06/12: Goodbye London and Hello Hong Hong
After spending most of the morning cleaning my room and ensuring I had everything packed into my cases I still had one thing on my mind before I could leave. That was the dodgey BT phone line. Now why did I leave it to the last minute you may ask, well the fact is I didn’t and had begun the process weeks ago, but was having more problems finding someone transfer the account over to. I was on the phone about a week or so before to BT attempting to cancel the account, however the gentlemen I spoke to advised me that I could just transfer the account over as long as I had that persons details. As I couldn’t do it much earlier I of course had to call up on Saturday morning, and in true BT fashion they stuffed me around. The people I spoke too told me that I was unable to transfer the account over to another person. Again a typical demonstration of how BT works, stuffing you around. As I had no time to be messsing around , I just arranged for it to be cancelled at the end of Dec. I just hope that the guys in the house can get it sorted.
After saying a few goodbyes to the gang at 372 I was off to Hammersmith to meet Leigh for lunch. Hammersmith is direct on the Piccadilly Line which runs to Heathrow, so lunching at Hammersmith made things a lot easier. Wheeling my cases along the footpath of the A40, I soon arrived at Park Royal Tube and was on my way to Hammersmith.
We met up at the same pub Leigh and I used to go to when we first arrived in London, as it always had good cheap food. I ordered a Guiness with a BBQ Beef and Bacon burger and the yummy curly fries. Mmmmm Yum. Poor Leigh was on a Detox trying to get rid of a stomach bug, hence had to be careful what she ate.
After a quick lunch I was soon on my way to Terminal 5 with plenty of time to spare. I had already checked in online so my seat was already allocated, so no need to rush. Had a quick cold drink before saying a final farewell to Leigh and headed into security.
The T5 security seemed to be working farely well, however I believe the reason it was working was the fact that it was not that busy. However though it took only about 5 - 10 mins to go through, I think this would not have been possible if the amount of passengers were high. Either way , apart from having to remove my shoes it was rather trouble free. I didn’t even have to remove my laptop from my bag, which for some reason some airports require you to do this.
Wandered through Heathrow T5 shops for a short while but didn’t really have any space left in my bag to buy anything. Its terrible these days that the airlines restrict your baggage to 24 Kilos. Long Haul flights you tend to take more as you usually go for longer, now the airlines just use it as an excuse to charge you more and make the plane lighter to use less fuel. Whilst these are good arguments, it doesn’t make it any easier for me.
I had been given seat 49C which was in the aisle towards the back of the plane I thought that the aisle my offer a little more space and allow me to get up and down for the toilet or to stretch my legs anytime I wanted. Still the 11 hours in a cramped seat played havoc, as I’m restless at the best of times and no matter which way I sat I ever got comfortable. I did however have a nice couple sitting next to me on the plane which were English heading to Adelaide for a wedding, but were breaking up the journey in Hong Kong first. During the flight I watched several movies, of which appeared fairly recent, as I had not heard of some of them. It was a good mix of movies, but some that were classed as comedy hardly tickled your humour. The plane food was as good as plane food gets with a chicken option or beef lasagne for dinner and a choice of English breakfast or Egg fruit Tate or something similar.
After a rather smooth flight I was existing the aircraft and heading towards the gates. I had to wait in the queue for immigration which is typical at most airports before I could get my bags. I had to complete a landing card, but the customs guy hardly even looked at what I had completed. I suppose the passport records most things these days anyway.
Grabbing my bags I was soon in the queue for my airport express pass, which allowed for three days of MTR travel, which I thought would be benefical for getting around Hong Kong. Within minutes I was on the Airport express heading to Kowloon, which is the area of my hotel. Once at Kowloon I decided to get a taxi for the 2Km trip to the hotel.
The taxi’s in Hong Kong are hardly modern. With the red paint work they are easy to spot, but despite the column shift gears and a old interior, the ride was rather hassle free and the cab appeared clean.
After arriving in Hong Kong the vast scale of commercial and residential buildings are evident across the skyline. Its hard to imagine what life would be like purched high up in one of the older style apartment buildings.
The Taxi driver took me directly to my Hotel ‘ The Royal Garden ‘ and soon after checking in I was in my room. The hotel itself appears as an older building but the interior has been done up very nicely, with a large atrium creating an air of space between the floors. Even the elevators are glass, so you can see the foyer and restaurants below as you rise towards your floor.
For some reason my room was upgraded to an Executive suite, I wasn’t complaining but was just happy to get a nice room. It has a massive King Size bed with a giant flat screen TV on the wall, and a small couch, side table and a desk in the corner, even had a fax machine which I guess where the executive part of the room comes into play.
After freshening up, I headed out into the streets for a quick explore of the Kowloon area, first heading onto the Victoria Harbour side and walking along the prominade or the star walk. The weather was a little muggy but rather mild and I was able to get many photo’s as it began to get dark. I walked around the central shopping area and Nathan road which as soon as I walked into it , I was hassled to buy Rolex watches or other goods. Things looked rather similar to how they look in china town or just parts of Chatswood. (I hate to say) All the restaurants or noodle style bars are exactly the same as we have at home. However unlike home when you walk past a Chinese restaurant and get the fantastic smell of cooking food, its seems to be a small you get all over. So I walked around feeling hungry most of the time. I even stopped into a small restaurant for BBQ port with rice, Yum.
Walking around Kowloon there is a continual display of lights and colour whether it be for a shop or restaurant or even just advertising its all over the place. I walked back along the star walk prominade and took lots of photo’s of the building and their lights. I even got to see the Symphony of Lights, which was a fantastic display of lights and sound. All the buildings across the harbour were wired up into the music and would flash on and off in time and laser lights would shine from the top. Something different but it sure was impressive.
