tris06

Seems they are getting tougher on the 23kg or 1 bag rules for the east rail line. A few days ago after flying in from Australia I did my usual transfer to Shenzhen on the A43 bus to shueng shui station. However with my 2 bags in tow I was refused entry. I explained I had just come from the airport an hr earlier. My luggage was clearly marked with airline tags on the same day, shown my boarding pass and entry ticket into HK but still no good. Did anyone have this issue before？

I know the rules he stipulated was brought on due to the crazy day trading across the boarder some years back but this does not help promot
e HK airport as a place to fly out of if your in Shenzhen. I did complain a bit but took the taxi eventually. I cant see why some exceptions can be made if they really want to inforce these rules.

889

Sheung Shui was the last place you should have tried that. Of course they've got staff there on the lookout for over-luggaged passengers. They couldn't very well let a foreign traveller through while stopping local people.

No guaranty, but much less likely a problem if you'd boarded in the urban area or travelled at night.

garykung

No guarantee - if you arrive from Airport Express, it should be a different story.

TravelDream

Yes, Sheung Shui is probably one of the strictest on the network due to the number of people from the Mainland with suitcases. It's similar at Tai Po, where the security guards are looking out all of the the time.
Though I must disagree with 889. I'm going to presume you are ethnically Chinese/ East Asian as the guards usually let others through. And if they don't, you can usually 'I don't understand' your way through.

In future, take the A21 to Hung Hom station where there are usually no checks. If there are checks at one entrance, you can just go to a different entrance as there are quite a few.

tentseller

Really? Maybe a long time ago, BUT it has been over 20 yrs since HRH sailed the HMS Britannia out of the harbour.

TravelDream

What?!

What I wrote is simply a fact.

The MTR subcontracts out security work at stations. These guards are poorly paid and are unlikely to speak English. Therefore, for them, it's not worth the hassle of stopping non-Chinese people.
Also, what does the British royal family have to do with anything? I didn't say, 'If you're white'... This would equally apply to black people, Indians, Arabs etc.

tentseller

I am questioning the accuracy of your stated fact. One ore two observation does not make it a fact.

Your statement, which I have bolded, showed a lack of understanding of the real Hong Kong social-political landscape.

G-CIVC

Gonna be ashamed as a local to admit that HK is one of the most racist places relative to its level of development. I highly suspect that if OP was caucasian they would never have a problem in letting through. Of course I would love to be proven wrong

christep

As a caucasian immigrant to HK, I can confirm that being white and assertive does still work in some cases (though not as reliably as it did 18 years ago when I arrived here). I very rarely do it myself, but I still see others trying it on not infrequently. I can't speak specifically for getting large bags on at Sheung Shui though.

TravelDream

I'm very confused by your posts.

What sociopolitical landscape are you talking about? The fact that HK rejoined China twenty years ago? The anti-mainlander sentiment among a large number of people in the SAR? The fact that many people come from Guangdong every day to buy cosmetics, designer goods, milk formula etc to parallel trade back home?

And of course my posts are anecdotal. If you follow the rules, no luggage that eights over 23kg and over certain dimensions is allowed on the East Rail Line. However, in practice, many people (of all races) carry over limit each day.
From my experience in HK, a non-Chinese person has a higher chance of getting something past any security as they are likely to only speak Chinese. The same experience tells me that in TST only people from the Indian subcontinent tend to get stopped by the police.

tris06

I am surprised how the conversation has gone. Just to clear things up. I am not Asian. I am fully Anglo Saxon, Australian.The security guard who stopped me could speak decent enough english. Maybe I was purely unlucky.

I just wondered when he asked me for my baggage tags/ proof of boarding pass for that days flight only for him to reject me I was like... (Why did you even ask for it then?)

Thinking back on it he probably thought most people threw away their boarding passes upon arriving at the airport. He probably wanted to use that I had no proof as a reason. Still was denied entry.

trooper

Ok...if we are insisting on absolute accuracy......

1. HRH sailed ON (or IN) Britannia....as a passenger... not conning her out of harbour which is implied by "sailed"

2. No such thing as HMS Britannia... she was HMY Britannia.

3. It should have been written "sailed HMY Britannia.."

"The Her Majestys Yacht? No.....

OK.......Am I the most pedantic person on the thread?

EditingFX

The thread has been pulled back from the edge of the abyss by Trooper.

Thanks, mate!

TravelDream

I guess so, though it is still quite strange that he/she asked for BP. The guard was following the rules though. There are no exceptions for people coming from the airport. And Sheung Shui is the strictest station on the network due to the sheer volume of mainland parallel traders that pass through there each day.
BTW. Were you stopped by MTR staff (yellow shirts) or private security (white shirts)?

I think the advice above still stands. Hung Hom rarely has checks and it is a much larger station with many entrances so you can go to a different one if blocked. So, I'd take the A21 there and then East Rail Line north.

Thank you

tris06

From my recollection I think it was a white shirt.