Day 48 - Hong Kong

08.09.09
Today I take a wonder over to Hong Kong Island and have a day of exploring its sights. To my shock the main temple on the Island is free to get in and I find out that the museums are all free on Wednesdays, so that's tomorrow sorted, it's such a difference to the rest of China where even if it is of lukewarm interest or has an ounce of history then it has a suitable price attached. The street names are brilliant as well, so far I have seen Nathan Road, Connaught Road, Lower Albert Street and more, and with area names like Admiralty, Aberdeen and Stanley, you can tell it was once a British territory.

I end up at Central Library, where internet access is free and it's a great building with carts running on tracks in the roof taking books from the front desk back to the main book areas to be re-shelved. The internet is also a lot freer in Hong Kong, with Facebook, Youtube, Blogs and everything in between not banned like on the mainland. In the evening I have a look at the Symphony of lights which is the largest permanent light show in the world. Watching it from the Kowloon peninsula, it lasts about 15 mins and even has an accompanying sound track. Many of the buildings across the water lighting up in time to the music and lasers and lights on top of the buildings scanning the sky, it's quite impressive, although does get a bit boring after a few minutes, the scale however is colossal.

A word about my place of residence in Hong Kong, Chungking Mansions. It's location is amazing right in the heart of Kowlooon and the transport links to everywhere are perfect. You can walk to almost anywhere of interest in the Peninsula. The down points are the people outside always hassling you for 'copy watches' or bags, trying to sell you drugs asking you if you need a place to stay or generally just being very very very shifty. Apparently there is a film about the drugs and crime and general seediness of the place, although in recent years it has been redone and is now a lot cleaner and in better condition. The rooms in Hong Kong are as small as you can make them and I honestly think I had more room on the Trans Siberian journeys. They are considerably more expensive than mainland China, being about £10 instead of £2-3, but it's still dirt cheap in the scheme of things.