How to fly to Hong Kong to the exhibition (part 1)

I come back once again from a business trip to Hong Kong and Shenzhen. 10 hours of flight. Boring I remembered how I flew there for the first time a few years ago ... The first ever visit to Southeast Asia. The April electronics exhibitions in Hong Kong, then the exhibition in Guangzhou, then a visit to 12 factories in Shenzhen. A busy trip. Fortunately, good people helped me and I got into just one little nuisance. But I spent much more money than I needed, because I did not know much.
So I wanted, having a lot of free time in flight, to write this article - how to spend time and money most efficiently (I fly solely on my own, so that costs taxis), to visit Hong Kong, watch two very interesting electronics exhibitions and get a lot of positive impressions. Of course, I am far from being the first Hong Kong expert in the world. I have been there only a total of 15 times. There are much more experienced people. But, in my opinion, none of them have yet written an article on Habré, and until April (and, accordingly, exhibitions), there is not much time left. On the other hand, a dozen and a half visits are not so little, I love and know this city badly, plus I get a lot of first-hand information: my partner with my family has been living in Hong Kong for more than 10 years, and my very good friend has been working there under the contract of 3.5 years, his wife is a licensed guide to Hong Kong. In general, I don’t have to adjust much with the advice, well, in the comments, knowledgeable people will correct me, if that.

What is Hong Kong?

This is a special administrative region of China. Those. this is a separate territory, with its own laws, army and police, fenced off from mainland China (the so-called "Meylandland") quite a real border with barbed wire and other delights. The territory is quite large, a lot of places. But at the same time - the highest population density in the historical "center": the main island (also called Hong Kong - actually, the name of the whole territory came from it) and the nearest part of the Kowloon Peninsula. Once Hong Kong’s reputation was abominable (corruption, crime, filth and other delights). But now it is a great place to live and work, an international financial and economic center, a gateway to China, a tourist Mecca, a clean and safe modern city (yes, there are also black spots, but there are relatively few of them).
Almost the entire population is tolerable (and older people know very well) (speaks of the past of the British colony), the native language for the local Chinese is Cantonese, but there are also many visitors from the mainland speaking Putonghua (the state standard Chinese). There are many foreigners (there is an extremely funny category - “help”, several hundreds of thousands of women from the Philippines and Indonesia, who have a special work visa exclusively for working as an au pair).
The monetary unit is the Hong Kong dollar (I shall keep this in mind in the future under the words "dollar" and "dollar"). The exchange rate against the ruble now is about 1 to 4.5, to the American dollar - 7.8 to 1, to the yuan - 1.3 to 1. Other currencies are not accepted for payment. Banknotes are the maximum that I saw - $ 500, but there seems to be a thousandth (in many stores I saw an ad “sorry, we don’t accept 1000”). The banknotes and coins are very cool (a $ 10 note with a transparent window, a $ 2 coin like a gear, etc., plus money printed by several private banks and the design of notes of the same denomination may differ).
Great transport system. Metro, buses, cool double-decker trams (on the island), taxis, ferries - everything is very convenient and (against the background of Moscow) inexpensive. The payment depends on the distance and whether it is necessary to cross the strait between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula (there is always an additional charge for this, in the case of a taxi, 50 bucks, for example).
Tax policy is very friendly to all participants of economic activity. VAT is not as class. There are few other taxes. So all sorts of goods (including very good ones) are numerous in Hong Kong and they are cheap. Particularly pleased with the difference in prices with Moscow on photo equipment. Quality clothes and shoes can be purchased very inexpensively. But fakes, if you really want, are quite accessible. You can compare the prices for electronics yourself ( http://www.price.com.hk/ , store.apple.com/hk ), see the course above.
However, the British heritage manifested itself in completely stupid outlets (at least 220V voltage is good). So you will buy electronics - see that then at home adapters do not have to look. And for their “European” forks, they will have to take adapters at the hotel or buy for the time of the visit.
Climate ... Tropical. Those. nasty (except for a few months) - hot and humid (as an option - cold and even more humid). In April - plus 25-28 and it rains almost all the time (no rain means just overcast). Here in January, I always get lucky there for the weather - this time it was about 20 plus this afternoon and the sun.

