The hectic trip to
I was on my official trip to Hong Kong.
Briefing the trip in couple of post….
Firstly,I must thank Jet Air for providing the empty seat next to me as I utilized that for sleeping. I did not enjoy the Jet in-flight entertainment as I preferred sleeping.
When I woke up, saw plane was flying just 1000 meter over the sea.
The beauty of Hong Kong (HKG) starts from its airport itself. If you are a first time traveler to HKG like me, then you will feel that your plane is landing on the sea as the runway is attached to the seashore, oh God it was just awesome. I was humming “ye kahan aa gaye hum…….”
I felt jittery when at the immigration counter while answering the question as it was VISA on arrival, and that person was looking at me ironically.I was little worried as it was my first travel and hence the passport was new for VISA stamp. But anyways got my VISA and moved into the country.
The 1 Hr drive from airport to The Bay Bridge Hotel was enough for an Indian like me to compare the two countries. I tried to convince myself by giving various useless, meaningless and sometime nonsense reasons, that India is better(Kyonki dil hai hindustani).But most of the time I was getting really difficult convincing.
So the fact is, technically they are far ahead and much better in terms Infrastructure. This was my conclusion after that 1 Hr drive.
Believe me ,
I was always trying to find animals, specially cows and dogs on the Hong Kong roads to feel better comfortable and homely, but can’t.
I was always trying to get no response from a Taxi driver when I was waving my hand for lift , but always feeling sad when they were giving good response every time and making me to justify my own India. I am used to ask minimum 5 auto driver every day every time to take me to the office and from office to home in Mumbai, so having said that isn’t it Hong Kong better…..
I was always trying to stuck into the traffic jam, But never find one in my entire stay in Hong Kong. The only reason is “Everyone in Hong Kong not only remember but also follows Rules of the Road knowledge which they learnt in 1st standard ”.But most of us just remember those rules to pass on to our children when they come in 1st standard. So having said that isn’t it Hong Kong better…..
I was always feeling awful when I was leaving office late night (around 3-4 in the morning) and the cabby was waiting at traffic signal when there was Red light. As we used to break the signal when we find no one is observing me. Having said that isn’t it Hong Kong better…..
I was always feeling awful when every day I was paying the same meter bill to the different cabby for my travel from office to hotel and vice versa. Because within India if you travel different state and the auto/taxi driver knows that you are new to the city, then……..shall I elaborate or you got it. Hope you got it.
I must write an incident related to this.On a particular day I hired a cab to take me from office to Hotel around 5 AM in the morning.Unfortunatly the cabby was not able to locate the address and he followed the wrong route and miter reading came almost double from the usual day.I paid him for his meter reading but the cabby returning me some money and taking exactly which I used to pay every day. Saying it was his fault that he could not locate the place.I really felt hard to digest this as there were no Hajmola. If you are also not able to digest then take some Hajmola. So having said that isn’t it Hong Kong better……..
I am also feeling sad writing this for my lovely India , but what to do. I believe “To compete you have to compare , and compare with the best”.But that does not mean ,India is behind them in all means.Will be posting the good part of India comparing to HKG in my next post.
Well, now get out from all these and let me write about some famous places in HKG.
One of the busiest suburbs of
It’s an outdoor street market with loads and loads of stalls where you can buy anything from ladies purse ,a Copy Rolex to Vegetable peeler.
Its got a wonderful atmosphere, and some of the stalls sell quite interesting stuff, and others just weird stuff, but interesting none the less.
Its a great place to go shopping for stuff to take home to friends and family. Some of the stalls also sell the usual souvenirs found in shops.
As I mentioned you can buy anything, the most common things to obtain are copy merchandise. Ladies Market is also popular place to buy copy goods. For example, if you want to buy a copy watch you will see a stall with brochures on the table, if you page through the brocures, someone will normally some stand next to you to ask you what type of watch you want. They are normally up for negotiation if you are not happy with their price. Dont be afraid if they tell you to follow them to their "showroom". They just take you up a apartment block to where they keep their stock. Many different copy handbags are also a common purchase amongs tourists.
Other goods available are stuff like alarm clocks, sports bags, jeans, shirts etc.
The stall owners are usually good sales people and will try their best to sell you a product. They are also happy to reduce prices if you bargain with them.
Many times the seller does not speak very good English, so when negotiating prices they will punch the amount into a calculator, let you have a look and then hand you the calculator so you can tell them what you are prepared to pay, very interesting actually!
For considering the importance of your time I am stopping this post here.
So take some break and I will update you for my next post on HKG soon.
And thanks for giving your time to read this.
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