One of the places in Hong Kong which I had never been before is a place called Stanley. It is almost directly opposite o the city on the island and it takes a while to arrive. The Lonely Planet suggests taking the double decker trolley from central to it's termination point and then hopping on another bus from there to go the rest of the way to Stanley. My Lonely Planet is ancient, 3 years old, when dealing with the swift changes which sweep through China. When we finally arrived at Stanley, we found out that there were buses which go straight from Central to Stanley instead of our round-about route.
The trip to Stanley was the most interesting part of the trip as it was my first time to travel on a double-decker bus and it was my first time to travel all the way through Hong Kong city. The electric double-decker trolley is amazing and so well measured that it passes by oncoming trolleys with mere inches of separation. Here you can see the video of the bus ride.
Here are some more pictures of the scenery along the way.
The funniest thing that I have ever seen was on the bus right next to us. Luckily, we were stopped and I could get a picture. What a fabulous team we have found.
We finally arrived at the end of the road for our little trolley. We searched high and low for the proper place to get the next bus and people pointed us in every different direction. We ended up walking to the dock and deciding to try another route. Here are some pictures from the dock. I think those are the coolest fishing boats. I read somewhere that many people make their homes on those. Not sure of the truth of that. I bet this place would be the cheapest seafood in town.
By this time, my bladder was about to burst. I said, we are going to have to wait for our trip because I need to pee like NOW! So, we decided to go towards the big buildings, which might have been a hotel or a nice apartment complex...either way, it might have had public facilities.
When we got underneath, we found that this was where the bus we needed started. How is that for dumb luck? I guess it pays to follow your Johnson! There were no facilities however and I had to hold my water for another 30 minutes or more of winding mountain road before I could get relief. When we got to Stanley, I did my business and we had a nice afternoon of walking around the "boardwalk" and chewing on some nice western food. None of it was cheap, but it was all pretty good. The government had restricted swimming because of big Jelly Fish, but I think they did not want to staff the beach in the cooler weather. You can see pictures of Stanley by following this link.
You should have got off at the stop where the video started. Walk across the street on the right hand side and walk one block up. There's a mini-bus stop there where you can catch the mini-bus to Stanley.
Posted by: jaws | February 08, 2008 at 12:08 PM
Jake, I can't believe you couldn't get directions (ha ha) The boats were cool looking.
Mom
Posted by: | February 12, 2008 at 07:51 AM
Man the first 2 pictures under the video are awesome and everything I'd expect Hong Kong to look like.
Posted by: Stephen | February 29, 2008 at 07:21 AM
Jake, next time you're in HK, you can walk up to any news stand and buy a pocket map book of HK. It will have every street and landmark (malls, temple, street market) in HK listed along with all bus routes and public transport routes. even ferries.
it's cheap, useful and fits in your back pack.
Posted by: Andy (美國土子) | October 10, 2008 at 06:06 PM