Ini adalah bagian kedua tentang cerita gue jalan-jalan sendiri ke Hongkong. Solo traveling ke Hongkong (Baca bagian 1 klik disini.)
Masuk hari ketiga, gue memutuskan untuk pindah dari hostel gue yang menyedihkan di daerah Mongkok ke hotel beneran yang agak bagusan di daerah Wan Chai.
Oh hello bantal empuk, oh kamar mandi normal, oh makan pagi gratis….hehehe..
Dari situ gue pake MRT ke Central Exchange Square dan naik bus nomor 6 selama 45 menit lamanya untuk ke PANTAI!!! Yap, Hongkong punya pantai-pantai cantik loh.
Pertama gue ke Pantai Stanley. Disini ada pasar juga untuk jualan baju, makanan dan barang seni. Tempatnya sangat menarik, walau yang jauh lebih menarik ialah perjalanan kesini. Rutenya pemandangannya BUAGUS banget, apalagi gue duduk di kursi paling depan di lantai 2 bus yang gue naikin. Sayangnya pas handycam gue mati, jadi nggak bisa ngerekam semua dengan bagus, cuma sempet motret dikit doang.
This is part 2 of my HongKong getaway story. HK was very fascinating to me. My third day in HK, I checked out from my crappy ‘hotel’ and moved to a real one, 10 times better of course, in Wan Chai area. Comfy! From there I took MRT to Central Exchange Square, and found bus number 6. I needed this bus to take me for a ride outside the city, around 45 mins away, to the beach! YES, HK does have some charming beaches. First stop was Stanley. A touristy beach and market, that sells anything from food to silk garment and art. The place itself was a treat, but the highlight was the way of getting there. It was truly a scenic route through the hills of HongKong. I sat on the top deck and enjoy the ride with such beautiful view!! My camcorder ran out of battery just about that time..arrghhh 🙁 , but it was really really pretty…definitely something to remember.
Di Stanley sambil minum air kelapa muda, gue keliling liat-liat dan menikmati suasana yang menyenangkan disitu. Abis itu gue naik angkutan umum lanjut ke Pantai Repulse Bay yang jaraknya cuma 5 menit dari Stanley.
Pantai Repulse Bay menurut gue jauh lebih keren dari Stanley. Ada menara penjaga pantai plus ada vila-vila yang kelihatan jelas dari pantai. Jadinya kayak dimanaaa gitu. Bagusss. Kalau aja nggak ujan rintik-rintik, gue pasti lebih lama lagi nangkring disitu. Kebayang pas musim panas pasti seru bisa main air dan foto-foto di Repulse Bay.
I spent some time strolling at the waterfront with its restaurants, Murray House and the Stanley Plaza. From Stanley I stopped at a lovely beach called Repulse Bay Beach. A little history, the bay was once a haven for pirates intent on plundering foreign merchant ships trading with China until being repulsed by the British fleet in 1841, which is how the bay achieved its name. The beach itself was clean and quiet, and overlooked by high-class residential apartments. Across the beach were mountains and cable cars and ocean park roller coaster! A good escape from hustle and bustle of the city.
Sehabis menikmati pantai, gue balik ke pusat kota dan menemukan SOHO, daerah hiburan di Hongkong.
DIsitu ada tangga jalan diluar untuk naik ke bagian atas SOHO yang merupakan tangga jalan terpanjang di dunia. Naik tangga jalan setinggi 135 meter dan sepanjang 800 meter. Gue norak banget naik terus sampe pas nyampe di paling atas, gue nyasar. Ini dimana ya…hehehe…jadi turun lagi deh pake tangga manual. Jauh turunnya.
Besok malemnya gue balik lagi kesana dan nyobain satu resto Meksiko yang cukup rame dan yummy disitu. Pilihan restonya banyak dan kayaknya sih enak-enak. Menurut gue, SOHOnya menyenangkan banget..seneng muter muter disitu.
