Day 51 - Hong Kong

11.09.09

In theory I should be quite productive today, I'm up and about at around 9am showered and ready to go. It's my last day in Hong kong and so I want to have a last whizz around and see what's going on. Depending on your attitude, the first half is far from sightseeing productive as I spend just over 4 hours on the computer, answering emails and writing up entries for this online publication you are reading right now. I eventually leave just after 1 and head outside in the wind and intermittent rain of the storm passing overhead, it's having a nice cooling effect on the hot and humid climate, so as long as it stays at this level I'm quite happy with it. I head over to Hong Kong Park with it's Tai Chi garden, botanical greenhouses and find a massive aviary , with walkways suspended above streams and a man made environment for over 650 various birds. It's magnificent and to have it in the middle of the City is amazing. After the park I make the ascent to Victoria Peak on board the Peak tram, which grants great views over Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon peninsula and the surrounding Islands. I take a walk and circle the peak, seeing what must be some of Hong Kong's top real estate in the form of luxury houses built into the side of the mountatin with fantastic panoramas of the city.

On the journey back to Hong Kong Island I realise that Hong Kong's glitz and glamour may come with a price. In Hong Kong, everyone looks more glamorous and fashionable then on the main land and people generally look wealthier and more comfortable. It seems like a side affect of this is the west's obsession with looking perfect and on the Hong Kong Metro I have never seen as many plastic surgery adverts, ever. Looking around more and the whole area above and below ground features the adverts and a general sense of image concern seems to persist nearly everywhere. I guess all is not rosy and it's taken the worst bits of western culture along with the good bits.

Day 50 - Hong Kong

10.09.09

If you come to Hong Kong, you have to take the cable car up the big Buddha on Lantau Island and that's what I'm about to do today, except the cable car is broken so it's a replacement bus service. The peak area is tourist commercialism central and comes complete with chain fast food restaurants and a coffee houses. The Buddha itself is quite impressive and sits on it's throne overlooking the monastery and the rest of the island. Once up there I have a quick walk around and then head back down to try and find the Lantau Island hostel. I know that there is one on the island and it's near the Buddha, the plan being to book in for a few nights and do some trekking around the islands and Hong Kong's beaches. On the way there I run into an ex Hong Kong police man called Guy who is also going to the hostel to look for details on a girl who went missing last year. Arriving at the hostel is something reminiscent of turning up at some haunted house or lunatic asylum, it definitely doesn't look in use, the grass is over grown, building looks like its in disrepair and the gates are locked and the two men inside seem reluctant to open them. After Guy explains who is and what he is doing the men open the gates and explain that the owner will be back at around 4pm, they also warn us about standing in the long grass due to snakes. Guy rightfully says that I shouldn't stay there and it doesn't look like it will be comfortable, I was thinking the same as it looked even dodgier than Chunking Mansions.


Guy mentioned that he will be walking back down to the town along the trails and it will take a few hours, but will pass by some nice scenery and monasteries. I decide to take the walk with him and we pass by a few monasteries where he talks to the monks in search of information about the girl, past some epic yellow and green spiders and some stormy weather. His daughter calls him and apparently a level 3 typhoon warning has been issued, although it only starts getting serious at around levels 6-8, so we are still fine. After the trek, he drives me to an old Chinese fort that doesn't see much tourism, but is quite interesting and we share a couple of beers. A tour of the northern area of Hong Kong and to the area where he lives in Sai Kung takes in some lovely scenery and then I make my way back to my own version of Shiftyking Mansions. Another good day, and another great person to add the list of people I've met so far.

Day 49 - Hong Kong

09.09.09

It's free museum Wednesday today and so I make a beeline for the Hong Kong History Museam, the Art Museam and the Space Museum. I'm too early for them so I go and kill some time in the local library and find out that I can apply for a library card as a visitor and borrow books, as long as I pay a deposit for each one. I use the opportunity to take out some travel books for Cambodia, Thailand and South East Asia as I have only one for the whole area and so want to do a bit more research.

The museams are very interesting, especially the history museam. Finding out the history behind Hong Kong and how it became a British territorry basically because Britian was selling huge shipments of Opium to China which China tried to stop, resulting in the Opium Wars. Britian decided to hit back and so took Hong Kong and held it until 1997 (An extremely brief account of the history and politics involved). The Space museam is my favourite though and I spend a large amount of time looking at the spaceship models and reading all the exhibits. The astronomy section is fantastic coming complete with pictures of stars and models of the planets, I feel like I'm back home in the London Science Museam. The night yields another ja unt over to Hong Kong Island to get some books out of the main Central

Library. It's actually cheaper and far nicer, to take the ferry from the Kowloon peninsula over to Hong Kong Island. The other option being the metro, which is nearly double the price and missing the sea views.

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.

Day 47 - Guangzhuo, Hong kong

07.09.09

A Guangzhou departure and it's hot outside! I take the metro to the east station and then jump on the train to Hong Kong. It's weird leaving mainland China for Hong Kong as even though it is the same country, you have to go through immigration and customs and everything you would do if you were leaving the country at the airport. It even looks like the airport, coming complete with a duty free section and airport style waiting benches. It takes an hour and a half to whizz over to Hung Hom station on the Kowloon peninsula and then through customs on the Hong Kong border getting my passport stamped again. It's half way through my journey in China and I've used the first 30 days of my visa, with another 30 to go once I enter the mainland again. It's gone so quickly in some respects, but then when I think back, sitting on the bus feeling super scared in Suifenhie seems like a world away.

Once in Hong Kong I immediately love it. It's situated on the sea, the skyline of Hong Kong Island is fascinating and it's an amazing mixture of Chinese and Western/British culture. There's even a Marks and Spencers selling imported M&S food, you can buy many home comforts and imported goods in the supermarkets, the signs for everything are in English as well as Chinese, there is a distinct British sense of politeness, manners and people queue up for things as opposed to chaotically massing, they drive on the left hand side and in general it's a fabulous place.