, I jump back into my nice, hot bath.
Ten minutes later there is a knock at the door, which rudely disturbs my recently regained relaxed body.
“Who is it???”
“Room service.”
“GO AWAY!!!”
“We have a complimentary food tray for you, sorry to disturbed you.”
(I’m looking through the peep hole now.)
“GO AWAY! I am trying to take a bath!!!”
I’m really furious at this point and call the guest services line again. The woman professes many apologies and blamed the disturbance on language issues and that the house keeper did not know that I was taking a bath. Bull shit, is my initial though.
So, for the third time in twenty minutes I hope back into the bath and find myself heating up the now lukewarm water. Ahhh…
OK, an hour later I’m relaxed and refreshed and clean like I haven’t been in months. I feel good. Time for some Internet—but it’s not working. I call up the service desk who promises a technician in the next hour or so, but I start messing about with it and discover that both of the two Ethernet cables has the little clip broken off. These cables are cheap, 25cm kind of things and there is no excuse for this in my professional opinion. Bloody hell, the room is running nearly US$230 a night! My expectations were higher.
The next day, after my blood was stopped boiling, I contact the Director of Guest Services, Peter Cheng, and detailed list my complaints as concisely as I could. He promises to look into events and get back to me. Later that day he invites me to breakfast the next morning and “comped” me a late check out and the previous morning’s breakfast. (A good $150 worth of food and services.) When we met on the 24 floor ‘Club Level’ we talk about the network cables—there is just no excuse and he realized it (or at least told me so.) As for the room service foul-ups it comes down to communication problems and language misunderstandings. I can understand that but it certainly got my knickers in a twist at the time.
I spent most of my three days in Hong Kong working on the blog and picture gallery. The view outside my hotel room was not so impressive, but the four cheese penne pasta that room service delivered was. Unfortunately, it was too cold to hang out by the pool or I would have just read books, cooled off in the pool, and
Posted by stu at 02:03 PM | Comments (5)
February 15, 2006
HeliExpress flight from Macau to Hong Kong
After waking up the next morning I pack my bags, hop onto the ferry/heliport terminal shuttle bus where I buy a 1800 Patacas (US$235) helicopter ticket to Hong Kong—flight EA115 at 1pm on one HeliExpress’s Sikorsky S76C+ twin-engine, 12-seat helicopters—tail number B-MHH. While in line to buy the ticket I met Blake, an American guy involved in the construction of one of Macau’s newest hotel and casino, The Venetian which is due to open in 2007. (He is guy in the black and yellow striped shirt in the picture.)
After only ten minutes in the departure lounge about six of us are ushered out in order to the waiting aircraft which is already running. A short taxi to the landing spot, about 25m, and we are off! Lucky me, my seat was just behind the copilot and my view was pretty good. We flew over bridges, ferries in transit and lots of little islands. Check out the HeliExpress flight from Macau to Hong Kong photo gallery for the 36 photographs that I took.
After only fifteen minutes we approach Hong Kong Island and land near Sheung Wan station. We disembark the still running helicopter, are guided down the stairs and some guy carries my 16 kilo pack down for me. We cleared immigration and customs in record time…it must have been three minutes maximum for the entire thing. Quick, easy, exhilarating and a complete blast. But, damn, that was expensive.
Posted by stu at 06:19 AM | Comments (2)
November 15, 2005
Long weekend in Hong Kong
After Thursday’s late arrival, Gene and I quickly met at his office building, Charter House in Central, so I could access his flat. Then it was a quick HK$20 taxi ride up into the mid levels of Hong Kong Island. (The mid-levels are served transport-wise by cars, busses, taxis, sidewalks, and most interestingly a reversible escalator that starts smack in the center of Central). Next was a quick dinner with Alice and then straight to bed—the past 1.5 days of travel had taken its toll.
The mid-level escalators drop one directly into the heart of central. On Sunday’s this becomes the focal meeting point for the thousands of foreign domestic servants to meet up with each other, eat, gossip, play cards and enjoy their once a week day off. Most of these women seem to be from the Philippines but there appear to be other countries as well.
