While this is technically true, in reality Hong Kong is a country. You have to go through border control from China to Hong Kong or vice versa. Hong Kong has its own currency. They even send their own team to the Olympics.
There are 193 official countries in the United Nations, however there are another 25 or so countries that are not officially recognized, and Hong Kong is one of them.
For our purposes, Hong Kong rates as a new country.
China scenery from the train.
We had contracted with a Didi driver to pick us up at 9:00am and drive us the 35 kms to Yangshuo Train Station where we would have a half hour wait for our 10:20am train to Shenzhen where we would have to transfer to another train to Hong Kong.
Boarding time came and we went and lined up with the other foreigners who have to have their passport manually scanned to enter the boarding platform. Along with a couple in front of us, our passports wouldn't scan. We were directed over the the customer service desk where we were told that our train had been cancelled!
The couple in front of us were from Spain, and we got to talking to them. They were refunded their ticket purchase and had to purchase new tickets on a later train.
When it was our turn, there were no more seats on the next train to Shenzhen, and we would have to wait until 6:00pm... another eight hours or so! Unless we wanted to buy 1st class seats on a 2:00pm train.
We chose the 1st class seats and ended up paying another $40 or so. No, China Railways does not reimburse you for your inconvenience when they cancel a train. Apparently it's a very rare occurrence.
We went and sat with the Spanish couple while we waited, and there was another couple there who were coincidentally also from Spain. How funny is that? Anyhow, we had lots of conversation with the other couple, Elena and Cesar. Maybe we'll see them one day in Valle de Bravo! Their train came before ours, but eventually the three and a half hours passed and we were finally able to board as well.
We think these are fish farms.
They went on for miles.
Eventually we came to the huge city of Guangzhou.
Guangzhou itself is considered to be about 20 million people, however the entire area between Guangzhou and Hong Kong is completely built up... it's just one big city. In fact they say it is the largest continuous urban area in the world and there are about 87 million people living in about 56,000 sq kms (22,000 sq miles). That would be like 87 million people living in an area the size of West Virginia!
We had a half hour wait for our next train at the huge Guangzhou station, and then it was less than an hour to Hong Kong. We had to exit Chinese immigration, and enter Hong Kong where we were authorized a six month stay!
Our view when we exited the train station at Hong Kong.
By this time it was almost sunset!
We were booked in at the Luxe Manor Hotel, only a 15 minute walk from the train station.
The Luxe Manor is a bit higher end than what we're used to. Hong Kong accommodation is expensive in the first place... even at $100 CAD ($71 USD) per night, you would be staying at a dump. So when I saw the Luxe Manor on sale at $161 CAD ($114 USD) per night, I booked it. It normally goes for much higher than that.
(Although as I write this, I realize that compared to Canada, the U.S, or much of the UK or Europe, these prices are quite reasonable for what we got. They're just expensive to us!)
The hotel is old, but recently renovated.
The room is very comfortable.
The facilities.
Settled into our room, and then went out for dinner. A bit of sticker shock... we've been in inexpensive countries since last October, so the prices here are much higher than what we've seen for a while. Although, they're probably about similar to Canada. We managed dinner for two for 110 HKD ($19.85 CAD, $14 USD) which is pretty good pricing, but we had to do a lot of research to find it... and it was at a cafeteria style place that wasn't very good... you get what you pay for!
Next up... exploring Hong Kong.
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Great deal on this WiFi Bird Feeder Camera.
And in Canada...
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