'Hong Kong' ↓

Let me introduce two properties that are located relatively far from the city centre, but yet are in rather nice seaside or countryside living environment, with shuttle bus service or connection to the public transport.

If you don’t mind the distance and want to live in the countryside like environment, they may be your choice.

These two properties are run by two of Hong Kong’s main property developers, Sino Group and Hong Kong’s tycoon Li Ka Shing’s Hutchison and Cheung Kong Groups.

Gold Coast Serviced Apartments, at Gold Coast, New Territories

These apartments have sea view, and require a minimum of one month stay, from HKD16000 per apartment.  Nearby is a beach.

It provides shuttle bus service to different points in the city centre, and takes about 30 minutes to reach Central on the Hong Kong island.

Harbour Plaza Resort City in Tin Shui Wei, New Territories

Tin Shui Wei area is known in Hong Kong for frequent occurrence of family tragedies where the poor families do not get enough support from the Government. So this “resort city” is inherently not really belonging to the area’s landscape. The place is a bit far from the city centre, but it is on the railway line, at the Tin Shui Wei Station of the Hong Kong MTR station. Travel time from Tin Shui Wei to, say Central, is 44 minutes by train. Monthly rental of the apartment is from HK$5900.

The covenient and also most expensive way is：If you leave from Hong Kong, take the Hong Kong (Hung Hom train stration) – Guangzhou (Guangzhou East train station) through train. When you arrive at the Guangzhou East train station, you head for Tian He Da Sha (天河大廈) on Ti Yu Xi Lu (体育西路 - “Ti Yu” means sports, “Xi Lu” means literally West Road). It would be a 15- minute walk, or a RMB7 taxi ride without the taxi metre jumping to the next reading. From Tian He Da Sha, you can take the Airport Express Route 6 to the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.

The first bus departs from Tian He Da Sha at 5:30, and the last one at 21:00. The whole journey is about 1 hour.

The first bus departs from Guangzhou Airport at 7:05, and the last one at 0:10.

One-way bus fare is about RMB20, which will be collected by uniformed staff on the bus. Bus service on this route is every 20 minutes.

The hotels in Hong Kong are not cheap. Even a very small room in a youth hostel, without window, costs at least HK$300. To find a hotel in a convenient location, with comfort and reasonable price, is no easy task. A tip is to the set sight on the Western District on Hong Kong island.

Western District is adjacent to Central, Hong Kong’s banking and financial centre, and nearby there are some Hong Kong attractions such as the dry seafood street and the open air market in Graham street.

Its only disadvantage in terms of location is the lack of MTR (Hong Kong’s railway system) transport. But the Western District is linked by tram and bus to Sheung Wan or Central, from where you can take the MTR. It is about 15-minute tram ride from the Western District to Central.

Because of the lack of MTR transport, the hotels in this district are not as expensive as those in, say Central, or Wanchai, or Mongkok. So you can find hotels of reasonable price in this area, and some hotels seem to offer good quality and service as well.

One advantage of staying in this district is that you can easily observe the daily living of Hong Kong people, for the area is a residential area, and is an old district, with some of the traditional stores still being kept and run. 

There are four major hotels in this area:

Hotel Jen

the street where Hotel Jen is

 Jen Hotel

 Jen Hotel

This 4-star hotel is far into the Western District, in an area called Kennedy Town. They provide free shuttle bus going from the hotel to various points in Central. The hotel is getting popular over the past year since renovation and change of ownership.

There is no price on their website. And the staff told me that their price is quoted on a daily basis. The price I asked on a Saturday is HK$580 plus 10% service charge, for a single or a double room. Some of their rooms command seaview, which will be charged more.

This hotel has a modern look and is freshly decorated compared to other hotels in the district.

Ramada Hotel

This hotel is situated in the middle of the Western District, closer to the Central than Hotel Jen. It looks a bit old-fashioned, though.  Hotel room price is quoted on their website, which seems similar to the price of Hotel Jen.

