ONE of the places I have always wanted to visit is Hong Kong. A few weeks ago I was offered the chance of a two week trip and it didn't take me five seconds to agree.

The BA flight was scheduled to leave at 18.25 on July 15. I was booked with a seat in the World Traveller Plus section, but 12hrs before the flight this was upgraded to business class. I was very pleased about that as it's a long flight, nearly 12 hours, and the chance to try and sleep comfortably was very welcome.

The flight was leaving from the new Terminal 5 and this was my first opportunity to visit it. It was certainly easier than the usual crush as Terminals 1 and 3.

Entering the building it was easy to find a large board displaying the areas handling my flight. Went to one of the numerous self check-in machines, got my ticket immediately and then moved over to the fast baggage drop desk.

Whether it's because the terminal is not at full capacity or it was a quiet period, but my suitcase was processed inside five minutes which is very quick for Heathrow.

The plane was a 747-400 and located at gate B36, so a short trip on the shuttle train to take me to the separate building that houses B gates.

Taking my seat on the plane I noticed a few changes from the 747 I have previously flown on. The club class seats are arranged in pairs, one forward and one facing backwards. There is a small divider which can be raised between the two seats. Previously when I have flown on long haul club seats the divider was a sort of fan arrangement the folded out. On this 747-400 it's a frosted plastic screen that rises from the centre in sections, sort of telescopically.

The seats, at least in club, had a Video on Demand TV system. The option list gave 25 new movies and as many older movies (All the Presidents Men, Terminator 2, Goodbye Mr Ripley, etc) plus kids films, and TV programmes by category.

We seemed to pull away from the gate a little late but not much. The route took us out over Holland, Denmark, across the Baltic Sea and then over one of the Baltic states. On through Russia passing south of St Petersburg and north of Moscow; and it's at this point I settled down for some sleep.

The journey had been uneventful up to then as I moved my seat into the flatbed position, took my blanket and settled down.

I'm not sure for how long I slept but on waking we were about two-and-a-half hours from Hong Kong, somewhere over central China. I declined the full English breakfast and stayed with the diced fruit bowl, smoothie and some coffee.

One of the stewardesses put on a mock disapproval about me refusing the English breakfast, exclaiming that while I was sleeping she had been busy cooking breakfast.

We had already struck up a rapport earlier when as she served my evening dinner, I joked about not getting this level of service at home; she had retorted "maybe I should nag you instead". Now we were on common ground.

Once down on the ground again, the actual exercise of getting through immigration and picking up my bags was relatively painless. There is the normal queue waiting to get through the passport check but it's no worse than many other airports. Arriving then in the baggage hall, my bag was already on the carousel so I swiftly moved through customs into the arrivals hall.

I had been told to get a ticket for the Airport Express which runs from the Airport via Tsing Yi, Kowloon and into Hong Kong station. The journey takes around 25 minutes and costs HK$100 one way, that's just under £7. From the railway station it's then a short taxi ride to my hotel, The Excelsior.

Arriving at the hotel there was a delay as my room was not available for another 45 minutes, I was given a complimentary drinks voucher for the café and allowed myself the time to check up on a few things back home.

My room was on the 25th floor, luckily some of the lifts are express lifts to floors 19 and upwards so it's a quick ride up to the higher floors.

My room unfortunately has a restricted view out onto Causeway Bay. A building on the left extends about 40ft forward from my room and the rest of the Excelsior Hotel building projects forward to the right of my room; but at least I do have a view across the water to Kowloon.

About 30 minutes after settling down in my room there was a knock on the door. The knock was from one of the hotel staff bringing me a complimentary bowl of fruit, a bottle of cabernet sauvignon wine and a pot of hot Chinese tea in a wicker basket. I'm by nature not a tea drinker but I appreciate the effort of a hotel to make a guest welcome.

The next day was a working day but on arriving back at the hotel in the evening I had an envelope and a small gift box sitting on my room desk. Opening the envelope I found a letter from the front desk manager apologizing for yesterdays delay in getting my room ready and explaining the reason. The box contained a small gift I can only assume in recompense for the delay.

Saturday July 19
Po Lin Temple and the Buddha Statue

Theplan for today was to travel with a work colleague to the Po Lin Monastery and the giant Buddha statue on Lantau Island. I took a taxi from my hotel to go around to the Grand Hyatt hotel to collect my colleague, then down to the ferry terminal in Central district.

The boat leaves from Pier 6 to Mui Wo (Silver Mine Bay) on Lantau Island and costs HK$25.5 (£1.68) and took about 20 to 25 minutes, although I wasn’t keeping track of time.

