June 30, 2023
Day P2: Borderline Insanity
It was one of those days that never wanted to end. The bike must have been loaded and unloaded a half dozen times and lugged in a heavy bag for several kilometers across one checkpoint after another. All this in the hot and humid weather. It was excruciating to say the least.
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An early morning workout wasn't part of the plan but I had to use up my credits before the end of the month. The coach was very tough. Plus I had already lost so much weight and gained muscle that I hoisted myself up on the chinups so easily that my forehead smashed into the overhead metal ledge and cut the skin. The coach was like no worries we're all good.
After the workout I chilled out a bit with a coffee at Starbucks then spent over an hour at the hotel doing detailed repacking. I left behind two pannier bags in Shenzhen as planned. The load was considerably lightened and the bike was folded up to catch a taxi.
All this had cost me precious time already but I learned it was better to pack correctly and not risk losing anything.
The taxi was a good call because the Shenzhen Bay checkpoint was a restricted area and bikes couldn't get close. But I still had to carry the bike for over 500 meters and was covered in sweat within minutes.
The first thing to note were the touts. I was a prime target with the heavy bag and they all seemed to think I was going to the Hong Kong airport. There were no shortage of minivan offers.
I found a bus driver and asked how to get to Jordan, she said pass immigration first and then buy a ticket. The cross boundary coaches have parking lots on both sides of the checkpoint.
Inside the immigration building had some refreshing AC that cooled things down, but I was already a sweaty mess. The bike is over 20kg so it is literally an extended version of the 'suitcase carry' exercise that I did in the morning workout.
For whatever reason they still had digital health verification codes. So I filled one out and then someone scanned it. Next, the immigration officer said "You work in China, you're eligible for the e-channel to save time." I said "Oh, good to know this." He said "But you need to apply first." That could mean only one thing: forget about it. Guaranteed hassle. I'll just wait a few more minutes in the manual passport channel each time.
Hong Kong immigration was also rather fast but for whatever reason they still wanted me to fill out entry forms. That pen in my packing list came in handy. Then it was just as predicted: I found the closest bus, bought a ticket with wechat pay, and put the bike in the luggage hold. The bus took off right away.
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On arrival I got dumped on the side of the road and it started pouring rain. Trying to take shelter in front of a closed shop, the owner suddenly appeared and scowled at me to get out so she could open the shop. Presumably she had come back from lunch. I moved the folding bike bag and other gear nearby to a 7/11 and tried to wait out the rain before assembling the bike. This was not the most pleasant start to Hong Kong but I wasn't expecting anyone to be nice so who really cares.
I then realized I was famished and took out my box of Hong Kong coins. I got an egg sandwich in the 7/11 for 16 HKD. Soon after the rain stopped and the next challenge was going to be how to find the bike shop I came here for upgrades.
The main problem was that my phone data had cut out once the bus crossed the Shenzhen Bay Bridge. I then tried to rely on WiFi hotspots but ever since covid they had become notably scarcer. I ended up biking in a random direction in search of WiFi so I could navigate with Google Maps and plot a course to the bike shop.
Eventually I gave up on that and just kept on riding. The Garmin told me I was going in a NW direction which was vaguely correct as I remember it. Turns out I was on the exact road all along and I spotted a sign for where the bike shop was. They had since moved downstairs so it was a bit tricky to find but I made it!
The bike shop had the handlebars I wanted and they could do a few other tune-up related things as well, so I left it in their care. They said no problem, just come back later and we'll send you a Facebook message. Really good guys at the Flying Ball Bicycle Shop. I was now separated from all my other stuff and just carrying a backpack with valuables.
Then it was onto the next priority task: get rid of all these coins. To do so, I could start by taking the MTR for 7.5 HK dollars to the terminal station at Tsuen Wan. Once there I was super thirsty so I bought a diet coke for 8 HKD. Thankfully the MTR stations continued their free WiFi hotspots so I could figure out where I was supposed to go next. The local buses were too complex so in the end I flagged down a taxi. The driver didn't understand where I wanted to go but the address I pinned on Google Maps had Chinese which certainly helped. 41 HK dollars later I was there.
