Came back from HK

[Hishercar]

if you had tried the older ocean park cable car I am sure your kids will keep very very still when there is high wind

 

[Bicolor]

i believe the minibus is operated individually. hence, every minute counts, every passenger counts. they will try to run as many trips as possible.

i normally took the tram up (cause minibus up is not a good experience) and minibus down. indeed, the journey from peak to central is heart-stopping experience. manys like to take minibus down because it is FAST !

 

The green minibuses are operated by companies and the drivers are not as reckless, although they tend to go too fast around corners and stay at too high a gear on long downhill slopes. But for the red ones, the drivers pay rental for the buses and are free to make as many trips as they can. They even try to outrace each other and the green minibuses along similar routes to get passengers.

 

For me if I go to the Peak for hiking, I take the minibus up (a lot safer) and then walk all the way down to Chi Fu or Aberdeen. Only if I bring friends will I take the minibus down. A little mean perhaps, but I always like to see the look on their faces on the way down!

[Bicolor]

The two best rides are front seat in the double decker from Central? to Tseung Kwan O or Stanley and the mini bus from Choi Hung to Sai Kung.

 

The mini bus coming down from Fo Tan can also be white knuckle.

 

The green minibus from Choi Hung to Sai Kung is considered one of the more tame ones. The red one from Mong Kok to Sai Kung is a white knuckle experience. Coming down from Fo Tan is quite a "thrilling" experience too - that route is one of my favourite driving routes too.

[Bicolor]

if you think that is an adrenaline pumping ride wait till you ride on the red mini bus

 

most of the drivers think they are formula 1 driver with 9 lives

 

unfortunately they dont realise that their passenger have only 1 life

 

Indeed. Some of the most heart-stopping routes will be the "superfast" (it actually states that on the bus) service from Aberdeen to Mong Kok - took that late at night once and it's the second most scary ride I ever took in my life. And the route from Jordan to Yuen Long, a very long distance route, is crazy after midnight. Some of the drivers even beat red lights.

 

But I have to say that I have grown kind of used to the crazy minibuses in HK. Yet, today after returning my rented vehicle, I took most heart-stopping ride I have ever taken in a long time - a taxi ride from my place in Tampines to Changi. Just an old Transcab Toyota Crown... Over time I have been able to even read and SMS on the minibuses, even as friends who are not used to them turned pale, clung on for dear life and lost their appetites, but after this ride my legs gave way when I got off at Changi Village

[Bicolor]

another adrenaline pumping ride is to take a bus to lantau island (tai yu san). i did because the cable car service was down that day.

the road is the damn narrow and the bus is not minibus type but full length bus. if you have a window seat, your heart is almost pumping out when the driver make the corner and you look down the cliff.

 

Agree, that bus ride is really something. Still, I prefer it to the cable car. That road is extremely narrow and challenging, but I would love to drive on it some day - a pity it is restricted to residents and public transport.

 

There was once a group of us took a taxi from one village to another, and the driver pulled into a passing place 3 times to let the crazy buses pass. Hard to gauge the speed, but the taxi driver was doing 50km/h and the bus, at first a tiny speck far behind, suddenly loomed right behind the taxi within seconds.

[Adrianli]

Hi,

 

Last yr Jan, it was also my 1st trip to HK. Nice cooling weather then. Same as you, we did not pay to go up the peak. We walked out and took some pics.

[David]

My first trip to HKG in 94, I went up to the Peak. I was amazed that how a double decker could climb up that steep and winding road considering that then we did have our double decker.

 

Then in 2003, we took a honky donkey bus from CityGate to the Big Buddha. OMG, the road was so narrow but luckily it was very light traffic. Some years later we also look the bus to Tai-O, packed with people carrying salted fish.

 

Actually if you take a coach tour from Melbourne to the Twelve Apostle on the Great Ocean Road is also quite scarry considering the height of the coach and the drop of the clift.