Electronics Shows

So, in the middle of April (and symmetrically - in October) in Hong Kong almost two large electronics exhibitions take place - the China Sourcing Fair - Electronics & Components and the Hong Kong Electronics Fair . I can not say which one is “main” and which one is additional. In my opinion, both are very interesting. It seems that the first is a bit more focused on components, and the second is on ready-made devices, but in fact there is no particular difference. Perhaps one exhibition complex simply can not accommodate all interested exhibitors? In any case, if we fly 7000 km, then it makes sense to visit both. Especially because with electronic registration on the site in advance - admission is free. Immediately plan on each for a couple of days. They ... Well, let's say, not small. For the first time, after the experience of only Moscow exhibitions, the scale is impressive. True, after visiting the exhibition in Guangzhou, the pathos diminishes somewhat.
So, I recommend to spend the first day on a quick run across the whole territory with a set of printed materials and business cards of interested exhibitors (be sure to write down stand numbers on business cards - this saves a lot of time). Then at the hotel you will sort everything out, and on the second day you will go to talk thoughtfully with specific people. Business cards are usually exchanged. Those. you will stretch your business card with two hands (a sign of respect) and will surely ask for your “name card”. Sometimes in exchange for your business card give some souvenirs or even something quite useful. So stock up on business cards (advice: make two sets of business cards, one of them with a fake email address, I think - why do you understand?). Another hint - on the last day of the exhibition, the Chinese like to sell goods from the stand (some do it throughout the whole exhibition, but tradition - on the last day).
Sourcing Fair is held at the Asia Expo Exhibition Complex near Hong Kong Airport. From the city to get there far away (attention - usually during the exhibition there are discounts on the Airport Express from the city to the exhibition and back). Therefore, perhaps the best solution is to visit her immediately after arrival. The second exhibition is located in the heart of the island of Hong Kong, the area of ​​Wan Chai. You can get there in a bunch of different (and very interesting!) Ways.
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, Wan Chai (foreground)

Usually the Chinese participating in exhibitions in Hong Kong speak English in one way or another. These Hong Kong exhibitions are positively different from the exhibitions in Guangzhou. Occasionally on the stands there are girls who sincerely believe that they speak Russian. And even, in principle, they really speak relatively well, they just understand Russian speech with great difficulty. This is also reflected in the peculiarity of the Chinese mentality: when they say “yes” or nod - it does not mean that they agree with you or even that they understand you - this is just an invitation to continue the conversation, no more.
According to the content of the exhibitions: more than half of the stands recently are tablets on Android (apart from specialized sections like Car Electronics). Quite a lot of representatives of factories for the manufacture and installation of printed circuit boards (probably for the audience Habr is the most interesting topic), as well as sellers of components - connectors, cables and other things.
Unlike European and American exhibitions, there are practically no stands of major international brands. The essence of the Hong Kong exhibitions is to try Chinese small and medium-sized factories (mainly collectors) to find "buyers" - foreign buyers for their products. At the same time, all products are offered (with very rare exceptions) in terms of FOB Shenzhen (i.e., shipping from China is the buyer's task). Do not expect from representatives of factories-collectors talk about technology, prospects and other high matters - they came here to sell what they already have. Engineers on the stands almost never, alas.
Why go here? Actually, with only one goal - to find partners for your project. The usual scheme is this: at the exhibition, you collect the coordinates of a dozen other factories, after the end of the exhibition, go to them in neighboring Shenzhen (where 99% of these factories are located) and watch, ask, sniff out, evaluate, drink very tasty tea in wild quantities, in general - choose. If your project is not there - well, probably, you have nothing to do there, except to satisfy your own curiosity.
')

How to get to Hong Kong?

Visa for visits up to 14 days is not needed. Just take a valid passport, buy plane tickets and fly.
Two airlines have direct flights from Moscow - Russian Aeroflot (from Sheremetyevo) and Hong Kong Cathay Pacific (from Domodedovo). Sometime tickets are cheaper for some, sometime for others. What always surprises me is that direct flights almost always cost more. than flights with transfers. So if you want to save money, you can fly Emirates or Air China (or some other company), but you will get very tired in transferring money. Even a direct flight (there is 9 hours, back 10) does not deliver much pleasure. Tickets for a direct flight usually cost around 25 thousand rubles (round-trip), with transfers - about 18. But the cases are different, so my personal record is 16,400 rubles for a direct Aeroflot flight. Catch discounts, order tickets in advance - and you will (most likely) be happy. Now I flew Kata for 28 thousand ... At Aeroflot for the same dates, the economy was offered 38 (I took the tickets six weeks before the trip).
I personally like to fly Kata more. The chairs are more comfortable and feed better. But the main thing is the return flight schedule. Our good friends from Aeroflot made a return flight by day. Those. you pay for one more night in a hotel, lose a whole day off in Hong Kong (compared to an evening flight), fly in the afternoon (10 hours, but you don’t feel like sleeping) - a surprisingly good solution! Katya has everything fine with the schedule. And you arrive there early in the morning, and back at one in the morning. Very comfortably.