After a few hours spent, some drizzle rain made me go back to the city central. I was walking along and found this awesome place, SOHO, an entertainment zone of HK. Don’t expect the same SOHO like the one in New York for example..but it’s a really cool place to hang out. It has this “Central mid levels escalator” which is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. The entire system covers over 800 meters in distance and elevates over 135 meters from bottom to top. Imagine that! I climbed all the way up and ended up lost at the very top. HA! The next night I came back to SOHO. There were lots of shops to keep me occupied, or if I want to sit and have a drink and some food, there’s a lot to choose from. I tried one Mexican Restaurant they have, and it turned out to be a pretty good one. I found many expats and westerners here that left me wondering if I was still in Hong Kong. This place is a MUST SEE in HK.
Selanjutnya, agenda gue jalan sendiri ke Hongkong ialah berkunjung ke Pasar Malam Temple Street. Dari karaoke pinggir jalan sampai segala jenis benda murah ada sini. Asal jangan lupa untuk nawar. Abis itu gue nge-mall, secara Hongkong terkenal dengan mall-mall raksasa nya yang luar biasa. Mangkanya nggak heran kaki gue lecet parah begitu balik Jakarta. Jalan tiada henti.
The next stop was the Temple Street Night Market. They have any kind of stuff from street-side karaoke to Chinese paintings – all for brilliant prices. Just don’t forget to bargain hard. If you don’t plan to shop, it’s a wonderful place just to look at some goods on sale and enjoy the busyness. From there I went to the big malls as well. Beside the bargain alleys and street markets, HongKong shopping malls are some of the biggest and most impressive in the world. Just go crazy by choice if you want to! That explained my sore feet when I returned to Jakarta. 😀
Ada sekian ketidak suksesan juga gue alami saat solo traveling ke Hongkong ini.
Pertama waktu ngejer pesta kembang api di daerah Admiralty. Gara-gara waktu baru nyampe Hongkong gue kelewatan pesta kembang apinya, jadi kali ini pengen banget bisa liat. Acaranya jam 7, gue baru ngeh jam 6. Naik turun MRT, lari di sepanjang jalan, keluar masuk lorong, lari, dan lariiii terus. Begitu sampe, pas baru kelar 2 menitan yang lalu. Asli ngenes banget deh..udah capek capek lari cuma kebagian suara heboh pas trakhirnya doang, ama bubaran orang orang bawa kamera, pada bilang keren banget..hiks.
Ketidaksuksesan lain ialah hari terakhir pas gue mau ke patung Budha dan naik Cable Car-nya yang terkenal. Begitu mau naik MRT kesana, tiba-tiba ada pengumuman bahwa tempat itu lagi tutup karena sedang dalam perbaikan. huhuhu.
Some of my plans also didn’t work out. One the third night there was an extra fireworks show along the shores of Admiralty. I thought I got to see this one since I missed the one on New Year’s Eve a few days ago. The show was at 7pm. I found out about it at 6, and I was sooo far away. So I raced with time…I took the MRT, ran in the tunnels, ran, ran, more running…and when I finally got there, the show was over. I missed it by 2 minutes. OUCH. On my last day, my plan to visit the Buddha Statue with its famous Cable Car also didn’t happen. On my way there, I read the running texts and signs everywhere in MRT stations, saying that it’s under maintenance for several days, so no visitors allowed. Bummer.
Tau nggak artinya apa? Artinya ya gue harus solo traveling ke Hongkong lagi kapan-kapan kalau ada kesempatan!! 😀
Well, maybe I really should revisit HK. Still so many other things I haven’t seen and I haven’t done on this beautiful Island. I will come back! Anyways, my culinary experience in HK and my visit to Macau will be also be written down…
Btw satu hal lagi yang sempet gue buat di Hongkong ialah nyebrang ke Macau. Untuk baca cerita tentang trip gue ke Macau,silahkan klik disini ! and you can also leave your comments & subscribe to my blog below! thank u:)
CHEERS to whatever happens when you travel! –
olivelauputty.com/blog –@shiningliv
