luni, 21 februarie 2011

Hong Kong: Chinese, Chinese and more Chinese - part I

by Bobo


          Some years ago (some 15 years ago) I have read James Clevell’s Shogun. Then after I went on with the entire series but Changi as I am not highly attracted by life in concentration camps. On this occasion, however, I have got to discover a world of contrasts, a world of pirates, a world completely different from all that I had known by then. I was about 15 or 16 years old back then and it all seemed to me like a story. This is how my will to see Hong Kong was born. It was never on the top of my preferences and many were ahead of it but since I had the chance I said to myself… why not? And this is how I got to see Hong Kong this winter.

          Getting there is not really difficult. It’s money that matters. First of all it’s the air ticket money. As it is really in China (or well, in a China region with a special status), the plane ticket gets to be a bit expensive. All large companies fly there and if you buy the ticket some while ahead (and if you are lucky enough to encounter also some special offer), it can get to cost you about 700, 800 euro per person. That’s life, since no low cost was invented yet for the transcontinental flights (real low-cost, not the so-called flights taken by Blue Air to Thailand)…My advice is trying to find tickets with Qatar, Turkish Airlines, China Airlines or others like these. Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, BA should be avoided. They offer impeccable services, but with a change in Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt or London. And it makes no point to fly towards west and then return. I myself flew Air France and had a shock to see that from Paris I was flying back, above Romania. This is how I managed to waste 6 hours alone only with flying. And the flight is not at all a short one: 3 hours from Bucharest to Paris, 5 hours stop-over in Paris followed by 13 hours of flight to Hong Kong. Therefore shortening the flight time duration is most welcome.

          There should be no problems with the visa for Romanian citizens, as none is needed. From the day you get there you can stay in Hong Kong for 90 days (if you exit the city for various trips, like Macao, you get another visa when entering back with 90 available days).  Be careful though, you are not allowed any type of employment during these 90 days (the employment possibility is anyway very small considering the amount of Chinese people and the ones trying to get there from China). For more information upon the visa you can visit the site of the Chinese Embassy or http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/hkvisas_4.htm (Hong Kong is part of China but has a special administrative regime as for China Romanians do need a visa).
         
          Hotels are to be found on all the roads and for all the pockets. All the times when I choose to go somewhere (not on an organized trip), the primary site I visit is http://www.booking.com/. You can find there from apartments and hostels to 5 star hotels for which you would need to pay the medium income in Romania for several months for staying just one night. Regarding the price, a bed in a hostel costs about 10, 15 euro and the cost for one night in a decent hotel in a quite central area starts from 50 euro for one person. Be careful though with each hotel’s conditions. Usually, in Hong Kong there is a 10% tax (service tax) which is not included in the price shown on the web site, but which is however mentioned. It is good to save some money for this too and carefully read all that it is written in your reservation. Another unpleasant Asian habit (which has happened to me not only in Hong Kong), is that when you are checking in with your hotel and paying by credit card, an amount larger than the room cost is blocked by the hotel. In Hong Kong that sum was about 100 euro. The hotel staff explanation was “just in case…”.  At the end of your stay, the money is ‘unblocked’. Pay attention to take into account for that supplementary sum of money, too (and it is better to be asking with your hotel if such money is held and how much).
         
          I have stayed at Butterfly on Morisson, which is in Wan Chai and the room for two people was about 100 euro per night, without breakfast. The hotel is close to Times Square (about 5 minutes walk), where there is a subway station (and a huge mall – well, the malls are actually everywhere, you only need the money). The hotel wants to be some sort of a boutique hotel, but it only remains a whish (written on all leaflets in the room). Its only big disadvantage was the bathroom, which offered not too much intimacy, as it had two sliding transparent glass doors. The hotel has 28 storeys and if you are lucky to have a room at the upper levels, you get a wonderful view of the mountains (for the lower levels the view you get is of some really old and ugly buildings – the Romanian ‘communist’ blocks are a beauty compared to those). The personnel spoke pretty good English (the Receptions guys) and were really kind, so this can be considered a plus. It is easily reachable from the airport by a shuttle (a taxi can be taken, too – for two people the shuttle is 300 HK dollars one way – about 30 euro – and the taxi costs 350 HK dollars). For the way back to the airport, the same shuttle can be chosen. It must be booked 4 hours ahead its desired arrival – be careful though, another 150 HKD per person is added. There are, as you can see, no problems with the transportation.

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