The driver kindly reminded me "Make sure you have your mobile phone" and I sure as hell did because I was paying attention constantly to my stuff the whole time. But his reminder was certainly helpful.
Next was trying to pin down the exact location of the coin collection trucks. This was a wild goose chase in the hot sun and without GPS I was going around in circles. Eventually I found a property management office and she didn't understand English. So I busted out the Mandarin and took out my coin boxes since I didn't know how to say 'coin collection truck' in Chinese. At that point she knew immediately what I wanted and led me right to the truck! I appreciated that and the truck was literally right under my nose the entire time. But it was tucked away down a hidden alley I never would have found otherwise.
What happened next was a minimalist's dream come true. The first guy had me dump the coins in a tray then he invited me inside while I made a video of the machine sorting all the coins. Next step was a receipt and exchanging it all for bills.
During the earlier goose chase I had stumbled upon an outdoor food market and so this was the next obvious stop. It was an incredibly local experience. They all spoke the loud Cantonese and the heavily accented English that is just like in the movies. The food was absolutely delicious too and all the more filling since I was so hungry. Not cheap at 58 HK dollars but with three 20 dollar bills it was made such easier.
It was a lot easier to find a bus back to Tseun Wan since they were all lined up in a row and heading back to the same destination. I still had a remnant of coins which made it easier to give the driver 5 dollars since they don't make any change.
Now I was beginning to understand why coin clutter accumulates. There are so many of these little transactions that keep happening so unless you're on top of this, the change is out of control. It drives me nuts. Digital payment is really the way to go. As a perfect example of all this, I was now down to 4.40 HKD in change and no shop I could find was selling anything at those small amounts. If I broke a bigger bill, then more change would result. So I gave up and went to the bank for my next errands.
For some reason, a staff member put me in the wrong queue for senior citizens. Later, another staff came around and asked if I was 65 years or older. I shook my head and looked at her as if to say "What does it look like?" Then the first staff apologized and put me in the correct queue.
While waiting for my turn I went online and tried to pre-book bus tickets to Macau using one of the credit cards from Canada. After an SMS verification to my Canada phone (it pays dividends to keep that number going) the purchase was confirmed. The bus would later end up saving the day and it was all thanks to a teacher friend who gave me this information: the company is called One Bus.
The bank turned out to be a fail because I couldn't update my passport information without having the old passport on hand from pre-covid. But not to worry. I had been expecting a large insurance payment. Much to my frustration, it hadn't arrived and I wouldn't be a Premier member just yet. That'll all have to wait for another trip. I made the most of this visit by depositing the rest of the cash and coins from the earlier success errand.
Next up was the hunt to find a US dollar ATM to get cash for my Laos trip. That turned out to be quite hard to find.
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All of us this was really starting to eat up time which is just classic Hong Kong. Due to how expensive the place is plus how it's the hub for getting things done, you're in a dilemma: time is against you while you have tons of shit to do. So it always is a rush. My task management system was really paying dividends here but it was certainly making me exhausted.
Next attempted errand was to open a brokerage account near Central. I tried to go back on the MTR but then I realized the machine would not take large bills and there were no customer service booths to buy tickets like pre-covid. The only way through was to withdraw HKD 100 from an ATM, buy a drink for 10 dollars, and use change to pay for a 15.5 HKD ticket thus leaving me back to the original problem: I was once again holding all these fucking coins in change.
But as time kept running out, I decided to abort my mission. I turned around mid-train ride and headed back to the bike shop.
Adjacent to the bike shop was a Starbucks so I ordered a hot milk latte for 38 HKD thus leaving me with a 20 dollar bill and 6.5 HKD in coins. I dumped all the coins in the tip jar and wondered why I hadn't always done this previously. Now this is the only way. After this, I could simply leave Hong Kong a 20 dollar bill in my pocket.
Latte in hand, I went back to the bike shop and the guys had done amazing work! It all cost just over $100 US and was really great service. Definitely recommend Flying Ball Bicycles.
Now there was just the "simple" task of riding my bike to the bus pickup point near Yau Ma Tei but this was going to be my downfall. I used WiFi to load up Google Maps and plot a course. Everything was going ok until a myriad of closed roads and one way streets threw me off the course.
