Travel Like Ant

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Hongkong in a week

Hong Kong is Special administrted area of China and consist of mainly

Kowloon,
Hong kong island and
New territories

Hong kong is one of the busiest and the developed metropolitan city in Asia in terms of trade, business, and tourism

Things before starting your journey

VISA:

Majority of the countries in the world do not need visa for Hongkong atleat for 30 days. The list is available at

http://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/services/visas/visit-transit/visit-visa-entry-permit.html

If you do need visa then apply at least 2 months before your travel as the processing time can take 4 weeks minimum and application can be submitted to Chinese embassy or directly to the Hong kong Immigration office, I recommend to submit application at Chinese Embassy and the process is more smooth.

Travel Plan

My travel plan was simple,

1- Reasonable hotel with breakfast in the Kowloon district

2- Street food and night markets

3- Hong kong Island

4- Victoria Peak

Flight

There are many flights to Hongkong, try to reach in the day time to easily access the public transport, Try to take front seats in flight to jump out early from plane and reach to immigration counters, the immigration counters are heavily crowded and fill the DATA FORM before reaching the immigration counter, otherwise you need to go back and fill the form and stand in quo again. There is no alternative for it. The immigration officer are kind and smiling and give you a small receipt with the stamp in your passport showing your last date of return from Hong kong.

Hotel

I like staying right at the center to walk in the night to markets and return without taking public transport. I prefer Kowloon and somewhere near stop JORDAN. I think that's a very nice area to stay near to center and still quiet place. There are many food options there, money exchange offices and easy to access any transport.

Airport to Hotel/Center

The public trasnport is quite good in Hong kong and personal cars are like luxury items. Most the people travel by buses or metro. After arriving at the airport you can take Bus or Train to Center.

OPTION 1:

Take airport express train, you can go to Kowloon or Hong kong Island and cost around 110HKD for one ride, little cheaper if you have OCTOPUS card. or a better option to take airport express travel pass,
1 Airport Express Ride with Unlimited MTR Rides for 3 days: HK$250

OPTION 2

I personally prefer option 2 to take a bus and reach at stop near your hotel, as carrying and transferring your luggage is easier with bus.

After coming out from the airport follow the signs and come out to the bus stop area, go to CITY FLYER company both and buy ticket the required bus ( it will be bus A21 or A22) one way ticket cost 39HKD and if you think to travel more in next days then buy the OCTOPUS card and charge the money in it. OR you can just pay the exact amount to the driver when entering bus( CHANGE is not returned so PAY exact)

The bus takes about 50 minutes to reach the Center( Tsim Sha Tsui stop)

Night Markets

KOWLOON is famous for its night market and street food. KENT street or Lady market are popular night markets. where as eating on the streets of KENT market is a experience of its own. The city is expensive but still comparable to any other metropolitan city.

Hong kong island

Hongkong island is accessible by MTR ( take metro from JORDAN stop) or just walk to harbour and then take ferry to the Hongkong island, its a cheap way to have a wonderful view of the harbor and visit to HK island.

Victoria Peak

At Hongkong island the Victoria peak is a must visit advice. The public bus number 15 for the CENTRAL station goes directly to Victoria peak, take a evening time and reach near sunset and the view is breathtaking, the way back can be very crowded so either stop till the crowd goes back and have dinner and spend some time there or go quickly for the bus to come back to the central station.

FOOD

The variety of food is huge and you can find almost all types of food, try the local street food near KENT market, the hygiene is level is not so good, but the atmosphere is great.

Local vendor at metro station

Other places

If you have time try to visit following places

Mong Kok

Ngong Ping and Tian Tan Big Buddha

Hongkong disney land

Lamma Island

Museums

Likes and Dislikes

From my personal experience Hongkong is city where anyone can live easily, its blend of many nationalities, culture, customs,tradition and religion that hard to identify the locals, so makes it great metropolitan city. The city is quite safe ( at least I didnt feel any fear walking in day and late nights)

Personal dislikes from the city are

Poor hygiene level and street food,fruits must be tried with strong stomach. The humidity in summer is extreme and hard to even walk in the streets. The hotels with basic facilities are even very expensive. Take your stomach medicines and antibiotics with you.

Enjoy you stay

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Eindhoven, Netherlands

3 Days at Eindhoven, Netherlands

Eindhoven is 5th biggest city in the Netherlands with population of 0.2 Million. The city has its own airport, well connected railway system and good public transport system. the city is within 100mies from Roterdam, Amsterdam and Cologne( Germany).

Airport
Eindhoven airport is just 5 Km in the north west of the city and connected with the city with bus 401 and 400 the timing and other information can be found here on this website. http://www.oveindhoven.nl/Airport_Eindhoven_Bus_English.htm
The buses are very frequent and no need to check the schedule. After arrival at airport then exit from the right door and the bus stop is just in the front. If you are thinking to rent a car then do it at the airport as the city center offices are always without cars or with expensive options. The car renting offices are also next to the bus stop.
The bus ticket can be bought from the driver in cash for 3.75 Euro for one way or a 24 hour ticket fro 6 Euro. The bus takes 25 minutes to reach to the main railway station.

Hotel
The Hotels in Eindhoven are extremely expensive so I recommend either do a very early booking or find pension or houses with rented rooms. The breakfast in the hotel usually cost around 9 Euro so it better to eat outside form some food market or Mcdonalds. The hotels near to Railway station are best option as its possible to walk around all part of the city. The city is safe and people are usually very cooperative. ( average hotel room cost 30 Euro per night)

This house has 7 renting room and near to railway station, name: SYCAMORE
Things to see
The town is small and can be seen easily in 2 days. The places of attraction are
1- House of Philips
2- Philips Museum
3- St. Catherine's Church
4- streets near Town center, the architecture is amazing
5- Shopping ( Primark)

The Philips House is one of the most famous place in Eindhoven and people believe that the city is known to the world because of the Philips and hos inventions . the House is located on the street PARLAAN 87.

Philips museum is located near the center and if you have young people accompanying you then can be a worth visit place. the ticket cost 9Eur per person.

For Eating I recommend to go to the North of the station by walking there are alot of international restaurants. the place is next to the University and due to students offera wide variety of foods with relativelt cheaper rates. The street name is Kruisstraat

Few pictures from the streets of Eindhoven

Visit Van Gogh Village NUENEN
The VAN Gogh ( Famous Artist) village is near the Eindhoven city and you can reach there by taking he bus number and 322. This place is truly magical and has beatiful streets and few old houses from the art work of the Van Gogh's work. His200 paintings were made in this city including the famous Potato Eater painting.
The town is just 9 Km from the Eindhoven city and the ticket cost nearly 3 Euro one way
Few of the photos form this town are as below.