Posts tagged sta travel
A hike in Hong Kong
Sometimes things just happen for a reason. Take for example the other day. Matt and I had ventured out of our swanky hotel to wander round the streets of Hong Kong, getting a feel for the place and trying the local cuisine. Around lunchtime we directed ourselves towards a number of Cantonese eateries eager to sample the dim sum- a dish which consists of small portions of food served either in baskets or on plates. The place we eventually chose looked authentic enough; indeed we were the only Westerners in it and as such had some trouble conveying our order through to the waitress who seemed to completely ignore me for some unknown reason. After a complex, confusing and frankly rather bizarre ritual involving checking off several little boxes on a number of pieces of paper- a process which looked more suited to a bingo hall than to restaurant – the waitress wandered off leaving us very confused about what we’d ordered. As it turned out, she had completely ignored any of my requests for vegetarian food, and had instead directed all her unintelligible questions to Matt, who totally overwhelmed by the whole situation, had allowed her to order masses of food for him and none for me. Consequently, I decided to give that place a miss and after Matt had finished eating we went off in search of another place for me to grab some food. It was then, in the sandwich bar I chose that fate struck.
We were seated at a table, map out, considering our next move when a voice called out from behind a newspaper. The voice, as it turned out belonged to a smartly dressed English businessman sitting at the next table along. ‘Do you need some help?” he asked. And that was it. From there the conversation went on. As it happened, this guy was the former president of the Hong Kong ex-pats hiking society, and as such knew all the best routes to take and where to find the most stunning views of the city. We’d done Victoria Peak, we’d been to Stanley, we’d taken the ferry across to the other side. Now we were looking for something different. Something that would fulfil our innate desire to explore and to experience a real adventure. Also, hiking sounded fun. As soon as he told us about the walk to a place called Ng Tung Chai, which passed through ’some of the best waterfalls’ he had ‘ever seen’ we were hooked. He then mapped out a detailed route of where to go and how to get to the starting point via bus and MTR metro system. Included in his precise description of our intended trail was the following gem of advice. ‘Take the path marked NOT VIA WATERFALL, and unless it’s been raining, ignore the warning signs. They’re only there to stop you from getting close up’. What? But we want to go to the waterfall I thought. How odd! He assured us that he had taken the very same route a few weeks back with his 9 year old son, and that anybody who was reasonably fit could manage it. Delighted with our newly acquired knowledge and the promise of a real adventure we headed back to the hotel, happy to have found such a helpful and informative friend.
The next day we were meant to be on a tour of the Northern territories, but a mix up with the hotel pick up times meant that fate struck once again. Having missed that tour we now had time to head off in search of these great waterfalls in Ng Tung Chai. The first part went well. We metroed it to the supposed bus stop for the number 51 K bus- the bus which would take us to the Visitor Centre and the start of our hike. We searched everywhere but could we find this damn bus stop? Short answer: no. Long answer: (exasperated) noooooooooo.
Realising that we were running out of time we hailed a taxi and showed the driver the address of our intended destination. He nodded and we got in. Barely 5 metres down the road he begins to consult a map. ‘Umm… do you get the slight impression that this guy might not exactly know where he’s going?’ I asked Matt. He smiled in agreement. Two minutes later our suspicions were confirmed when the driver started to call a friend. The friend seems equally stumped. Great! So now we’re just kinda cruising around in a taxi stocking up a hefty cab fare and getting nowhere, I thought. Just then fate struck for the third time. We saw the bus! We saw the same bloomin’ number 51 bus we’d been searching in vain for at the bus terminal. ‘Follow that bus’ I shouted momentarily forgetting he understood no english. ‘Umm.. busi, follow busi..busi good!’ I attempted in the manner of the world’s worst charade. Miraculously, however he seemed to understand and we followed the bus until we saw a sign for the Tai Mo Shan Visitors centre. Huzzah, we had made it, but by now it was 4pm. After a quick chat with the guys at the centre, we bought a Country side series map- essential if you want to try one of these hikes and make it back alive- and headed out at a brisk pace. Brisk, because they’d told us it would take around 5 hours. Barely 500 metres up the road the stunning views began. We’d climbed pretty quickly and already we could look down on the sprawling business heartland of HK and marvel at the sublime juxtaposition of countryside jungle on one side and urban jungle on the other.
