Hong Kong - 03.05.2013
It's our 3rd day in the town and we are on the way to The Peak, another popular tourist attraction, which offers spectacular views of the city and its harbours. On the top of hill there are now two buildings and on one of them, there is a viewing deck also has coin operated telescopes that the visitors can use to enjoy the cityscape. The number of visitors led to the construction of two major leisure and shopping centres, the Peak Tower and the Peak Galleria, situated adjacent to each other.
The Peak is also known as Mount Austin, and locally as The Peak. The mountain is located in the western half of Hong Kong Island. With an altitude of 552 m (1,811 ft), it is the highest mountain on the island proper, but Tai Mo Shan is the highest point in the entirety of Hong Kong. Peak Tram, the funicular railway (from 1888) that brings passengers up from the St. John's Cathedral in Hong Kong's Central district, whilst the Peak Galleria incorporates the bus station used by the Hong Kong public buses and green minibuses on the Peak.
Again, because of the useful advice of our dear friend Orkun, we made a clever choice on the way up to The Peak. As I mentioned above, the peak is reachable by a special tourist tram. But due to long waiting queue we avoided to take the tram uphill (Orkun's advice) and we took the bus to go to up to the Peak. It was maybe not as quick as the tram but very convenient except the bloody aircon (bringing hats and pulls is a must :-) ).
How we reached there? We took the metro (close to our hostel) until the star ferry and after that we crossed the sea with a small ferry, which is really recommended for the wonderful view (feels like in Lisbon or Istanbul). But before we get in to the ferry, we noticed a young crowd with their cameras(phones) in the harbor. Here is the reason of the young crowd:
Giant yellow rubber duck deflates :) in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/giant-yellow-rubber-duck-deflates-hong-kong-article-1.1344544#ixzz2UcxWUUGy):
After spending some time, why the people are interested with a 's' toy photos, we crossed the sea with a small ferry, which is really recommended for the wonderful view (feels like in Lisbon or Istanbul):
When we left the ferry, we saw the bus stop for The Peak. So, the name of the bus is The Peak and its a sort of dedicated bus for tourists who wants to go up to The Peak. It's just around the Ferry Port.
On the way we saw some sky-scrapers and double-decker trams (like electric trolleybus - never seen before):
After 30 mins bus drive in a frigo-bus (pullover, hat, gloves are mustttt!!!), we reached to the hill (The Peak).
The building (The Peak Tower & Galleria - http://www.thepeak.com.hk) that everybody is climbing up for the stunning view is build up like shopping&leisure center with shops and restos and an observation terrace (The Sky Terrace 428). It's a fantastic experience and definitely a must for Hong Kong visitors. The entrance fee is 40HKD but if you don't have cash, you can pay the entrance fee by octopus. You can even come after sunset, which must be very nice as well. Here are the opening hours:
Sky Terrace 428 Opening Hours:
10:00am - 11:00pm (Mon - Fri)
8:00am - 11:00pm (Sat, Sun & Public Holidays)
After spending some time on the hill, we went back to the nearest metro station via the tourist tram, photo as below:
It was again very nice experience. The Peak Tram's route from Central district to Victoria Peak covers a distance of about 1.4 kilometres and a height difference of just under 400 metres. The line has two pronounced curves, one to the left immediately after leaving the lower terminus, and the other to the right in the upper half of the ascent.
Central Station, which is not far from the funicular (5 minutes walk):
We went to our hostel area to have a quick lunch around the hostel and than we took our bags and we are ready for Mainland China:-)
There are many ways to go to China from HK:
But we used long but 'no delay' guaranteed way to go to Shenzhen city, which is just outside of the border of HK. It took us 50mins to reach to one of the border gates / immigration areas.
Here are the both tube (metro) maps for HK and Shenzhen:
As well as there are the following webpages to calculate travel time as below:
http://www.mtr.com.hk/jplanner/flash_eng/index.php?sid=&eid=&x=24&y=3
http://www.mtrsz.com.cn/chi/Operation/StationFacilities?id=10035
If you check the metro/rail map of HK, you will notice that the final both stations of the blue East Rail line as Lok Ma Chau and Lo Wu in the north.
These stations are where the biggest border controls between HK and China are. You can get off the train in any of the two stations and follow the crowd. We made it like that (as common sence :-) ) and noticed that people were rushing to be first in the queue. When we reached the immigration desks, we realised that there are quite many immigration officers on HK side as well as the Chinese part. Lucky enough we didn't wait too long and we were in 25mins in China. It could be quicker but we used the opportunity to give our Octopus card back and get the remaining balance and the deposit on the card.
So, if you don't want to keep the Octopus card as a souvenir, before leaving the country, just go to the MTR office and return your card and get your money (cash) in hand.