It got so bad that I meandered way off course to the east when I should have been going south. It was only thanks to my Garmin telling me the direction of riding that I realized the problem in time to correct it. But it seemed that no roads were leading south and it took some enormous gymnastics to get on the right course again. This all had to be done in a frantic hurry because there were only 15 min left until the LAST BUS was going to leave.
It was time to panic. I asked many locals where Canton Road was and they hadn't a clue. They looked at me like I was on drugs or something. Turns out I was still 2km away. A very lucky break had me catch a WiFi hotspot and then replot a course with both GPS and mental map skills. Those mental skills saved the day because the phone was shaking which erased the entire course I had plotted. There was no WiFi to reconnect.
In a stroke of luck I found the right street in the nick of time and arrived at the bus stop just before it was leaving. I quickly folded and semi-bagged the bike like a madman and threw it inside the luggage hold. The staff instructed me to hurry up and change the digital confirmation code to a physical paper ticket at the nearby office which I did. All of this took place one minute before the bus left and I boarded in a sweaty and exhausted mess before they shut the door.
I was super relieved at that point and this was the biggest win of the day. However, the bus driver bolted out of the city like an absolute maniac and it was hardly a slow and relaxing ride. In almost no time, just before I had started catching my breath, he arrived at the first border checkpoint as indicated on the map above.
At this point, all passengers had to get off the bus, take all their luggage, clear Hong Kong exit immigration, and then board the bus on the other side of the checkpoint. It amounted to at least a 500 meter walk carrying the heavy bike. Since time was moving a little slower now, I used this break to re-fold and bag the bike properly while everyone else rushed ahead of me. This turned out to be a good call because the border wasn't busy anyway.
Once closer to the bus, the vibe was considerably more chilled out and relaxed and it felt like the trip was happening for real. The bus attendants didn't care that I had lost my paper ticket anyway as they all knew I was the crazy white guy hauling around a bicycle in a bag.
The bus then took off again and crossed the newly built bridge by the Chinese from Hong Kong to Macau. This was a really spectacular crossing and made all the better that it happened around sunset. The scenery from the bus was nothing short of divine. Now THIS is a trip and exactly why I travel for moments like this. And to think how lucky I was to have made this bus, otherwise I would have been forced to take my bike in a taxi to catch a ferry at night from Hong Kong Island thus missing out on all the fun.
Once across the bridge, you guessed it: Macau immigration which meant getting off the bike and hauling the bike through another checkpoint. This was also close to 500 meters, and the staff directed me to elevators to get up to the control point. While waiting in line to get my passport checked, a couple from the Manila got chatting to me and wanted to know all about my trip. They said, "Have you considered biking in the Philippines?" I shook my head and said, "Sorry, it's a great country, but not after my last trip." I learned from them that the Philippines is actually becoming more bike friendly after covid which was a huge shock considering how much of a disaster the last trip was I did around 2018.
Afterwards we parted company and I then found a convenience store where I could start spending some of the Macau money. That was accomplished with a diet coke for MOP 12.
It was then a super quick bus ride to Sands Casino. The original plan was to take a taxi from there to the hotel and then meet my wife at the airport (she was flying direct from Shanghai). There was time on my side again, so I decided to head into the casino and start gambling.
That plan was kaiboshed immediately because the security guard said I needed to "check in" the bag and gestured to another door where that was, but I couldn't find it. Might as well just give up. Then I found out the Macau taxis don't take credit cards or wechat, just cash, and it would be quite the hassle.
In the end I said fuck it and just decided to ride the bike. It was only a short ride around 3km. That would mean unfolding the bike, riding it, and folding it up again at the hotel but so be it. I locked the bike to a pole on the side of the road, checked in, and then went back to bag up the bike. Concierge was super helpful once they saw this and offered to put the bike on a trolley. They asked, "Do you want the bike in the room or in storage?" I opted for storage as I was exhausted and wanted that damn ball and chain off my hands for awhile.
It turns out my wife's flight was delayed anyway, but by the time I got into the hotel she had already landed and would just meet me in the lobby. So I was able to get a few drinks with exact change using the earlier 20 dollar bill from HK (you can spend HK money in Macau but not the other way around)
Today's ride: 19 km (12 miles)
Total: 252 km (156 miles)
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