From there on upwards the views just got more and more spectacular and although at one point we were shrouded momentarily in thick fog for around 15 minutes, we were fortunate with the weather. It was not stiflingly hot and humid, but was instead sunny and bright for the most part, which meant we had some absolutely stunning views.
With note pad in hand we followed the clear instructions that Paul, the man from the sandwich shop, had written down for us and took the turn marked ‘not via waterfall’ down a dirt track into dense jungle. The path was often rocky and sometimes a little difficult to scramble up and down but nothing that the average person couldn’t handle. Both Matt and I buzzed with a sense of real adventure. Everything was so green and lush and fresh. It was just like you imagine Harrison Ford or Angelina Jolie doing in Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider. There was also a certain buzz from ignoring the danger signs and rebelling a little. Clearly, it must be stated that we kept our common sense and would have turned back if at any point it got too dangerous. It also should be said that we only did this on the advice of an experienced hiker. And it was advice well worth taking. The waterfalls when we reached them were just stunning and the whole day was such a great adventure. We swam for a little in the pool of the biggest fall and took some amazing photos (which should be up on flickr soon!) before realising it was getting dark and we still had a fair bit to go. So we pushed on eventually reaching the small, sleepy, town of Ng Tung Chai just as the sun was setting. From there we hopped on the bus and metro back to our hotel, thoroughly knackered but completely satisfied with a day well spent. If you’re in the area and you have a spare day I thoroughly suggest trying a hike. Just remember to bring a map, enough water and plenty of repellant for those peskie mossies. Try it though, and you will be rewarded with some jaw-droppingly beautiful scenary.
Route: Take the MTR metro to TSUEN WAN- the end of the red line. Then take either the 55 or 51K bus, or taxi (around 35,000 HK Dollars) to the Tai Mo Shan Visitor Centre. Buy a countryside series map- you’ll need it. Follow the path up and where it splits into two, take the road marked ‘Not via waterfall’. Dodge past danger signs and go round others warning of landslides only if the weather is good and it doesn’t look like raining. Our route took us 5 hours and it was dark when we finished so it’s a good idea to start earlier than we did. Say around 12 or 1 and you should be fine. Good luck, and let us know if you do it. We’d love to see your photos too!
Life in the fast lane
As the plane begins its final approach to one of the ‘hardest places to land’ and you release your white knuckled hands from the arm rest for a few seconds to lift the window cover and look outside, you are greeted with something fascinating. There is a line that runs along just below the horizon over Hong Kong, on one side of this line there are high rise buildings, fluorescent signs that advertise numerous digital companies and a spaghetti of roads full of flashing lights and flashy cars. on the other side of this line is a huge expanse of green. The entire city is surrounded by fields, jungle and waterfalls. the difference between these two environments is huge, and fact that they are resting next door to each other is an amazing thing to see from the air.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The last few days in Vietnam were fantastic. Hanoi was much faster than any other town we have been to, but there was ten times the amount of scooters on the roads, making crossing them an adrenaline sport. Every street looks very much the same, which meant that when we got lost, it took a long time to make our way back to home. But along the way we found a local market, one that not many westerners seemed to have found as we were the only ones in sight. After a little battering (3 DVDs and the complete 24 box-set for around £12) we did make it home.
Over the two days that we were there we managed to get to the War Museum, where I found out that the country has been ripped apart more times than thought, what with the French sticking there head in there as well at some point over the past 100 years. Some of the jeeps and planes that were left over were fairly haunting, some of them having plaques drilled into them expelling how many people were killed with them. Chilling stuff.
In the evenings it was all about the celebration. We found a bar on top of a block of flats, cleverly named ‘Top Pub’ which turned out to be a little dodgy, as when police came round, the music was turned off and we were told to keep our voices down and to pretend that we were infect friends with the bar man who had just come over for a casual drink. The bar man had a LOT of friends. Once they left the music instantly started again when I am fairly certain they were still in earshot. After far too many cocktails (which you got for free if you stood on one leg for 4 minutes, which gets harder after your 5th) we all stumbled into a taxi that drove around a few times before going to the hotel, watch out for this, it happens a lot, especially to drunk tourists!
The were some swift goodbyes in the morning, with the rest of the group heading into Lous and us jumping on our plane to Hong Kong, it was amazing to go up Vietnam with them all, and was a shame that we had to say goodbye so soon as they all rumbled off to the party capital of South-East Asia.