After passing the HK border, we followed the crowd and walk on the covered bridge (over the river). Chinese immigration part was little more crowded and difficult for us. After entering Chinese part we realize that it's quite difficult to move around without English but we found some people who are extremely helpful (body language of course)))). They helped us to find the famous fake-market and to have an idea about the prices about the fake stuff. If you wonder, it's very close to border station Luohu (Luohu Line - Final Station) which is connected from HK with Lo Wu train station. Both stations are marked in the metro map above.
Btw, buying a metro ticket in Shenzhen was not easy as we get used to it in HK. The metro system was copy&pasted from HK but not the ticket machines :))), so it took some time to understand the logic of it. English menu was available always but we needed to use 10RMB or bigger banknotes or 1RMB coin. There was an issue with paper 1RMB banknotes.
Some tips, how to buy the metro ticket: you just need to find your final destination and insert the banknote in the slot. That was so simple.
After the fake-market visit (no comments) we took the metro (Luohu Line) and the final station was the Shenzhen Airport. It took1 hour and costed around 6 RMB.
The Shenzhen metro system is quite modern, clean, air-conditioned, marked clearly, English subtitled and looks like a cc of Hong Kong metro.
Final station was Shenzhen Airport. There is 5-10 mins walk from there to Check-in area. Be aware and rush, if you are late.
SHENZHEN AIRPORT
Shenzhen Airport is very new,modern, clean with facilities but pretty big like most of the other airports in China. so, pay attention to reach the gates. we realized that for domestic or international flights they apply the rules more strict than Europe. I mean that they close the gates automatically. So, if you are late, you miss the plane 100%. They don't let you in, even your plane is still on the bridge and will be there another 10 mins.
GUILIN - 03.05.2013
After 1h40 mins flight we landed to Guilin airport. another new (or facelifted) airport. As it's everywhere in China, there are couple of ways to go from the airport to town center. Cheep option is via the airport shuttle to the town center and take another bus/shuttle there. But due to our late arrival and next day trip reservation worries we didn't bother for the modern airport shuttle service and we took a cab to our hostel, which was pretty cheap and little more expensive than airport shuttle tickets for 2.
The taxi was a Chinese VW (most be produced only for China) in funny colors. The road or motorway:-) to Guilin from the airport was a big suprise for us. It was brand new with all the signs, cameras, toll gates and endless roadside flowers. Quite good surprise for tourists like us, who are expecting muddy roads or at least dark & chaotic traffic at night. but it wasn't:-)
It's our 3rd day in the town and we are on the way to The Peak, another popular tourist attraction, which offers spectacular views of the city and its harbours. On the top of hill there are now two buildings and on one of them, there is a viewing deck also has coin operated telescopes that the visitors can use to enjoy the cityscape. The number of visitors led to the construction of two major leisure and shopping centres, the Peak Tower and the Peak Galleria, situated adjacent to each other.
The Peak is also known as Mount Austin, and locally as The Peak. The mountain is located in the western half of Hong Kong Island. With an altitude of 552 m (1,811 ft), it is the highest mountain on the island proper, but Tai Mo Shan is the highest point in the entirety of Hong Kong. Peak Tram, the funicular railway (from 1888) that brings passengers up from the St. John's Cathedral in Hong Kong's Central district, whilst the Peak Galleria incorporates the bus station used by the Hong Kong public buses and green minibuses on the Peak.
Again, because of the useful advice of our dear friend Orkun, we made a clever choice on the way up to The Peak. As I mentioned above, the peak is reachable by a special tourist tram. But due to long waiting queue we avoided to take the tram uphill (Orkun's advice) and we took the bus to go to up to the Peak. It was maybe not as quick as the tram but very convenient except the bloody aircon (bringing hats and pulls is a must :-) ).
How we reached there? We took the metro (close to our hostel) until the star ferry and after that we crossed the sea with a small ferry, which is really recommended for the wonderful view (feels like in Lisbon or Istanbul). But before we get in to the ferry, we noticed a young crowd with their cameras(phones) in the harbor. Here is the reason of the young crowd:
After spending some time, why the people are interested with a 's' toy photos, we crossed the sea with a small ferry, which is really recommended for the wonderful view (feels like in Lisbon or Istanbul):
When we left the ferry, we saw the bus stop for The Peak. So, the name of the bus is The Peak and its a sort of dedicated bus for tourists who wants to go up to The Peak. It's just around the Ferry Port.
On the way we saw some sky-scrapers and double-decker trams (like electric trolleybus - never seen before):
After 30 mins bus drive in a frigo-bus (pullover, hat, gloves are mustttt!!!), we reached to the hill (The Peak).
