Hong Kong
We’ve just returned to Phuket from what is becoming our annual trip to Hong Kong and as always, we’ve had the most amazing twelve days. Hong Kong has an energy, efficiency and a buzz like no other place. OK, I’m biased – I lived and worked there for 28 years and returning feels more like going home than any other place in the world. The place hums with efficiency, from the airport and its associated transportation to the hotels, restaurants, coffee bars, parks; the list is long.
For this trip, we used the fairly new AirAsia service that runs daily non-stop to and from Phuket. It’s a flight of just over three hours, arriving in Hong Kong at just after 8 p.m. Despite the airport being huge, you will whisk through immigration, pick up your luggage and be on your way within around half-an-hour. The quickest way into town is on the Airport Express, a 24 minute high-speed rail link to Central on Hong Kong Island. However, being more conscious of costs than we were in the days of working there, we chose to try the airport buses that run every 10-15 minutes. The A11 took us to Admiralty on the Island for HK$65 (US$1=HK$7.8) return each, which is much cheaper than HK$180 return each on the train. The trip only takes about 20-30 minutes longer. (TIP: buy the return tickets at the airport ticket office or you’ll pay HK$40 each way)