China: Hong Kong

  Hong Kong, China
Thursday, February 8, 2007

We arrived in Hong Kong on the Wednesday at around 5.00pm we got to our hotels. Unfortunately this was the last night of the tour and by the time everyone got showered and back down it was after 6. This was one problem I had with the tour is that they should have had a second night in Hong Kong with the group. Because we got there so late there was a big rush on to get to see Victoria Peak and then try and get a bite to eat as a group for the last time.

Hong Kong is very western as you might imagine, I got a very London feel to the whole place. The one difference that we noticed straight away is that when the green man shows the traffic actually stops which was a great surprise. 

Anyway we all made our way towards Vic Peak but the cue was way too long so we headed back to get a bite to eat at our last local Chinese restaurant.

06 The gang

After the meal some of the gang went up to Victoria Peak the rest of us headed for a bar , seeing as I am here for a week I thought the priority was to get a few drinks in before happy hour ended. The rest of the lads joined us later and we finished off the night with a few goodbye drinks.

There are plenty of things to see in Hong Kong. It is divided into two main parts. There is Hong Kong island which has some of the main shopping areas as well as the markets. It also has the beaches and some of the best views around, with Victoria Peak. It also has the longest escalator in the world, well a series of linked escalators that run 800 odd metres up a hill.

The second area is Kowloon side. It  is a 4km strip of land that has been developed to house most of the population. it also the side that has all the main skyscrapers. Apparently is one of the most highly populated areas in the world with 100,000 in each square kilmetre. Even with such a huge population it is still very easy to get around with the MTR (metro) and bus service.

So on our second day Alex, Rachel and myself went to get ourselves a hostel and because Alex was leaving the next day we had a lot to jam in, in one day. First off we went to the street markets. There are 2 clothes markets and one vegtable market that we went through. Bloody hell did it take a long time to get through the feckin clothes market, but I knew what I was getting myself into beforehand so wasn't too bothered.

21 View from the ferry across

Oh and I decided to shave the head, it was getting a bit messey so thought feck it why not just make life easy on myself. We also went up toVictoria Peak. This was something we left till night time as it is on the Hong Kong island side and you can see out over the bay to the Kowloon side. The sights are  magnificent, with all the skyscrapers lit up, unfortunately with the smog that is around doing it during the day might not be as good. Having said that some of the lads did it both day and night and seemed to enjoy it. We got the tram upto it and the slope is so steep that you are really pushed back in the chair. 

24 View of Hong Kong from Victoria Peak

On the way back down we didn't have any seats so had to stand. Rob was leaning back as we hit the main slope and was able to get so far back he was nearly able to touch the ground without falling over.


As it was Alexs last night what was left of us all went out for a few more drink, this theme kind of continued for the next few nights as there has been someone leaveing nearly every day, Rachel and Jo were the next night, then there was Rob, Steph and Matt and finally Cecilia and Korolina last night.

The temperature here has been between 18 and 21 degrees nearly every day so Rachel and myself headed headed for the beach in Stanley the next day. It is in the rich part of Hong Kong island, all you see is white kids been walked by Filipino women, and really well looked after dogs been walked by Filipino women.

35 A memento of our visit

As we passed by one of the playgrounds I didn't see one white woman in there even though all the kids were. Anyway the beach was great stayed there for a while soaking up the sun and getting a few ice creams.

With Rachel gone I had to go find some new accomodation so booked into a hostel on the Kowloon side. I was a bit weary about it cause I'm in a 6 bed dorm with people I didn't know. But it is actually not that bad. Got talking to a bunch of people last night so we're heading down to the Irish bar tonight to have a few drinks. It makes me feel a bit better about going to Vietnam now. Because everyone is in the same boat and knows no-one, everyone makes the extra effort to talk to other people. We spent a few hours just sitting on the floor of the hall way talking away. The only problem with the place is that sometimes when someone arrives in late at night they go into our room anf put a mat down on the floor for them and waking everyone up in the process. One guy arrived in last night around 1am and they had to get one of the other guys outta his bed in order to get the spare mattress from underneath him. Don't think he was too impressed but not much any of us can do about it.

So thats pretty much there is from here. Have spent the last few days just wandering around and in the internet cafes trying to get this thing upto date. Actually the other funny thing about this place is that you still have guys on the street trying to sell ya clothes, watches, shoes, hash in one case but for some reason they are all of Indian decent here. I don't think I have had one Chinese person trying to sell me anything, well excpet for the Chinese woman trying to sell me a massage but they are not as in your face as they have been everywhere else.

Right am going to get the rest of these feckin pics up, hope ye appreciate this, its costing me a bloody fortune. Talk soon