a strange one for my fellow members

[stevewool]

we are going to the phils for xmas but stoping of in hong kong for new year, may be there 5 days, my question is this, because we will have all the xmas presents with us in our bagage,phones, ipods, shoes, bags and perfume all wrapped in gift paper will we have to pay anything or would we be allowed to bring them into hong kong

[Englishman2010]

I don't know Steve, but I have just done the same thing, I went to HK for a few days before the Phil's and had a case full of presents. No one stopped me or asked any questions:)

[bruneicop]

you will be fine steve, what they don't know and all that. ( even if they stopped you i doubt you would have any problems, (unless you had a suitcase full of one particular gift, (i.e. 100's of ipod's then i am sure you will be fine,

[stevewool]

thanks Ian it just dawned on me about tax , better be safe then sorry, Hong kong looks amazing for a few days getting into the holiday swing now, just trying to find a place in or around cavite for a month,but lots of time to do that,

[johncar54]

I don't know about the presents but it would be wise to check with your travel insurance to confirm that you are covered for each leg of your trip.

Why do I say this ?

I know that if I travel to UK on a flight I have booked. Then travel onwards to say RP on a separate booking, most insurances will not cover me in the event that I miss the connecting flight in UK.

I know this to be true I have spoke to the assessors of several companies.

As a result of raising the problem with one broker, here in Spain, but a UK company, they know have now re-written a policy to ensure that such onward travel is included, but with the proviso that there is at least 3 hours between the flight arriving in UK and the one departing.

[stevewool]

good point there , i have never even thought of that yet

[Tawi2]

Hong kong looks amazing for a few days
You can cover all of honkers touristy bits in 4-5 days easily without breaking into a sweat,Disney,Ocean park,Mong-kok night market,the peaketc,enjoy the city ;)

[stevewool]

nice picture there , to much xmas pud i say:icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol:, i am startig to draw a plan of what we can and cannot do, we will be stationed somewhere in hong kong never been so cant tell you but here is the address connaught road hong kong, reads very well so that will do me and emma fine i hope

[grahamw48]

Connaught Road is on Hong Kong Island, and a major route with underground stations nearby, etc. :)

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Behind these skyscrapers, and close to the Star Ferry terminal.: :xxgrinning--00xx3:

(Pic is taken from 'Kowloon side')

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http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/9523/hongkong1996006.jpg

[stevewool]

thanks graham , a man who knows many things:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[steve monty]

hi Steve
I am sure you will be fine, as they are classed as presents I am sure you don't have to pay taxes on them. Have a great time in Hong Kong! I always fly there with Cathay Pacific but never had a stop over there. Looking at Graham's pic i must do so!!

[stevewool]

hi steve log time sice we spoke , hows married life :xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3:

[steve monty]

hi steve log time sice we spoke , hows married life :xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3:

Alright Steve!

Married life is good!! Just very hard being apart at the moment. Sounds like you and Emma have organised many plans together! Thats what I'm waiting to do for when mahal is here! It will be like a new life! i hope you and Emma are well there!

[grahamw48]

hi Steve
I am sure you will be fine, as they are classed as presents I am sure you don't have to pay taxes on them. Have a great time in Hong Kong! I always fly there with Cathay Pacific but never had a stop over there. Looking at Graham's pic i must do so!!

Shame about the overcast in that pic.
Normally the weather is excellent there.
In summer it's like Phils, winter like British summer temps. :)

I'll try to find a sunnier picture.

I helped build that airport you land at. :D

[stevewool]

bloody hell graham is there nothing that you have done or been too in your life time

[stevewool]

Alright Steve!

Married life is good!! Just very hard being apart at the moment. Sounds like you and Emma have organised many plans together! Thats what I'm waiting to do for when mahal is here! It will be like a new life! i hope you and Emma are well there!

life with emma is just great , yes she has been here now 6 months, seems like longer and she has settled in very well, working at the local hospital so a income coming in too, its been a long time since i have been planning holidays and planning with emma is great , plus we think its about right to see her family after 18 months away

[Tawi2]

(Pic is taken from 'Kowloon side')
TST the overhead walkway,used to sit up there some nights scoffing a macky-dee's and just looking at the marvel thats Central :)

[steve monty]

Shame about the overcast in that pic.
Normally the weather is excellent there.
In summer it's like Phils, winter like British summer temps. :)

I'll try to find a sunnier picture.

I helped build that airport you land at. :D

I thought it was smog :D you get that in any asian city because of the climate.

[grahamw48]

No, not smog. Considering the traffic and activity in the place, it's not too bad. The sea breeze must blow it away. :)

Here's some pics you won't find on tourist postcards...a few of my old ones.

