Arrival in Hong Kong

Taking the TurboJet from Macao to Hong Kong took us only an hour. The vessel arrived at the ferry terminal at Sheung Wan (上环) where it is connected to anywhere in Hong Kong by the MTR. Our first experience in the urban Hong Kong was actually the underground.

Approaching the Sheung Wan MTR station.

The MTR is the most convenient way for travelling around Hong Kong. Almost every station has something to see about Hong Kong. We bought the Octopus Card (八达通) which is valid for the MTRs, buses and ferries. Each card costs HKD150 with stored value of HKD100.

The blinking bulbs different from those in Macao.

Having the Octopus Card saved us remarkable time for not having to queue for tickets from vending machines or ticket counters. In addition, each of our trip was charged at a discounted rate.

Tickets! Tickets! Anyone?

I like the idea of the MTR station designer of having different strong colours for the stations. One can easily identify the station by colour if one missed the announcement.

Very strong colour indeed.

Coming out from the underground, the first thing we saw is the old Hong Kong. I thought Hong Kong has been heavily refurbished but there are still many old buildings around. The flat tenants still line their clothes dry on the outside of the windows.

'Flags' of many colours.

The old wisdom of 'home-office' concept.

Just a couple of minutes of walk along the old street of Hong Kong, we finally arrived at our hotel, the Novotel Century Hong Kong (世纪). We were pleased to be staying in a hotel in the heart of the city, as we saved loads of time moving around. Remember that most taxi drivers have no clue if you mention the English name of hotels. Do ask the front desk for the name in Cantonese if you rely on taxis to get around.

The hotel is at Wan Chai (湾仔).

The Novotel Century is a very decent hotel to stay in. The ambiance is very inviting and warm. Although the room is not extremely big, it is very clean. Most importantly, it is very easy to get around Hong Kong from here.

The invitation.

The warm lighting.

The cosy corner.