agincourt: Recent trip to the Far East

We are recently back from a trip to the Far East. We left Comox and reached Hong Kong through Vancouver. After three nights there we continued to Singapore in time for David's birthday. During our stay there we took off for four nights into Malaysia using the train and buses. One night on the way home in Hong Kong and we returned to Comox. The next few pages will give you an idea of what we saw and what we did.

We used Pacific Coastal to get from Comox to Vancouver. This saves a great deal of time in getting to the airport. For the big flight we had chosen Oasis Hong Kong, a relatively new airline based in Hong Kong who runs a six days a week service to Hong Kong from Vancouver. They are still quite new and only have four Boeing 747 aircraft and the only other route they serve is Hong Kong to London Gatwick. The advantage they offer is price, they are much cheaper than Air Canada and Cathay Pacific but run an efficient service that had been well received. They have the usual two levels of service and we choose their Business class which was only a little dearer than the competition's Economy. So we had bigger seats, better meals and lounges to wait in before the flight. The very young flight attendants were very attentive and we were very satisfied with the service provided. Having a quiet lounge to stay in before the flight is a definite plus in these days of busy airports.

We left on time and arrived early.

We had two full days in Hong Kong staying at the same hostel we had used in 2005. This was small but spotless. The young owner was always more than helpful and the location in Mong Kok very convenient.

On our first day we chose to go to Lantau Island. To get there we first took the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island and then a second fast ferry to Lantau. Lantua is home of the Po Lin monastery and the Tian Tan Buddha statue. On arriving at the pier head we took a rather hair-raising bus ride to the temple. The roads were never straight and rarely flat so it was a bit like a ride at the fairground. Much swaying around the corners all done at great speed. We survived.

To get to the Buddha you climb up a long flight of steps, so there is a good view at the top.

The Buddha is a relatively new construction and it certainly is big.

The Buddha is actually much much bigger than it looks here

Inside the temple at the Monastery

As part of the deal with paid entry is a visit a vegetarian restaurant. Not all the food available was easily recognizable but we were well fed.

We then carried on to the old fishing village of Tai O which has some very old houses on stilts.

We took a boat ride past these houses and also a bit out to sea. We didn't see dolphins but did see a whole host of flying fish, quite remarkable. There was the usual market and this was well stocked with all kinds of interesting and unusual things Plenty of fish, both live and dried.

Fishing boats in the harbour

Fish out to dry

Squid for lunch

Another exciting bus ride got us to the end of the MTR train near the airport. We had used this line before. As is always the case there is always a cheaper way to from airports to city centre. This line is almost as quick as the fancy airport train and in many ways more interesting.

Hong Kong has a most efficient transportation system. It is fully integrated and they have a pass system (Octopus) where you can buy a pass, load it with credit and use it on every form of transport that have. At the end of a visit you can cash in the card and get back a deposit and any unspent balance, and the fares are ridiculously cheap by our standards. Singapore has the same idea and now London too. It saves fiddling around for change.

That evening we met up with Yolanda, a friend of Sam who works for Nike and we had met at Sam and David's wedding. We had a pleasant meal together at a Thia restaurant. We had come to like Thia food after our previous trip.

On our second day we again took the ferry across to Hong Kong Island and then the bus to Stanley which has a famous street market where we bought a very nice linen cloth for a new round table we had recently bought. Very good value. We then travelled to Aberdeen where we took a sampan ride around the harbour with a rather old lady boatman who spoke no English. She dodged in and out of the many boats in the harbour.

Our lady boatman

Another sampan racing by

In the harbour there is a famous floating restaurant and we did a circuit around it. It was quite massive and impressive from the front but a bit tatty around the back.