rkkwan to Hong Kong
 

I'm heading to Hong Kong this Sunday, for about 8 days. Going the usual route - Continental IAH-EWR-HKG. Taking my usual seat - 44L.

First time to do this flight this time of the year with long daylight. Will have pictures that are different from last fall.

I have family matter to deal with, but will try to eat at Yellow Door that Tim_and_Liz recommend.

Also will try to make it to the Museum of Arts. I actually have never been inside. But I've read about a feature exhibition of Sir Charter's collection there, so I really want to take a look.


Will of course check out the new Star Ferry on HK side.

If any of you are in town and want to treat me to a meal, please let me know! ;)

Have a great time!!

what happened to the driving trip, are you done with that?

sorry, have you mixed up with the other poster, have a nice trip!

I haven't been to Cheung Chau for many years, so that's on the table too.

Have a great time! Looking forward to your report!

Lucy

Have a great trip....looking forward to one of your stellar reports.

Aloha!

Hope you get to Yellow Door! Be sure to have the dumplings and the pork in chili soup.

Can't wait to see your travel pics again!

Have a great trip!

I want to credit the "other Liz"-- Elizabeth_S with the Yellow Door recommendation...

We will be in HK next March and are looking forward to your report!

Have a wonderful trip! We all appreciate your wonderful advice.

Hope you have smooth flights and a wonderful trip. Looking forward to reading your report!

Enjoy your trip, it's nice to have 8 days!

rkkwan: Have a great trip! Like the others, I am looking forward to your TR on your return!

One of the abiding memories of Hong Kong for me is the Museum of Tea Ware where I bought some Yixing tea ware. I'm told that the Museum's pieces are the genuine thing. The Museum itself is a calm gem, an oasis, set in HK Park amidst all the hustle and bustle of downtown HK.

Bon voyage! :)

Have a great trip! I'll look forward to your report.

I've only been to the Museum of Tea Ware once, when it first opened. Years before there was a Hong Kong Park. I didn't appreciate the exhibit back then, but I was 20 years younger. ;)

If I have time, I'll give it another shot.

Yellow Door credit belongs to Cicerone and her great restaurant list!

Whoops!

Oh, I am so sorry... Gosh, I get confused so easily.

First, thanks Cicerone for recommending Yellow Door. Will report back if I do eat there.

Second, somehow, I thought Elisabeth_S is just half of Tim_and_Liz, and just posting with two different screen names. I guess because I've seen both in a few threads. Sorry. The report I actually read with Elisabeth_S' on their LizandRichard blog.

Two Lizes, but different persons. Now I get it. :D

Enjoy your trip. I'll be looking forward to your always excellent pictures.

Right now, it seems like CO99 on Sunday will be utilizing one of the two brand new 777-200s, with 9" widescreen personal screen in coach with 250+ channels, and 110V power.

15 hours won't be enough for me to discover all of it!

What is the significance of 'seat 44L?

44A and 44L are my favorite seats on Continental's 777, which I fly quite a few times a year. Here's a picture of 44K and L (L is the window seat):

rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p476976649/?photo=308801550

Quick update from a Pacific Coffee internet booth.

Got in on-time last night. The CO flight was only about 1/2 full, because of "Golden Week" in China. Got 772, ship #19 with the new AVOD. Nice screen and everything.

It's warm here. 82F, 84% humidity. I'm jumping from mall to mall to stay in A/C'ed environment.

Have a great trip! Thanks for all of your help!

If your CO 772 was one of the two new ERs then it was mentioned in a BAC press reslease today:
http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/...70501c_nr.html

About the EFB:
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/avi...chures/EFB.pdf

Sorry I'm so slow. In the picture, which seat is 44L? Marking it for future reference!

The new Star Ferry site makes me a bit sad. Can't wait to hear your take on it.

BTW rkkwan, so nice to see your name! It's been a while since I came over to the asian board (planning my 1st trip back in 2 years) but you were incredibly helpful with my last trip.

wow! another hk trip, that's nice. i wish i have the time and $. besides pacific coffee house, do you know other cafes offer free wifi?

i had troubles locating one.

i can't wait for our report.

44L is the window seat. The aisle one is 44K.

Ship #19 was the one that was "almost shot down" by the Israeli Air Force last month, if you read the Israeli press.

The new Star Ferry pier is very nice. Star Ferry and its parent company, Wharf Holdings, are classy companies. The top level of the eastern pier is open to the public to view the harbor. I'll post pictures next week.

I don't have a laptop, but I have used free terminals at various Pacific Coffees, Eden Coffee (Man Yee Building in Central), and the public libraries.

My last day in Hong Kong. Will be flying back tomorrow (Tuesday). This was not a pleasure trip, so I won't post a proper trip report. But I did go to a few places, so I will post some short stuff. And a dining list later on.