1. Having a lunch overlooking the partly-built control tower at Chek Lap Kok airport:
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http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/4348/hongkongpics006.jpg


2. Scenery on my ferry ride to work. ...floating dry dock. (Ever wondered how they paint a ship's bottom ? :))

[IMG]http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/4688/hongkongpics008.jpg

[grahamw48]

More scenery....the first road carriageway section has just been winched up under what was at the time the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world. Each of these sections weighed over 400 tons and was winched up on 4 wires from a huge barge below. :) They have winched it higher than its eventual position so that it can be accessed more easily from the cables above.
I also worked on a similar bridge there for 6 months, after I brought the family to live in HK. I worked on a number of big construction projects through the nineties.

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/4559/hongkongpics020.jpg

[grahamw48]

View from the place where I lived in Kowloon for a year before bringing the family over from the Phils and moving over to the beautiful Lantau Island.
It was a 2 and a half hour journey to work on the 'new' airport each way from here. :cwm3:

Looking to the left ( Hong Kong Harbour) the last building on the right is part of the world famous Peninsula Hotel.
If you can afford to stay there they will send one of their 15 Rolls Royces to pick you up from the airport. :)

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/8863/hongkongpics022.jpg

[steve monty]

No, not smog. Considering the traffic and activity in the place, it's not too bad. The sea breeze must blow it away. :)

ahhh, because Hong Kong is known as a very hectic, bustling city i thought that was the case.

I do envy your Job, being able to travel to all these places! If you don't mind me asking, what is your occupation to be able to work on the most complex airport ever to have been built? Is that the one on the man-made island?

[grahamw48]

Hi Steve.

I was plant operating...big offroad dump trucks, front loaders, backhoes (excavators).

One of the biggest problems they had on the airport was with water coming up through the ground, which consisted of millions of tons of rock just dumped into the sea and then covered with a few feet of sand.

There are a couple of big tunnel systems running under the runways ('cut and cover' types), so they had to build coffer dams along the length of the earthworks first to keep the water out.

Lots of other problems too..but wouldn't want to bore you. :icon_lol:

That's what makes construction work so interesting though. :)

It was the biggest construction site in the world then. Finally having a total workforce of 20,000 when they were finishing it off and building the Terminals.

I also worked on a 'proper' 23km tunnel system over near Kowloon and the New Territories. Granite rock, with tunnel boring machines,etc, and running below the sea for part of the route.
Now that project REALLY had some problems. :NoNo:
Great job though, if damned hard graft.

Here is one of the tunnels going in on the airport. It finished up being about a quarter mile long, and included a roundabout inside it. :)
Looking directly ahead you can see the main Lantau Island.
There WAS a little village just across there until the mid-90s. That is almost a mini-HongKong now....such is the incredible rate of development in both HK and mainland China.

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/647/hongkongpics016.jpg

[aposhark]

Hi stevewool,

Don't forget that it is 20Kg per person on Cathay Pacific :NoNo:

Does anyone know if there is a left luggage in transit there?

[Sim11UK]

Great pics Graham & very interesting. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Terpe]

Hi stevewool,

Don't forget that it is 20Kg per person on Cathay Pacific :NoNo:

Does anyone know if there is a left luggage in transit there?

Just from my own experience, I think it must vary depending on who the tickets are booked with. Last few times with Cathay we had 30kg at least three times and 40kg at least twice.
Last 3 times has been via Crystal Travel I know one of those was 40kg.
Never had anything less than 30kg all the years I ever flown with Cathay. (via agent)

[Tawi2]

View from the place where I lived in Kowloon
Chungking mansion?My mate Dave's pinay girlfriend ran a guest house on the 11'th floor if memory serves correct.
You dont remember a trucker called Mitch Graham?Worked on the land reclamation project on Lantau?Crushed a pakistani guy to death while reversing his truck.

[grahamw48]

Chungking mansion?My mate Dave's pinay girlfriend ran a guest house on the 11'th floor if memory serves correct.
You dont remember a trucker called Mitch Graham?Worked on the land reclamation project on Lantau?Crushed a pakistani guy to death while reversing his truck.

Yes and yes !

'Mad Mitch'....nearly destroyed him, and wasn't his fault. He got off the manslaughter charge, but it took 18 months.

Not Dave from Travellers' Hostel, block 'A' 16th floor...was doing up a boat. ?

[Tawi2]

Not Dave from Travellers' Hostel, block 'A' 16th floor...was doing up a boat. ?
Small world ;) I used to see Mitch in Wanchai most weekends,I remember him getting off and getting p*ssed up that weekend :icon_lol:
I wonder if May is still with Dave?I think her daughter dumped her scouse hubbie,leastways thats the rumours I heard on the grapevine,funny the things you hear in Neptunes and Pussycats :icon_lol:

[Tawi2]

Travellers' Hostel, block 'A' 16th floor
Your memory is better than mine,I remembered it was block A but only because we used to go to a curryhouse on the 1'st floor,the sher-e-punjab or something like that?