Being Christmas time there were many buildings that had Merry Christmas lights and messages on the buildings. It was not just a small sign but a hugh light display encompassing the entire building. I took a lot of photo’s of these before returning to the hotel.
Whilst I was walking around Kowloon, it brought my attention to the amount of cameras that everyone had. Unlike in London where I felt out of place walking with a camera, this place it was not the case. I think every man and his dog was out taking photos. The amount of tripods I saw was over whelming if only I had mine.
After saying a few goodbyes to the gang at 372 I was off to Hammersmith to meet Leigh for lunch. Hammersmith is direct on the Piccadilly Line which runs to Heathrow, so lunching at Hammersmith made things a lot easier. Wheeling my cases along the footpath of the A40, I soon arrived at Park Royal Tube and was on my way to Hammersmith.
We met up at the same pub Leigh and I used to go to when we first arrived in London, as it always had good cheap food. I ordered a Guiness with a BBQ Beef and Bacon burger and the yummy curly fries. Mmmmm Yum. Poor Leigh was on a Detox trying to get rid of a stomach bug, hence had to be careful what she ate.
After a quick lunch I was soon on my way to Terminal 5 with plenty of time to spare. I had already checked in online so my seat was already allocated, so no need to rush. Had a quick cold drink before saying a final farewell to Leigh and headed into security.
The T5 security seemed to be working farely well, however I believe the reason it was working was the fact that it was not that busy. However though it took only about 5 - 10 mins to go through, I think this would not have been possible if the amount of passengers were high. Either way , apart from having to remove my shoes it was rather trouble free. I didn’t even have to remove my laptop from my bag, which for some reason some airports require you to do this.
Wandered through Heathrow T5 shops for a short while but didn’t really have any space left in my bag to buy anything. Its terrible these days that the airlines restrict your baggage to 24 Kilos. Long Haul flights you tend to take more as you usually go for longer, now the airlines just use it as an excuse to charge you more and make the plane lighter to use less fuel. Whilst these are good arguments, it doesn’t make it any easier for me.
I had been given seat 49C which was in the aisle towards the back of the plane I thought that the aisle my offer a little more space and allow me to get up and down for the toilet or to stretch my legs anytime I wanted. Still the 11 hours in a cramped seat played havoc, as I’m restless at the best of times and no matter which way I sat I ever got comfortable. I did however have a nice couple sitting next to me on the plane which were English heading to Adelaide for a wedding, but were breaking up the journey in Hong Kong first. During the flight I watched several movies, of which appeared fairly recent, as I had not heard of some of them. It was a good mix of movies, but some that were classed as comedy hardly tickled your humour. The plane food was as good as plane food gets with a chicken option or beef lasagne for dinner and a choice of English breakfast or Egg fruit Tate or something similar.
After a rather smooth flight I was existing the aircraft and heading towards the gates. I had to wait in the queue for immigration which is typical at most airports before I could get my bags. I had to complete a landing card, but the customs guy hardly even looked at what I had completed. I suppose the passport records most things these days anyway.
Grabbing my bags I was soon in the queue for my airport express pass, which allowed for three days of MTR travel, which I thought would be benefical for getting around Hong Kong. Within minutes I was on the Airport express heading to Kowloon, which is the area of my hotel. Once at Kowloon I decided to get a taxi for the 2Km trip to the hotel.
The taxi’s in Hong Kong are hardly modern. With the red paint work they are easy to spot, but despite the column shift gears and a old interior, the ride was rather hassle free and the cab appeared clean.
After arriving in Hong Kong the vast scale of commercial and residential buildings are evident across the skyline. Its hard to imagine what life would be like purched high up in one of the older style apartment buildings.
The Taxi driver took me directly to my Hotel ‘ The Royal Garden ‘ and soon after checking in I was in my room. The hotel itself appears as an older building but the interior has been done up very nicely, with a large atrium creating an air of space between the floors. Even the elevators are glass, so you can see the foyer and restaurants below as you rise towards your floor.
For some reason my room was upgraded to an Executive suite, I wasn’t complaining but was just happy to get a nice room. It has a massive King Size bed with a giant flat screen TV on the wall, and a small couch, side table and a desk in the corner, even had a fax machine which I guess where the executive part of the room comes into play.
After freshening up, I headed out into the streets for a quick explore of the Kowloon area, first heading onto the Victoria Harbour side and walking along the prominade or the star walk. The weather was a little muggy but rather mild and I was able to get many photo’s as it began to get dark. I walked around the central shopping area and Nathan road which as soon as I walked into it , I was hassled to buy Rolex watches or other goods. Things looked rather similar to how they look in china town or just parts of Chatswood. (I hate to say) All the restaurants or noodle style bars are exactly the same as we have at home. However unlike home when you walk past a Chinese restaurant and get the fantastic smell of cooking food, its seems to be a small you get all over. So I walked around feeling hungry most of the time. I even stopped into a small restaurant for BBQ port with rice, Yum.
Walking around Kowloon there is a continual display of lights and colour whether it be for a shop or restaurant or even just advertising its all over the place. I walked back along the star walk prominade and took lots of photo’s of the building and their lights. I even got to see the Symphony of Lights, which was a fantastic display of lights and sound. All the buildings across the harbour were wired up into the music and would flash on and off in time and laser lights would shine from the top. Something different but it sure was impressive.
Being Christmas time there were many buildings that had Merry Christmas lights and messages on the buildings. It was not just a small sign but a hugh light display encompassing the entire building. I took a lot of photo’s of these before returning to the hotel.
Whilst I was walking around Kowloon, it brought my attention to the amount of cameras that everyone had. Unlike in London where I felt out of place walking with a camera, this place it was not the case. I think every man and his dog was out taking photos. The amount of tripods I saw was over whelming if only I had mine.
