 
Destination Hong Kong - Asia's World City
Having now got engaged I wanted to spring a suprise on Gina, as I know she always wanted to leave the Philippines and have a vacation somewhere
so I thought ok "I will get you big time with this one" While were on Boracay we visited Filipino travel, and I took the bull by the horns, and booked
us 2 return tickets with Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, and arranged with the Intercon in Manila, to get us a nice room in their sister hotel the
Grand Standford Intercontinental which is located on Moby road, Kowloon.
So off we went from Ninoy Acquino International Airport, Manila on a 1 hour 15 minute flight into Hong Kongs Chep Lap Kok international, once having arrived
immigration formalities were over in a few minutes, British Nationals to the former colony get an automatic 3 month visa, whilst Filipino's do not require a
visa, so don't worry about your girl having one, she automatically will get a 14 day visa. The quickest and cost effective way into Hong Kong (the Airport is
about 20 miles out of Hong Kong and the New Territories on a man made island called Lantau) is the Airport Express train service the cost one way is about 100
$HK around £10.00 or $18.00 although I have a little tip for you, try and purchase from the machine an  Octopus card it can be recharged on any MTR
station in Hong Kong, it is a chip system, so it can be scanned on any of Hong Kong's public transport service, this card entitles you each to 2 journeys
on the Airport express train, so that will cover you for going each way, then the card can be used to access all other transport services.
Their are 3 stations on the Airport Express service, these are Tsing Yi, Kowloon and Hong Kong, if your hotel is Kowloon side, you need to exit the train at Kowloon
station, once you go to ground transportation services, most of the major hotels offer a courtesy shuttle bus, and thats how we managed to get to our hotel
in Moby road. Taxi's are plentiful and cheap, use the red taxi's not the green ones, the red ones are for the Hong Kong area, the Green ones for generally
used outside the HK Area.
Enjoy a Slide show of our Hong Kong Moments
The Grand Stanford International Kowloon, Hong Kong
 The Grand Stanford Intercontinental is a First class hotel in Kowloon, its has over a 100
suites, the most important thing to Gina and I is the quality of the cuisine at breakfast, the room rate was about $150.00 per night, which we obtained
on special rate from Manila, the international buffett style breakfast in the morning was superb, serving every kind of food from Japanese, English, American
and all types of cuisine even Filipino.
The Grand Stanford acted as our base for the honeymoon, however Hong Kong is a place that
has to be toured to get the sheer sense of the place they call "Asia's World City" and rightly so, as Hong Kong has something for everyone, whether its
shopping, chinese antiquities, relaxation, night life, or sampling the many thousands of local restaraunts, you will be able to find plenty to do, and
to be honest there is not a better place to take your fiancee for a package of a lifetime.
Gina and I started early next morning on a tour of Victoria Peak, this is a must when you visit Hong Kong, The peak has marvellous views of the Hong
Kong mainland, and Islands,the tram ride up the mountain is in itself a sight to see, their are restaraunts and vantage viewing areas, at the top,
this can be found about 20 minutes walk from Star Ferry, famous in Hong Kong, as a meeting place, hop on one of the many double decker London style
buses around town, most of the streets, are named after London streets, such was the British influence before 1997.
 Just to the left here, Gina can be seen descending down to the Hong Kong Central MTR Station
their are a number of small commuter underground lines that run from east to west on Hong Kong Island, and North to South from Hong Kong station to the
new territories, and a number of overland rail services, however to get around the City, due to the amount of the population flows, the best way is via
the Metro Transit Rail system, it is clean, efficient, and air conditioned, your Freedom card here will come in handy, recharge it if it runs out, HK200
should last you about 2-3 days, unless of course you use it to travel to the outer islands, the card will scan across the many machines, the fare is shown
and your card is debited with the fare, The MTR is good to move around, from Causeway bay, Wanchai,or if you want to go out to Stanley Market, use it on
a Red double decker bus.
Places to Visit in Hong Kong It is hard to see everything in the city of Hong Kong in 3-4 days, but this tends
to be the standard visiting time that most people have, having worked in Hong Kong in 2001 I knew the City pretty well, so I tried to give
Gina a good overview of the former colony, the first place we visited was Victoria Peak after a nice lunch at the top (sadly it was smoggy that day and we
could not see the bay area) however, we then took the MTR to visit Causeway Bay Shopping mall, on the 9th floor, their is a fantastic computer plaza
where you can negotiate your own prices, or maybe you could take the Central Line to Admiralty and have your own tailored shirts or a suit made
this central shopping plaza is littered with Asian Tailors who are only too happy to take your money, and make you a set of cotton shirts
a serice you cannot get in the UK. If you are interested in showing your lady to a bazaar, the best one is out at Stanley, however this involves a 45
minute bus ride to the other side of the Island, however its well worth it, if she loves shopping and browsing, the market is known throughout the world
as a place where all things Chinese can be found on the cheap, We took a catamaran across Hong Kong bay to Discovery bay, playground of Hong Kong's wealthy,
and finally to the Island of Lantau, this is a must if you like scenic photos, when you land on Lantau, a 30 minute bus ride will take you to visit the
Po Lin monastery, and the Giant Buddha.
 The photo to the left is of Gina outside the Hong Kong Space Museum sadly,
we had to set priorites about what we went to see, so we did have some photos taken with the Hong Kong skyline as a backdrop
and you can see me to the lower left doing a crocodile Dundee impression, that is at Kowloon side looking across the water, perhaps you should take
a junk across to Star Ferry the Junks themselves are considered to be one of Hong Kong's protected forms of transport, although its actually
quicker to take a train under the bay, the junk is a more scenic way of completing the journey.  The photo to the right is of Gina and I when we climbed the hundreds of steps to the
Giant Buddha which is located on Lantau Island, the Superferry will take you across, we find it a pleasant day out, although allow a full afternoon for
doing this, its mainly a photo opportunity, and its not for the faint hearted, its a long climb as with all things like monuments.
On our last night in Hong Kong we decided to go out for a meal, just around the corner from the Grand Standford is one of the most expensive steak houses
in the world, the management there boast, that the beef steaks used are from the finest cuts of beef cows anywhere in the world, and a steak there will cost
you a weeks wages, (just kidding !!) but it felt like it, Gina and I treated ourselves to a bottle of wine and that set us back a cool £80.00 or US150.00
not I stress for the faint hearted, however having said that the quality was excellent, sadly after our visit, it was time to take the airport express train
back to Hong Kong Intl Airport for our flight back to Manila.  Summary: Gina and I thoroughly enjoyed our 1st honeymoon together and out of the Philippines
it gave Gina a chance to travel outside of the Philippines, and also, it was trip down memory lane for me, the hotel was first class, and the sight seeing
was well worth it, we both had a fantastic time in Hong Kong Asia's World city (point your browser here to go to Discover Hong Kong) Its also a great place to propose, and if you want my recommendation
although it didn't happen this way for us, you could propose to your girl at the top of Victoria peak, I mean when she looks down on the beauty
of Hong Kong's skyline, and the thousands of skycrapers, how can she say "No" to you, best of luck all of you who go there behind us.
Have you taken a look at Boracay yet ?or have you checked out Thailand ? or fancy a
day out to the Province of Bohol
|
