Visas, Embassies & Border Crossings
ShenzhenÆs visas: you can now get a five day single entry visa at the border with Hong Kong at Lo Wu for HK$100. After passing through Hong Kong customs you proceed upstairs to the Shenzhen visa office, fill out a small form and the visa is processed quickly. You then merely pay your HK$100 and get the visa. I stress the visa is for single entry only but valid for five days.
Peter Berrett, Australia (Mar 99)
An expensive experience I had yesterday (8 January 1999): I took a day trip to Shenzen (next to HK but in mainland China) and was told that I didn't need an additional visa for China as Shenzen apparently had another border control. Not the case! In fact, most passport holders it seems can go on the MTR then KCR to the border and then get a visa there, but British passport holders should not try! I did and got through the HK side only to have my passport taken away at the visa desk and taken to another area (by the Chinese guards who earlier informed me of the visa desk!), where, they informed me that to get my passport back, I had to pay a fine of HK$500 and I would not get a visa! My Indian companion could though and on questioning the guards I found out it was due to a 'diplomatic law'. Apparently the British do the same to the Chinese.
Dave Broughton, UK (Jan 99)
There are four border crossings overland to Shenzhen. By far the most convenient border crossing is with the KCR train at Lo Wu (Mandarin: Luohu). The border is open from 7am until 11pm. However, the last train leaves Hung Hom Kowloon terminus at 9.45pm. Later trains do not allow border crossing. The other border checkpoints at Wenjindu, Huangang and Shatoujiao (Mandarin spelling) are only accessible by car. The Shatoujiao crossing seems to be out of bounds for foreigners, even with proper Hong Kong border zone documents. Since early 1997, it is possible to cross at Huangang as a pedestrian, using local buses to get there. You can also take one of the City Buses, which depart from Kowloon China ferry terminal and service several places in Guangdong province directly. Another way to get to Shenzhen is by sea from the China ferry terminal to Shekou pier.
Luis Moreton Achsel, Germany (Dec 98)
From 28th October 1998, the visa-free period for nationals of the US, Japan, Germany, Finland and Greece will be extended from one month to three. However, those from Angola, Nepal, Nigeria and Sierra Leone are now required to obtain a visa.
SY, (Oct 98)
Still no visa required for up to 15 days stay in South Korea or 30 days in Hong Kong. Don't forget to ask, or you may be missing out.
Korey Hartwich (Mar 98)
Canadians may stay in Hong Kong for three months without a visa. This was confirmed by the Chinese Consulate-General Office (in Seoul) on March 2, 1998.
Kris Wymenga (Mar 98)
For the British, since April 1997 only a 6 month non-workers visa on arrival is issued, and for Germans a 30 day visa on arrival is issued.
David Steinke - Germany (Dec 97)
Part of the reason so many travellers find it cheaper and easier to book a room via the internet or at the reservation counter in the Hong Kong airport arrivals hall is that non-Asians are still quoted different prices. If you find that you need to change hotels during your stay, or if your first stop in Hong Kong is some place other than the airport, you might find it helpful to ask a local friend to call for you, book at one of the various internet shops or find a friendly hotel clerk who will do it for you. This way youÆll get a price thatÆs cheaper than the published rates.
Amanda Buster (Apr 99)
The Hong Kong Museum of History is not at Kowloon Park anymore. Its new address is Chatham Road 100.
Vanda Ga Pi, Croatia (Mar 99)
Kowloon: not only has the Sung Dynasty Village closed, but it and the neighbouring Lai Chi Kok amusement park have been reduced to rubble; the whole area is now a vast building site. We had to content ourselves with a stroll around the public park near Mei Foo MTR.
Dave Spinks, UK (Nov 98)
Booking hotels in advance via the Internet: we used [asia-hotels.com] and it was amazing! Two principle advantages: firstly, it's easy, free and you can do it in advance, and secondly, there are BIG price reductions. Our double room in a three star hotel with breakfast cost us HK$320 a night while the advertised price was HK$680.
Emma Longstaff & Dan Coultas, UK (Jun 98)
All Hong Kong museums now close on Mondays.
Carla & Gianluca Nigro - Italy (Jun 98)
The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery in Sha Tin has been closed since December 1997, due to a landslide on the path. No date has been set for the re-opening of the monastery.