Friday saw me on a walking tour of Central and thereabouts in search of the Chinese Visa Office. Through security, up to the seventh story of China Resources Centre on Harbour Road, fill out the application form, take a number…and wait. An hour and HK$390 later I was instructed to return Tuesday morning to pickup my passport with visa. Next was Tex-Mex time at Coyote Bar & Grill Lockhart Road that Lonely Planet lists near the Visa Office. Veggie burrito, basket of chips and a water: HK$270! Not a good deal. I was beat and went straight back to Gene’s to watch DVDs and sleep. Blah.
Saturday was more fun: Alice and I met at the MTR’s Central station, exit A and then were off on the ferry to Lamma Island. Our last planned hiking trip on the isle was a wee bit on the wet side. This time the sky was sunny and clear. Along the way we came across this cool Organic Farm/Tea bar run by a nice chap, his wife, and an orange cat who demanded respect. We had some organic passion fruit, organic iced Lemon Grass Tea, and I bought some organic red chilies for a certain punk ass bitch named Steve in Denver. Oh, I should mention that we tossed the passion fruit peals to the rabbits that were clearly grateful.
That evening, Gene, Alice, Alice’s friend Mary, and myself went in search of Stu-friendly food. On the third attempt we found an Indian joint on Wellington Street called Tandoor Indian Restaurant. Good stuff. HK$960 later, Alice and Mary went their individual ways home. Gene and I stayed in SoHo and headed for a private party some of his friends were hosting at Om’s Lounge on Graham Street just north of Staunton Street. After an hour or so of talking to banker after banker after banker, I finally met a non-banker. It was very refreshing. That said, one of the bankers had heard of Child’s Dream before! Very exciting—surely Marc and Daniel back in Chiang Mai will be pleased. Then Hong Kong’s finest showed up and made everyone go inside. Om’s is a small joint and it quickly became unbearably hot. So, Gene and I headed for Barco on Staunton Street where we drank many San Miguel beers until 0500 while talking politics, history, and all that drunken argument-inducing kind of stuff. (Gene’s one of those well informed conservative types who knows his shit. But I’m still right, damn it!)
Sunday was culture day. Alice and I went to the Space Museum to watch a one hour film in the Stanley Ho Space Theatre (HK$32) about Albert Einstein. Next we were off to the Hong Kong Art Museum to see the ancient Chinese Gold and Jade jewelry exhibition. Some really old items were on display, some dating back to 3000 B.C.E.! Alice had to leave for a family dinner but I stayed on and toured the Chinese Fine Art Gallery on the fourth floor. My favorite painting was Zhang Ding’s contemporary, western-influenced Girl of Ethnic Minority.
Today, Monday, had a single goal: organize the transportation to Nanning in mainland China. After some initial confusion and hours of walking all over Central and TST (southern Kowloon), I had purchased a KCR East train ticket to Guangzhou East Station on the mainland for HK$190. In two days, Wednesday, my 1100 High Speed Express Through Train take me into China proper were I have about four hours to catch my HK$660 China Southern Airlines CZ 3331 flight to Nanning.
Tomorrow’s plan includes checking out Hong Kong University’s graduate school admissions office, picking up my laundry, buying some Stu-friendly food for the following day’s journey, dinner with friends, and packing. Blah.
Posted by stu at 02:33 AM | Comments (0)
September 18, 2005
Exit Hong Kong
Alice waited with me inline for my flight, Emirates' 2220 flight EK385 to Bangkok and onward to Dubai. The queues were huge! We were in the queue beside the biz/first class check-in desks which was generally empty. Out of the hundreds of people waiting to check in, I was selected to jump into the biz class line! This must have saved me a good thirty minutes of standing about with my heavy packs. My theory is that because Alice was with me, the check-in woman gave me/us the secret insider Chinese woman-to-woman queue jumping bonus card. I am not complaining.
After that it was time to say 'bye' to Alice, whip through immigration and security, and hit the biz lounge to write some post cards before boarding at gate 66.
