One day in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of the biggest hubs in Asia - not only as a financial center, but also as an airport. It has been a transit point for me for some of my travels.

I had always wanted to visit the place when one of my good friends Aashu would be in town. But as luck would have it, it was not possible during my first couple of sojourns with the city - he either was not in town or absolutely busy.

However, during one of my return journeys, I managed to find some time to spend in the city, with Aashu for company. The time available to me, though, was very limited.

I was reaching HK around midnight and I had a flight to catch the next day at 6.30 pm.

After completing all the formalities at the HK airport (one of the smoothest immigrations), I rushed to Aashu's place which was very near Hong Kong station, the last stop of the airport metro.

He was there to receive me and we walked to his home. After chatting for some minutes, I asked him what the plan would be given that I had such little time to spend.

He immediately shot back asking, "Trek pe chalte hai (lets go on a trek)". I asked, "Seriously? Now?". It was then that I  realized that he was serious. I thought, why not and we left immediately.

We were going to the peak via Hatton road, which is also known as the morning trail (or alteast thats what I think it is called).

We began by starting to walk up the streets of Hong Kong. Hong Kong, though situated next to the sea is basically built on hillocks. Hence, the walk up the streets was a steep one and in about 30 minutes or so, we reached the start of the trail.

The Sri Lanka trip - Old friends reconnecting

Now that I am in a mood to write, I think I should use this new-found enthusiasm to write as much as I can.

I was planning a holiday with my friends Puneet and Paras for a long time and we zeroed in on Sri Lanka as the destination. September was the month - not the tourist season, but we decided to go ahead to have a more relaxing trip.

The only things on our wishlist were beaches and Adam's peak - as there was no cricket in the country during out visit.

After some rescheduling to our flight schedules - courtesy the busy consultant Paras, me and Puneet left for Colombo, with Paras expected to join us a day later.

We took the Sri Lankan Airways flight from Mumbai to Colombo.

We had done some basic research on the train network in the country and zeroed in on the railways as our primary mode of transport (which was enough for the places we wanted to cover).

We got down at the airport at around 5.30 am and made our way towards Colombo Fort railway station. Taxis as well as public transport is available for the same but we preferred a taxi which cost us close to 3500-4000 LKR.

The railway network in Sri Lanka is reminiscent of what one would imagine the Indian railway network would have been in the 70s or 80s, though with a lot less crowd. Though, according to me, it still is the most efficient and cost-effective way of traveling in the country.

Colombo Railway station with its old trains

Still using old bulbs to light up the compartments