This blog is becoming longer than what I had hoped it would. But I wanted to write down as much as possible so that years later I could come back to this and recall some of these moments wistfully. Plus a little extra detail never hurts:)
On Day 3 of our trip, we set out to make use of our 48 hour Bigbus Pass. We took a local bus to the Star ferry (we could have walked, but we wanted to take a ride on the local bus and it was just 1 stop) and took a ferry across to Hongkong Island. Big bus had provided free passes for the local ferry (both onward and return for 2 days) so we didn't need to buy the tickets.
It was a quick ride across and we reached the Island fairly quickly. One thing that I do need to mention about local transportation - be it MTR or ferry... you need to walk a lot.... A LOT! inside the stations I mean. There are travelators in some stations but despite that you still need to walk. This was OK for both of us, but at times it would get tiring for my mother. Especially after a long day or at places where we needed to walk up long flight of steps where there were no escalators. No wonder the Chinese look fit and healthy. They don't need any additional exercise.
Once we reached the Central Pier, we quickly spotted a BigBus and walked over. We had planned to take the Red Route today which would take us around the Island. But we changed plans when we learnt that we'd have to wait for half an hour for a bus going along that route. There was one going to Stanley/ Aberdeen (Green Route) which was starting immediately and so we hopped on to it.
The Green route bus took us through Aberdeen, Oceans park, Repulse Bay and we got a fantastic view of the South China sea from the top of the bus (unfortunately none of the photos I took of this view justify the beauty so I am not attaching any). We finally got off at Stanley where we hit the famous Stanley market. The first couple of days had been nice and sunny but it had started to get very cloudy on this day and it was constantly drizzling. Thankfully Bigbus was prepared for this eventuality and provided us all with light hooded raincoats. I had brought my own windcheater but my mother's umbrella proved to be difficult to use what with the winds blowing quite strong. The raincoat helped.
Stanley market was unlike the Ladies market at Kowloon in that it was definitely a lot cleaner and more upmarket. Also there were a lot of Art work being sold here which was beautiful.
We bought some bags and souvenirs from Stanley Market, ate our lunch and waited for the next BigBus to take us back. There were several local buses that we could have taken but we wanted to finish the Green Tour as it would take us to our next ride - on the Sampan (a traditional Chinese fishing boat).
BigBus provided us free passes for the Sampan ride and we got off at Aberdeen to experience it. The Sampan is a traditional Chinese fishing boat and we had an old Chinese fisherwoman taking up the oars. It was decorated with gaudy plastic flowers and traditional Chinese lamps. We went past a traditional looking building right in the middle of the sea and we were told that it is the Jumbo floating restaurant. However we only admired it from outside as the boat didn't make a stop there.
On Day 3 of our trip, we set out to make use of our 48 hour Bigbus Pass. We took a local bus to the Star ferry (we could have walked, but we wanted to take a ride on the local bus and it was just 1 stop) and took a ferry across to Hongkong Island. Big bus had provided free passes for the local ferry (both onward and return for 2 days) so we didn't need to buy the tickets.
It was a quick ride across and we reached the Island fairly quickly. One thing that I do need to mention about local transportation - be it MTR or ferry... you need to walk a lot.... A LOT! inside the stations I mean. There are travelators in some stations but despite that you still need to walk. This was OK for both of us, but at times it would get tiring for my mother. Especially after a long day or at places where we needed to walk up long flight of steps where there were no escalators. No wonder the Chinese look fit and healthy. They don't need any additional exercise.
Once we reached the Central Pier, we quickly spotted a BigBus and walked over. We had planned to take the Red Route today which would take us around the Island. But we changed plans when we learnt that we'd have to wait for half an hour for a bus going along that route. There was one going to Stanley/ Aberdeen (Green Route) which was starting immediately and so we hopped on to it.
The Green route bus took us through Aberdeen, Oceans park, Repulse Bay and we got a fantastic view of the South China sea from the top of the bus (unfortunately none of the photos I took of this view justify the beauty so I am not attaching any). We finally got off at Stanley where we hit the famous Stanley market. The first couple of days had been nice and sunny but it had started to get very cloudy on this day and it was constantly drizzling. Thankfully Bigbus was prepared for this eventuality and provided us all with light hooded raincoats. I had brought my own windcheater but my mother's umbrella proved to be difficult to use what with the winds blowing quite strong. The raincoat helped.
Stanley market was unlike the Ladies market at Kowloon in that it was definitely a lot cleaner and more upmarket. Also there were a lot of Art work being sold here which was beautiful.
BigBus provided us free passes for the Sampan ride and we got off at Aberdeen to experience it. The Sampan is a traditional Chinese fishing boat and we had an old Chinese fisherwoman taking up the oars. It was decorated with gaudy plastic flowers and traditional Chinese lamps. We went past a traditional looking building right in the middle of the sea and we were told that it is the Jumbo floating restaurant. However we only admired it from outside as the boat didn't make a stop there.
After the ride, we hopped right back onto the bus which took us to Central Pier. At Central Pier there is this huge Ferris Wheel which gives one a spectacular view of the city. And the good thing is that each group gets their own cabin. So we bought our tickets (At 100HKD per ticket, the price was a bit steep which explained the thin crowd). More than me my mother enjoyed the ride, and we had a spectacular view from up the wheel of all the skyscrapers built on both sides of the bay.
And for those who want to read the blog from the start, here's the link: HK and Macau trip - Part 1
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