Its the large things in life that matter!

Trip Start Sep 07, 2004

Trip End Aug 15, 2005

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Flag of Hong Kong Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Tuesday, November 16, 2004

We got to Hong Kong after a 4 hour flight with Cathy Pacific (very nice comfy plane indeed). And I sobbed my eyes out watching The Lion King! However, we were fortunate enough to get seats at the left side of the plane, which meant that as we were flying over north east India we could see the great mountains of the Himalayas including the one and only Mount Everest, looking beautiful, a sight I don't think we'll ever forget. Even though we were flying at 36000 feet it appeared as though Everest and the surrounding moutains were only just below us.

We bought a Loney Planet from a shop in the airport and chose a youth hostel to stay in. For 20 quid a night (about the cheapest you can get in HK) we are staying in a really nice place in Causeway Bay which is right in the center where all the nice shops are. I've already bought myself a nice little Armani top. Well I need a nice top to go out in in Tokyo don't I?

Hong Kong at night

! I also had my hair cut at a very stylish hair salon where you get served endless cups of green tea and get a 20 minute head and scalp massage for less than you'd pay for a hair cut at home. The first night we just indulged in nice, healthy Chinese food and Cabernet Sauvignon, I have soooooooooooooo missed nice wine. In India you get Indian port wine which is of course sweet beyond belief. The following night, us two veggies came to the decision that since we're travelling the world, it would be a shame to miss out on the local food, so we had Thai-style mussels which were in this delicious sauce that you dipped garlic bread in. I have always hated seafood but this was probably the most delicious thing I had ever had in my life! So we went back the following day and had it all over again, plus Thai prawn curry! As nice as Chinese food can be, for veggies, it's a bit on the bland side, but we'll make the effort to eat it again before we go, or then again we might just go back and have the same thing again!

Hong Kong in such a nice change from India, It's extremely clean and although most people seem to think it's very smoggy, its actually a real breath of fresh air after India, in more ways than one. You get squat down public loos but I would go as far to say they smell beautiful! there's no flem on the pavements, everyone speaks English and men and women are total equals.

Let me out!

The only problem is, we have spent a fortune. We bought another digital camera (and we posted the broken one home) which cost us 240 quid including memory card. We've been boozing in Central at Ozzy bars and swanky places which is as pricey as London. So we've averaged 120 quid a day!! in comparison to 20 quid a day in India!
Yesterday we went to the botanical and zoological gardens where we met some very cute orang utans and pretty birds. And today we're going to see the world's supposedly largest outdoor bronze Buddha statue. We were going to go to a place called Tong Fuk after reading about it in the LP but there's probably not that much Tong Fukking going on there anyway, so we'll give that a miss. We also caught a tram up to the Peak which is overlooking the whole of Hong Kong and surrounding islands. The tram ride was unbelievably steep (26 degrees) but it only took 10 minutes. At the top you have a massive complex of shops, bars and restaurants. so we had coffee and cake in a posh restaurant which had amazing views over the city, it was just like Dynasty or something! see photos.

Tomorrow we get our flight to Tokyo, where we've discovered it costs 8 quid for a pint of larger (oh shit!!) I think we'll reinact 'Lost In Translation' in our hotel room instead!