A business trip from Guangzhou to HK

I had a business trip from Guangzhou to Hongkong last Wed. and Thur. When I found the hotel I stayed is next to the harbour, I requested the check-in staff to give me a room facing the Victoria Harbour. Since I arrived at the hotel at late night, so the light around the harbour looked quick remote and dim. iPhone could not take good picture due to light exposure is not enough. I did regret that I forgot to bring my digital camera along with me.

In the following morning, in twilight, from the 35th floor overview window, I'm impressed and blinded by the magnificent grand view of the great harbour, a harbour used to connecting the west and the east, a harbour still keeping empirical proud nowadays, a harbour having gorgous beauty no matter whoever come to take over and govern.

I took High Speed Express Through Train to HK. It took about 2 hours to reach Kowloon, HK. Then I asked a policeman how to take MTR to the Fortress Hills, the place I want to go. The policeman took out a piece of MTR map from under his cap hat and painfully explained to me how to do.

I need to take a subway to a stop, have a long walk, take MTR to a transit stattion, and then take another MTR in order to reach Fortress Hills. Although taking Taxi is a easy choice; however I do not want to lose the opportunity to jam and close to the people here. And by taking MTR will make me understand the location and direction. Taxis will only show me end-to-end but omit everything else in between.

When I bought subway ticket I found I can not buy a ticket to take me all way through to Fortress Hills. I need to get off the railway subway at some where and have some long distance walk in order to take MTR. I was a little bit lost because the ticketing staff speaking in Cantonese that I can no grasp. Fortunately a man looks lke a small business owner helped me out. He said he used to run factory in China but he stopped the operaions due to the last economic crisis in year 2007. Now he is a real estate agent. He gaive me a card later on and asked if I can refer him some business. 

I thought HK is a part of China and I have a Taiwanese certificate issued by China and I should be able to enter and exit HK no difference with other mainland people. But later on, I found it was not. I need to sign on a declaration form upon arrival at HK and need to apply visa while reentering China from HK. These procedures make me always the last one to pass the examination point. When reentering China, I even need to knock the staff resting room to ask one of them to open the examnination gate for me since there were no one else on the lobby except me so all staff had closed the gates to take a break in the resting room. As a Taiwanese to go through these, the feelings inside is qick complicated.

The High Speed Express Through Train is just a ordinary train. a little bit old and a little disappoitment compared to it's name. The one-way ticket costs 190 Yens. By considering the comfortness of the train, it's not cheap. A bottle of mineral water is distributed for free. It's a kind of service that I received.  

The business trip was very successful. Staffs in HK were very kind and supportive to me. I also had a chance to meet up a Taiwan colleague's husband there, having a dinner, a cup a coffee, and many homeland talks. He happened to be going back to Taiwan on the following day. He showed me the books and toys he had bought for his daughter and son. The meeting made me feel so close to as well as so far away from my dear lovely home in Taiwan.

Damakey 2012/07/12 A business trip from Guangzhou to HK