wow, what a weekend. hong kong is an amazing place. it felt to me like a big big brisbane. it had the same feel, probably because it was so hot, but it had a lot of trees, and the city felt the same, perhaps because brisbane really makes use of the river i guess, as does hong kong its harbour. the ferry rides are cool, to cross from kowloon to hong kong island where the rich people live and the business centre is. wait, have you been there??
so i arrived on saturday at noon, and after finding a "cheap" place to dump my bag and fork over way to much money, i ventured out to explore kowloon..well, i was looking for an indian restaurant someone had recommended. it started pouring rain very suddenly. this kind of rain!! i've never seen anything like it, and probably never will again. i was walking down a flash street with flash shops and huge shopping centres all around me, and the wind picked up. i looked up at the sky and it was really dark, then suddenly, up ahead i see a wave of rain approaching me. it was surreal, sort of slow motion, and i had time to duck for cover in front of a flash store..i wish i could remember the brand..
i was stuck there for about 10 mins, watching the rain sweep past, like a hollywood movie special-effect, then i made my way back to a cinema that was housing all the umbrella-less refugees of kowloon. it eased up a bit, and i got a little wet before finding a cheap place to get a brolly, then found my bearings, found the restaurant (Brantos) and had a yummy vegie curry as i watched bollywood MTV on flatscreen.
I didn't feel bloated like i usually do after indian, and a lot of the clientelle were indian. always a good sign. i was planning to go back there everyday for food, but after getting back to my room and sorting out my finaces, i realised that i could only afford one meal a day. my bank card in taiwan seized up on friday night, but i didn't think anything of it. i thought the teller machine i was at was broken or empty..but on saturday morning, at 5:45 am when i tried again on the way to the airport it didn't work again.
there's this very unfortunate system here where you have a passbook that you can print up statements on, and if you carry out 60 transactions without doing so, the card stops and you have to take your passbook in to a bank for an update. so. guess when this 60th transaction was? yep. the day i take out money for my trip to HK. only, i forgot about rent and had to pay that before i left, and thought i could just get more money out.. but no.
fortunately my friend lives quite close, and i woke her up and took all her money, which really wasn't enough but better than nothing..(she has a credit card).. anyway, so i had enough for my visa, and one meal per day if i wanted to actually make it back to the airport on monday too.
you! have! no! idea! oh my goodness. the "cheap" room i was suppsed to get turned out to be twice as much as i expected, meals were four times the price of taiwan..
but, amazingly, i managed to still go out and sight see. just not as much as i'd hoped coz i had to conserve my energy and not be tempted to spend - or put myself in a position to get mugged. i had cable in my room so i watched news, mtv, movies, cartoons. was actually a lot of fun until my stomach started grmmmmbling. on sunday i took the star ferry across the harbour, found my way to the peak tram (the streets are very well signed, in english too!! wow what a relief after taipei) then took the tram up victoria peak which has amazing views of the city. i found a "wellcome" up there, a chain supermarket in asia, and bought some focaccia bread and cheese and yoghurt and juice and even a slice of banana cake, and that was what i ate on sunday. the peak has lots of walkways but it's so crowded. i went up pretty early and missed most of the crowds until about noon, so decided to go back down. the tram is sloped about 27 degrees! very steep, and you have to go down sitting backwards, and i had a stupid little kid (tourist family from england perhaps) standing up on the seat next to me, putting his dirty feet on my pants! little poo.
anyway, after getting off the tram, i headed west to find soho, as i wanted to ride on the "escalator" aparently it's the biggest outdoor escalator in the world. that was fun, but it was hot, and sticky, and i saw all these amazing restaurants that i couldn't afford to go to. i wondered around a bit then took the ferry back to kowloon and went back to hbo.
on monday morning, everything went smoothly with the visa. i had to get new id photos despite having two sets to choose from. one was too small, the other too blurry. anyway, THEN!!! get this, the visa wasn't as much as i thought it would be! i miscalculated/wasn't listening properly when jacki explained the costs coz i was on the phone to the travel agent. (chaos it was)
so i had ALL this money!! man. i could've died. then i was telling this business man (ralph) from canada that i met in the visa office about it, just because that was all that was on my mind and he gave me some money coz he felt sorry for me. sooo grateful. i told him i'd pay him back, coz he's here in taipei until friday. SO then i ended up coming home with money!!! am still shaking my head!!
anyway, the visa wasn't going to be ready to pick up till 4pm, and now that i had this money, i wondered around stress free. i went to a museum (free), but most of the exhibits were shut then i took a bus (yes, could afford bus) and went back to soho and ate at an amazing greek restaurant with a nepalese waiter, who had a friend in HK from PNG!! he said she worked at another restaurant down the hill, but wouldn't be there that day. anyway!!! it was a crazy kind of feeling, how much the stress was off as soon as i had money in my pocket.
i went back to collect my visa a little before 4 and it was ready, and i met ralph again, and he still felt sorry for me so said he'd be catching a cab to the airport and i was welcome to take it with him. i ended up being really early for my flight, but now i have an invitation to montreal!! he's married, has a cocker-spanial, his kids are grown and moved out, so he says he has plently of space in a big house. will have to mention it to my aussie-friend(we're planning a trip next year, around the world!) he had to get a visa because his passport expires in december and you can't enter taiwan with a passport that's only valid for under 6 months. so he said he was kicking himself because he forgot to get a new passport, but i said i was lucky he didn't! hahah
anyway, so will definately go back to HK . i wish my bankcard had worked, it would have made such a difference. i guess it was all just a series of unfortunate events.