Island Pacific Hotel

This hotel is nearest Central and situated more towards the side of harbourfront. The price would be the highest in the district, more catering to the business travelers. It offers special price for long stay, though. Say for July 2008, for a standard room, the rate is HK$21,000 a month. 

Cosco Hotel

It does not have its own website. But you can check here for detail. The price would be the lowest in the district, with some good comments from users. See here.

This hotel, operated under a Chinese capital group, is the farthest into the Western District. A tram ride to Central from the hotel is about 15-20 minutes, though.

I was glad to join the democracy march yesterday with thousands of people, not only because it was a way to express myself, but also I saw and felt in the march the diversity and independent thinking that Hong Kong is losing gradually under the post-1997 governments.

I cannot tell you how much disappointment I have in the Hong Kong government headed by Chief Executive Donald Tsang. The latest saga is the appointment of deputy secretaries and political assistants under the so called “accountability” system. When the city is not pushing ahead with its democracy, our Chief Executive is pushing for this appointment accountability system. But when its people have no vote and no say in the government affairs, who are these officials accountable to? Of course not to us. And certainly to Mr Tsang, their boss, who appoints them.

Do you see the irony here? When the people here are demanding democracy, the government is going the opposite way, under the fancy word of “accountability’.

The appointments of deputy secretaries and political assistants have been under barrage of attacks by the wide local community for its lack of transparency and the showing of nepotism. What are these appointees’ responsibilities? How were they selected? Based on what criteria are they remunerated? The government has never been able to give us satisfactory answers. Not to mention that it did not come up with fuzzy answers until pressurized.

When the controversy has evolved to the detriment of his reputation, Mr Tsang came to the Legislative Council, urging the community to let the dust settle, so that the community can focus on the livelihood issues.

Give me a break! Does he know that we people want quality of life as well? We want clean air, clear sky and open space. We are not individuals just wanting to make a living and surviving on this planet. This government knows only to follow the talk of its boss in the mainland and is glaringly out of touch with the pulse of the city that it governs. That is why people here go to the democracy march year after year on 1 July, the Hong Kong back to China day.

In Hong Kong, there are three major Chinese fast food restaurants：

Cafe de Coral
http://www.cafedecoralfastfood.com/eng/main/index.jsp

Fairwood
http://www.fairwood.com.hk/jspwww/NEWWEB/eng/whatsnew.html

Maxim’s
http://www.maxims.com.hk/html/fastfood/index.htm （in Chinese only）

There are a few reasons why I recommend to you these fast food restaurants.

To try the local food in local restaurants is not always easy, since the menu is not always in both Chinese and English. But in these fast food restaurants, their menu is shown on the wall in big Chinese characters, and small English letters. So foreigners should have no problem ordering the food. Warn you though, the staff at the cashier is not always good in English and maybe you need to point at the menu to order the food. I saw this happen a few times already.

Second, the food is inexpensive and tastes quite okay. Well, it is fast food and so you shouldn’t expect too much anyway. Sometimes some dishes taste really good. Say the curry rice from the Cafe de Coral. These restaurants are always packed for lunch and dinner.

Third, their branches are in every corner of Hong Kong and you can easily find them.

Fourth, these restaurants not only offer Chinese food, but also “Chinese style” Western food, such as spaghetti, or “Chinese style” Japanese food, such as Ramin. The choice is not limited anyway. And the Chinese food choice also comes in Hong Kong style and mainland Chinese style, such as Shanghai food.

Fifth, visiting these restaurants will let you experience the epitome of Hong Kong efficiency. Try standing at the food counter and you will see how quickly the staff put the order together for customers and keep the always long queue moving. There are usually three to four staff working behind the counter and they work so fast, and so seamlessly. I bet you will not forget the scene.