The building (The Peak Tower & Galleria - http://www.thepeak.com.hk) that everybody is climbing up for the stunning view is build up like shopping&leisure center with shops and restos and an observation terrace (The Sky Terrace 428). It's a fantastic experience and definitely a must for Hong Kong visitors. The entrance fee is 40HKD but if you don't have cash, you can pay the entrance fee by octopus. You can even come after sunset, which must be very nice as well. Here are the opening hours:
Sky Terrace 428 Opening Hours:
10:00am - 11:00pm (Mon - Fri)
8:00am - 11:00pm (Sat, Sun & Public Holidays)
After spending some time on the hill, we went back to the nearest metro station via the tourist tram, photo as below:
It was again very nice experience. The Peak Tram's route from Central district to Victoria Peak covers a distance of about 1.4 kilometres and a height difference of just under 400 metres. The line has two pronounced curves, one to the left immediately after leaving the lower terminus, and the other to the right in the upper half of the ascent.
Central Station, which is not far from the funicular (5 minutes walk):
We went to our hostel area to have a quick lunch around the hostel and than we took our bags and we are ready for Mainland China:-)
There are many ways to go to China from HK:
But we used long but 'no delay' guaranteed way to go to Shenzhen city, which is just outside of the border of HK. It took us 50mins to reach to one of the border gates / immigration areas.
Here are the both tube (metro) maps for HK and Shenzhen:
As well as there are the following webpages to calculate travel time as below:
http://www.mtr.com.hk/jplanner/flash_eng/index.php?sid=&eid=&x=24&y=3
http://www.mtrsz.com.cn/chi/Operation/StationFacilities?id=10035
If you check the metro/rail map of HK, you will notice that the final both stations of the blue East Rail line as Lok Ma Chau and Lo Wu in the north.
These stations are where the biggest border controls between HK and China are. You can get off the train in any of the two stations and follow the crowd. We made it like that (as common sence :-) ) and noticed that people were rushing to be first in the queue. When we reached the immigration desks, we realised that there are quite many immigration officers on HK side as well as the Chinese part. Lucky enough we didn't wait too long and we were in 25mins in China. It could be quicker but we used the opportunity to give our Octopus card back and get the remaining balance and the deposit on the card.
So, if you don't want to keep the Octopus card as a souvenir, before leaving the country, just go to the MTR office and return your card and get your money (cash) in hand.
After passing the HK border, we followed the crowd and walk on the covered bridge (over the river). Chinese immigration part was little more crowded and difficult for us. After entering Chinese part we realize that it's quite difficult to move around without English but we found some people who are extremely helpful (body language of course)))). They helped us to find the famous fake-market and to have an idea about the prices about the fake stuff. If you wonder, it's very close to border station Luohu (Luohu Line - Final Station) which is connected from HK with Lo Wu train station. Both stations are marked in the metro map above.
Btw, buying a metro ticket in Shenzhen was not easy as we get used to it in HK. The metro system was copy&pasted from HK but not the ticket machines :))), so it took some time to understand the logic of it. English menu was available always but we needed to use 10RMB or bigger banknotes or 1RMB coin. There was an issue with paper 1RMB banknotes.
Some tips, how to buy the metro ticket: you just need to find your final destination and insert the banknote in the slot. That was so simple.
After the fake-market visit (no comments) we took the metro (Luohu Line) and the final station was the Shenzhen Airport. It took1 hour and costed around 6 RMB.
The Shenzhen metro system is quite modern, clean, air-conditioned, marked clearly, English subtitled and looks like a cc of Hong Kong metro.
Final station was Shenzhen Airport. There is 5-10 mins walk from there to Check-in area. Be aware and rush, if you are late.
SHENZHEN AIRPORT
Shenzhen Airport is very new,modern, clean with facilities but pretty big like most of the other airports in China. so, pay attention to reach the gates. we realized that for domestic or international flights they apply the rules more strict than Europe. I mean that they close the gates automatically. So, if you are late, you miss the plane 100%. They don't let you in, even your plane is still on the bridge and will be there another 10 mins.
GUILIN - 03.05.2013
After 1h40 mins flight we landed to Guilin airport. another new (or facelifted) airport. As it's everywhere in China, there are couple of ways to go from the airport to town center. Cheep option is via the airport shuttle to the town center and take another bus/shuttle there. But due to our late arrival and next day trip reservation worries we didn't bother for the modern airport shuttle service and we took a cab to our hostel, which was pretty cheap and little more expensive than airport shuttle tickets for 2.
The taxi was a Chinese VW (most be produced only for China) in funny colors. The road or motorway:-) to Guilin from the airport was a big suprise for us. It was brand new with all the signs, cameras, toll gates and endless roadside flowers. Quite good surprise for tourists like us, who are expecting muddy roads or at least dark & chaotic traffic at night. but it wasn't:-)
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