The ferry ride was interesting just to see the number of boats using the waterway, with large powerboats, ferries, harbour boats, container ships, small junks, etc all moving between each other. The whole passenger deck is enclosed so there is no opportunity to go outside and take pictures.

Arriving in Mui Wo, the next step of the journey to the monastery was to take the No.2 bus for Ngong Ping village on the other side of the island.

The bus station is immediately outside the ferry terminal, with a large cycle park adjacent. Each bus stand is clearly marked in English and Chinese with the bus number and destination.

The bus was more an old tourist coach type bus and thankfully was air conditioned.

The fare is HK$17.20. I offered HK$20 and the note is slid into a perspex money holder where the driver can check the amount is correct before dropping it into a money box.

The driver has no access to the money so no change is given, but as I was only HK$2.80 (18p) out of pocket I wasn’t too concerned. We took our seats on the bus which shortly afterwards set off on the long journey over the island.

The road was a single carriageway just wide enough for two buses or trucks to pass. In a number of places a traffic light controlled contra flow was in operation. Here engineering work was taking place to try and stabilise the hillside where a number of road signs had indicated the risk of rock falls.

At times the road ran by the coast where through the trees stretches of beach could be seen, other times the route twisted and turned as it climbed up the hills and traversed the hill sides. The whole of the area was sparsely populated when compared to the rest of Hong Kong, with the hills covered in lush vegetation. There are a number of walks through this area which is a designated nature reserve.

We passed by two prisons on the route and crossed over a dam which was holding back a lake, possible a source of fresh water for the area.

Reaching Ngong Ping and disembarking from the bus you are immediately struck by the humidity again. From the little bus station the giant Buddha statue towered over the whole area.

Getting our bearings we wandered to the paved area below the stairs rising up to the statue. While waiting for my colleague to take some pictures, I was approached to help take some group pictures for a party of handicapped people and their helpers, which I was more than happy to oblige.

The staircase to the statue is made up of 12 flights of steps each with 16 steps to the first level, then a further flight of steps to the second level.

At the bottom of the steps is a kiosk selling tickets with a sign stating ‘meal ticket’. This sign states that you need a meal ticket in order to access the food hall on the third level due to it being very busy at times. It was only when we got to the top that we found that you also needed the meal ticket to go up to this final level which is immediately below the Buddha statue. You can access the exhibition hall, but not then go up the final staircase underneath the statue.

In the exhibition hall is the usual gift shop and refreshment stand. As well as the inner walls being adorned with pictures, there also appeared to be alcoves against the outer walls with messages or prayers for deceased relatives covering the walls, with the occasional photos interspersed with the hanging cards containing the messages in Chinese text down the card.

On one of the columns in the hall I noticed a frame containing spiritual verses contributed by each of six or seven prominent leaders in the Buddhist faith throughout the world. The verses were printed in English; some were dedicated to the statue whilst others were more ethereal.

For those people who make the trip to the level immediately under the statue the path round passes under the lotus petal leaves the Buddha sits on. Each leaf tip must be 9ft from the platform. Although we stayed on the second level, I was able to observe a number of people in prayer and worship of the statue above them. And from this level we could see clearly the surrounding hills, the Po Lin monastery and the Ngong Ping village below.

We made our way down and planned to walk across to the temple. In front of the temple gate were a number of stands selling incense sticks and Buddhist gifts. Walking through the gate brought us into a courtyard with the temple hall straight ahead.

My colleague decided to sit going into the hall as he had received a text message regarding work which he needed to respond to. Inside the hall is a large case with a glass front and sides, standing 10ft tall by 20ft across.

Inside are three statues similar to Buddhas, each at least 6ft tall interposed with two other figures. All the figures appeared to be covered in gold. 
The immediate area in front of the case was railed off, but there were 12 kneeling stools for worshippers to pray to the statues. There was a steady stream of people coming up to make homage to the display. Although I had not seen any signs stating No Photograph, I refrained from taking pictures within the hall.

The ceiling was richly painted with characters similar to pictures of saints, or holy images as would be seen in a Christian church. In one of the corners of the hall stood a ceremonial drum on a stand, with the centre of the drum around 9ft off the ground. The large drum had the convex shape and diameter of a wooden beer barrel only not as deep. The other corner housed a large bell at floor level.

A walkway surrounded the temple hall, unfortunately the rear of the hall was a building site where a much larger hall was planned. The existing hall had richly carved columns along each side and at the corners. The material appeared to be a very hard fine stone like granite and polished on some of the rounded surfaces, but I couldn’t determine if it was a naturally occurring stone like granite or if it was actually cast from some material. The corner columns were actually made from two vertical pieces as the sealed join was visible.