Upon arrival in Hong Kong, everything is very simple: follow the signs to Immigration (sometimes you travel by traveling equipment or even on a special automatic train - the airport is very large), fill in a short immigration card, go through border control, pick up your luggage (if you have one) - and here You are in the arrival hall (huge, clean and comfortable). In this hall, I immediately recommend doing two things: withdraw some amount of local money (you can start with 500 bucks at first) at an ATM (Citibank, HSBC and others are there - everything is completely safe) and buy MTR (round, almost in the center of the hall). ) Octopus card. This is a local universal ticket, plus a bearer payment card in many stores (it is convenient that you do not save heavy metal change in your pockets). It costs $ 50, and you will need to throw some amount on it (I drive a lot, so usually I refill 200 bucks right away). Almost always in transport you can pay in cash (throwing money into a special receiver, delivery is not provided), but the Octopus is much more convenient in all respects.
Also in the arrival hall you can immediately buy a local SIM card (if you arrived by Aeroflot, because the shop opens only at 9 am, and the Katai flight arrives much earlier), but they do not have one2free cards (there will be more communication in Hong Kong).
So now you are ready to get to know Hong Kong.

Drive from the airport to the city

Hong Kong Airport is located on the island away from the center, so there is an urgent need to transport yourself, your beloved, to your destination (exhibition, hotel, etc.). Well, we will leave a taxi aside (prices are quite reasonable, far from Moscow, but we are saving). Actually, there are two options - the high-speed Airport Express train and buses. Express is fast, cool and all that. However, it is not always perfect. Actually, the ideal option is only in one case - if you need to go directly from the airport to Shenzhen. Then almost free then (60 bucks) and very quickly (albeit with a bunch of transfers) you get directly to the border (yes, the metro runs to the border with China, it is very convenient - actually, I usually live in Shenzhen lately, and in Hong Kong I travel by subway, but for this you need to issue a reusable Chinese visa). Well, even before Asia Expo (the venue of the first exhibition), you can get one stop from the airport on it. But if you need to go to the city, I highly recommend the bus. And not only because it is cheaper. From the bus window (especially from the first row of seats on the second floor) you will see much more of the most interesting than from rushing with rather big speed, and even half the way through the tunnels, train. Mountains, the sea, giant bridges, huge ships under them, multi-level junctions, skyscrapers - there is something to see.
So, from the arrival hall go down the aisle in the middle, turn right and go down to the bus terminal. You already have a Octopus and it is charged, so look at the bus stops and go to the queue. Yes, in Hong Kong it is customary to carefully queue up to a place marked with a bus number - there will be a front door through which passengers enter. Payment at the entrance - you apply Oktopus to a special platform, you deduct the amount indicated on the screen, that's all.
Most likely, you will need bus number 11 (if you are on Hong Kong island) or 21 (if you are on Kowloon). If you are in a hurry - choose a bus with letter A, it goes quickly. But I strongly recommend a bus with the letter E - E11 or E21, respectively. They are almost half the price. They go longer, but the extra 20 minutes of weather do not (especially if you arrived Kata early in the morning).

Suppose you decide to go directly to the exhibition at Wan Chai from the airport. Then on the A11 the road will take 40 minutes, on the E11 - about an hour. The cost of a trip is 40 dollars in the first case and 21 in the second. You leave next to the subway stop Wan Chai, take the escalator to the pedestrian gallery and walk along with the main stream of people to the exhibition center (walk 5 minutes).

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Something a lot of text is obtained ... If there is interest in the topic, I will publish the second part: where to live, how to eat, what to have fun, how to get to Shenzhen, etc.