Hong Kong

Before we leave the airport - a bit of UFI.  An airport that would see planes perform hair-raising landings among towering skyscrapers earned a terrifying nickname during its 73 years in business. On July 6, 1998, the last aircrafts flew out and landed at Kai Tak Airport, in the heart of Hong Kong's Kowloon Peninsula.  Passengers who had the "privilege" of descending in this built-up, urban landscape, began to nickname it Kai Tak Heart Attack, with pilots putting their skills to the test when landing their Boeing 747s in the centre of Victoria Harbour.  Below is a short video of an airline pilot talking us through the landing - as you can see absolutely no room for error.

The new Hong Kong International Airport was built on a large artificial island formed by flattening and levelling the former Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau islands (3.02 square kilometre and 0.08 km2 respectively) and reclaiming 9.38 km2 of the adjacent seabed. Over 200 million tons of rock were busted out to remove the mountains and over 600 million tons of earth were replaced to extend the land area combining the two islands.

The population of Hong Kong is 7.4 million people mainly of Chinese descent.  They speak Cantonese, and most speak English, in fact, we have found very few people do not speak or understand English.  I feel embarrassed writing that because I believe ti is our job to speak the language of the place you are visiting but this point is worth noting.  Surprisingly only 24% of Hong Kong is developed "built-up" area. The rest is mostly forested. 40% is National Parks, with many hiking trails and walks. This also means that despite the density being broadly equivalent to Singapore on that list, it is much more densely populated in the areas where people live and work.  Below is a sample showing Hong Kong overlaid on Sydney.  Greater is 12,368.7 km² and Hong Kong is 1,110 km².  I have double and triple-checked this.  London is 1,572km², 

The Hong Kong Golf Club was founded in 1889 with the original course and clubhouse being located within the race course in Happy Valley.   They needed more facilities, The Old Course at Fanling was built in 1911. The Old Course was the oldest 18-hole course in Greater China until the government reclaimed some of the land - more on that later.  It was followed in 1931 by the opening of the New Course, which we played)  and in 1969 by the addition of the Eden Course. 

The 'Royal' was dropped from the name of the club in 1996, in advance of the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China . All three  18 holes, were internationally acclaimed championship golf courses, but the Old course is now only 9 holes.  

The clubhouse at Fanling opened in 1914 and is a Grade II Heritage Building. The Pavilion on the Old Course was opened in 1916 and is a Grade III Heritage Building. The Fanling Lodge was built as a residence for the former Governors of Hong Kong in 1934 and is used to this day as a residence for the Chief Executive. It is a Grade I Heritage Building.

There are 68 ancestral graves and more than 74 urns located throughout the three courses at Fanling.  Some of the graves date back several hundred years to the Qing and Ming dynasties. The graves are the ancestral burial places for the five clans of indigenous villagers that still live in the communities surrounding the Club. I thought I had taken a photo of one, but cannot locate it.  They were semi-circular brick walls with benches and tombstones.

The government have claimed back some of the land (32 hectares) for public housing which was allegedly sparked by a small feud between Carrie Lam the Chief Executive of Hong Kong at the time and the committee of Hong Kong Golf Club.  That is the gossip, not sure what the actual truth is.  Enough of that, now to the experience.....

You can stay at the golf club, the rooms are compact but really well designed and very very comfortable.  They have a restaurant in which you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It is like an old colonial golf club with lounges everywhere where you can read and meet people.  But other than that it is a long way out of town so we are here for 2 nights.  As we get out of the taxi, the humidity is ridiculous, just walking up 20 stairs is a mission, quite the shock coming from Sydney, then you get into the air conditioning and it is freezing, just like Aldi.  For those that do not know the Aldi reference comes from an interaction between John and Jen and Neil's granddaughter Katia.  John and Neil are in the car with Katia, making small talk and John asks Katia "What is her favourite shop", she thinks for a while and blurts out "Not Aldi".  John asks why and is that? Katia responds "Because Aldi is sooooooo cold!"  So now anywhere cold is like Aldi.