<b>Cheung Chau</b>

Spent a few hours on Cheung Chau last Wed, 5/3, with a friend. Took the slower regular ferry (~HK$11) to there (55 minutes, vs about 30 on the highspeed catamaran). Sat in regular class to get some fresh air, but it was <b>hot and sticky</b>. That was the theme of this trip.

Like the dozens of Cheung Chau trips I've taken as a kid, first thing off the pier is to turn right and find <b>fish ball noddles</b>. In the old days, it was at a &quot;dai pai dong&quot; under a big tent. Now, in an A/C'ed area.

Then up the bayside to the &quot;Northern Emperor Temple&quot;. It under went extensive restoration in 2002. Much nicer and cleaner now.

Then we crossed the isthmus to the &quot;East Beach&quot; area. Beach doesn't look much different than 20 years ago <b>with one notable exception</b>. In the old days, one could easily see Lamma Island, southwestern part of Hong Kong Island, and passing container ships in the channel. But last wednesday, I couldn't see anything beyond the water, even though it was a clear day. Very striking.

Walked through the town a little. Cheung Chau looks cleaner and nicer than before. [My last visit was 1993.] Some shops that cater to foreign tourists (I mean &quot;foreign&quot; foreign, not &quot;mainland China&quot; foreign). Even a few B&amp;Bs. Didn't check prices, but shouldn't be that expensive. With ferry services every 1/2 hour, taking about 30 or 55 minutes, I think Cheung Chau can be a reasonable place for budget Western tourists to stay if they have a week or so in Hong Kong and not in a huge hurry to see everything.

It was a regular ferry again on the way back. This time, we knew better to pay HK$6.5 more to sit upstairs in the A/C'ed &quot;Deluxe Class&quot;. Less crowded too.

<b>Museum of Art</b>

I had about an hour to spare Saturday afternoon 5/5, so I paid a quick visit to the Museum of Art in Tsimshatsui.

I had never set foot in it before, but I read an article on WSJ about a month ago on the special exhibit &quot;Chater Legacy&quot;. A collection of painting that was donated by Sir Paul Chater to the HK Government. Many pieces were lost during the Japanese occupation in WWII, but some pieces were recovered. Mostly paintings of Hong Kong and Southern China in the 19th C.

Pretty interesting works, and I didn't have time to see the other galleries. Admissions was very reasonable at HK$10, like the other museums. However, I found plenty of visitors talking loudly and cellphones ringing.

<b>Heat, humidity, crowd and MTR</b>

Perhaps it was the weather, as I usually come to Hong Kong in the fall or winter. Or perhaps it was the nature of my trip. But I was exhausted, and got pretty tired from the crowd everywhere, including on the MTR. Just very unpleasant.

Especially at the Causeway Bay, Central, Tsimshatsui and Mongkok MTR stations. People everywhere, all in a hurry, many exits still without escalators, and the staircase relatively narrow. I can see that they have put in some remedial efforts to solve the crowd issue - staggered ticket gates, one-way entrance staircase. But the fact is that there are a lot more people using those stations than when they opened 28 years ago. [I was there on opening day.]

Or like Admiralty. They have a lot of &quot;helpers&quot; during rush hour at the train doors. They are not pushers like those in Tokyo, but they may have to do that soon. [If you need to go from Eastern Hong Kong Island to Kowloon during PM rush, ride the extra stop to Central and transfer there. You will need to walk longer and ride 2 more stops, but you may actually get a seat. Same thing during AM rush the other way around.]

And the streets in Causeway Bay and Mongkok are so packed that I've mostly lost my interest in shopping in those areas.

Dear rkkwan,

Thank you so much for the tip on riding the MTR during rush hour. Will definitely keep this in mind when I travel to HK for 5 days in July.

(..but no tips for keeping cool in HK heat and humidity eh?)

Am so looking forward to your report on HK dining.

Tip is to stay indoor as much as possible. In Central, many of the buildings are inter-connected with eleveated walkways, so you can walk through them in A/C.

In Tsimshatsui, the Harbour City complex is the largest mall in Hong Kong with many shops and restaurants and the three Macro Polo hotels.

Another tip is to learn to ride the buses. They are fairly fast, with many direct routes, and much more comfortable. Best way to travel in Hong Kong if you're not in a big hurry.

Hi rkkwan. I hope you had a nice trip. We leave in 12 days! We are so excited for our first trip to Asia. Thanks for all of the wonderful advice.

Where is the Yellow Door? I must have missed that one.

We have decided to go to Shenzhen. I found a blog written by an American woman living in Honk Kong and she has a very good tailor in Shenzhen who speaks english and is very reasonable- she said 1/3 the price of HongKong tailors. She makes copies of dresses from pictures for about $60-70 U.S. We plan to go see her during our trip.