The decision was taken to travel back on the cable car ride to Tung Chung, which is a town by the international airport. The cable car ride stretches for about 4 km over a range of hills. The cost is a modest HK$58 (£3.84). Each car holds eight people, four facing forward and four backwards. The cabin is fully enclosed but at least well ventilated, getting the cooling breeze from the higher altitude and the forward movement of the car.

The ride is in three sections as the route has to turn two corners between start and finish. At each corner is a wheel house where the car leaves one cable section then rolls forward onto the next cable section. The whole journey offers incredible views over the hill tops and down to the sea, and actually allows you to see the whole of the airport from what seems to be well over 3,000ft. There are a number of 20-plus storey buildings near the cable car terminal and these are far below as you come over the highest peaks

After arriving at the terminal in Tung Chung, we walked to the underground station (MTR) and caught a train to Kowloon for HK$15.50 (£1.02). Kowloon is the sixth stop after leaving Tung Chung station. The carriages are much wider than the London ones, with at least 6ft between the seats on either side of the carriages. All the carriages are air conditioned which is very pleasant after the high humidity at ground level.

We exited the station into a shopping mall called Elements. This turned out to be exactly below the huge skyscraper that I see being built from my bedroom window. We then took a taxi to Tsim Sha Tsui which I understand is pronounced Jim Sha Jui and wandered through the many streets.

I took the opportunity here to buy a 1Gbyte XD card for my camera for just under £10. We headed down to the Star ferry terminal which is a direct route across the water back to the central district in Hong Kong island. This time the ferry was a much older open vessel, with the smell of engine oil wafting up the stairs from the engine room as the boat sat at the pier.

Sunday July 27

THE underground (MTR) in Hong Kong is relatively new and has none of the issues seen with the London Underground. Even though it’s very hot and humid at ground level, the stations are air conditioned and much cooler once inside the station; and that goes for the trains as well.

Although I’ve only been through a couple of the stations, they are much more spacious then the cramped confines of the London Underground stations which were built in the early part of the last century.

Once shown how to use the ticket machines I found it really easy to buy a one-way ticket as that is all you can buy through the machines.

Each machine has a touch sensitive graphical display of the whole network. Simply touch the screen at the station you want to go to, it then brings up the price for an adult ticket with buttons on the touch screen for children, senior citizens, etc, and number of tickets. There seemed to be plenty of ticket machines with only one person at each so never a long queue to join.

Last Sunday I went over to Kowloon using the MTR, from my hotel in Causeway Bay. It was a five minute walk to Causeway Bay underground station. I wanted to go the two stops to Admiralty then change train for a trip under the water to exit at Tsim Sha Tsui. The ticket price was HK$10.50 which is about 70p.

The station platforms are wide with large concourses. At interchange stations, eg Admiralty in downtown Hong Kong which serves the Island line and the Tsuen Wan lines, the platforms for the different lines are at the same level. So as I get off a westbound central train I simply cross the concourse for a north bound Tseun Wan line train. Similarly on a south bound Tsuen Wan line train I cross the concourse for a east bound central line train. None of the interchange stations cater for more than two lines, so you don’t have the complexity as at Kings Cross tube.

Hong Kong still has the old trams which used to be familiar sites in UK towns until the ’60’s. I had planned to capture some shots of the trams on a nearby street but my camera misted up due to the very high humidity.

The taxis in Hong Kong appear to be all the same cars, a Toyota Crown Comfort, which seems to be an old model, but I’ve not seen a different car as a taxi. The uniform colour scheme is red lower half and silver from the window level upwards.

All are metered and have little printers on the dashboards to output receipts. On the internal rear doors they have a pricing policy including a reference to price per animal or bird. I haven’t asked any of the drivers yet how often people carry birds in the taxis.

I haven’t had a problem asking for a specific destination, but it does help if you have the address in Chinese text to avoid confusion.

My journey to work takes around 30 to 35 minutes and passes from Hong Kong Island under the water into Kowloon and up to Tsuen Wan. There are two tunnels from Hong Kong to Kowloon with toll booths on the Kowloon side.

The older two lane Eastern tunnel is HK$10 to use whilst the newer three lane Western tunnel is HK$40. The cheaper Eastern tunnel is regularly congested, and the taxi drivers will often ask if it’s OK if they use the Western tunnel as the toll charge is added to the taxi fare.

One thing that has appeared now after the UK pulled out of Hong Kong and it passed over to China is that cars are being dual registered for HK and Chinese mainland. It is a regular site to see cars and trucks with two licence plates.

The normal plate is the same as a UK plate, white reflective at the front and yellow reflective at the rear. Chinese mainland plates are black with white text slightly smaller than a UK plate.