Hong Kong is a city full of rich businessmen and high rise 5* hotels. It’s no more expensive than it is back in the UK, but after going through a country that asked you for no more that 70p for a beer in the nations capital, it was a bit of a shock when the bill for our first meal come through. It would have been alright though if the food and service had been anything like what I had experienced in Vietnam, but alas it was not. On a recommendation from a guide book, we went to a restaurant in the City Hall. The place must have been a school hall at some point in its life, which had been closed down and then filled with tables, chairs and chandeliers. Avoid it if you can!
Here, they have something that works very similarly to the Oyster card back at home. Although here it’s imaginatively called the Octopus card. The public transport system is pretty sound all the time, and not only does the Octopus card work for all modes of transport, you can also use it in the 7-Elevens all aver town (like co-op, only smaller and there’s one every other shop). Even though this is great, you can’t eat food on the trains, at all. Annoying when my stomach was crying out for some food and I’m sitting there holding a bad full of biscuits, bread and cream cheese (the ONLY cheese you can actually buy out here).
The night life here is fantastic, and not as expensive as you think it might be after spending a day watching the back account suffer. I have a friend out here who moved out with her parents a few years ago, and she is well versed in the night time scene. Katie took me to a bar, ‘Carnegies’ in the centre on town. Here, the booze is stacked on the shelves behind the bar like a library and the way the bar staff get them down is using a ladder very much like the ones you would see in a library to slide back and fourth and drop them down to the colleague waiting at the bottom. You dance on the bar all night, and on wednesdays and thursdays it’s ‘ladies night’ so all girls drink free. Have a female friend with you helps and most of the time there are so many people there and you are ordering through someones legs so the bar staff have no idea that every girl is taking two drinks and handing one straight over to a male friend behind them. Twas a cheep night for all!!
The Hong Kong island is only one part of the entire city, and to be honest not the most exciting one. Whilst it has all the bars and night life, as far as things to do during the day it falls a little short. there is a place called the peeks, where you can get a tram up to the highest point on the island for another amazing view of the different environments in the city, but thats about it. There is also the ‘Big Buddah’ that you can find on the next island, the same island with Disneyland Hong Kong and the airport on it (diverse I know), which is definitely worth the very long cable car ride to it, but pray for good weather. being so high up in the mountains the whole place is prone to disappearing into the clouds.
If you ever do manage to make it Hong Kong, something that is a must is truly experiencing the sudden change between built up city to dense jungle. Right now, I just got back from an epic 4 hour trek up a (almost) mountain, where on one side of me there was a concrete jungle and on the other an actual jungle. We dropped down the other side and started hunting around for something special. We found it. Three hidden waterfalls are cut off by signs saying that there have been landslides and it’s too difficult to get there, saying that we have to turn back now for our own safety. But after bumping into an expat in a sandwich shop who turned out to be an experienced hiker, we were told to go for it, to climb around the sign, and climb down the old land slide (it had been a few years ago, and as long as it hadn’t been raining was still [relatively] safe). We did, and thank god we did. We fell upon one of the most beautiful water falls I have ever seen. If you are anywhere near here at any point, even if you are only there for a few days, get your trainers on (flip flops are a no go!!) and get out there, it’s well worth it, and the best hang over cure in the world!
Tomorrow, through various contacts made over the various nights out and friends of friends, I will be getting on a yacht, heading over to an exclusive yacht club, and dinning with the other half. Its a tough life!
Till then
Matt M
Same, same but different!
As we had arrived ridiculously early – at a time so early that even the early bird contemplates having an extra five minutes lie in- our rooms at the hotel Vien Dong in Nha Trang were not yet ready for us, so we headed to the beach until noon. The sea was a refreshing cool temperature which was just as well as outside the water it was scorching. Fully aware of the ever present danger of travelling to far flung places as a self confessed quasi albino, I opted for the shade, protection and, if I’m honest, damn right laid-back funky style offered by one of those quintessentially tropical looking beach umbrellas and donned my ultra handy mauve aeroplane socks so as to not burn my feet. Lying back, I listened to the dulcet tones of Jack Johnson- essential music for a chilled out sesh on the beach and thought back to all the stress and strain of the previous year’s work. This, though completely unrelated, made all that hard work and effort worth it, as I tend to like to think of it as both a reward and a pick up from the last hellish year. Though naturally a little sad not to be able to share this with all my friends and family, I was thoroughly enjoying being able to lie on a beach and not be overly concerned about getting burnt. The others however, who had decided for whatever reason- either intent on getting a tan, or put off by the relatively cheap 30,000 DONG charge- not to get an umbrella all burnt horrendously badly, especially those with paler skin and those on doxycycline Anti-Malarials. So be warned, when heading to a beach in a super hot country, irregardless of what you may or may not be accustomed to doing in Europe, you should really think about some greater protection in far flung places. Everyone to a greater or lesser degree applied suncream but it didn’t stop them from turning a shade of red normally reserved for screaming babies and overweight men who attempt to do some jogging.