We had dinner, the menu was extensive and then it was off to bed.  We slept very well, up for breakfast, still extremely hot and humid.  As we go down for breakfast the siren sounds and that is because of a thunderstorm - the course and all facilities are closed due to lightning in the area.  We had breakfast and were pfaffing around, then we got a call to say that the course was opening and we would be the first tee time to go.  So off we rush to get our clubs and golf buggy - definitely golf buggy weather!  No time to warm up, it is raining ever so slightly but it is more of a relief than an irritation.  The course is in fantastic condition, and the staff are so welcoming and helpful.  It is buggies on cart paths only as we had had a deluge of rain, so quite understandable.  I played really well, the course was the right length and with the right balance of punishment for off-course shots.  The rough was very very thick grass that grabbed your club head, so avoid that at all costs.  There was a 2 ball in front of us that were resuming their round from the lightning delay, a 4 ball behind us - we had the course to ourselves.  It took us 3 hours to play 18 holes, the weather dried up and I won....  PERFECT!

A quiet night in, pre-dinner drinks in the lounge, with dinner at the restaurant and then back to the room.  We were physically drained from the golf in the humidity so it was an early night.  The next day we are off at 11, which we tried to bring forward.  Luckily they were able to get us an earlier tee time, but it meant we were in the middle of 4 balls, so it was slower but by slow I mean 3.5 hours.  However, no rain just very hot and humid.  John and I played well, to our handicaps but it was tough, I cannot describe how tough it was and we were playing well.  As the game drew to a close the gimme putts were getting longer and longer - I think we just couldn't be arsed to putt out or bend down to pick the ball out of the whole.  Boy was it hot, friggin' hot.  Writing this reminds me of the first day when I went to the loo at the halfway house, my clothes were so wet It was difficult to get them back on again.  More photos of the course below on a less cloudy day.

When we finished our golf, I have already mentioned that we were completely buggered, but we had to pack our clubs away and seriously all we wanted to do was lie down and go to Aldi.  As we were walking back up the 20 steps to get into the clubhouse, there was a lady discussing options with a tradesman about painting the steps.  I looked back and John was struggling to walk up the steps, he was walking very slowly - I asked him if he was okay.  The lady heard and immediately held the door open for John then started gesturing and telling staff to do this and that and within a few minutes we had these isotonic drinks and water and cold towels.  I think she thought  we were going to die on her. Pocari sweat, is a great remedy and we should have been drinking them all around the course.

We had a late checkout, so an hour to stop sweating, a shower and then an Uber into town, to our new digs for the next 3 nights.  We are staying in Wan Chai, which is not far from the lively nightlife and all the cocktail bars John has us visiting - it is training for his mixology skills!  The hotel is fabulous and our room is unbelievable, we have magnificent harbour views - which are uninterruptible due to no bridges.  Our room is on the 32nd floor and we look left to Victoria Peak and right to Kowloon.  Just perfect.

In time for high tea, we go to the lounge which is located on the 31st floor and sample the sweets and savouries of high tea - no champagne for me, but John is straight on the beers.  then back to the room to unpack and have a nanna nap before sampling the cocktails in the Club Lounge and out to sample the night life.

I think John has forgotten that we have played golf in the most treacherous conditions and he seems to be numbed with the beer, I am swallowing Panadol to stave off headaches.  John with a second wind, and wanting to get value from his lounge membership - we go back for cocktails, which also includes food.  John is loving the satay noodles - best ever!  At least it is lining his stomach for the night of cocktail bar hopping we have planned!!!  We ventured out to Dragon Fly, which was quite hard to find after a taxi ride that dropped us off down the street, then we had to find the number of the bar but it was in a complex - which was not straightforward.  So off we trek in buildings, out of buildings, looking at the map, eventually after asking 3 people we find the bar.  When we go in, I realise that we are way too old for this hip Hong Kong nightlife, so I usher us to an outside table where we do not drag the average age up by 30 years.  It was one cocktail here and then back home - we had hit a wall and wasted a lot of time trying to find the place - which was cool and hip and worth the visit. 

To bed in our lovely oversized bed, comfy bed, comfy pillows, total blackout. Brilliant.

Wake up nice and early ready for a lovely day out, John was super impressed by Hong Kong's public transport the last time he was here, he is very keen to go to the places we are going to via public transport.  We plan to visit several Art galleries in Kowloon and surrounds.  We just have to get a bus, then a train, then a 44-minute walk!  What?  In this heat - even John was put off by this.  So we got a taxi to the first stop - M+ Museum.  That was after a delicious breakfast - you guessed it in The Club, with a lovely pot of tea.  It was moody outside and humid as hell. 