Andrew Jones - Wales (Apr 98)
We waited to book accommodation until we reached Hong Kong. Just outside the arrivals hall in the airport there is a booking agency run by HKTA. They gave us a superb deal on a 5 star hotel, the Marco Polo. We stayed there for less than a third of the usual price. Many other hotels were also discounted. This facility is mentioned in the LP guide but the discounts are getting bigger and bigger as fewer people travel to Hong Kong. It's well worth waiting until arrival and then bargaining with the booking agency.
Giselle Sweet-Escott - UK (Mar 98)
The Lonely Planet guide mentions the ability to receive a 40% discount by using local travel agents. We wanted to reconfirm this. We were able to obtain a 70% discount at the Eaton Hotel by working with United Travel Agency, 34 Ashley Road, Kowloon. (Phone: 2317 5432). Although we had to pay in cash, it was worth it.
Dan Marcus - USA (Sep 97)
The 243R bus to the Lantau Link Visitors Centre now only runs on Sundays and public holidays. The E21 bus from the Tun Chung flies through Tsing Yi and if you donÆt get off in Kowloon you end up dumped at an inaccessible bus station near the new Olympic station complex. There are no walkways completed so you have to hurdle across the six lane expressway.
Instead, get an MTR to Tsing Yi and catch a free number 6 shuttle bus from outside the plush new shopping centre. My bus was an open top double decker - a real hair raising experience. You may have to wait so if you are in a hurry get a taxi but youÆll need to arrange one in advance to take you back.
Stephen Sprod, UK (Apr 99)
The Airport Express to Chek Lap Kok is HK$70 one-way, but if you are going there to meet someone and travelling back the same day, it's still HK$70.
Douglas (Jan 99)
I read the following message (below) and thought I would correct the misunderstanding it may create.
The Octopus ticket for the subway in Hong Kong is actually not a season pass. And the HK$50 is just the deposit. For an adult it will cost another HK$100 to get the card initially. Then the fare of each trip is deducted from the card. It is true, however, that the passenger can get the deposit back when he is done with the ticket, or if he wishes, he can keep adding money to the ticket to keep using it.
Tex (Mar 99)
For long-term stopovers, the fabulous MTR (Mass Transit Railway) has a season ticket which makes life so easy. It's called the 'Octopus' and costs HK$50 for the ticket and then requires multiples of $50 for fares. You simply wave it over the turnstiles on entry and exit and it automatically tallies up your expenditure and tells what is left as you exit. The Octopus can also be used on the Hong Kong Yaumati ferry system which sails to all the outlying islands. At the end of your trip you can cash it in providing it is in good condition.
Mike Francis, Australia (Jan 99)
As of December 1998, Chek Lap Kok airport is probably the BEST operated and most traveller-friendly airport anywhere. We were staying at the Empire Hotel (Wan Chai), also recommended, took a taxi to the Hong Kong MTR station, (free) luggage carts took us from the cab to the airline check-in counter, then a short (20 minute) ride to the airport, followed by a comfortable meal in the elevated restaurant mezzanine level. How did they make an airport building so quiet? All airports should work so well.
Jim Rawlings, Canada (Dec 98)
At roughly HK$20, the Tung Chung line is indeed cheaper than the Airport Express. However, it does not run to the airport; the line terminates at Tung Chung and it is necessary to take a bus (line S61 or S51) from the airport to Tung Chung. The bus fare is HK$3.50 for S61 and HK$4 for S51. It takes about six minutes.
Hiroo Jumonji, USA (Nov 98)
There is a new discount to help stimulate the use of the Airport Express MTR line from the new airport (Chek Lap Kok) to Central. The usual fare is HK$100 per trip, but from now until the end of 1998, one way is HK$70 and a round trip is HK$120.
April Ng (Oct 98)
The ferry service from Hong Kong to Wuzhou has resumed. Sails every 'even' day at 8am from Hong Kong City, and arrives Wuzhou on the same day around 3pm. It's air-conditioned and there's a games room on board which can seat over 100 passengers. The return fare is HK$500 available in HK City in Canton Road, at Tsim Sha Tsui, near Planet Hollywood. You will be purified by Wuzhou's simplicity and the spirit of Dr Sun Yat San whose Memorial Hall at BakShan is worth visiting (it's an easy hike). Hotels are around HK$200-300.
