Hong Kong 2006: The Arrival

I know it's been a while since I've posted a blog. As you can see, I've been a little distracted by Hong Kong.

I've been broke and jobless for a very long time. So how did I end up spending ten days in Asia with less than $300 in my bank account? Thanks to a very generous friend and understanding mom, I was able to make this trip happen.

Of course, none of this would've happened if we hadn't found airfare for dirt cheap. I scored round trip tickets to Hong Kong for only $350 by booking tickets through www.courier.org. When you sign up as a courier, there are a few limitations. Often you will have to fly alone. Rarely do they ever have two couriers on a given flight. Travel dates are on specific dates so you will have to be flexible. When courier companies are short of couriers for particular runs, the price usually starts dropping the closer it gets to the day or hour of takeoff. This is how I was able to get such a low price on tickets. I actually purchased my tickets two weeks before my travel date. When serving as a courier, you are limited to only one carry-on bag and one check-in bag instead of two. Sometimes you are only allowed one carry-on. The air travel courier is responsible for carrying shipping documents on international flights for a courier company. In exchange, you get a discounted, and sometimes free, air ticket.

I had a small budget of $500 for my entire trip. This allowed me only $50 per day. This budget includes lodging, food, and transportation expenses. The biggest priority for me on this trip was to experience Hong Kong's culinary delights. I wanted most of my budget to go towards food expenses, so we opted to stay at a hostel to save money. We booked a private room that included two twin beds and a private bathroom for less than $11 a night per person at the Traveler's Friendship Hostel in Kowloon, also known as "USA Hostel" and "New Garden Hostel". We figured that they do this to purposely try to confuse traveler's so that they all go to the same place.

I went to meet my traveling buddy Rona as soon as my plane landed. We didn't get to our hostel until midnight. Our hostel is located in Tsim Sha Tsui, which is at the central part of Hong Kong. It's like the equivalent of staying on Canal Street in NYC. And like Canal Street at midnight, it can get kind of shady. Our building, Mirador Mansions, was the shabbiest looking one on the block.

Immediately, I noticed a lot of shiesty looking men hanging around outside our building. I could feel their hungry eyes burning through the back of my head as we entered our building. Fortunately, our building was staffed with several security guards. Everyone is required to sign in with a passport or ID number after 10pm. We realized later that the men outside were shopping for prostitutes, most of whom are from India and mainland China. Sometimes these prostitutes would bring these men into our building to "conduct their business". It's kind of scary at first because we ride the same tiny 4 x 4 square foot elevator but you get used to it after a few days. What can I say? You get what you pay for.


1. The inside courtyard of our building, Mirador Mansion, most of which is residential. This is old-school apartment-style living.
2. A glimpse of our private bathroom. It includes a western-style toilet, a tiny sink with a shower hose attached to the faucet. The entire bathroom itself is a shower. There is a big drain on the floor.
3. Rona's bed was an actual full sized bed. It took up about 50% of the room. Our room was 6 x 6 square feet in size with no windows. The room included an air-conditioning unit and a ceiling fan to compensate for the lack of ventilation in the room. We had to store all of our things under our beds because we had very little walking room.
4. My bed, a twin. Our room included a small TV that had little reception and a telephone (includes free local calls). Pretty good for $11 a night!

More to come soon.