With a short night in Hong Kong, I closed the chapter on a travel mistake I made nearly 20 years ago.
Back To Chunking Mansions: Correcting A 2008 Hong Kong Travel Blunder
I arrived at 7:20 pm from San Francisco on United and my connection to Bangkok did not leave until 9:20 am the next morning. While I did consider simply going to the Plaza Premium Lounge and not leaving the airport, I thought it might be fun to redo an experience I had way back in 2008 and see if I could avoid messing it up this time.
Back in September 2008, I was a young student and on my first round-the-world trip, which included flying Aeroflot from Moscow to Hong Kong. I did not have a lot of disposable income at the time and to save money, stayed at a very cheap “inn” in Hong Kong in Kowloon. It was in a building called the “Chunking Mansions” which housed dozens of these sorts of cheap hostel-like places for budget-conscious travelers to stay in.
I took this picture of the outside and a couple pictures inside:
Yes, it was like a jail cell.
But it was only 25 USD.
Fast-forward to the present day. I certainly could have stayed at the Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui (about $300) or even gone all the way to the Hyatt Regency Sha Tin for about half that. More pragmatically, I could have reserved a $100 hotel room near the airport and not had to stray far from HKG.
But I thought it might be interesting to redo the 2008 experience, and I had a good reason.
In 2008, I also had a 9 am flight…on Air New Zealand to London (LHR), back in the days when it ran a RTW service from AKL-LAX-LHR-HKG-AKL on its Boeing 747-400. I remember how happy I was to fly Air New Zealand for the first time and how I set my alarm the night before to get up early so that I could visit the Thai Airways Lounge before my flight (back then, it was the best Star Alliance Lounge in HKG).
But I proceeded to oversleep…and missed the flight. To this day, it’s the only flight I’ve ever missed due to oversleeping.
And I was traveling on a restricted economy ticket, meaning I forfeited the value of the ticket (Air New Zealand ultimately took mercy on me and rebooked me the next day, but I still had to pay $200 or so for the pleasure, which was a lot of money for me in 2008).
After missing my Air New Zealand flight, I distinctly remember parking myself on a bench at HKG and not moving until the following morning except to eat, spending nearly 20 hours there, as I was too afraid to even venture out (I had considered going to Hong Kong Disneyland).
So I thought that I’d try this again and see if I could actually get up and make my flight this time. I reserved a room in the same building (via Orbitz)…it was still only about $25!
I took a bus to the hotel and found a long line waiting to get up the elevators to these rooms…but soon it was my turn and I checked into a place called the Cebu Inn…it took me right back to 2008:
I held some work meetings (it was only morning in the USA) and then took a three-hour nap. This time, I woke up on the first alarm, packed my back (I had emptied everything out looking for my Oura ring) and headed back to HKG, where I arrived plenty early for my United flight to BKK.
CONCLUSION
Sometimes it’s fun to redo travel experiences, especially when they did not go right the first time. I love Hong Kong and it is a city full of great hotels, but I figured that with a late arrival and early departure, it didn’t make sense to splurge on this particular trip. So I stayed in the same building I did nearly 20 years ago, only this time I woke up when my alarm rang and did not miss my flight!
Have you ever redone any botched travel experiences?
How redemptive. Oof. Still rough, but, for that price, not bad. Glad you got the Chow Tai Fook outta there….
For that case (late arrival, early departure), I’d stomach the 5h sleep in a place like that. At least it’s not like you had to share the room, there are some places in the US and Europe where it costs $50 for a dorm room with 7 other beds.
I had a 23hr stopover in HK (intentionally booked) in November last year. Really fun time with my 9yo son who had never been to hk.
I also recreated a stay id had with my two other kids in 2018.
One thing I noticed is how expensive HK is now. Coffees etc. was amazing to arrive in Tokyo the next day and appreciate how much cheaper it was. Complete opposite of how both cities were when I used to go there for work in early 2010s.
Thanks for the photos. I stayed in Chung King Mansion in the mid ’90s and this helped me recall the experience. My fellow guests were mostly migrant workers from Bangladesh if I remember correctly. Like you, I would try it again for fun and to relive the experience even though I could probably score and upgrade at the Hyatt across the street. 🙂
This post has Kara & Nate vibes – they just recreated a Hong Kong stay as well. Memories of youth…
I just finished a redo in HKG a month ago. Ten years ago my SO and I were to meet in HKG for a 6 day vacay. Long story short, her home country denied her exit as they suspected human trafficking. I made it to HKG then, she didn’t. We’ve been to other countries since but continued to think of HKG as a curse. Fortunately we finally made it to HKG last month with lovely memories.
I occasionally go on long trekking trips, and I assure you that I have stayed at worse in some remote areas. These places don’t really bother me for one night, so long as they are conveniently located.
I recall reading somewhere that Chungking Mansions was pretty dangerous. Any thoughts or refutations?
Seemed okay to me. A little rough–nothing luxurious, but Hong Kong strikes me as a very safe place wherever you are.
Amazing! Good for you! I stayed in Chunking Mansions in 2014 during the first bout of democracy protests HK was having. That was actually an inspiring time to be there!
And yes, the TG lounge was legit back then. I was at HKG with my partner a few weeks ago and I tried to explain that to her as we descended the escalator to the Pier. Was the TG lounge really good, or were we just kids?
I stayed in a hostel in Chungking mansions back in 2008 as well as part of a round the world trip, did a few nights.
I remember my bed had one of the corners of the bed by head was cut out to fit against some pipes
The style of decoration in your pictures is exactly how I remember
Good times
There are things in life that need a re-do and this is certainly not one of them. Why?! What’s the point? Because you overslept some 18 years ago and missed your flight? Chungking House will always be Chungking House, a dingy hole in the wall that many people use as a sex hotel, I knew it even when I was a youngster living in HK. I hope your audience does not take this as an endorsement from you and stay there. It’ll ruin their trip.
Totally agreed. This is absolutely wasting your time !
What a great story! Thank you Matthew, and glad you didn’t oversleep this time.