Gloucester Road, where the hotel is located, is a long road running from Causeway Bay through Wan Chai to central, about two miles. It appears to be the home of all the motor dealers on the island.

My taxi ride takes me down the road and you see all the major car dealers here, including one that has a Lamborghini Gallardo in the window.

There is no space outside to display vehicles, so each dealership is effectively a shop with one or two new cars behind the glass. I haven’t actually seen any used car premises yet. They must be somewhere but just further out of town.

Work this week has not allowed me to get out on an evening as we are generally working late. On Friday we were determined to have a meal and a night out.

Heading down to Fenwick Street

Our restaurant is on the 13th floor of the building next to the hotel. After making your selection of main food item; beef, pork, fish etc, the uncooked food is brought to your table and you cook the food yourself. Each six-seater table has a gas burner in the middle with a heavy iron griddle on top. A member of restaurant staff fires up the burner which has a sort of stoneware over it which is what is actually heated; with the griddle about one to two inches above that.

You simply place your beef or pork meat slivers on the griddle and cook to your own taste. With the fish this was brought in a bowl immersed in a marinade or sauce and the bowl was placed on the griddle. The accompanying vegetables, rice or noodles, are brought already cooked to your table.

We finished our dinner at 11pm and four of us caught a taxi to Fenwick Street. I had already been informed by a US colleague that Fenwick Street and that area was popular with US service men during the Vietnam war as a place for R&R., coming only after Bangkok and the Philipines for popularity.

First stop was Fenwicks pub. This place is accessed through a short flight of stairs down into the dim basement premises. The noise was as you would expect in any UK club with music booming out, but it was very full. There is a central circular bar with a low stage and dance area at one end and seating down the sides and the far end.
A quick estimate would suggest around 200-plus people inside with around 100 of them being Thai, Philipino or Columbian girls.

At the bar a round of San Miguel Philipino beer was ordered. Once we had our drinks and left the bar, my Malaysian colleague was approached within moments as was a Hong Kong friend. One minute later I had a Philipino girl talking to me.

Although you can make small talk for a few minutes, these girls soon get to the nitty gritty and if you are not interested in sex with them they move on. As a UK guy who is used to the pub on a weekend, these premises can be very intimidating.

If you catch a girl’s eye by looking at her she will often come over to follow up, other times a girl will indicate her unobserved approach by sliding her fingers down your arm. You instinctively turn to see who or what has touched your arm, to find you have a new friend who is eager to do business. This goes on all evening.

We went next to Boudacay bar which, I was informed, had just re-opened but it was pretty quiet in there. After that was the Neptune 2 bar. This was a bit busier but just didn’t have the adrenalin rush that the Fenwick pub had. After standing for a short while we pushed our way into some curved seating area being used by a Japanese guy with about five girls in tow. My Malaysian and Aussie friends introduced themselves and had a quick chat with the Japanese guy. The whole exercise of approaches and refusals starts again.

Our next call was to go to the Bridge bar, which is more on the lines of a UK style pub on Lockhart Street. From a seat by the window overlooking the street, we could see various girls standing outside the bars (Wild Cat, Waikiki, King Club, and many more) across the road.

Each bar has long drape curtains across the doorway obstructing passers-by from the scenes inside. The Waikiki bar had all the girls in red blouses, black hotpants and black knee high boots almost as a uniform. We sat watching the street scene from the bar.

After visiting a few more places, we went back to the Fenwick Bar, and called it a night around 5.45 in the morning. I was crawling into bed at 6.30 and getting up to work on Saturday at 9am.

Saturday turned into another long day not finishing until 9pm. There is usually a taxi standing in the street so no delay in starting the trip back to the hotel. This taxi had a female driver, the first one I had seen on my trip, and she had the intention of gettting us to our hotel in double quick time. None of her male colleagues drove as quickly as her and that was not a positive point.

When she did get to the hotel, it appeared she did not know how to use the meter as she couldn’t add the toll charge for the tunnel. She was on the phone to the control while totally oblivious to the queue of other taxis waiting to pull in behind her.

The car doors were locked, the hotel forecourt staff were knocking on the windows indicating to pull forward and all the time she was oblivious, looking down at the meter talking to her control and pressing buttons. This seemed to go on for ages before my colleague told her to forget about adding the toll change to the bill and just give us the receipt, but he will pay the full amount and worry about his expenses later.

On eventually getting out from the taxi the hotel staff then started berating the poor woman for the queue of cars now stretching out into the street.

A quick meal in a local eating house and I was eager to get straight to bed to try and catch up on some sleep. There was talk about a group of us going up The Peak, a very popular tourist attraction that over looks the island, on Sunday evening.