Hong Kong
Left the cloudy Shenzhen around 9:40 a.m. Took the Metro to the Luohu station where the Immigrations building of both the Chinese and Hong Kong border is located. It took us less than an hour, 50 minutes to be exact, to go through Chinese immigration, Chinese Customs, Hong Kong immigration and Hong Kong Customs. At exactly an hour later we were already seated on the KCRC train bound for East Tsim Sha Tsui (46 minutes - with several stops in between, at the New Territories).
Peter and I must be the only ones who have visited Shenzhen and not buy anything! I wasn't even able to buy a postcard for this city because we couldn't find one in the malls, forgot to get them at the tourist attraction places.
We simply did the "bird's eye view" thing at the Meridian View Center in the Diwang Da Sha building, the tourist attractions at Splendidi China and China Folk Villages. We got tired of going outdoors because of the humidity, it was too much to handle. So we opted for relaxing at the Mall.
Which is what we are doing in Hong Kong, too. It's quite humid plus every now and then rains pours heavily on the streets. We will be hanging out at the Mall or go and watch "Shrek 3" at Pacific Palace cinemas in Admiralty.
So, this is our last day in Hong Kong and our last day of our Northeast Asian tour. It has been truly a marvelous experience with a number of pleasant surprises along the way. The numerous times we've been blessed with great weather and serendipitous moments are incredible blessings throughout our journey. Our impressions have been corrected and we have a much better view of how the people in Japan, Seoul, China and Hong Kong live. There were times when I felt totally uncomfortable, basically in places where I don't understand what I hear or what I read and we're left feeling quite vulnerable. But, most of the time, we felt like we belonged and were part of the community.
The hostels in China and the one in Seoul, were completely different from the hostels we have been to in Europe. These are more like hotels in terms of their quality service, most of the time above and beyond the call, and with cheap room rates. We were very impressed.
The people, overall, were very helpful, friendly and hospitable. Only a couple of them surly and rude.
Everything is changing here, especially in China, that we definitely will return to see the amazing new developments. At least we got to see some of the "old" places before they are all demolished and replaced by huge, modern high-rises.
Thank you everyone for your prayers for our safety on our month and a half journey through Northeast Asia.
Signing off from Hong Kong....
Left the cloudy Shenzhen around 9:40 a.m. Took the Metro to the Luohu station where the Immigrations building of both the Chinese and Hong Kong border is located. It took us less than an hour, 50 minutes to be exact, to go through Chinese immigration, Chinese Customs, Hong Kong immigration and Hong Kong Customs. At exactly an hour later we were already seated on the KCRC train bound for East Tsim Sha Tsui (46 minutes - with several stops in between, at the New Territories).
Peter and I must be the only ones who have visited Shenzhen and not buy anything! I wasn't even able to buy a postcard for this city because we couldn't find one in the malls, forgot to get them at the tourist attraction places.
We simply did the "bird's eye view" thing at the Meridian View Center in the Diwang Da Sha building, the tourist attractions at Splendidi China and China Folk Villages. We got tired of going outdoors because of the humidity, it was too much to handle. So we opted for relaxing at the Mall.
Which is what we are doing in Hong Kong, too. It's quite humid plus every now and then rains pours heavily on the streets. We will be hanging out at the Mall or go and watch "Shrek 3" at Pacific Palace cinemas in Admiralty.
So, this is our last day in Hong Kong and our last day of our Northeast Asian tour. It has been truly a marvelous experience with a number of pleasant surprises along the way. The numerous times we've been blessed with great weather and serendipitous moments are incredible blessings throughout our journey. Our impressions have been corrected and we have a much better view of how the people in Japan, Seoul, China and Hong Kong live. There were times when I felt totally uncomfortable, basically in places where I don't understand what I hear or what I read and we're left feeling quite vulnerable. But, most of the time, we felt like we belonged and were part of the community.
The hostels in China and the one in Seoul, were completely different from the hostels we have been to in Europe. These are more like hotels in terms of their quality service, most of the time above and beyond the call, and with cheap room rates. We were very impressed.
The people, overall, were very helpful, friendly and hospitable. Only a couple of them surly and rude.
Everything is changing here, especially in China, that we definitely will return to see the amazing new developments. At least we got to see some of the "old" places before they are all demolished and replaced by huge, modern high-rises.
Thank you everyone for your prayers for our safety on our month and a half journey through Northeast Asia.
Signing off from Hong Kong....
posted by Mimi | 8:29 PM
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