[Wt_know]

same goes with the bus trip in Taiwan Hualian Tai ru ge -> very scary when you look down the cliff

 

i guess all these "scary trip" happen to all countries and the lifes of all passengers depend on the driver

 

My first trip to HKG in 94, I went up to the Peak. I was amazed that how a double decker could climb up that steep and winding road considering that then we did have our double decker.

 

Then in 2003, we took a honky donkey bus from CityGate to the Big Buddha. OMG, the road was so narrow but luckily it was very light traffic. Some years later we also look the bus to Tai-O, packed with people carrying salted fish.

 

Actually if you take a coach tour from Melbourne to the Twelve Apostle on the Great Ocean Road is also quite scarry considering the height of the coach and the drop of the clift.

 

[Gadgeter]

I'm going over this sunday..

[Carndablues]

The bus from Central to The Peak is a double-decker no less. Even with the driver driving normally (by HK standards), the ride is pretty wild for 1st time passengers, esp if you take the upper deck. Imagine Genting Highlands type of narrow 2 lane windy uphill road in a double-decker. First time I took this ride I was almost carsick halfway up.

 

This must be the covered one, I took my then one-year old kid up on the upperdeck of the opentop bus, he absolutely looooooooved it!

Edited March 23, 2009 by Carndablues

[Adrianli]

Here is the whole fireworks show at Disney when I was there last yr. I never bought anything there but wifey gone mad when she was there.

 

Visit My Website

Edited March 23, 2009 by Adrianli

[Bicolor]

If you are driving yourself then a great ride is over the mountains from Tsuen Wan to Shek Kong using Route Twisk.

 

There's a similar ride in Penang using route P14 along Jln Tun Sardon.

The HK one is much better but some Sing drivers need to practice the Penang one first

 

This route is indeed very fun. I pass through it very often when travelling between different parts of the New Territories, and most of the time I choose roads like this instead of the highways when I'm dead tired, just to keep me occupied so I don't lose concentration! Actually most Singapore drivers should be able to handle it provided they go slow and careful. I myself tried this route within the first week of starting to drive in HK. It is not too challenging provided one doesn't go fast here - it is a public road and the limit is 50km/h but I tend to go below that because the turns can be very sharp and steep and you can't see what's on the other side around a corner. If not familiar with the whole road and its turns, you won't know what to expect next if you go fast, but if you take it slow and steady its easy. In the day, the vehicles are all very disciplined, as you can see from the video here, but after 11pm it becomes an illegal racing hotspot.

 

Here's a video taken by my friend; I drove up Route Twisk from Tsuen Wan and then headed up Hong Kong's highest mountain, Tai Mo Shan. The Tai Mo Shan Road leading up the mountain ends in the highest point one can legally drive up to without special permission; unfortunately the camera battery failed just as I was nearing the top. Note the cow at 2:56s -2:57s - a common sight on rural New Territories roads and another reason not to go too fast.

 

http://vespa-bicolor.net/temp15/routetwisk.wmv

 

One bus route travels through this road, KMB service 51 from Kam Tin to Tsuen Wan. It is usually an old single-decker bus and the ride is quite fun too, though nothing like the Lantau one.

Edited March 23, 2009 by Bicolor

[Ah_tee]

damn i miss all those routes u guys posted.

 

i only took i think 260 from stanley to TST.

 

the fella (double deck) was literally cheonging along replulse bay and when he kup corner it was like the bus gonna tilt over the cliff into the sea anytime.

 

the roads were winding and 1 lane, and a few times he e brake to let the opposite bus driver pass.

 

i tot it was over but then part 2 began at the small town, sorry i forgot and fella was kupping corner on 1 way busy street and from the upper deck it looks like the upper deck gonna hit the signboards on the shop houses

 

i mus say they are pretty insane.

 

another one was from nathan to cyberport . that was another harrowing experience, on reaching cyberport gotta find toilet to merlion