Nathan Jones, The Thorn Tree (Sep 98)
Instead of taking the Airport Express MTR line from the new airport to Central (HK side) for HK$100 (HK$70 until 5 October 1998), you can take the new Tung Chung line from the airport to central for HK$20. You can also get similar savings if you are going to Kowloon. Both lines use the same route and take about the same time. The Tung Chung line has one more stop at Olympic and does not include the free hotel bus, but if you don't have a lot of luggage it is worth saving HK$80!
Mike Dziedzic (Sep 98)
Guangzhou, getting there & away, boat: the jetcat that linked Guangzhou to Hong Kong departing from Zhoutouzui Wharf is not operating any more. I was advised to get the bus that leaves from the Swan Club at 2pm. It is cheaper than CTS buses (it costs HK$154 and CTS are HK$165), but it takes you to Mong Kok in Kowloon.
Inaki Salaberria, Spain (Aug 98)
Super hubs, mega delays: both Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong have recently opened brand new airports, and both suffer from what the airport authorities like to call 'teething problems' - more like cock-ups to me. I flew from the new HK airport at Chek Lap Kok on opening day to KLIA (am I a glutton for punishment or what?). Although CLK did not suffer from the massive check-in failures which afflicted KLIA on opening day (when I flew from KLIA to HK, check-in alone at KLIA took one hour 15 mins, and I was only the 3rd passenger in the queue - allow loads of time for check-in!), gate changes were frequent and many monitors still did not work well. CLK is a huge terminal over 1.5kms long so if your flight was first allocated gate 33 and then gate 11 and then finally gate 24 (as mine was), and half the moving walkways don't work, make sure you've got good walking shoes. Avoid checking in bags: they have a very good chance of getting lost - both airports are competing to see who can lose the most. Both CLK and KLIA may well eventually become very fine airports but for the moment, stick to Changi or Bangkok if you can.
K P - The Thorn Tree (Jul 98)
There are no ferry services any more to and from Hong Kong (eg, to Guangzhou or Macau). They stopped running them as of January 1998. There are lots of speed ferries though.
Christine Zimmerli - Switzerland (May 98)
I just tried to book the ferry from Hong Kong to Wuzhou only to be told that this service no longer operates - it stopped after the Chinese New Year in Jan 98. The girl at CTS in Central (HK) also said that there's no longer a ferry from HK to Guangzhou (Canton).
Rich Gordon (Apr 98)
Kowloon station is being refurbished with trains direct to Beijing and Shanghai now running daily.
There are more buses and traffic due to the airport - opens July 1998 so I am told.
John E Hazel - UK (Mar 98)
The new airport at Chek Lap Kok is scheduled to open on July 6.
Gruffydd James (Mar 98)
The airport express train will run to and from a terminus at the front of Exchange Square in Central (close to the Star Ferry). It will take 23 minutes and is expected to cost between HK$100 and HK$150.
Gruffydd James (Mar 98)
For the bus route to the new airport, there are some new lines:
E11 - Causeway Bay to Chek Lap Kok Airport ($21/adult, half fare for children under 12 and people over 65);
E31 - Tai Kok Tsui Ferry Pier (near the exit of Western Harbour Tunnel) to new airport ($14/adult, half fare for children under 12 and people over 65);
E32 - Kwai Hing (an MTR station) to new airport ($10/adult, half fare for children and pensioners);
E21 - Kowloon City Ferry Pier to new airport ($14/adult, half fare for children and pensioners);
All X routes to the new airport have been cancelled (X21, 31).
There is also a new bus route operating for tourists - Citibus new route 937, from Tsim Sha Tsui East (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) to Stanley. It will travel through Tsim Sha Tsui, the new Western Harbour Tunnel, the whole Aberdeen, Deep Water Bay, Repulse Bay, then Stanley. Tourists can get the bus at the bus terminus behind the Science Museum, opposite the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
For the ferry, there are some cancellations of the route: from Central to Jordan, and from North Point to Kowloon City (for vehicles).
Ken Siu (Feb 98)
There are no high-speed ferries any more. The companies that do the speed ride to Hong Kong are as follows: Turbo Cat, Far East Jetfoils (these go to Hong Kong Island Central), and Hong Kong Ferry (which goes to Kowloon).
David Steinke - Germany (Dec 97)
There is now a through train from Hong Kong to Shanghai two to three times per week leaving Kowloon Station. Tickets are available from Kowloon Station.
Donal & Eva Stuart (Aug 97)
HONG KONG
