Archive for November, 2008
November 30, 2008 at 2:47 pm · Filed under Flying, Knowing
Compared to paying the exorbitant expense of cab fare only to get stuck in traffic on the BQE, or the pain of hauling your crap from one transfer point to another and squeezing yourself and your luggage into a packed A train at rush hour, getting from Chek Lap Kok Airport on Lantau Island to Kowloon or Central Hong Kong — or back — is a veritable breeze. The how is detailed below; the pithy nature of this post should speak volumes.
Arrival.
Once you clear customs, directly across the hall you’ll see these signs:
Nearby there are several of your typical airport currency exchanges and ATM machines. Exchange, or better yet, take out about $1000HKD (about $130USD; the current exchange rate is roughly $7.80HKD to the US dollar — check here for the latest), which should last you a good few days in HK.
Just in front of the trains you’ll see these ticket machines. Depending on the location of your hotel, buy the appropriate single or roundtrip ticket. Fares below:
- Kowloon: $90HKD/$11.50USD Single-trip / $160HKD/$20.50USD Round-trip
- Hong Kong: $100HKD/$13USD Single-trip / $180HKD/$23USD Round-trip
More information about the MTR can be found here.
The trains are fast, no-frills, and they show up every 12 minutes. They only make three stops; Tsing-Yi, Kowloon, and Hong Kong. Onboard, you’ll find this handy progress meter:
The Kowloon stop is actually in the relatively new development of West Kowloon, rather than where your hotel probably is, which is Tsim Sha Tsui further to the south and east, about a 5-10 minute cab ride away. If you’re staying in HK, the HK stop on the MTR is below the ifc (International Finance Centre) in Central (for fans of the latest Batman movie, this is the building in Hong Kong that Batman goes batgliding off of). Here’s the MTR map.
Whether you’re arriving at the Kowloon or Hong Kong stops, you’ll see taxi stands near the exits. Now, this part is important, important, important. Many, if not most taxi drivers in post-colonial HK don’t speak much English, so be sure you have your hotel name, in both English and Chinese, and perhaps a map or a photo printed out on something that the cabbie can read. It sounds absurd, but it’s happened too many times to us to count, and it really totally sucks, coming upon hour-18 or -20 into your trip only to faceplant with the finish line in sight!
Taxis are stupid cheap in HK, so don’t worry too much about dough. For the short ride to your hotel should be maybe 3-5 clams US. Total elapsed time from boarding the train: 35-45 mins.
Departure.
In short, you do the reverse of the above, with one particularly awesome twist: Free In-Town Check-In Service.
So say the scenario is this: you’re getting kicked out of your hotel and you’re dragging all your bags around, your flight doesn’t leave til the evening but you still have a few things to check out in the city — what to do? In-town check-in, that’s what.
After heading down to the trains in either Kowloon or Hong Kong, you’ll see something like the following; an airport check-in area:
One which works much like its counterpart at the actual airport. To gain access to the desks, use your round-trip MTR card (or purchase another single-trip ticket if you didn’t get one when you arrived).
Et voilà — you are baggage-free once again!
Once you are ready to head back to the airport, just descend one more level to the trains …
November 27, 2008 at 10:29 pm · Filed under Shopping
One of the primary draws of showing up in Hong Kong is to have a suit made to measure. Another, related draw, is coming to Hong Kong and getting garments you own copied in whichever fabric you choose. Topping this is having only to pay Chine$e prices.
Bespoke culture is pervasive in Hong Kong, having arrived via Shanghai following the communist takeover over of China in the late forties. Not seeing much of a market in China with the rise of the ubiquitous Mao suit, Shanghainese tailors skipped south to Hong Kong, then still a free colony under British administration. There they found a good fit (har!), plying their wares for the bustling commercial and banking culture in HK. A half-century later and the practice is still going strong.
So, the basics: you walk into a tailor shop and you’ll get your measurements taken. Then you’ll pick out materials, and will be told when to come back for your fitting (usually the next day or the day after). For the fitting, the tailor will have constructed a rough body for you to try on. Here they’ll fine tune, marking places to take in, areas to loosen up, etc. Depending on the place, there may or may not be a third fitting, but generally your suit should be ready by the next day. If you’re not around to pick it up, they’ll ship it out to you. Overall, the turnover is around 3-4 days, and the average cost for getting a full suit with slacks made is $300-400USD. A bespoke shirt is usually around $50USD.
And now, a few tips. HK tailors have been doing this for years and years, and thereby have a very established mental model for what a suit is. If you have a different idea, or want to tweak some details, it may blow some minds. The best practice is to bring a photo of something you want to have reproduced, or better yet, bring in a shirt/pants/suit that you own and love, and have them copy the cut exactly. The key thing to remember is to be insistent if you have a strong idea of what you want!
Which tailor to go to? There are hundreds to choose from, most of them located in Kowloon. The fancier ones will be located in, around or below the hotels in Tsim Sha Tsui, while the cheaper guys will be scattered along Nathan Road further north. The cheapest of all ($150-200USD for a full suit) will be located a train ride away in Shenzhen in China, although like anything in life (and in regards to products made in China!), caveat emptor …
There are a couple that Meredith and I have used that we’ve been fairly happy with. Amigo Tailor and Ricky’s Tailor are both located in the New World Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui. See below:
Of the two, Amigo is more amenable to direction, but Ricky’s makes really good men’s slacks. Both are priced equivalently, and turn things around fairly quickly (Amigo may be a tad quicker) …
November 27, 2008 at 8:58 pm · Filed under Knowing
We’ve gotten some questions about prepaid SIM cards to use to communicate while in HK. And the good news is, this is very easy to do.
There are at least three major cellphone providers with bricks and mortars everyplace, selling pay-as-you-go SIM cards; these are PCCW, Vodaphone and Peoples (though there are more). Also, every 7-Eleven in the city — and there are tons of them — sell, if i recall, in $50HKD increments, which is about $7USD, and is more than enough for a few days of random ‘where you at’-type conversations. I highly recommend doing this — it is easy and cheap compared to using your US-based service while abroad. You can still do that, but it’s insanely expensive — for you and for others!
Just bring your unlocked GSM phone and swap out your US SIM card with the prepaid HK card, and you’re set. ‘Official’ T-Mobile, ATT, and Verizon (but not Spring/Nextel unfortunately!) phones will be need to be ‘unlocked’. I’m not super-clear on this process, but there are ways … If you don’t want to mess with your phone, are on a non-GSM provider, or own an iPhone, you should bring an older phone or buy a disposable one when you get there. We have a couple of junked unlocked Nokias we’ll bring along too.
Lastly, our HK mobile phone number is 6579.8187 — give us a buzz when you arrive!
