Star Ferry Hong Kong

Today was a very busy day. We had a planning morning before setting off to explore Kowloon!

We started today in the flower market which was stuffed full of shops crammed with orchids, blue flowers and huge bouquets of roses, each with their own individual bud protectors. The pictures won't even do it justice but have a look as they will …

Well here is the first update on my new life in Zhuhai,
China.

I decided to take a few days holiday in Hong Kong to get
over the jetlag and to meet the girls I meet online before I left the UK.

I flew with Hong Kong Airlines from Gatwick a new service
which actual was pretty good, arriving 30 mins early in Hong Kong …

The big city...guest houses in massive appartment blocks, il tell you what is interesting the lifts, one lift serves odd number one even number floors, you get off at 13 where our guest house is, the washing is done at 16 the other lift (one for even numbers) door doesnt open/stop on floor 13 took us a while to work this out!! so do you go up to 15 …

After a long but comfortable 12 hour flight, we come to land in a force 3 typhoon. The waters around Hong Kong are very choppy and the big 777 is doing an interesting wobble as we are landing - touch down!

What a fantastic and vibrant city with sky scrapers as far as you can see. Despite the fast pace of modern life, 'real' Hong Kong is …

As usual we have packed in a lot of walking into our city trip. Hong Kong is a bit of a "nancy" city by comparison with mainland China. Everyone waits at the traffic lights till they turn green, no spit-dodgem, English pretty much everywhere - hardly a challenge at all! And staying in a five star hotel to boot - let me tell you I am not …

LABYRINTH IN THE AIR

Hong Kong is a futuristic city where pinstripe suits meet sweat pants on the elevated pedestrian walks, the city making creative use of prized real estate. The underground and overground transportation channels give the place a science fiction space station feel. Absolutely no sense of Communist oppression here …

On the bus ride from the Hong Kong Airport to the hotel, someone said, "Did you guys notice? NO HONKING!!!". Someone else said, "Yeah, and there are only motorized vehicles on the highway!" I don' think there was anyone in our group who didn't long for normalcy after a week in India.

Upon arriving in our hotel around noon, we all went …

So i finally arrived in Hong Kong after a 21 hour trip from Perth. Now when you get into the airport you realise how massive it is, it takes over an hour to get your bags and get through customs and through the airport. So eventually i find my way out of the airport after grabbing every map i could in a paranoid frenzy, so that i could try and work …

We arrived at the Hong Kong boarder around 10:30 a.m. and spent the next couple of hours getting through immigration and Customs for HK. Them we had a nice break at the Starbucks. The first real coffee of the trip!!

We also had to change money from RMB (Yuan) to HKD (Hong Kong Dollar); they are about the same rate of exchange, but …

We awoke to a miserable, wet, cold day. Time to say Kung Hei Fat Choi, Happy New Year of the Dragon! Today is New Year's Day and it is particularly special because Julie was born in a Dragon year herself so this is the year of her Chinese zodiac sign.

The weather had turned a few degrees chillier but we were determined not to cower indoors …

... We also took a trip to the observation level in the bank of China building for some pretty nice views....and took the star ferry to hong Kong island to get to the peak tram.... the tram taking you to the uhhh...Peak!   Even better views.  ...

... , the view from the top was pretty spectacular. We had an amazing lunch after getting back down involving eel and everything. We got the Star ferry back accross to our island, as the guidebook assured us this was one of the 'must do' things in hong kong. ...

... on until very late. I sit in the car on the way home with a sore belly from eating too much. Next day we take the Star Ferry across the water to Kowloon. Here on the water we have the best view of the jagged Hong Kong skyline, where the mountains and ...

... more into the time available. We didn't see the white sandy beaches, any of the other islands, Kowloon, Macau or a trip on the Star Ferry although bad weather prevented our attempt at this. However one thing we just had to do was visit the famous 'Happy ...

... luxury, nothing more so than museli and cold milk for breakfast - no stupid dim sum or fried noodles for us?! Officially the relationship between China and Hong Kong  is "One country, two systems" - really!? What memories, what a ...

... ' a new brand just out on the shelves was pretty good, though shamefully the two I had went straight to my head. I blame the heat. Wayne dropped me off at the star ferry, and I made my way to the Hong Hum station for part one of my train ...

... / cloud we quickly realised we wouldn't be able to see anything. A quick detour got us to the Star Ferry terminal perhaps the one thing in Hong Kong definitely suited to backpackers, the cost of the ferry was about 20p and it gives fantastic views of ...

... think they are all Indian...but thats no problem for me :) ) Our room is a cupboard. The first day in HK we took the star ferry to HK Island and found the Vietnamese embassy.we gave them our passports and some HK dollars and set out for ...

... fame (only recognised Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee!), and the view across to HK Island (PICS) then hopped on to the Star Ferry across to Hong Kong Island. The Ferry only takes about 10 minutes, is really cheap (about 15p each way) and quite good fun. ...

... . Went back to Kowloon on the last ferry at 11.30pm. As you've probably gathered, I've been using the star ferry to get from Kowloon to Hong Kong island. I cheap and pleasant way to travel to the island from the mainland. Works out at 14 pence each ...