Arrival in Hong Kong
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Upon arrival at the Hong Kong international airport, my jaw dropped. They have a super fancy airport! It’s a much bigger, more pimped NAIA terminal 3 with lots of shops and transportation options. One thing I keep complaining about NAIA terminal 3 is that passengers don’t really have any other choice but to take a cab. Hong Kong’s bus system is very organized. There is also a train station inside the airport. I wish we also have that here.
I hopped on the A21 bus as instructed by the guest house owner. There were also a couple of Filipino tourists on board. One seemed more familiar with Hong Kong and the other is a first timer. I was tempted to talk to them but I was busy looking out the window. Everything seemed so unreal. I really have arrived in Hong Kong! Everything is so fast-paced. I’m amazed at how developed the place is. There’s a mix of the old and new Chinese culture as seen in the city’s architecture.
I arrived at the guest house less than an hour later. I got off at the wrong bus stop so I had to walk a few blocks back to the Mirador Mansions. It’s an old (kinda creepy too) building which has a lot of cheap guest houses for budget travelers like me. I pulled out a piece of paper from my pocket which had the exact address of the guest house. It says 5th floor Flat 2. I went through each door on the 5th floor and was not able to find it. When I called their phone number, a Chinese lady picked up but was unable to speak English properly. All I understand was ‘Wait’ – which probably meant that she will pick me up from where I was at that time.
Scary hallway of the Mirador Mansions
At that time, all I could think of was 'Does this place even exist?'
Five minutes later, someone showed up on the 5thfloor. Thank God she’s Filipina so I spoke to her in Filipino the entire time. She led me to the guest house, which is apparently on the 7th floor. The owner has a lot of rooms on the 5th but they're fully booked so they're giving me one on the 7th. She even gave me a chance to choose which room I want to take.
These were my options:
Room # 1 – creepy room with 1 window, smaller bed and small bathroom which looked kinda gross
Room #2 – still a creepy room with NO window, bigger room and bed though. Decent bathroom
I chose the 2nd room although my jaws were still on the floor. When she showed me the rooms, both were in absolute mess. She explained to me that the guests just checked out so she still had to clean my room. Since I thought that would take some time, I decided to leave my bag and go to Disneyland.
NEXT: Day 1 – Disneyland!
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