At this juncture we have to give the pineapple of Hong Kong a huge shout out.  Both John and I do not think we have ever tasted better pineapple, it is juicy, tart, sweet and so tasty it almost tastes artificial.  Bloody tasty!  And now the fun begins, a taxi to M+.  M+ is a contemporary art gallery and is inside the large telescreen that you can see in the night time photos.  The exhibitions offer something for everyone and it was a top notch experience.  Some photos below

Then we came across this space with a whole lot of old men in wheelchairs, it was a kinetic display which happened on the hour - so we will be back for that but here are some of the photos of the charachters which were life size models.

I think the dude above on the left reminds me of John trying banana!  Zoom in and see the detail, they are absolutely unbelievably life like. The display itself was not as good as the individual characters themselves.

We are not yet finished in M+, there is more...  Some more photos below.

Now the adventure begins, we are going to try out these super slick Hong Kong transport system.  We are now going to another Museum called K11 Musea, which is a short bus ride away.  Trying to find the bus stop, after weaving our way through building sites and under bamboo scaffolding.  I digress for a while while we try to find the bus stop!  

Yep, you walk under bamboo that goes 30 stories high - I mean, WTF! But here is why - bamboo's internal cell-like structure allows it to withstand compression, making it an ideal material for scaffolding. Why bamboo? Compared to steel, bamboo is much lighter, six times faster to erect and 12 times faster to dismantle. It's also a fraction of the cost. Some samples if bamboo scaffolding below.

Still looking ......

We are still looking for the bus stop - oh we found it.  We wait for the bus, only for the bus driver to tell us we are on the wrong side of the road.  Okay, not a problem, we will walk over the pedestrian bridge above us, that should work.  Oh no, it won't.  We got stuck in a shopping mall with no visible exits - both of our worst nightmares!  So frustration starting to build, we find one of the hotels in this building - they must have an exit and a taxi rank.  So taxi it is, to K11 Musea, please.  K11 was not what John expected, it was another shopping mall, a very nice building, it had some sculptures around in but no visible map and we were tired, thirsty and hungry - so lunch at a restaurant in the mall.  The restaurant is on the 6th floor - we found the lifts but how the hell do you call the lift - we cannot find the lift buttons anywhere.  It is almost like Ashton Kutcher is filming a prank, whilst we were flummoxed at how to summon the lift.  Eventually I saw the button in the book - see photo below.

This mall had a whole floor dedicated to your pets, there were all sorts of designer pet gear stores.  Gucci water bowls, Tommy Hilfiger clothes - I kid you not!  It happened to be on the same floor and right next to the Chinese restaurant we had lunch at and the outdoor rooftop pet gardens.  Lunch was good, as were wer leaving John asked one of the wait staff if they could fill up his water bottle, which they kindly did.  So off we go, now to try and find the Avenue of stars - we can walk now, so no efficient public transport.

The Avenue of the stars is a promenade with seating areas and jazz music being played.  It is outside and onto the harbour front, really very very nice.

We are now looking for the Naked Flower exhibition, which John's expert navigation gets us too without too much bother.  Before we go in, John hands me the water bottle to have a sip of water and to my shock and horror I feel the steam coming out of the bottle - thankfully before my lips were scorched.  The restaurant had filled John's bottle with boiling water not cold water.  Poor John we has been carrying this water around with him.

This next experience is the highlight of Hong Kong for me.  It is an interactive experience, here are some photos and videos worth watching, what doesn't come through is the floral scents that change as you walk through the exhibition.  First off down the escalator, you are entertained for the next 30 - 40 minutes while navigating the displays, touching screens and blowing dandelions, smelling roses and becoming a fairy.

Just brilliant.  Next we want to experience the efficient public transport and the iconic Hong Kong Star Ferry which runs every 2 - 5 minutes from one side of the harbour to the next.  Oh my oh my was this an experience, but to be fair everyone is quite surprised by this.  John has researched and the best way to travel is with an Octopus Card, which we have pre-loaded.  It is an app and it is supposed to miraculously work when you tap the machine.  With this card, we do not have to queue to get a ticket, so we jump the queue - thank goodness, look what is behind us!!!!

Thirsty waiting for the ferry, the water still isn't cool enough to drink!  We waited and waited for the ferry - the boarding process was quite quick and efficient, however, we hadn't used our Octopus cards and were very nervous that we had stood in this queue without boiling water and no tea bag for quite some time.  To our relief, the Octopus card worked a treat, mine on my watch and John's on his phone.  Then we wait in another queue for the Ferry which they are boarding in lots.  The ferry came and we boarded, it was a polite rush and the ferry ride was short and pleasant.  Off we get to central, we are over public transport, so we get a taxi to the Peak Tram and start that queue.  Again our Octopus card gets us ushered to the front of the queue, and we wait for the peak tram.  