[stevewool]

Just from my own experience, I think it must vary depending on who the tickets are booked with. Last few times with Cathay we had 30kg at least three times and 40kg at least twice.
Last 3 times has been via Crystal Travel I know one of those was 40kg.
Never had anything less than 30kg all the years I ever flown with Cathay. (via agent)
20kgs is all they are giving us this time terpe

[alanp]

Hi Steve
just a thought when i went to see jen in dec 2009 i put the xmas gifts for Jen and her family in a box sealed it up and put that in a balikbayan box with the chocolates coffee etc that i normally send and when it arrived end of november Jennie just hid the box away till i got there for christmas. I saved putting the gifts in my case though i did end up taking some others gifts just in case i forgot someone

[stevewool]

thanks alan , emma says that she is taking no cloths because she can use her sisters so her case will be empty, i have just got to deside is she fishing for new cloths in hongkong and the phils or telling the truth:icon_lol:

[alanp]

on my return i had to bring some of jennies clothes and shoes and some winter jackets her relatives from america sent her. I was glad i did not get stopped at customs i did not want to explaint why i had size 5 high heals in my bag:icon_lol:

[grahamw48]

Small world ;) I used to see Mitch in Wanchai most weekends,I remember him getting off and getting p*ssed up that weekend :icon_lol:
I wonder if May is still with Dave?I think her daughter dumped her scouse hubbie,leastways thats the rumours I heard on the grapevine,funny the things you hear in Neptunes and Pussycats :icon_lol:

Yes, same May and Dave.
Wasn't it 'George' who May's daughter married ? I knew them too. They also moved over to live on Lantau when I did.

I've got a photo of May somewhere...will have to dig it out.

Yep...small world. :icon_lol:

[steve monty]

Hi Steve.

I was plant operating...big offroad dump trucks, front loaders, backhoes (excavators).

One of the biggest problems they had on the airport was with water coming up through the ground, which consisted of millions of tons of rock just dumped into the sea and then covered with a few feet of sand.

There are a couple of big tunnel systems running under the runways ('cut and cover' types), so they had to build coffer dams along the length of the earthworks first to keep the water out.

Lots of other problems too..but wouldn't want to bore you. :icon_lol:

That's what makes construction work so interesting though. :)

It was the biggest construction site in the world then. Finally having a total workforce of 20,000 when they were finishing it off and building the Terminals.

I also worked on a 'proper' 23km tunnel system over near Kowloon and the New Territories. Granite rock, with tunnel boring machines,etc, and running below the sea for part of the route.
Now that project REALLY had some problems. :NoNo:
Great job though, if damned hard graft.

Here is one of the tunnels going in on the airport. It finished up being about a quarter mile long, and included a roundabout inside it. :)
Looking directly ahead you can see the main Lantau Island.
There WAS a little village just across there until the mid-90s. That is almost a mini-HongKong now....such is the incredible rate of development in both HK and mainland China.



It must have been amazing to work on those projects! It fascinates me how people come up with the ideas and be able to achieve them. Was a few feet of sand enough?!?! :yikes: You must have loved the diversity of the job as i do being a plumber, doing different things each day. The 23km tunnel system sounds mad! What was it, spagetti junction underground?? :D :icon_lol::icon_lol:

[grahamw48]

Hi Steve.

Yes it was interesting work...never a dull moment, and lots of opportunities for Brits then.

One of my friends was an Electrical foreman on the tunnel, and then went on to be in charge of installing all the runway lighting on the airport. He only came across (from the Phils) because I told him he could get work, even though he was fifty odd and thought he was too old to get work anymore. Ended up running a Porsche ! :D

Another friend was a plumber and finished up in charge of buying in all the supplies for one of the biggest contractors out there.

Great days.

Maybe you could have fixed this pipe that burst right in front of me as I was loading up with 40 tons of ice cubes (don't ask :icon_lol:) off a barge one day. It was about a foot across and made a nice distraction.

.
.
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/5228/hongkongpics019.jpg

[aposhark]

Just from my own experience, I think it must vary depending on who the tickets are booked with. Last few times with Cathay we had 30kg at least three times and 40kg at least twice.
Last 3 times has been via Crystal Travel I know one of those was 40kg.
Never had anything less than 30kg all the years I ever flown with Cathay. (via agent)

Thanks for the comment Terpe.
Now I realise agents must get different prices from the airlines relected in the baggage allowance.