We are also on the Continental flight from Newark. Brent is 6'4&quot; so I wasn't sure about requesting the seats that you like. Do you think I should change that?

Looking forward to rest of your report!

I just got back.

Best seats for tall people are 32BCJK. Those have basically unlimited legroom. They are blocked if you're not an elite. But if you do online check-in 24 hours prior to flight, those open up and you may be able to get them.

Those seats are close to the bathroom, are slightly narrower, have no unseat storage space, and the armrests don't lift. That's why I don't pick those. But if someone's that tall, they can overlook the other shortcomings.

32A and L have the raft in emergency door protruding. But one can probably rest his/her leg on it, if one's that tall.

The whole Row 16 may also be considered. Those don't have a seatback reclining onto you, and seem spacious, but there's no cutout in the bulkhead, so one's feet have no place to go.

Because there are now two 772 configurations now with differences in the layout of Row 28/31, I wouldn't recommend picking 32DEF at this moment.

BTW, I didn't find time to eat at Yellow Door. It's a Sichuan restaurant at:

6/F, 37 Cochrane St
Phone: 2858-6555

Cochrane St is a narrow walkway directly underneath the Mid-Levels Escalators.

Here's my <b>dining report</b>. Please not that just like my previous HK dining reports, this is <b>not</b> a recommendation list. But a sample/survey of what one may find in Hong Kong, and what someone who grew up there may eat when visiting. All prices in HK Dollars. 1US$ = 7.7HK$

5/1/07 Tuesday

5/1 is public holiday in HK now, and the city was quiet in the morning. My mom and I went to a small diner called <b>Congee Village</b>, 33 Jardine's Bazaar in Causeway Bay, to get some congee (rice porridge). A &quot;teng chai&quot; congee with some small shrimp and fishy stuff is $14. Plain congee meal with fried dough $17. Food's okay.

Mid-morning, went to <b>Pacific Coffee</b> at &quot;Sunlitun&quot; (a bar/restaurant &quot;street&quot; in Northern Wanchai) to use internet. $22 for a small latte.

Dim sum lunch with uncles and aunts at <b>Ho Choi Seafood Restaurant</b> 2/F, China Resource Building, in Wan Chai. We went to their &quot;tea emperor&quot; room with better service and higher quality tea. About $600 for 8 persons.

Afternoon tea at the <b>McDonald's</b> near the Shau Kei Wan tramway terminus. Fried apple pie for $5.

Super cheap dinner at a food court on top of the <b>Bowrington Road food market</b> in Wan Chai. It's &quot;full service&quot;, but it's extremely crowded and kind of dirty. A little like the many food courts in Singapore, but not as nice. But at least there's air-conditioning. We ate at &quot;Wing Kei&quot;. $215 for 5 persons with half a chicken, steamed eel, and a couple of other meat/vegetable dishes. Because of the price, no wonder it was so crowded.

5/2/07 Wednesday

Breakfast at a <b>Cafe de Coral</b> right outside the Sham Shui Po MTR. Excellent value. A congee with pork and 1000-year eggs, plus a &quot;sticky-rice chicken&quot;, with HK-style milk tea, all for $18.5. [Only $17 for soy-sauce noodles instead of sticky rice chicken.] Very good quality. The same sticky rice chicken at a dim sum restaurant will cost &gt;$20 by itself.

Around noon, me and my friend shared some fishballs on a stick, and &quot;siu mai&quot; on a stick at Pier 5, before boarding a ferry to Cheung Chau. I think it was $8 for 4 pieces each, though not sure. 20 years ago, they used to cost $2.

On Cheung Chau, we went to &quot;Cheung Kee&quot; for fish ball noodles, a signature Cheung Chau snack. When I was a kid, this eatery was under a big tent, shared with others. Now, they have their own air-conditioned place, still very close to the pier. Fish ball noodles and fried fish skins, $16 each. Small dish of lettuce with oyster sauce $13.

Walking along the fishing village, I had a &quot;put chai go&quot;, a little sweet pastry in a small bowl. $4, I think.

Back in Central later in the day, I had a latte at <b>Eden Coffee</b> in the Man Yee building to check email while waiting for another friend. About $25.

Dinner was at <b>Jade Garden</b>, Hysan Branch in Causeway Bay. Typical Cantonese food. Hard to order for 2 people, so we kind of over-ordered. $350 for 2.

Finally, went over to the Excelsior and have a liquored coffee at <b>Cafe on the 1st</b>. $65 (good deal, as you pay for prime real estate in Causeway Bay to sit down and chat).

Very helpful dining report. Can't wait for our trip in November. Any pics?