Hong Kong
While we were still in the land of affordable luxury, we decided to treat ourselves to a posh dinner on our last night in Kuta. We had a delicious meal next to our own private waterfall, complete with a companionable tortoise that swam over to us and begged for scraps.
It was a bit of shock then to arrive in Hong Kong to find our world was suddenly 5 times more expensive and we were back to slumming it. We stayed in Kowloon in one of the budget hotel buildings - a battered, grim concrete hulk with a warren of corridors and a colorful cross-section of tenants.
Our room was on the 5th floor (of 13) with no window. It was about 9'x10' and contained two slim beds, a shower cubicle with a toilet and tiny sink, and a TV in the corner above one of the beds. It was pretty clean, but there was a nasty drain smell and we discovered a cockroach roaming amongst our belongings on two occasions. However, it was better than I had feared based on descriptions we had read earlier, and it turned out to be only $25 a night (we had been expecting $35). Still, it was a bit of a rude return to the first world.
In the morning, we took the ferry across to Hong Kong island and the tram up to Victoria Peak where we went for a nice stroll with panoramic views (although the weather was grey and misty).
Hong Kong has this great smart-card system called Octopus, which you can swipe to pay for almost anything (transport, convenience stores, museums, etc). It's just like cash, except much, much faster - you just leap on a bus and hold up your wallet as you walk past. If there's a discount for the return trip, it knows you made the outward journey ealier and adjusts the fare automatically.
You can pick one up at the airport on arrival and return it when you leave and get any unused credit refunded - excellent system.
Every evening, about 30 different buildings along the harbour participate in a light-show, with lasers and searchlights and flashing neon. We caught the tail end of it, before enduring an unpleasantly grissly turkish fast-food dinner, and returning for an early night.
It was a bit of shock then to arrive in Hong Kong to find our world was suddenly 5 times more expensive and we were back to slumming it. We stayed in Kowloon in one of the budget hotel buildings - a battered, grim concrete hulk with a warren of corridors and a colorful cross-section of tenants.
Our room was on the 5th floor (of 13) with no window. It was about 9'x10' and contained two slim beds, a shower cubicle with a toilet and tiny sink, and a TV in the corner above one of the beds. It was pretty clean, but there was a nasty drain smell and we discovered a cockroach roaming amongst our belongings on two occasions. However, it was better than I had feared based on descriptions we had read earlier, and it turned out to be only $25 a night (we had been expecting $35). Still, it was a bit of a rude return to the first world.
In the morning, we took the ferry across to Hong Kong island and the tram up to Victoria Peak where we went for a nice stroll with panoramic views (although the weather was grey and misty).
Hong Kong has this great smart-card system called Octopus, which you can swipe to pay for almost anything (transport, convenience stores, museums, etc). It's just like cash, except much, much faster - you just leap on a bus and hold up your wallet as you walk past. If there's a discount for the return trip, it knows you made the outward journey ealier and adjusts the fare automatically.
You can pick one up at the airport on arrival and return it when you leave and get any unused credit refunded - excellent system.
Every evening, about 30 different buildings along the harbour participate in a light-show, with lasers and searchlights and flashing neon. We caught the tail end of it, before enduring an unpleasantly grissly turkish fast-food dinner, and returning for an early night.
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