They do make your queing time pleasant with a cinematic ceiling of flowers and butterflies.  It is aircondition so cool, but our water is still too hot to drink.  The tram comes and we hop on.  Getting to the Peak by the Peak Tram is an unforgettable experience. One of the world's oldest and most famous funicular railways, the tram rises to 396 metres (about 1,300 feet) above sea level. It is so steep that the buildings you pass look like they are leaning a gradient of between 4 to 25.7 degrees!  Once at the top, you disembark and pay more money to get to the Sky deck and soak in the spectacular views from the peak.  By this time John has emptied the water bottle and is carrying less weight.  The view at the top is spectacular and gives you a very good 360º view of Hong Kong.

With John's water bottle so light, he decided to hold it in an unsual place whilst capturing the scenary.

We go to get the tram back down the queue down is even longer, we could not be arsed so off to find a taxi, we go, and back home for a well-deserved rest before meeting a friend of John's for dinner.  Some Hong Kong night photos were taken from the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club where John's friend Ian is the Rear Commodore.  when we were leaving I wasn't quite ready for the loo, so I could easily wait for the 10-minute ride home.  What I didn't know was that we were going to be shown Ian's boat and John was really interested so kept asking questions and we kept getting shown more and more boats and workings of the Yacht Club - which was interesting but by this time I am cross-legged! 

At last a taxi and back to the hotel and to a loo!  A good night's sleep and quite a lie in as the room is very dark and we had had a big day.  We wake up to a very rainy day and we are so glad that we did so much yesterday.  Today we are taking the bus to Stanley which is a beach side suburb of Hong Kong.  The bus was not far from our hotel and we are now experts on the public transport - so no drama and the bus ride was fabulous.  Stanley was quiet unlike the hustle and bustle of the day before, we strolled along the waterfront and then went to the market where John bought a painting.

I don't know why but I never imagined that Hong Koing had a beach vibe.  This was a great day out and well worth the trip.  Back to our lovely room - some blogging, some Bridge Club work and off down to cocktails at the Club then meeting Ian and a friend at a cocktail bar for another night out.  We had a fabulous night out starting off with drinks at a bar that John had researched then off to one that Chris had recommended - by this time I need some serious food as I am feeling a bit woosie!  A great restuarant with a fab vibe where if you guess the artist plaing you got free shots, I know a bad idea before a long flight.  The food was to die for and the banter excellent.  Then a night cap at a Live music venue, also recommended by Chris - I think.  Just a great night out.

Our last day in Hong Kong, last chance to explore.  We are off to meander the mid terraces.  To get to and from the lower level to mid level there are a series of elevators which help you with the very steep uphill journey.  It is very hot and humid and we didn't make the full trip planned as we were too hot.  Below are some shot from the ambling around town.

We are now checked out and awaiting an 11:30pm departure to Frankfurt and then a short wait and off to Newcastle to see Patty, Rich, Katie, Sam and Jack - Champion.  I have to say, if you are visiting Hong Kong, The Grand Hyatt Wan Chai is the place to go, we have been treated like Royalty, every little thing has been thought of and the Club Lounge is a great thing, especially now as we have 6 hours to wait til our cab picks up and take us to the airport.

Interesting facts I have learned about Hong Kong

• Teslas are everywhere, I would say every fourth car is a Tesla - why, because non-electric cars carry a tax of 100% and Electric (of which Tesla was the only one at the time the law was introduced) carried 0% tax.  The charging infrastructure was also free.  Australia, you could learn from this!!!

• Bamboo Scaffolding is lighter, cheaper and quicker to erect and dismantle, therefore making it much much cheaper.

• Local knowledge for navigation is a must, Google Maps doesn't have the skills to direct you down the tiny alleyways of Hong Kong.

• August is not the best time to visit Hong Kong

• Hong Kong Golf Club is well worth the visit.

• An Octopus card is a must.

• Cash is required by Taxis in Hong Kong

• The cash rate at Sydney airport was 3.8 HKD to the AUD, John shunned this rate and at Hong Kong airport got a conversion rate of 4.9 HKD to the AUD.

That is all folks, now for the long trek to the UK.