my stomaches growling, am gonna get brekky, then go get my arc before i forget again. i have no classes today, they all start tomorrow!! so day off to relax, renourish my body...
so i arrived on saturday at noon, and after finding a "cheap" place to dump my bag and fork over way to much money, i ventured out to explore kowloon..well, i was looking for an indian restaurant someone had recommended. it started pouring rain very suddenly. this kind of rain!! i've never seen anything like it, and probably never will again. i was walking down a flash street with flash shops and huge shopping centres all around me, and the wind picked up. i looked up at the sky and it was really dark, then suddenly, up ahead i see a wave of rain approaching me. it was surreal, sort of slow motion, and i had time to duck for cover in front of a flash store..i wish i could remember the brand..
i was stuck there for about 10 mins, watching the rain sweep past, like a hollywood movie special-effect, then i made my way back to a cinema that was housing all the umbrella-less refugees of kowloon. it eased up a bit, and i got a little wet before finding a cheap place to get a brolly, then found my bearings, found the restaurant (Brantos) and had a yummy vegie curry as i watched bollywood MTV on flatscreen.
I didn't feel bloated like i usually do after indian, and a lot of the clientelle were indian. always a good sign. i was planning to go back there everyday for food, but after getting back to my room and sorting out my finaces, i realised that i could only afford one meal a day. my bank card in taiwan seized up on friday night, but i didn't think anything of it. i thought the teller machine i was at was broken or empty..but on saturday morning, at 5:45 am when i tried again on the way to the airport it didn't work again.
there's this very unfortunate system here where you have a passbook that you can print up statements on, and if you carry out 60 transactions without doing so, the card stops and you have to take your passbook in to a bank for an update. so. guess when this 60th transaction was? yep. the day i take out money for my trip to HK. only, i forgot about rent and had to pay that before i left, and thought i could just get more money out.. but no.
fortunately my friend lives quite close, and i woke her up and took all her money, which really wasn't enough but better than nothing..(she has a credit card).. anyway, so i had enough for my visa, and one meal per day if i wanted to actually make it back to the airport on monday too.
you! have! no! idea! oh my goodness. the "cheap" room i was suppsed to get turned out to be twice as much as i expected, meals were four times the price of taiwan..
but, amazingly, i managed to still go out and sight see. just not as much as i'd hoped coz i had to conserve my energy and not be tempted to spend - or put myself in a position to get mugged. i had cable in my room so i watched news, mtv, movies, cartoons. was actually a lot of fun until my stomach started grmmmmbling. on sunday i took the star ferry across the harbour, found my way to the peak tram (the streets are very well signed, in english too!! wow what a relief after taipei) then took the tram up victoria peak which has amazing views of the city. i found a "wellcome" up there, a chain supermarket in asia, and bought some focaccia bread and cheese and yoghurt and juice and even a slice of banana cake, and that was what i ate on sunday. the peak has lots of walkways but it's so crowded. i went up pretty early and missed most of the crowds until about noon, so decided to go back down. the tram is sloped about 27 degrees! very steep, and you have to go down sitting backwards, and i had a stupid little kid (tourist family from england perhaps) standing up on the seat next to me, putting his dirty feet on my pants! little poo.
anyway, after getting off the tram, i headed west to find soho, as i wanted to ride on the "escalator" aparently it's the biggest outdoor escalator in the world. that was fun, but it was hot, and sticky, and i saw all these amazing restaurants that i couldn't afford to go to. i wondered around a bit then took the ferry back to kowloon and went back to hbo.
on monday morning, everything went smoothly with the visa. i had to get new id photos despite having two sets to choose from. one was too small, the other too blurry. anyway, THEN!!! get this, the visa wasn't as much as i thought it would be! i miscalculated/wasn't listening properly when jacki explained the costs coz i was on the phone to the travel agent. (chaos it was)
so i had ALL this money!! man. i could've died. then i was telling this business man (ralph) from canada that i met in the visa office about it, just because that was all that was on my mind and he gave me some money coz he felt sorry for me. sooo grateful. i told him i'd pay him back, coz he's here in taipei until friday. SO then i ended up coming home with money!!! am still shaking my head!!
anyway, the visa wasn't going to be ready to pick up till 4pm, and now that i had this money, i wondered around stress free. i went to a museum (free), but most of the exhibits were shut then i took a bus (yes, could afford bus) and went back to soho and ate at an amazing greek restaurant with a nepalese waiter, who had a friend in HK from PNG!! he said she worked at another restaurant down the hill, but wouldn't be there that day. anyway!!! it was a crazy kind of feeling, how much the stress was off as soon as i had money in my pocket.
i went back to collect my visa a little before 4 and it was ready, and i met ralph again, and he still felt sorry for me so said he'd be catching a cab to the airport and i was welcome to take it with him. i ended up being really early for my flight, but now i have an invitation to montreal!! he's married, has a cocker-spanial, his kids are grown and moved out, so he says he has plently of space in a big house. will have to mention it to my aussie-friend(we're planning a trip next year, around the world!) he had to get a visa because his passport expires in december and you can't enter taiwan with a passport that's only valid for under 6 months. so he said he was kicking himself because he forgot to get a new passport, but i said i was lucky he didn't! hahah
anyway, so will definately go back to HK . i wish my bankcard had worked, it would have made such a difference. i guess it was all just a series of unfortunate events.
my stomaches growling, am gonna get brekky, then go get my arc before i forget again. i have no classes today, they all start tomorrow!! so day off to relax, renourish my body...
posted by Amanda | 9:47 AM
1 Comments:
damn girl! you is so lucky dat they didnt deport your beautiful black ass to papa new guinea!! glad you had an interesting time though--what would taipei do without ya?!
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