My Home Page: Russ Phillips
"VISIONS OF HONG KONG"
Hello fellow Internet surfer and welcome to my
page. I'm very glad that you made it
this far . . . and I hope that you'll stay long enough
to look around my site.
I created this page for several reasons. The first
is to tell you a little about my
recent visit to Hong Kong. The second is
to show you some photos of the
scenery and people. I also will introduce you to
my fiancée, Lorna.
A final reason is to introduce you to my other web site
(see Links below)
which I hope will be of interest to the single men who
visit.
Hong Kong
TRIP
note:
Tourism is an extremely important industry.
Nothing has changed for tourists since Hong Kong
came under Chinese rule.
The new government values foreign tourists as
much as did the British.
Air
Travel:
A
long flight - 24 hours there because I took a rather circuitous route to
obtain a lower air fare. The lowest price my travel agent could find among
regular carriers was with Japan Air Lines out of Chicago. The return trip
would be 22 hours going through Vancouver.
Accommodations:
I
had arranged for a room well ahead of time at a guest house where I had
stayed before. Hong kong hotels are very expensive and, since I was staying
for more than three weeks, I had to find accommodations to fit my limited
budget. If you want a clean and low cost room, though quite small, you
cannot do worse than the Alisan
Guest House. It is located in Causeway Bay, one of Hong Kong's busiest
shopping and recreational areas (world famous Victoria Harbor and beautiful
Victoria Park are within a stones throw). Rooms at the nearby hotels
cost at least U.S.$125 per night (plus service charges, telephone charges,
etc.), whereas rooms at the Alisan range from $37 to $50 with no additional
charges.
Arrival:
The
new international airport at Chep Lap
Kok is everything a modern airport should be. Signs in English
are everywhere so you needn't worry about directions. The baggage arrived
very quickly and the Customs and Immigration people are very efficient.
In no time at all I was ready to locate my transportation into the city.
I used the Airport Bus service to save expenses (about U.S.$5.15). The
"Airport Express" is faster and costs about $13. This is a high speed train
that connects to the MTR
(Mass Transit Railroad), Hong Kong's fantastic subway system. In less
than an hour of arrival, I was viewing the sights from the upper deck of
the bus as it made it's way to my destination. I loved the double-decker
buses, though to get anywhere in a hurry, nothing can beat the MTR.
See
the Sights:
During
my stay in Hong Kong I did manage to see much of the sights. I took
the Peak Tram to "The Peak" on a cloudy day, but I took some photos
anyway. The view is incredible! One day Lorna and I went to the Gold Coast,
a stretch of beautiful beach. On another day, we traveled by bus
to Ocean Park, a large multi-faceted amusement park. I traveled Nathan
Road and checked out many street markets, crossed the harbor in the Star
Ferry and even took the KCR (Kowloon-Canton Railroad) to the Chinese University
of Hong Kong and toured their grounds. I visited a number of parks - Victoria
Park, Hong Kong Park, the Botanical Park and Kowloon Park, to name a few.
I also took in some of the museums; the Space Museum, the Science Museum
and the Museum of Chinese History in Kowloon Park. Below you will find
photos of many of the sights including views of the skyline from both sides
of the harbor. A trip to Hong Kong isn't complete without sampling
the fare offered in the wide variety of restaurants. I dined in a
number of different establishments and sampled many different cuisines
including Vietnamese, Singaporean, Indonesian, "true" Chinese, Korean,
and Thai as well as some Western style restaurants (English, French, American)
and the familiar fast-food establishments (MacDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut).
For the ladies, Hong Kong is a shopper's paradise. The city boasts everything
from tiny boutiques to 14 story department stores. Anything you can
imagine is for sale in Hong Kong and the prices are usually negotiable.
See the Hong Kong Tourist Association (link below)
for all the information a tourist or business traveler could ever need.
Back to Top
The
Main Purpose of My Visit:
The primary reason for my
trip to Hong Kong was to visit my fiancée, Lorna.
She and I have been involved in a long-distance love affair for more than
two years. We finally decided that if we were going to be able to
see each other more than once or twice a year, we would have to get married.
Consequently, I started the process with the Immigration Department to
obtain a fiancee visa and on Valentine's day I presented her an engagement
ring. We plan to wed in Manila as soon as her visa comes through.
Back to Top
Asian
Angels
Lorna is a citizen of the
Philippines working in Hong Kong. Through her I learned a lot about
the Philippines and Hong Kong. I learned how hard life is for the
people of the Philippines and the fact that many young Filipinas have to
work abroad to help support their families at home. I also learned
how it is that many thousands of Filipinas dream of finding a foreign husband.
Why? That's easy. The Philippines has been dominated by foreign powers
for all of its existence, so the people are well used to seeing and being
with foreigners. Also, the Philippines is a poor and dangerous place
to live. Filipinas are drawn to western men because Canada, Britain,
Australia and the United States are safer places to raise children. Filipinas
also have the sense that western men treat women much better than Filipino
men. For these reasons, many thousands of Filipinas join correspondence/pen
pal clubs to try to find potential marriage partners. During my visits
to Hong Kong, many of Lorna's friends asked me to help them find "boyfriends".
As a result I have created an internet site titled "Asian
Angel Introductions". If you are a single man looking for "Miss
Right", please use the link at the bottom ot this
page - it may change your life forever.
