A little unsure what to expect, I was keen to see a little more of Hong Kong than their airport. It was a refreshing surprise. Arriving in the city, winding our way through the one-way maze of streets, we were talking about the architecture of sky-scrapping apartment blocks - the swanky new glass covered ones and the ones that reminded me of the kinds that collapsed in recent earthquakes... I commented that at least our hotel should not be like that.... I was wrong. Over 15 floors high, the Mirabel Mansion was a communistic block of concrete with air conditioners coming out of every window. I was a little nervous. Our room (windowless) was the bed and an inch of walking space so we were easy to fall for the up-grade with a window and 2 inches of walking space. The new room was impressive given the outer facade.
Hong Kong (for those in chilly Melbourne) was hot, humid and raining. We quickly bought umbrellas and i quickly left mine behind somewhere. Not used to carrying them i guess. We hopped over the islands on the ferries, saw the obligatory light show and then just soaked up the fusion of Luis Vuitton and small Chinese eateries. It only took us a few meals to learn that each time we ate our bill halved. I think our best was around $2 for the both of us, with drinks.
Light show
Street market
We ventured up to the Peak that over looks the city.. saw lots of grey but the walk to the Peak was more impressive. We took the world's (alleged) longest outdoor escalator (~800m) up through steep streets of markets and trendy cafes in Soho. We walked through one of the markets where that familiar Asian market smell returned and fish seemed to be having a hard time with cleavers (yuk). Next we walked through some windy streets and through the zoo. We saw the largest Orang Utan I've ever seen, with a face broader than Bert's. We also saw some lemur's and some scarlet red crane's that were gorgeous. Along the way we met an old guy who had a Bonsai garden in the front of his business and was quite happy for us to admire it and he even explained the scene behind one of them that had huts, people etc in it. All in Catonese. He seemed very proud, and it was cool.
Bonzai garden
Our other interesting stop was an Island called Lamma. We went for the 'easy' scenic walk. Not so hard on the legs, but it was humid so i can honestly say, i was sweatier than i can ever recall. Felt very very gross. Dean could have fixed the Melbourne drought (I'm not mean, he said it!). We were tempted by a local beach for a nano-second - before we noticed the adjoining power plant! The locals did not seem to mind but i was not keen to swim amongst three-eyed fish.
Hard earned lunch after the hot hike across Lamma island
That was Hong Kong. Viv, have no fear, I cannot speak a word of Cantonese so you still know more than me:o)
Next stop - Shanghai
ally
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