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When I had the opportunity to use frequent flyer miles for an overseas trip, I decided to use them to go over a different sea than usual for a trip to Asia in November 2002. Here is a report on that trip to Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
TRIP TO ASIA, NOVEMBER 2002
Amc2004-09-13 14:42:34
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a shopping mall where most stores were marked by Western names only, but I found my way to neighborhoods where most businesses had signs in Chinese only. All official signs included English; I’d read warnings not to expect everyone to speak English, particularly cab drivers. I had my hotel key card ready for the one cab ride I took and otherwise had no serious language problems. Even though I was clearly from outside, I was hassled very little compared to my later stops. The temperatures were comfortable; it was at least partly cloudy most of the time, with rain a couple of mornings. I learned from Judy to give cars the right of way when crossing the street; contrary to my experience at later stops on my trip, even if the streets were crowded, crossing was efficient at lights, and it was seldom much of an issue that traffic was on the left. On busy streets, there were numerous overpasses and underpasses (called subways following British usage) to make the crossing.
In large part I occupied my days with the tours listed in the Hong Kong Walks brochure available at the HK Tourism Board offices. They led me to interesting streets while giving me the option to take a detour, in particular to cut the walks short since they suggested very long tours. I ferried to Lantau Island, saw the giant Buddha, and the natural hillsides. With the length of the bus ride up there, I couldn’t believe the brochure proposed walking back to the ferry terminal; it might have been more direct than the road and downhill, but I preferred to take the bus. With the chance to sit down on the long ferry ride, that was a pretty restful day. On HK Island, I went to the Peak and looked down on the high-rises. Given how built-up the “front” of the island is, it was a surprise to see how much of a natural park area there was to hike down the back side. Being interested enough in air travel, I made a special trip to the site of the old Kai Tak airport, where landings were quite an adventure
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See photographs from:
Vietnam Gallery
,
Macau Gallery
,
Hong Kong Gallery
,
Cambodia Gallery
