HongKong Visit

This was my first visit to Hong Kong and I was really pleasantly surprised. Everything was very organized, and very clean. It was almost like a bigger Singapore, but with more high risers. We traveled every where on the sub way (called MTR) it was really easy to get around and cheap. They had a smart card called the Octopus card that made cash handling a real breeze. It could be used in busses, MTRs and even most grocery shops. It saved me from returning home with a pocket full of HK coins that I may never use again.

What amazed us most was the way how in which people were really organized. People always walked on the left "lane" when walking inside the MTR station. The stations had elevators, which had been divided into two lanes with a white line in between. The left lane was for people who were lazy to climb the steps, while the right was for people who were in a hurry.

Our main goal was shopping, which was a bit of a disappointment. Everything was very expensive. We did find a lot of counterfeit clothes, but they weren't as cheap as you would find in Bangkok or Singapore. I had big aspirations of being able to buy some really cool electronic gadgets. However, the mp3 player in particular that I wanted to purchase was almost the same price as what I would get in New Zealand. So I was really disappointed.

I did manage to take some interesting photos while we were there: Link

MP3 players and Hong Kong

I will be traveling to Hong Kong (HK) in three days and one of my goals is to find a good MP3 player. As per my previous post, I had almost made up my mind to buy a Sandisk Sansa e260. However, the MP3 market has been really active in the recent past, and a few really exciting new players have come out. One example is the iriver clix. Reviewers have been raving about this player, but have also pointed out its lack of storage (only 2GB). So, it almost back to square one for me. I haven't made up a decision yet. I guess I'll just go there and see what's available. Besides, I was told that Sandisk may not be that popular in Hong Kong. We'll just have to wait and see.

Although I have traveled to other Asian countries such as Singapore and Thailand, traveling to a Chinese country would be interesting. The main aim of this trip is to travel to Taiwan, where I will be attending the ITS 2006 conference. I will be presenting a research paper there. The stop over at HK is mainly for shopping and tourism.