The aircraft was a Boeing 777, my least favorite wide body aircraft. The overhead compartments are just so hard to reach. The onboard veggie food was great. The elderly couple beside me were from Thailand on returning home from a holiday in Hong Kong. Nice people, not so chatty.
Posted by stu at 05:58 PM | Comments (0)
Hong Kong: First Stop (long post)
My trip to Hong Kong was fantastic! This is about the fourth or fifth time my passport has been stamped there, but this trip has totally changed my impression of the place.
First of all, my early trips were with finances that only the gainfully employed in IT have, once with family, and none with no local friends to show me about--the hands down best way to learn a city. These earlier trips involved going every where in taxis and limos, lodging at four and five star hotels, and staying on the beaten path in general.
No more. I'm unemployed now and watching the cash flow--more so thanks to (that evil fucking bank) UBS. I have my old friend and fellow victim of Virtualplus (John Pitcher's shady, now defunct dot com in London), Hoi , and my new friend Alice to guide me around and show me the ropes.
The first night after my arrival and check in at the North Point Ibis (~HKD450/night inclusive), Alice and I had dinner at a Chinese Vegetarian restaurant in the Causeway Bay area of Hong Kong Island. Alice, despite my meager protests, paid the bill. Then we took a tram (cool, old double-decker electric jobs with big open windows) down past Happy Valley and into Central.
There we had a pint (me) and half (Alice) of Guiness at Dublin Jack's before turning in for the night. Afterwards I went back to the hotel and slept...until two or three in the morning. Bloody jetlag. Finally made it back to sleep at 6AM.
After sleeping until three in the afternoon, surfing the net, and buying some basics at the 24-hour "7-11" store, Alice and I met up and went for Indian food in Sia Kung at Dia. This is a big fishing area, and there are plenty of famous fish joints, but that is not my thing. Food was great. Weather was a bit shit, so nobody was about. Alice, again despite my stronger protest, paid the bill. The Third day saw myself, at Alice's advice, heading out for 'The Big Buddha' on Lantau Island near the new-ish Chek Lap Kok airport. After tacking the orange line MTR train out there (HKD25) I hopped onto the local bus #23 (HKD16) towards the Po Lin Monastery, Vegetarian Restaurants and Tian Tan Buddha. Wow--what a crazy road. Apparently, before the new airport was build, this island was pretty sleepy by any standard. The island is very mountainous and the road winds its way up and down very carefully. At many points the traffic converges into a single lane for several tens of meters or more, usually on a curve. Anyway, the Big Buddha is quite a sight. Before walking up the steps, I plopped down HKD100 for my own private dinning table at the premium Vegetarian joint offered by the monks. Then I went up the stairs, checked out the Buddha inside and out, took some digi-pics, and headed back down.
Whilst descending the steps, this American guy told me that my backpack was open. One thing led to another, and we ended up having lunch together. (They gave me a refund so that I paid the normal, group table HKD60 each.) Mark and Jing (sp?) are from Sacramento, California. Mark works for Intel and was only in Asia for a few weeks. Jing, like myself, has stopped slaving away for The Man and is off on a semi random three month long Asia trip. Good for him. :D He has my email, we may cross paths again this fall/winter.
So, on the way back we saw one of the three prisons on the island. Took a photo. Cool.
Once back on Hong Kong Island, the plan was to meet up with Hoi at Central Station. "Exit G...as in girl" says Hoi. He is late, so I find the nearest beer--The Mandarin Orient Hotel lobby. This is supposed to be one of the finest hotels in the world, and I was wondering if they would even let me in with my trekking outfit. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster, they did. After two Guinness’s in a bottle (HKD66 each), Hoi shows up. We head of for SoHo a few minutes away where we spot a table outside without deafening music. We had a great time catching up--have not seen each other for nearly five years. He's married now, working for a utility company in Hong Kong and generally happy. Fan-fucking-tastic. :D Several beers later I'm getting drunk and hear my rock hard Ibis hotel bed calling my name around 11pm. We part ways, and the bastard pays for all the beer. I've been foiled again!
