Yes Inn Hostel Hong Kong

Hong Kong- January 12-18, 2009 We took a 2 hour train ride from Guangzhou to Hong Kong on January 12.  We arrived on the Kowloon side of HK where our hostel was located.  The hostel was in a "mansion" and by mansion I don't mean a beautiful, palatial, spacious residence... I mean a crowded, 30 story, dirty, scary, and noisy building where people hound you to buy fake Rolexes, curry, and suits.  Staying in a 5'x5' room on a rock hard bed while wearing ALL of my clothes was quite the experience...

Just a little update on what we put in so far.......... We were staying in the Yes Inn for 4 days in a place called Fortress Hill, a residential area near Central. We have now visited Central a few times, by far one of the best places to visit in Kong. We travelled up the mid-level escalators, a brilliant form of public transport that runs downwards towards the city in the early morning so businessmen and women can get to their offices. It then runs up for the rest of the day, meaning stairs ...

First day in Hong Kong;

Landed in Hong Kong yesterday morning and it was hot for a change! At last no snow and ice everywhere! The hostel is located near the bottom of a big tower block. Not exactly fancy or as good as the last place but its nice enough.

While I was waiting for the internet I got talking to a lass from London. She told me that the Top Gear Live tour was doing its last show that night in HK so I went online and booked myself a ticket (unfortunately she was hea...

Decided to go watch the big light show along Honk Kong bay last night. Rushed to catch the Star Ferry accross the harbour. The view was spectacular. Got some photos of it. Seeing all those buildings lit up is really something. The light show was pretty good. Not quite what I imagined but it was still OK. Basically each of the main buildings has search lights on it which flicker on and off. Its a bit slow at times but builds up to a finish. Met a Swiss guy called Marco from Davos. Went for a b...

So, we got to Shezhen really early the next morning, about 7am or something. The bus was just as horrible as the last time, but this time with the added extra horrific smell of lots of sweaty feet. Emma R didn't have a very good time either as she was sleeping above the engine so her feet got really hot. Also they obviously have to stop every now and again for toilet stops, which happened at about 3am and they woke up the whole bus for it. Generally, we decided we prefer trains. They dropped ...

I'm completely brain dead.

To begin at the end, I booked me a lovely single, en suite room in the Yesinn hostel on Hong Kong Island, but nearly had a panic attack wond**ing how I’d find it. I DID find it, and it looked lovely once I got through all the gates and lifts BUT ... (you knew th**e was a 'but’ coming)...

I’m not staying th**e.

I’ve been moved to a place called Rialto Mansions (mmm, d’you get that lovely inn** city Dublin vibe?...) a...

I woke bright and breezy at 3:15am and due to my unforeseen roomie, couldn't do much except toss and turn (quietly). I woke again at 8am, got myself together as quietly as possible, and went across the road to the metro. See, I’d never have to cross the stinkin’ road if I was put where I was supposed to be! Damn footbridge...

As it turns out, Disneyland is quite a distance from central Hong Kong (so am I, for that matter, but not as much). I got the blue line to the yellow ...

Sleep is magic. I felt so good after a nice, long sleep last night, that this morning I took a stroll up a nearby hill to see the local Catholic Church. It was a long, grey building – almost indistinguishable from the apartment blocks around it - and the church itself was on the second floor. They had a kindergarten downstairs, and just down the road was a Methodist Church and Primary School. Further along was the Zion Lutheran Pre-School. It's strange to see these kinds of buildings si...

Did you know that the peninsula of Macau was first settled by the Portuguese in 1557? Well, neither did I, but I decided to impose my ignorance on them today anyway. I had a muffin and – loath though I am to admit it – the best coffee EVER in a nearby Starbucks. I took a quick run to Hung Hom to get a return ticket from Guangzhou while I still have a guarantee of English being spoken. Then I took myself off to Sheung Wan and purchased a Superior Class ticket on the ferry to Macau,...

So, I wasn't really clear on why Hong Kong wasn't considered a part of China despite being handed over to the Chinese back in 1997. Upon my arrival it was clear, I was certainly not in China. No spitting, there was an order in the subway, they drove on the other side of the road and the language was different. I was informed by someone who once lived in Hong Kong that while the Chinese were given Hong Kong back from the British, the minute they decided to exert any kind of influence on the re...