Hong Kong, China
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Our first day in HK was probably the most stressful so far...we were absolutely shattered! We had to get the metro from Shenzhen to HK which which were hoping to sleep on, but the seats were so slippery that we were sliding around everywhere, hence no sleep! We then had to go through a ridiculous border crossing, despite HK now being part of China. It was so confusing and took ages! We were truly dead on our feet, and desperate to lie down. We finally arrived at the guest house, which was interesting...a room in a massive apartment block. It was pretty basic for the price we were paying, but adequate. We slept for a few hours before heading out into Kowloon - just across the water from HK island. We wandered around the bustling streets of Mongkok and went to ladies market, which sold all sorts of fake designer goods. HK is fascinating - modernity on a huge scale, and full of expensive designer shops. We walked down to the waterfront after dark and took in the bright lights of HK island - a spectacular sight. The following day we packed up to make the move to Paul and Thomas's flat on HK island. Before we left Kowloon we went on a mission find a guide book for south east asia. We completed the mission luckily - we will now be able to guide ourselves around asia! We met Paul and dropped our things off at his flat. It was amazing, the views over HK were truly spectacular. Later that afternoon we explored the fish markets in Kennedy town, and sampled all sorts of Chinese delicacies, the smell was pretty overpowering, but I can't imagine how bad it would be in the summer. We also took the tram around the city, which is (if you don't want to walk) an excellent way of getting around the city, it's also very cheap! We also took a walk down by the harbour, which was extremely refreshing and a good way of taking in the sights of HK from afar. Today we had quite a lazy morning, before taking the cable car up to Victoria Peak - the highest point in HK. It was quite cloudy, but the views were still impressive and vast.
The next few days will be weather dependent, we plan on visiting Lantau Island and experiencing the night life of Soho!
I hope the blog is appreciated...I've been updating it for the last 4 hours or so! :P please send us messages, we want to hear how you all are :)
Much of our time in HK (as Paul can confirm) was spent chilling out. We hit the nightlife on HK island, which proved interesting - we were taken to a 'gay friendly' bar, which in reality is a pure gay bar (there were definitely no straight people) I witnessed some of the campest dance moves I have ever seen! We then made our way to roof top party which was great fun, again, lots of crazy dancing (free bar) and a significant hangover the next day!
Our last day in HK was spent visiting Lantau island. A very green and lush island with some fantastic beaches. There we saw the biggest Buddha statue in the world. Well we saw most of it, the head was shrouded in cloud! We didn't have much time to spend there as that evening we were catching the night bus to Hanoi.
Comments
Wow! I have just been on a cultural tour of China - what a fantastic selection of photos - and weather! And I thought it was cold here. I am not sure about all the weird things you have been eating though. I guess you have been daring each other to try the worst looking and smelling food on view. Is there such a thing as vegetarianism in China?
We look forward to the next instalments and photos.
Lots of love to you both and stay safe. xxx
I have really enjoyed reading your blog and admiring your great photos. Hong Kong still looks great and not as different as I expected considering it is more than 20 years since my last visit. Thanks also for including more photos of you both. You seem to be enjoying it slightly more than Nepal perhaps ?!? Keep the photos and news coming and remember it will only get warmer. Much love. Mum, Dad and Tanith xxx