Posted by: Jonathan
Who would have thought that an eleven hour international flight would not include free on board entertainment (even the 12 audio channnels in the arm rest were different pitches of static), no free meals (not even pretzels), and you couldn't even get a soda (much less water) without parting with $4! At least the toilets were free because I would have just held it out of sheer principal. Jet Star, redefining budget travel.
The good news is the Singapore International Airport has a different business strategy, the best layover of your life. They have internet computers everywhere, comfortable lounge chairs in "transfer lounges", multiple gardens from cactus gardens to flower gardens and even a butterfly garden (with real life butterflies flying everywhere), two different movie theaters playing hit movies 24/7, two hour Singapore city tours, massage chairs, and last but not least, designated sleeping areas complete with reclined seats with trickling waterfalls to drown out the airport noises. Best of all, everything that I have listed is absolutely FREE. They also offer a large shopping mall, olympic size pool, and full on spa treatments (at a cost). I have had a few layovers in my day and I would say my layover in the Singapore Airpot was as good as a 13 hour layover can be.
Who would have thought that an eleven hour international flight would not include free on board entertainment (even the 12 audio channnels in the arm rest were different pitches of static), no free meals (not even pretzels), and you couldn't even get a soda (much less water) without parting with $4! At least the toilets were free because I would have just held it out of sheer principal. Jet Star, redefining budget travel.
The good news is the Singapore International Airport has a different business strategy, the best layover of your life. They have internet computers everywhere, comfortable lounge chairs in "transfer lounges", multiple gardens from cactus gardens to flower gardens and even a butterfly garden (with real life butterflies flying everywhere), two different movie theaters playing hit movies 24/7, two hour Singapore city tours, massage chairs, and last but not least, designated sleeping areas complete with reclined seats with trickling waterfalls to drown out the airport noises. Best of all, everything that I have listed is absolutely FREE. They also offer a large shopping mall, olympic size pool, and full on spa treatments (at a cost). I have had a few layovers in my day and I would say my layover in the Singapore Airpot was as good as a 13 hour layover can be.
Once on the ground in Hong kong, I navigated the bus system to my hotel in the Chung King Mansion. Yes, mansion was written on the building, however, the center block cell I shared with two others on the 13th floor would have elicited "the look" from Jenn had we been checking in together. Luckily I spent most of my time exploring the city instead of fighting claustrophobia in the room. I forgot to take a photo of the room but I did snap a shot of the restroom.
Yes, our sink hung from a string and yes the fake leaves were doing a tremendous job of camouflaging the pipe from the floor drain of the bathroom above us that empties into our sink. Awesome.
My first meal in Hong Kong was shrimp wanton noodle soup, not super filling but delicious none the less.
My first meal in Hong Kong was shrimp wanton noodle soup, not super filling but delicious none the less.
After eating I crossed over from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island via the Star Ferry. The short ride gave great views of the skyline on either island as well as a brief relief from the heat. To get on board only costs HK 2.5 or around thirty cents and best of all, they don't kick you off once you reach the other side. So you can just stay on board criss crossing the harbor soaking in the views and ocean breeze for as long as you like (I did five crosses before I finally disembarked).
I spent the afternoon wandering on foot between impossibly tall sky scrapers and dodging ritzy malls and shopping centers. That evening I made my way up to the peak affording a birds eye view of the skyline.
On my way back down from the peak I swung by the Lan Kwai Fong (LKF) area for the Halloween Festivities. In the US we confine this holiday to a single day, where Hong Kong searches for its true potential allowing 40 days of celebration (9/22-10/31). LKF was a carnival style street party congested with all sorts of costumes and opportunistic partiers. My imagination led me to believe that the costume selection in Asia would be completely different to what we are used to in the US, however this was largely not the case. All of the standard witches, zombies, ghosts and monsters were present as well as numerous famous Hollywood characters. The biggest difference I noticed were the groups of paparazzi cameramen that would celebritize anyone with a marginally successful costume.
The next morning I started my day with one of the largest blunders of the trip; a haircut from a Pakistani barber shop. The barber never asked me what kind of cut I was looking for, he just assumed that if I came into his shop and sat in his chair he would cut my hair the way he liked. He was fond of short hair and using his buzzer at the time, so that is exactly how it went down.
With my ears lowered several inches, I hit the streets. Hong Kong has some interesting markets besides the usual food and clothing ones. They also have fish, bird, and flower markets. I enjoyed exploring them, however, many of the fish, birds, and plants for sale are endangered or at least protected in other parts of the world. There were fish tanks with live coral, sharks, stingrays, nemos, and turtles, bird cages with song birds and rare flightless birds, and pots with jungle orchids and venus fly traps. I was thrown out of several shops trying to take photos of the illegal items for sale, so I wasn't able to get any quality photos, but I did my best.
After the markets, I continued exploring the streets, temples, and food stalls of the low rent area of Hong Kong.
With all my exploring day and night of Hong Kong, I felt incredibly safe. The only area that made me uncomfortable was Kowloon park. I decided to rest my legs on a park bench and within minutes I was surrounded by suuuuuuuuuupaaaaah (flicking my limp wrist) friendly chinese men wanting to know if I needed some company. To their disappointment I decided my legs could rest later and promptly walked on.
I found myself on the southern tip of Kowloon that evening watching the sun set between sky scrapers.
Hong Kong has one of the most impressive skylines I have ever seen.
The next morning I packed my things and headed for the airport to make my way to Dubai.