Some more tips：Hong Kong style milk tea is unique. These restaurants offer tasty milk tea. So try them. Also, if you are on budget, try coming in from 2pm to 6pm. These are afternoon tea hours and the tea set is offered at a very low price. Say, a hot dog with a cup of milk tea costs about HK15.

After the “train” way, it is time to get to the “bus” way. In fact, personally, I like the bus way best. This is because, it is comparatively convenient and not that expensive. 

But when I say the “bus” way, I mean the direct bus from Hong Kong to Guangzhou.
You can always take the train from Hong Kong to Lowu, and then take the bus from Lowu, Shenzhen to Guangzhou. Buses depart hourly from Lowu bus station, Shenzhen, next to the immigration building, for Guangzhou. But this way is not convenient, so I don’t recommend it.

There are at least a few Hong Kong bus companies operating direct bus between Hong Kong and Guangzhou. But the one I usually use is the China Travel Service (CTS) bus service. The buses are frequent, and you can get on the bus at many locations across Hong Kong island and Kowloon.

I usually go to the CTS branch in Sheung Wan for the bus. There is a booth outside the branch, overlooking the road. Get the bus ticket there and you can right away get on the bus – at the scheduled time. Wan Chai and Mong Kok CTS branches are also hot spots for getting on the direct bus.

One way journey costs about HK$100, and lasts about 2.5 to 3 hours. But do note that the drop off point in Guangzhou is different, depending on where and when you get on the bus.

Check out the CTS Hong Kong – Guangzhou bus fare and schedule here:
http://www.ctshk.com/english/bus/zhonglv.htm

Also note that since the bus will go via the Huanggang port of entry, passengers will have to get off and get on the bus twice for the immigration formality of Hong Kong side and Shenzhen side. But there will be staff on hand directing you to go back to the right bus. So no worries.

There are a few ways getting o Guangzhou from Hong Kong, or vice versa.

Let’s start from the “train” way:

a. Through Train (Kowloon, Hong Kong – Guangzhou East)

This is the most comfortable, convenient as well as expensive way. The through train departs from Hung Hom train station, Kowloon, Hong Kong and arrives at the Guangzhou East train station. Each day there are 12 trains going in one direction, and 24 trains in both directions. If it is a busy day, such as on the eve of a Chinese holiday, or a weekend, you will need to buy the train ticket in advance. Otherwise, you can usually get a seat for the following train on the same day.

The good news is that you can now buy the ticket online, or through tele-ticketing (make a phone call to book a ticket via credit card, and collect it at the train station before boarding) of the Hong Kong MTR train system.

For details of ticketing, check out Hong Kong MTR website：http://www.it3.mtr.com.hk/B2C/UserPage/sysTicketInformation_Eng.asp

The one-way journey is 1 hour 40 minutes. You go through the immigration formality (Hong Kong side and Mainland China side) at once, at where you board the train. So that is pretty convenient.

One way ticket costs about HK$190 for first class, and HK$230 for premium class.

But note that some of the through trains stop at Dongguan - just for a while - and some not.

b. Take the Hong Kong MTR train to Lowu station, go through the Hong Kong and Shenzhen immigrations, and then take the train from the Lowu train station, Shenzhen to Guangzhou, or vice versa.

The Lowu train station, Shenzhen is located just right next to the Hong Kong/Shenzhen immigration building. So the train transfer between Hong Kong and Shenzhen is not difficult.

This way is less expensive, and you can go almost at any time you want, since there is always a train every hour from Lowu, Shenzhen to Guangzhou, or Guangzhou to Lowu, Shenzhen. The train journey of Shenzhen -Guangzhou takes about 1.5 hours, and costs only about RMB36 for a soft seat. The Hong Kong train fare from Hung Hom, Kowloon to Lo Wu is about HK$32. Adding up, the whole journey from Hung Hom, Kowloon to Guangzhou through the non-through-train way is about HK$70, a lot cheaper than the the aforementioned through-train way.

The negative side, though, is that it takes longer time, and more trouble.