I recently left Thailand after 5 years, and made the big move to China. Most of my posts will probably be about my new life here, and so far it's been a busy one.
Before entering mainland China, I was compelled to obtain my work visa in Hong Kong. As my application only went in on the Friday due to flight delays etc, I had to wait until Monday to collect my passport with my new visa.
Hong Kong is a lovely place (this was my 2nd visit), but the length of my stay didn't quite suit my budget. My budget had to extend to a 6 week survival in China before my first salary, so I had to be very frugal. I'm not much of a shopping enthusiast, so it was QED.
Murphy's law of course, and my original planned 2 night stay became a 5 night stay, and HK is rather expensive. I moved out of my first 2 night stay hotel in Kowloon and although it was in a good area for restaurants, I found the hotel entrance and hallways to be grubby at best, and although the rooms were clean, they were very small.
Using my trusted source for hotels once again, I found a gem of a place on Hong Kong island. The best part of it was that it was located right next to the MTR and accessible by a short walk along the footbridge. It was comfortable, clean, big and checked all the right boxes. Since I didn't have my passport with me (still at visa office), it was a little challenging to get checked in, but the staff were great and accepted my passport front page which I'd had the foresight to put into Dropbox.
Initially I got rather cold in Hong Kong, although the temperatures were around 18 to 22 degrees C, but having come from 40+ degrees, it did take me a while to acclimatise. Fortunately I love to walk a lot, and it went a long way to warming me up, and probably contributed to losing a few kilos. I took hundreds of photos, but here are just a few to perhaps whet the appetite of anyone who may be considering visiting HK.
Victoria Gardens Causeway Bay View from the bridge
Catholic Church in Wan Chai
Victoria Harbor (below)
Found this nearby Victoria Harbor Golden Bauhinia Square
Walk along the promenade
Star Ferry Terminal
Gardens at the visa office
A tortoise on his morning walk Tram ride to Causeway Bay
Water feature at the library in Causeway Bay
So, after a pleasant weekend of sightseeing, I was back at the visa office on Monday morning to collect my passport with the new visa. Happy days. Next little hiccup was that I was unable to get a flight out of HK to mainland China until the next morning, so another night spent in HK, fortunately at the lovely Hotel where I'd been staying for the previous 2 nights.
I had a very early morning flight for the Tuesday morning, Hotel reception had ordered me a taxi for 5am, so I stayed in, packed and tried for an early night. The next day would find me arriving in Hangzhou at around 11am.
More about that in my next post.
