Hong Kong
Arrival in Hong Kong
The arrival in Hong Kong went smoothly. We left the ship and immediately looked for accommodation. The ship had docked in Kowloon and we walked along Nathan Road to the junction with Jordan Road. Someone in the port had told us about a youth hostel that was on the 12th floor. Fortunately, there was an elevator.
The hostel was run by a private individual and was very reasonably priced. We had a room with bunk beds and a large swivel fan in the middle. In the same room was an Indian, always well-dressed, who was well known in Hong Kong. He gave us lots of useful tips.
What surprised me in the heat was that the young man was wearing long underpants and a long undershirt. The toilet and shower were in the corridor. The elevator often didn't work - going down was easy, but going up was quite a hassle.
Typhoons in Hong Kong
We were lucky (or unlucky) enough to experience several typhoons at the same time. That was impressive - and sometimes really uncomfortable.
When a typhoon hit, the whole city suddenly became nervous. Stores closed early, the streets emptied and people nailed windows and doors shut. In our youth hostel on the 12th floor, we felt the wind particularly strongly. The fan in the middle of the room suddenly sounded ridiculous compared to what was going on outside.
During one of the typhoons, there was suddenly about 10 cm of water in our room. The water ran down the stairs like a real mountain stream - you could really hear it rushing. Outside, the rain lashed horizontally against the windows and the wind howled so loudly that you could hardly understand your own words. The building shook and creaked all night. The next morning, the town looked like it had been in a battle: signs tipped over, broken branches, puddles and dirt everywhere.
Nevertheless, life went on quickly. As soon as the typhoon was over, the streets were full of people cleaning up again. The food was cheap and good, especially if you settled for street food - and that's exactly what we did. After such a stormy night, a hot noodle soup or fried rice tasted particularly good.
T-shirt with "Switzerland"
Back then, I had a T-shirt with the word "Switzerland" on it. A tall Chinese man liked it so much that he offered to swap it with me. He was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt. I did the swap - and I think it was a real win-win situation. I always wore this shirt throughout the trip for special occasions, for example at embassies, consulates or counters all over the world. You never see the pants of the people standing in front of you.
Hong Kong - Aberdeen
Aberdeen beach was great for swimming and eating fish. Victoria Harbour was also worth a detour.
Our room neighbor gave us a good tip for our onward journey to Thailand. He gave us the address of a "travel agency". We found it on foot. We were amazed to discover that the travel agency was a one-man office under the staircase of the house. We spoke to the man and he was able to get us two flight tickets with Siam Airlines at a reasonable price. Of course, there was a certain amount of risk involved in such a deal, but we bought the tickets and paid.
We were due to depart from Hong Kong's old airport at 10pm in the evening. We took the bus to the airport and checked in our backpacks. After a while we were told that the flight had been canceled. We got our luggage back and were taken to a hotel for the night.
This airline only had two airplanes - and one of them was currently under repair.
We were given vouchers: one for food with drinks, one for a morning meal and one for a single room. Rolf got the same, including a room with a balcony and a view of the bay. I think the hotel was called Metropol.
We deposited our luggage in the room. I saw a note for the laundry service, packed a few clothes that could do with a wash, filled out the note and put the package outside the door.
Downstairs in the restaurant, we asked the waiter what we could eat with the voucher. He said: "Everything on the menu." When I saw that it also said T-bone steak (I'd only heard of it), we both ordered a T-bone steak with beer and chips. After almost three weeks of Russian food, this was a meal fit for a king! The waiter said we could have more, it was all free, but we stayed sensible and left it at one beer. We were both very satisfied and didn't think we should overdo it.
When we got back to the room, my laundry was already washed and neatly folded on the bed. The note said the equivalent of about 6 francs. I thought: "I'll pay that tomorrow morning before I leave."
Information on the road and backpacker info
Where and how did we get information about the country, hotels, etc.?
Tourist Office
In larger cities, we usually went to the tourist office. They were all very helpful and often provided us with maps and material.
Tips from other backpackers
We often met other backpackers. Without knowing each other, we got talking and exchanged tips. There were backpackers from all over the world.
Swiss backpacker
I have particularly fond memories of two of them:
One was Kurt Schädeli, a locksmith from Steffisburg. Every time we met him, he took out his Jass cards and said: "Come on, let's do a cleaner." Kurt arrived in Australia before us. About four weeks after arriving in Darwin, he was already a foreman at a shipyard and already had a car.
The other came from the Zurich region and was a baker/pastry chef. Long beard, long hair. When we met him again in Darwin, I didn't recognize him at first: no more beard, short hair, shorts and white socks with black shoes. We teased him a bit and asked if he was Australian yet. He replied that his boss at the bakery had asked him to be.
Flight to Bangkok
As announced at reception, we were woken up at 5:00 am. We were able to eat a proper English breakfast and the bus was waiting outside the hotel at 7:00 am. We were taken to the airport, dropped off our luggage, checked in - and off we went to Bangkok.
In my haste, I had forgotten to pay my laundry bill. Sorry...
The flight took about 4 hours.
