Travel is exciting yet stressful if you are a Mumma of a 4
year old. Thoughts like how will the kid survive without you and how will you
cope-up with this separation will keep eating you. But kids are way more
adjustable than we think they are. My 4-year-old amazes me this way every
single time.
Recently I have been asked to go on a business trip to US,
again I had mixed feelings and doubt that how we both will survive for these 2
weeks. But somewhere the little girl in me was so happy as she will get to live
her wanderlust again.
Due to last minute flight bookings I ended up with 9 hours of
layover in Hong Kong. Me being me, I didn’t want to spend those precious 9 hours
lazing around at airport. I wanted to go out and explore the city a bit and
with some research I was able to find what could be the ideal itinerary for the
limited time I had in a new country.
After a bit of crying (more crying from my side than the
kid) I started to the airport on the planned date. Flight was delayed by 30
mins, but I was confident on the execution of my transit travel plan. For all
of you who have not been to the Hong Kong airport before, its big but not so
big as the Dubai airport, so no mad walking rush. But always keep 1-1:30 hours
in hand for immigration process as these big airports get very busy on
weekends.
for Indian passport holder Visa on arrival is not available
in Hong Kong any more, you must fill the pre-arrival registration form
beforehand and take the printout of same with you. This form asks you to fill
few basic information about you, please make sure the data entered by you in
the PAR is matching with the data on your Passport. And this PAR is free of
cost, so make sure to fill it though the government site and not via any agent
site which asks you to pay money for same. In the immigration process you will
be asked for this form and the passport, the officer will match both and give
you a small form to fill again (name and passport number) and if all the data
matches and the immigration office is satisfied you get the go out to the city.
I wanted to take shower before going out in the city, so I
went to the plaza lounge in the airport. It’s in terminal 2, you can use your
visa priority lounge card here, that’s what I used, but they do have few more
card tie ups too. The shower room in the lounge was very clean and specious. After
the shower and a cup of coffee in the lounge I was all set to hit the city. I
had one cabin luggage with me which I didn’t wanted to carry around, so I left
it in the clock-room. This is also in the terminal 2 and charges 12HG$/hour.
Near to that you have the information desk for buses as well. I had plans to go
to the Big Buddha (Tian Tan Buddha) and experiencing the Cable car ride.
To reach to big buddha from Airport, there are multiple ways
available (bus/train/taxi). I decided to take the bus till Ngong Ping 360station and take cable car from there. I took bus number S1 from airport and
after 6 stop (almost 10 mins) reached Ngong Ping 360 station. It was just
3.5HG$, please keep exact change if you are buying tickets in the bus as the
machine don’t give back change. When I was starting from airport, it looked
like a bright sunny day and soon after I sat in the bus it started raining
heavily. I had done my homework before, so I had an umbrella in my handbag. But
I felt totally disappointed when I reached Ngong Ping 360 station only to find
that they have closed operations of Cable cars for few hours due to thunderstorms
warning. I had 2 choices, to wait there for few hours till it starts again or
take a bus and go to the big Buddha. I picked the later as I had no time for
waiting and I am so glad I did decide to take the bus.
In Hong Kong all the sign boards have English along with the
Chinese script, so you can still make your way through the city without using
the google maps. After 7-8 mins the BUS S23 arrived at the station which took
me to Tian Tan Buddha. In the bus, there were many other visitors like me who
changed their cable car plans and took bus due to rains, so something common to
talk about. I met another Indian engineer who was there on his business trip, so
I got company and a hand to click pictures (yes the selfish me 😜)
After getting down from the bus its 10 minutes’ walk towards
the Big buddha. The walk way has few warrior sculptures and few shops for
souvenirs. And after climbing some 100+ steps we reached to the big Buddha
statue, this is a 112ft tall bronze statue, Buddha sitting on lotus. The view
from top was scenic, lots of greenery and water body. Though it would have been
great if the sky was clearer. By now the rain stopped and I was able to see the
cable cars moving again, happy me.
Near to Big buddha there is a small Montessori, we paid a
visit there. It melted my heart to see small cute kids praying there, I missed
my son. The Montessori architecture was very beautiful and colorful. So many
colors were used on the wall and ceiling, still they all looks so calm and
complete together. I also bought few souvenirs, which did contain fridge
magnets too (my favorite thing to bring from any place I visit)
I still had 3 hours left to my connecting flight, but I was
almost done seeing this place, hence made my way to the Cable car station.
Cable car ride is available in 2 options, standard cabin and the cabin with
crystal (glass) bottom. I will suggest do try crystal bottom cable car, it’s
one of a lifetime experience, must do! This 25mins Cable car ride took my
breath away every time I tried to stand and look down, nice adventurous
experience still very-very safe.
After the ride I was back the NP260 station and same S1 Bus
took me back to the airport. So, I was back well within the time, and still had
2 hours in hand. I collated my bag back from clock room and it was in same
condition as I gave it in, safe option.
In totality I loved the small sneak-out tour of the city I
could do in the limited time I had and got to get a glimpse of the city and
witnessed it’s iconic tourist attraction. Again, little homework before my trip
helped me in many ways.
Lessons learnt, never ever go with the paid tours, they
charge more. With little research you can do the same in half the money. Juts
be confident and explore!