I was also in no danger of getting dehydrated as my newly acquired Vietnamese lady friend (no, not that kind!) was ever attentive to my needs (and her opportunity to make a tidy profit) and in between chats she scurried back and forth with ultra refreshing coconuts and water.
In the evening we went for a nice meal at… as recommended to us by our guide. The food was reasonably priced and the place had an amiable ambiance which made for a relaxing meal. The only thing which made me mildly uneasy was the gigantic leopard print eel which glared at me menacingly from his tank for the almost the entirety of the meal. It’s quite hard to enjoy yourself when you’re stuck in a face off between yourself and an enormous eel, but somehow I managed.
The next day we worked on finishing our first video blog, hampered ever so slightly by a weak wireless connection and intermittent power cuts. Once we’d sorted that out, we headed to the hot springs and mud baths which our guide Apple had told us about. A taxi shared between 4 came to about 75,000 DONG, working out at roughly … each, … in dollars. Entrance to the hot springs was free, but for the mineral mud baths there was the option of either a four person private mud bath totalling 700,000 DONG or access to the public ones working out at 100,000 per person. We opted for the public baths: a) because they were cheaper but more importantly b) because we weren’t segregating ourselves off from the locals. In the event we were guided to a bath for just the four of us- presumably they’d assumed that we would choose the private option, though later I joined in with some of the locals. I’d hopped out of our bath to take some photos with Matt’s new SLR when an ‘official’ photographer popped up and started snapping. I swivelled round and began to take some general photos of the place and my attempt at National Geographic-esque snaps of the locals enjoying the mud. It was at that moment when the Vietnamese photographer approached me gesturing to the camera and pointed at a group of women in a bath that I’d just photographed. Oh ok, don’t take pictures of them I thought- perhaps they don’t want to be in other people’s photos. Yet that wasn’t what he was trying to get at. What the women wanted was, in fact, a photo with yours truly. Umm… ok, I said, surprised at the request, though I suppose we are just as interesting and photo worthy to them as they are to us.
After my somewhat bizarre bonding session with the three women which, as far as I can gather, involved variations of the Vietnamese for ‘Man, how white is she?!’ and ‘what on earth is she wearing?!’ (apparently unbeknownst to us swimwear clad Brits, it was actually customary to dive in to the murky green liquid mud fully clothed, complete with jewellery and watches- not sure how they still worked!) we headed off to first shower and then hop into one of the luxurious hot springs where we were joined by some fellow travellers from Canada and the UK. Our next stop was a warm waterfall, which was exactly what are aching muscles needed. Finally we headed into the pools, both hot and cold to enjoy a leisurely swim before heading back to the hotel. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and one which I would recommend to anyone. The muddy water, although giving the appearance and smell of watery cement was in fact full of minerals which made your skin incredibly soft. Those with sunburn also mentioned that it appeared to soothe their discomfort somewhat. After wolfing down some delicious, and I’d have to say most authentically italian of all the pizzas professing to be so, (purchased from a charming lady from the restaurant Little Italy- she was so nice she even gave us some extra sauces for those who were taking their meals away with them- we headed back to the train station, safe in the knowledge that Apple had promised us that this train would be just as comfortable and well equipped as the last. Now I’m not trying to call anyone a liar here, but the Vietnamese (technically Apple’s thai but this rule applies to her as well) have a wonderful way of stretching the truth slightly to fit their purpose, and nowhere is it summed up better than in the oft heard phrase (so much so that it now appears on souvenir t-shirts) of ‘same, same, but different’! More of slight artistic license used by Apple to describe our second overnight sleeper next time.
Til then!
Becky