TRAVEL

Sunday, November 18 , 1990 ~ North Shore News - 33

Hong Kong notebook

Forget the buses,
Hong Kong

was made

for walking

I RETURNED from Hong
Kong yesterday afternoon.
This morning, amazingly
free from jet lag, I’m on
my second pot of coffee
and trying to sort out my
first -impressions of the
whole thing.

The slogan of the Hong Kong
Tourist Association is ‘Stay an
extra day.” After my visit 1 agree
completely. In my case it will have
to be, ‘Go back soon and get it
right next time.”’

Hong Kong is bewildering. 1
spent the first three days taking
tours and standing around with
my mouth open, seeing the city
from the windows of a bus. That
is not the way to experience Hong
Kong.

I wish someone had taken me to
a maze cf alleys, deliberately lost
me and left me to find my way as
best I could!

In fact, when I return my first
two steps will be:

(1) Visit a tailor for the gar-
ments I want hand tailored (this
takes a few days) and,

(2) Get all three of the walking
tour maps from the HKTA and
start walking.

I am no expert on choosing a
tailor — ask all your friends for
recommendations and have a look
at the work. Don’t expect $99 silk
suits any more, but do expect the
finest in materials and workman-
ship at quite a saving.

For example, one of my friends
had a three-piece suit tailored —
jacket, shirt and slacks — in fine
cashmere, everything fully fined.
She paid about $400 for it.

I had some shirts made for
Brian, finest cotton, made exactly
as ordered (perfect fit!),
monogrammed — $60 each.

I had two tailors recommended
to me by friends but didn’t have
the chance to track them down
soon enough. Instead, I went with
one of the tailors in the mall
beneath my hotel (The Conrad),
Pacific Place Mall, Johnny Lew.
He’s on Level 3, #363.

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TRAVELWISE

I was told by several people that
the visitor can rarely go wrong by
choosing a tailor connected with
your hotel for both quality and
convenience (garments require
several fittings, pick-up is apt to
be last-minute).

Now, the walking tour maps.
These are available at two loca-
tions: HKTA main office (Jardine
House, #! Connaught Place, shop
#8, basement) and the Star Ferry

- Concourse, Kowloon side.

The packages consist of an
easy-to-follow map and a pam-
phlet describing every sight along
the way. You can’t go wrong.

The first-time visitor to Hong
Kong has a deep fear of getting
lost. He pictures confusing mazes
of narrow alleys, bewildering signs
and swarms of people who-can't
communicate and, furthermore,
don’t give a damn about his
predicament.

The mazes of alleys exist. The
rest is no problem. All the alleys
lead into streets. All the streets
swarm with taxis.

A taxi ride to almost every des-

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NEW TERRITORIES

LANTAU ISLAND

tination on the island city centre is
$8 H.K. ($10 with tip). In our
money that’s $1.64! Same on the
Kowloon side.

Our hotel gave us a card with
their location written in Chinese
— sort of a ‘“‘return to sender.”
Several of the group needed it. I
jost mine but fortunately found
that all my drivers knew what I
“vas talking about.

The first-time visitor to Hong
Kong needs a very basic idea of
the geography — please see map.
This is about as basic as you can
get!

The Territory consists of a
clutch of islands and a bite out of
mainland China. Hong Kong
Island and Kowloon make up the
city centre.

Getting back and forth between
the two is accomplished by either

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KOWLOON

road (tunnels connect) or by ferry.

. Please note Kai Tak Airport is in

Kowloon.

The other islands are linked to
Hong Kong Island by a system of
passenger ferries — very inexpen-
sive.

The New Territories used to be
farmland -— very picturesque.
Since farming is no longer prof-
itable many of the farms have
been turned into storage depots
for wrecked cars and assorted in-
dustrial junk.

The only time a visitor will like-
ly travel between Hong Kong
{sland and Kowloon by road
(tunnel) is if he is staying on the
Island and must transfer to and
from the airport with baggage.
The road traffic is one mass traf-
fic jam and taxis can cost a for-
tune.

The Star Ferry system is a
breeze! It costs 16¢ ($1 H.K.) and
takes five minutes. To ride you
need a $1 coin — change available

at both ends.

The ferries run back and forth
between Hong Kong ‘sland and
Kowloon every couple of minutes.
Both terminals are central (see
map).

The average visitor to Hong
Kong concentrates his time in the
city centres. To go further afield,
all sorts of tours are available
through the HKTA and informa-
tion is available to the two centres
1 mentioned earlier as well as at
your hotel. Public transportation,
buses and trains, are inexpensive.

{ took the Heritage Tour to the
New Territories. It takes about
five hours and costs $250 H.K.
{about $42 CDN). Do this only if
you have lots of time. Pickup is in
Kowloon about 9:30 a.m. and you
won't be back until mid-after-
noon.

The ride is scenic at times; the
road over the Kowloon Hills is
spectacular, but the former
farmland is disappointing.

What is Hong Kong really like?
I can only guess. It reminds me a
lot of New York.

I feel a iot safer in Hong Kong
than I do in New York despite the
warnings posted on the Star Fer-
ries, ‘‘Beware of Pickpockets.”’

Both cities have slums, both
depressing but in different ways.
Certainly they look different.
Hong Kong slums are narrow
tenements, grimy and remarkably
alike.

The major difference | saw was
that in New York’s slums gangs of
young people loiter — violence
waiting to happen.

You don’t see that in Hong
Kong. Everyone seems to know
exactly where they are going,
moving fast and employed, no
matter how modest the job.

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