A bumpy ferry ride

22 Nov 2005

Upon our arrival in Hong Kong International Airport, our group of seventy was split up into two coaches, each under a different tour leader. All of us followed our guide in a straight line (like school children...) as we dragged along our bulky luggage to the bus terminal where our coach was waiting. Our tour leader then told us to leave our luggage to be placed in the storage area of the bus (I could still recall that because it was the first time I heard him spoke and he carried a strong local accent).

At the bus terminal, I noticed there was even a bus company named “Air Bus”!

We boarded the bus and we were on our way to the ferry terminal. After a four-hour ride on the plane, we were still up and about, eyes glancing through the window overseeing the views in Hong Kong. As our tour guide explained some facts about Hong Kong, the Disneyland, the tallest building there - over 80 storeys high, the government housing, to that of his dream house and he was a part-time fortune teller! I wasn’t really listening attentively to what he was saying as I was busy gazing through the window. I remembered seeing these orange stopover counters on the roads similar to those at the causeway (or I heard), for drivers to stop over and pay. I supposed it is a similar concept to the ERP in Singapore. I was fascinated by the local school children (their uniform are really adorable... navy blue jacket and a tie for boys). In midst of all these, I could not help but to notice the tour guide's occasional pauses followed by “err huh…” every now and then. I was just beginning to find him cute.

As we alighted at the ferry terminal, we collected our luggage and were on our way to the immigration (the others were dragging their trolley bags all the way up while I was merely carrying my bag along). We were then given the green stickers as an identification of our tour group. Sadly, we parted with our cute tour guide and headed for the immigration counter.

As I passed through the immigration, the person asked for my name again to double confirm my identity. He must have thought that I looked very different from my picture. We then passed through the immigration and saw a few people wearing masks handing out some notices on the precautions against bird flu. We were filled with glee when we were told that we were allowed to shop in the duty free shops. I thought it would be a good chance to break down my currency note. Yet shortly after, we were rushed off to proceed to boarding as there was a change in the ferry schedule to 4.30pm instead of 5pm. Even before we stepped onto the boat, we could see that the door was flapping up and down very badly and the ferry was really unstable. There was a ready vomit bag placed infront of us. We took a quick look at its menu… instant noodles, soft drinks and Calbee chips. As the ferry set off, it was bouncing really badly. We were screaming every time the boat shook. The locals on the same ferry must have been bewildered by our behaviour! Our faces turned pale and not one of us spoke very much during the journey. As some of us could still cast away our uneasiness for a moment to fill in our arrival card, some still remained very silent and motionless in their seat. Everyone felt nauseous and quickly hypnotized themselves to sleep. I rested awake. I was anticipating our arrival yet to no avail. All I could see was the vast ocean and not a single island was in sight. Every time we thought we were approaching, that “island” we saw was just another passing boat. It was till a very long time we caught sight of a very long bridge and realised we were really approaching Macau.

As we alighted from the ferry, we could feel the chilly breeze blowing against our skin. It was already dark at 6pm there.