Tue, Wed trip before thanksgiving

I've been a long time viewer of this forum but seldom publish reviews. I realize the importance of giving back to the community so we grow stronger. I also realize that this review contain lots of information that most of your frequent HK goers already know, but I am going to summertime the the steps anyway to help out the new comers. This review covers my recent trip to HK on Wed and Thur just before thanksgiving. This was my second trip to HK this year. The first time was in March with friend and I went alone by myself. If you have not been to HK, you might be asking if it's weird to go to HK by yourself. It is not. Once you get into HK, you will see there are many people like me who goes there alone.

First, logistics, I few to SAN and then took the bus (if I remember correctly it's 992, but double check before you go). The bus ticket can be bought on the proton app for $2.5 one way which enables you to transfer to the blue line trolley down to san ysidro station which is the last stop. From there, you will find McDonald's on your left and a money exchange on your right. If you are preparing for your first trip to HK, I would check google maps street view fist to get yourself familiarize with the surroundings. The signs at the border clearly marks the direction to Mexico. You walk with the all the Mexican and the "foreigners" through a set of metal revolving doors then you are presented with two paths, one for Mexicans and one for foreigners. Someone from the forum suggested to have the mexico immigration form filled out before you go to avoid any unnecessary charges. I didn't. I showed up with only my passport. The immigration lady asked me how long I plan to stay in Mexico and I said 3 days. She filled out the immigration from for me which is valid for 3 days. I heard US citizens used to get 180 days regardless of the length of the trip. Maybe they have tighten it up recently. After the immigration, you put your bag on an X ray machine. I only had a backpack which I remember I didn't have to put it on the X-ray machine the first time I visited. But it seems that this time everyone is putting their bags through the x-ray machine regardless of the the size. After the x-ray machine you walk out of the immigration building and keep walking for about 3 minutes and through another set of metal revolving doors and then you will see a line of taxis waiting to take you to wherever you want. I don't speak any Spanish. I just hoped in the first taxi and said two word Hong Kong, which is enough for the driver to take me there. Last time I was in HK in march, I gave the driver $5, and he seemed happy with it. This time I also paid $5 but the driver said it's now $7. I told it's always $5, but he insisted it's now $7. I didn't want to arguing over $2 so I gave him extra $2. One the way back from HK to the border, a different driver who also asked for $2 more when I gave him $5. Can any of your comment on it? Has the price really gone up? or it's just because I don't speak the language. BTW, I on the ride share apps it's about $3-4 depending on the time of the day. It's not as convenient as taxi since you'd have to sand there and wait for the car. Another option is to take the HK shuttle, which I have not experience in, but I think I'd try it next time to save $14.

Secondly, the accommodation, I booked two nights at the cascadas hotel next to HK. The vip card is $60 valid for only 3 month (used to be 12 month validity) which give you 70% off on Mondays and Tuesdays and 20% other days (please correct me if I am wrong). There is a $30 deposit which you will get back when you check out. The rates for a double room is $90. So the actual cost of the room for me was 90*30%+90*80% = $99. The reason I wanted a double was to pick the cleaner one to sleep and the other for fun. The room looks clean on the surface, but if you take a look at the mattress under the sheets or take out the pillow from the pillow case, they are filthy as hell. They've got every fluid stains you can imagine on them. My room is on the 4th floor. The wifi connection totally sucked. Luckily I could pick up one bar of AT&T signal from the US. (What is the best floor for wifi?) At night the base sound from the club can penetrate the floors. I could hear a constant base sound through out the night. If you a a light sleeper, I would not recommend lower level floors. Maybe someone can comment on their experience on staying on a higher floor for a good night sleep. The hotel has a restaurant which opens for 24 hours on the second floor. Getting to the restaurant was a little tricky. I was only able to get to the restaurant from one side of the building but not from the HK main entrance side. I ate all of my meals there. The food was good enough and you get 20% off with the VIP card.