Next stop, dreamland: snoozing’s the main draw of Hong Kong bus tour that takes people on a 5-hour ride
- New tour offers ear plugs, sleep masks and silence, but many riders on inaugural trip stayed awake to take in the views
- ‘Sleep ride’ is travel agency owner’s gimmick to get locals out and about despite pandemic
It was a sunny Saturday afternoon when 45 people boarded a Hong Kong tour bus for a five-hour ride planned to put them to sleep.
Aside from signs reminding them to remain silent, everyone was offered earplugs and light-blocking sleep masks at the start of the trip.
The red double-decker was divided into a “Zero-decibel Sleeping Cabin” and “VIP Panorama Cabin” on the upper deck, where talking was strictly not allowed, and a “Photo-taking cabin” below where some chatting was tolerated.
The group included parents and children, couples, friends and some solo riders who paid between HK$99 (US$12.70) and HK$399 for a seat.
Tickets sold out within three days, after local travel agency Ulu Travel announced the city’s first bus tour for those hoping to grab a little shut-eye.
Company founder Frankie Chow Kam-kei, 45, said he started the travel agency this year despite the coronavirus pandemic to focus on creative local tours, and the sleep ride was one of them.
He said not all Hongkongers get a good night’s sleep, because of poor conditions at home, or having to live with many others.
Chow also noticed there were many people like him, prone to nodding off on their daily commute, only to have their peace disrupted by short bus routes and the fear of missing their stop.
“The demand exists, so why not provide a bus tour dedicated to sleeping?” he asked.
Although sleep was the selling point, most passengers on the first ride last Saturday stayed up to take in the views and jump out for photographs at scenic spots along the way.
Starting from Tsuen Wan West, the bus took them a total of 76km around the Tuen Mun Highway and North Lantau Island.
Aside from toilet breaks, it stopped at Ho Wo Street and South Perimeter Road Traffic Calming Street for passengers to take photos and enjoy the sunshine.
Chow said the tour was planned to be long enough for passengers to nap, but also included photo opportunities at spots that are not easy to reach without a car.
After being cooped up at home through the pandemic, university student Daniel Wong, 17, said he had already been on three “flights to nowhere”, and joined the bus tour alone more to visit places he had never been to than to sleep.
“I was interested in the destinations, especially Ho Wo Street,” said Wong, who got off at the popular spot in Tuen Mun known as “Hong Kong’s Miami”, with its lawn, palm trees and a harbour view. He took photos and sunbathed for half an hour during the stop.
Make-up artist Lianne Lo, 31, who also went alone, said she was drawn by the sleep theme, but learned some history of the places along the tour as well as the origins of the city’s buses.
“This is a creative tour, which provided me with a new, different perspective of the place where I live,” said Lo, who lives in Tuen Mun.
Bus fan Aska Chau, 11, joined the tour with his aunt.
“I came because I love buses,” said the Primary Six pupil, who enjoys researching the history and structure of buses.
“I took many pictures of different parts of the bus on the tour,” said Chau, who added he hoped to drive a bus one day.
One of the tour guides on the ride was Cheung Tit-sang, 66, who said the tourism sector was so badly battered, first by Hong Kong’s social unrest in 2019 and then the Covid-19 pandemic, that he was out of work for a year before resuming in June.
A tour guide of more than 40 years, he thought the sleep ride was a creative concept and hoped it would inspire more tourism sector innovation aimed at getting Hongkongers to explore the city.
“The sleep theme is a gimmick with the purpose of encouraging people to go out and enjoy the city’s beautiful scenery,” he said.
