Map of our trip to Hong Kong, Macau and Shenzhen

Introduction

Have you ever had one of those times where you just wanted to just ‘get out of town’, with no specific destination in mind?

We did, and it was in the year 2006. It just so happened that our travel group, WorldMark, had just advertised discounted airfare and accommodation packages – and the timing couldn’t have been better.

Toni was set for a full four weeks of vacation time, and I (at the time) was between projects, so we were able to set a hard date for our holiday. As the travel club had the right price we decided to holiday in Hong Kong in September 2006.

We had dates set for more than three months, but time had been rapidly passing and we had not yet planned the particulars of our trip. As the months turned into weeks, we realized that we would soon be departing.

Two weeks before we were to leave for our holiday we started booking tours. By the time we left Australia we had tentatively planned to tour Macau and Shenzhen (in mainland China). In total, we were to spend our first two days touring, leaving our last two days aside for whatever we fancied.

05 September, 2006 – Departure

We departed mid afternoon from Sydney on Tuesday the 5th of September and landed around 10 PM in Hong Kong at the new international airport on Lantau Island.

The flight was less than half booked, so we had a very enjoyable flight. Once we arrived and passed through customs, we had a half hour wait for the shuttle to take us into Kowloon, and to our destination, the Kowloon Hotel just off Nathan road, which is one of the longest and most well known streets in the Hong Kong region.

While we were at the airport, we purchased Octopus cards, which are essentially rechargeable credit cards used on public transport, vending machines and some restaurants.

Our transfer to the hotel had us crossing one of the world’s longest[2] suspension bridges, over 1.3 kilometers long. We also drove through a series of tunnels which connect Lantau and the New Territories to the Kowloon peninsula. The Kowloon Hotel, was situated opposite the more famous Peninsula Hotel, which is one of the most expensive hotels in Hong Kong.

Tsing Ma Bridge, Hong Kong [3]

Once we arrived, we checked in and headed up to our room. It was a particularly tiny room (not uncomfortable though) and everything was laid out to maximize all of the available space.

In Hong Kong, accommodation and living space is at a premium only valued higher in Tokyo. We had barely enough room to store our large luggage, but it was roomy enough and besides, we didn’t plan on spending much time in the hotel.

That is not to say the hotel wasn’t quite nice. The décor might have dated (think 80s style) with a very well presented lobby. Guest services spoke English and were courteous and efficient.

The Lobby of the Kowloon Hotel

We decided to call it a night early so we could be fresh for the tour, which started the following day.

[1] Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong
[2] the longest carrying road and rail traffic
[3] source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tsing_Ma_Bridge_(1).jpg