Our Garuda
Indonesia flight took about 4 hours and 15 minutes. We arrived at Hong Kong
Airport from Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Jakarta around 4 or 5 PM (Hong Kong time).
Hong Kong is one hour ahead from Jakarta, so maybe you have to adjust your
watch when you arrive. After filling our immigration duty and collecting our
luggage, we headed straight to the airport lobby and met a man from Starline
travel, who would take us to our guesthouse in Causeway bay. Before that, we
just had to find a direction board with “Airport Express” and an MTR sign
written on it, because that’s where you’ll buy your Octopus Card. This card is like
the most crucial part while traveling here in HK. It’s basically an MTR card,
but you can also use it to pay for other public transportations here, such us
bus, tram, ferry, Ngong Ping cable car, but not taxi. One last thing, don’t
forget to take your free maps at the Tourist Information Centre before you went
out to the lobby. Take everything you need, brochures, pamphlets, guidebook;
those stuffs were full of interesting, insightful trip directories which will
keep you right on track. And, did I mention they’re free?
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| Getting ready! |
We rode a
not-so-comfortable car from the airport to Causeway Bay. It was raining a
little and the day was so cloudy, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying my first
sightseeing through Hong Kong city. We saw Ngong Ping Cable Cars which I was
hoping to ride on someday (more of this later) as we drove passed Tsing Ma
Bridge, which is the longest suspension bridge that links Lantau Island to the
rest of Hong Kong. The 2.16 km bridge was opened to traffic in 1997 as part of
key infrastructure serving the new airport on Lantau Island, and has since become
a local sightseeing favorite.
It was
quite a long trip from the Airport to Causeway bay since we have to cross the
sea from island to island. It was so cool that they got their own underground
(or undersea) tunnel which connects these two islands. I also heard that we can
actually take the MTR to go from island to island instead of using a ferry
boat, like ... what?!
Once we
arrived at Paterson Street, Kingston Building, Causeway Bay; a young man
greeted us with an Indonesian phrase. Turns out, the building we were going to
stay at for 3 consecutive nights is owned by an Indonesian. His name is Chris
and his father is actually from Medan, Indonesia. However, Chris was born and
raised in Hong Kong. Finally, someone who can speak something at least I can
understand. He even has a maid who is a local Indonesian. She led us to our new
room and told us about how she can work here at the first place. We called her
‘Mbak’. Well
Chris is nice, and Mbak is just friendly, like all Indonesians are. This place
wasn’t so bad after all.
Talking
about bad, that is the word I’m not gonna use to describe my first place of
stay. I like staying here because of the people and its cozy surroundings. Our
neighbors are all Indonesians so we particularly chatted with them about places
we had just visited and some other stuff without worrying so much on language.
Mbak and Chris, and so was his father, gave us so many insightful information
about HK and nice tourism places we should visit. They helped me renewed my
amateur itinerary with their suggestions and experiences. But the thing that
disturbed me a little bit was the size of the room. There were four of us,
adults, living in a very small (yes, I’d say very because I think it was)
bedroom with an indoor extra small bathroom. We didn’t have any problem with
the room’s higyne because it was pretty clean and smelled nice, but four
adults, two huge luggage, four beds and inside bathroom were pretty much a
trouble for us. Well, we didn’t blame the place of course, but maybe our first
choice of staying was not quite right, even though I couldn’t ask for a better
companion and tourist service from the owner J Like I said, it’s not bad. Even it was
full-booked already by the time we got there, mostly by Indonesian tourists, I
guess. Its strategic location also became one of the most important aspects for
tourists.
Kingston
Building is surrounded by hundreds of branded shops, huge luxurious malls, and
thousands or even millions of pedestrian walking by every day. We wanted to
enjoy the rest of our first day witnessing the night crowds of Causeway bay
area. We were just walking a couple blocks and had found at least ten branded
stores and two huge malls. “Will this sightseeing night turn into a
late-shopping night?”, I questioned. People said that Hong Kong is one of the
world’s greatest shopping-heaven, both for ladies and the gentlemen. Well, I
also came here to prove that theory. Hopefully, they’re right.
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| Side-street night snack |
We ate our
late dinner at Hysan Place’s food court, because it’s too late to hunt for any
typical Chinese-sidestreet restaurant. This shopping mall looked enormous and
tall. It has 12 floors and long escalators. The food court was in the 11th
floor and we took a long/time-consuming escalator. During my “journey” to the
top floor, I witnessed so many different types of people and couples here. I
don’t know, my eyes couldn’t stand still without peeking at somebody else’s “business”.
They were basically so in love and didn’t even care about what people might
think of them, while showing their PDA, even in front of a stranger who was
busy making out with his Ramen. Oh, I also found two extremely handsome guys
who turned out to be lovers, enjoying their PDA with hands full of Louis Vuiton
paper bag (I kinda envy them to be honest, I mean the Louis Vuiton part).
The food court
crowd was unbearable. It was full of people, so we decided to part. My mom and
dad queued for our food while me and my brother looked for 4 seats. Again, I
love paying attention on people’s business, and that day I learned that most
people here didn’t mind sharing tables even face-to-face with strangers. I
found one table with 3 talkative girls talking about something god-knows-what,
while an old man joined their seats without saying anything and start eating by
himself. The girls didn’t mind him at all and kept talking. It’s not awkward at
all for them, but... for me,.. yeah? Maybe it’s just because of how we usually
see things in our hometown. In Jakarta we don’t find that much. Well, that’s
one of Hong Kong fun facts I just added to the list.
(to be
continued)
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