Hong Kong – Matthew Woodward

The Snake House

Matthew Woodward — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 11:54:00 +0000

My arrival in Hong Kong has feels like a bit of an anticlimax at first. It’s not like anyone was there to greet me or say “well done, old chap” or “are you the only person to have ever completed both the Trans-Manchurian and the Qinghai-Tibet railways in one journey?”. I walked the streets of Kowloon amongst throngs of tourists who had no idea that I had just joined them by taking the train from Edinburgh Waverley to Hung Hom, not to mention a side journey to Lhasa. I was very careful at first not to tell everyone what I had done, but did occasionally drop it into polite conversation after the odd beer. As if I hadn’t had enough of the rails, on my single free day I hopped on a local train from Hung Hom to a place called Taipo Market. It’s close to Shenzen, and about five minutes from the place that I crossed the Chinese border the other day.

The plan was to sample some edgy food in some local restaurants – the sort of places that don’t have menus. The expansion and growth of Hong Kong is such that you have to travel this far out to find such places. Even the New Territories are today full of branded chains that you could find in any big city. But in Taipo the brands have yet to arrive, and the family run places are still there. All you need is someone who knows where to find them. Cue Silvana, my “Cantonese Girl” and foodie guide for the trip.

My afternoon was busy sampling all sorts of things, but towards the top of the list was the crispy goose (I acquired a new and unexpected skill – I can now sex a goose by looking at its head), and the snake.

My snake experience wasn’t quite the one that I was expecting to be telling you about. The place we visited was run by a well known purveyor of snake in the Hong Kong restaurant industry. I was told he was in fact the “go to guy” when the police had any major reptile problems. But sadly he wasn’t there when I visited. I like to think maybe he was on an emergency call out to capture a vicious Python from someone’s apartment in Causeway Bay. Anyway, back at the Snake House I tried the snake soup, served with snake broth and dried shredded lemon leaves. Snake wine was optional, unless you needed a boost of virility, in which case it was essential.

I was both surprised and a little disappointed to discover that my snake wasn’t actually from Hong Kong. It wasn’t even from mainland China. Apparently there are now laws that prevent the export of mainland Chinese snake, even to Hong Kong. My snake today was in fact from Indonesia, which seemed a little unnecessary. Having read the fantastic book “Big Snake”, by Robert Twigger, I happen to know that Indonesia has some of the biggest snakes in the world. But in the same way as getting your asparagus from Peru or your tomatoes from Tenerife back home, it felt slightly wrong.

I returned to Kowloon in time for a few cold beers and an early night. I needed to prepare for an unfamiliar experience the next day – that of taking an aeroplane. The beers were German and remarkable for both their cost as well as their refreshment quality. I allowed myself a little smug reflection on another mission accomplished, this one definitely being the longest and most physically demanding that I have completed so far.

Although (perhaps understandably) I feel a little ambivalent towards travel by train right at this moment, I suspect in just a few months I will be sat back in expedition HQ looking at large maps and thick timetables once again. I hope you have enjoyed reading about this journey. Do let me know what you think.

Enter the Dragon – the Z823 to Hong Kong

Matthew Woodward — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 04:29:00 +0000

After the experience on the train from Lhasa, I gave myself 48 hours in a reasonably plush hotel to decompress. I must have had some train related PTSD, as I found myself on sentry duty during the night, guarding my bathroom from non existent smoking Chinese passengers. Also without really thinking about it, I worked out that the square footage of my bedroom would accommodate 32 people in the density of soft class. My time in Guangzhou was short, but I felt very relaxed here. I last visited in 1990, and of course hardly recognise the place now.

I took the concierge at his word and hopped into the hotel courtesy bus just 37 minutes before my train was due to leave. I didn’t spot that my ticket says to arrive at the station 45 minutes prior to departure, but fortunately I had no problems on this occasion. Departing from Guangzhou East railway station you ascend some huge escalators to get to the long distance and “international” waiting rooms. Chinese exit formalities and customs are completed here before boarding the train. If I had known this I would have given myself some contingency time to be safe (my rail travel rule number 5).

The Z823 is one of two different direct high speed train types that travel between Guangzhou and Hong Kong. This one is run by KTT. It’s not quite as swish as the other type, but the timings of this one made more sense, as I had to go and see a man about a snake in the afternoon. More on this in a later post.

The train is a double decker. Today there are only a few people on the top deck so I can spread out and relax for a couple of hours. I haven’t been on a day train (one without beds) since I left Berlin more than a month ago.
I decide to confront my inner demons and visit the toilet. It’s very shiny inside and there are some great notices on the wall. One says there is a 5000 RMB fine for smoking, and the other is a cleaning inspection rota with a telephone number to call in the event of any dissatisfaction. I have written it down just in case I need it. You might wish to make a note of it too – (852) 2947 7888. Happy days. I’m now very much in “new” China rather than “old” China – but confusingly I suspect to many, both are called “Z” class trains..

Immigration and customs at Hung Hom (Hong Kong’s station) take 10 minutes, and I’m in a taxi to downtown Kowloon in no time. My driver looks like he might have other things on his mind. He is clearly good at multi-tasking. A bet on the horses at Happy Valley, a debt for equity swap deal, and maybe what’s on TV tonight are all coming through thick and fast in Cantonese on his custom built head-up display.

My immediate priority is to resolve some kit issues. Owing to the dryness of the atmosphere in Tibet there was a lot of static electricity flying about, and I received some big visible blue shocks when touching my iPad whilst it was charging. Since this happened I can no longer connect my camera SD card. As my blogging is dependent on being able to do this, I head straight to the Apple Store in Canton Road. Unlike in mainland China, it is a real one, and the support is reassuringly brilliant. The diagnosis isn’t good though – I need a new iPad, as the Lightning connector has apparently been fried. They offer to give me a replacement on the spot, but that’s no good to me as I have no back up of my work. But I have a cunning solution, and it takes me less than an hour to get hold of a wireless SD card reader (from Sony) that does this job perfectly. I’m back in the blogging game.