Saturday morning I wake up and attempt to meet Alice at Central for our planned trip to Lamma Island. But I have this silly habit of getting off of trains one stop too early. So there I am waiting for Alice outside of exit B of Admiralty station when we had agreed to meet street side of exit A at Central station. Duh! Regardless, we meet up and took the ferry to Lamma Island--a cute little curvy land mass with a few fishing villages, no cars, some hiking trails, and two or three ferry piers. We roams the touristy section of Tak Kok Tsuen, get lost in "the 'burbs", or at least the equivalent, buy trinkets for family, have lunch at this totally out of place and very touristy organic vegetarian friendly book shop which I loved to pieces, walked out to the Pavilion (local touristy spot), got lost again in the local ghetto, got soaked in torrential downpour repeatedly, warmed up in the local library with English language books and periodicals (!), and then headed back for 'home'. Great time, want to go back under different conditions.
After the ferry back to Hong Kong island, we took a bus to Stanley. I have always heard it was one of the most touristic things you can do in Hong Kong. The weather was shit, so there were few people about. That made it easy to pick up a cute little Chinese-style dress for Atabei, my younger niece, amongst other stuff. We also walked down to the sea, saw a guy's happy-go-lucky dog dive into a cesspool of waste (everyone laughed, owner resigned to fate). Ha ha. Then it was a Thai food dinner over looking Stanley bay.
My final day, Sunday, turned out to be a real world wind tour of Hong Kong. Alice and I met at my hotel, then headed for her home town, Yuen Long in the New Territories. After dropping some stuff of for her father, we went to this park in town that had this really cool six or seven story 'bird house' (34 species, ~125 birds) that sat atop a hill surrounded by flatlands populated by highrise apartment buildings. Truely picturesque. But the wind was crazy hard, the rain sporadically heavey, and conditions were generally hot and hummid. Lunch was at a Nepalese place in town near the bus stop. After lunch we took the long route to my hotel where I needed to get my stuff before flying out. We took the scenic, yet food-induced sleepy bus to Taipo Market, then switched to a train bound for Kowloon Tong, where we transferred to the MTR to get back to North Point where the hotel is located. There we grabbed by bags and headed for the airport via bus. To make a long story short, if there is a bag over the bus stop sign saying in English 'service halted', that means the bus will not pull over for you.
All in all, this trip to Hong Kong was better than the previous trips combined! I cannot wait to come back.
Posted by stu at 11:16 AM | Comments (3)
September 14, 2005
Hong Kong, here I come!
Check in was smooth, no queue what so ever. As I may have bragged to some of you already, my accumulated frequently flier miles with Swiss allowed me to upgrade my Zurich-Hong Kong return tickets to Biz Class. Yipee! After check-in I spent an hour or so in the lounge (tomato soup, two Heinekens) and then headed for my gate, E23. For the first time in my bloody life immediately after boarding the aircraft, the stewardess directed me to the left where my seat (5B) was. Oh, I have arrived! It was an newer Airbus 330 with all those wonderful new toys that make flying almost fun: cameras in the nose for take-off and landing, 10" LCD screen, on-demand video system (my two picks were The Hostageand The Interpretor) and some pretty kick ass Biz class seating.
They guy beside me was a Dutchman who had grown up in Holland and France, worked for Roche in Basel, lived across the boarder in Germany with his German wife, and was on his way to Shanghi for a four day visit. Nice guy, well traveled, amazing language skills and a fellow warm-blooded human being (aka anti-Bush). We also spoke about digestive problems with food while traveling in Asia, malaria drugs, CNN goof ups (like the image going around the net where CNN has labled the Czech Republic as Switzerland) and how dry the air is on aircraft--we were dry coughing in synch for half the 13 hour flight.
Arrival was a breeze too. Only one person ahead of me at the Hong Kong immigration queue (normally it is way longer.) Took the airport express train (HKD180 return) to Hong Kong Island station, and from there I took a taxi (HKD50) to my hotel, the Ibis Hong Kong at North Point (HKD380/night). Thanks to Bogey and Kay for recommending this...good deal, great location. And I was upgraded to a harbor view for free!
Posted by stu at 10:32 PM | Comments (2)