Hong Kong Escapades

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"Massive" blog today as I wrote about my stay in Hong Kong in details. My current whereabouts are now Beijing, at a hotel located very near the back entrance to the Forbidden City. So I am pretty central, but it does not matter much, as this place is enormous, and it takes a lot of time just getting anywhere on foot. I am feeling pretty proud today as I climbed the Great Wall and can now call myself a real man and a hero. Huzzah! I will try to get blogs about my stay in wonderful Yangshuo and Xi'an up tomorrow or the next day and then on the last day, the 28th of june, I will post a blog about my time in Beijing. I will write a final blog after that, after I return home. In the meantime please enjoy the following extensive recollection of my days in Hong Kong.

I apologize for the lack of pictures this time, it is mainly due to two circumstances. The first being that I simply forgot to take any photos and the second reason is that I also forgot to bring my camera on my walks. Sorry but no-one is perfect.

Day 16
Woken up to the sight of blinding sun and a busy street. Hong Kong is a metropolis with a lot of things to offer, be it a stroll in the park or a day spent shopping. I had spent my morning sleeping as I was dead tired from all the travelling done yesterday, but I was no revitalized and ready to explore this gargantuan city. My hotel was in the downtown area of Kowloon, not far from the main shopping area nor the waterfront. It was situated right beside a park, and my room was quite high up, giving me a splendid view of the immidiate area. I had no real plans for this day, except taking a stroll and exploring the place. I chose to wander down to the shoppingarea and walk through the busy sidestreets that had a lot to offer.

I came upon a huge shoppingmall, several stories high, that I decided to venture in to. I spent the next many hours scouring every level for some good finds, be it gifts or things for myself. I found a lot of peculiar things and funny specialized stores, and all in all had a great time wandering about. I did not buy anything this day, but I marked down several shops in my memory that had interesting wares. After a nice lunch taken on one of the levels dedicated to food, I went out on the streets again and after some walking, found a “hidden” shopping-gallery in one of the alleys. Here I found a some nice shops, but one in particular that had awesome stuff. This, I found out, was only a small section of what they had, and they advised me to go to another part of town to find the other. I knew the place was a bit away, but now I at least had something to do the next day. I walked around some more, before returning home and relaxed my weary feet a bit and fell asleep for some time. At night, I walked out again, heading downtown again.

I walked around for an hour or two, and built up an appitite. I had some problems deciding on what to eat, but I eventually walked up a small alley. This proved to be a very smart move as I here found a small turkish restaurant, that served sharwarmas. I was thrilled by this, as it smelled delicious and quickly ordered a sharwarma with falafel filling. I took the badboy home and enjoyed one of the best sharwarmas that I have had in my life, truly a wonderful meal albeit not that chinese. Still I enjoyed it immensly and afterwards went to sleep, being quite exhausted.

Day 17
I started out early today as I had no idea of how long it would take me to find the shopping-gallery in Mong Kok. On the way I passed a bookstore and bought some books, and not just any books, no I found a wonderful copy of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, a copy of Great Expectations just to be classy and the frightful novel by George Orwell, Animal Farm. Being set up for the next long time in reading material I already felt the days goal of buying something had been accomplished, and I joyfully went on further down the road, in search for the mythical place that was the shopping-gallery.

After wandering through some small streets I finally found the place, I hopefully went up the small stairs and throught the small alleys to the place that held the store. And I did find it! I was very happy, that is until I noticed a sign in chinese declaring that it first opened at 16.00. Seeing as the time was only 13.15, I now had some time on my hands. The first thing I did was to walk around in the SG (shopping-gallery) and admire all the figures of various cartoon characters and famous people, since this SG apparently was some kind of mekka in Hong Kong for figures and collectibles. After scouring the whole place for some time, I went over to another place not far from there, another huuuge shoppingmall with, again, several levels. Here I spent most of my time, troding up and down the many levels, stopping only momentarily to look at stuff. I had a simple lunch in the form of a teriyaki burger from a japanese fastfoodjoint, before I ventured on. The clock was now nearing 16, but I still had some 45 minutes on my hand. I spent those exploring the streets around the SG, before the store finally opened. Here I found that my waiting was worthwhile, as I found loads of stuff to buy, so I was a happy man with now awesome clothes.

I thereafter walked all the way back to the other shopping quarter, to the shop from yesterday and bought some more things there, having figured out what I wanted. As a last stop, I went all the way up one of the SG and bought something I had set my eyes upon earlier with childish delight. What could possible do that you may ask yourself, and the answer is a black samurai sword-umbrella! The first time I saw it, I knew I had to have it, no matter how childish it may have seemed and once I bought it and slung it on my back (yes it could do that) I felt invincible as long as the enemy was rain or easily scared thugs. Feeling that nothing could top this, I headed home through the park and rested a bit to prepare for the night.

When night fell upon Hong Kong I again ventured out. I had read about a bar called Mariners Rest, a former police hangout from the start of 20th century where policemen and sailors would sit to wind down after a hard days work. The place had gotten several good reviews so I decided to check it out, and then walked down towards it and the waterfront. After some searching, I finally found the place and walked in to find… a completely deserted room with neither guests nor bartenders. Really dissappointing. I walked down to the waterfront after this faliure, to watch the beautiful buildings and ferries near the water, before walking up towards my hotel. Being hungry I went down one of the streets and found myself in the alley from the night before, but I tonight chose to walk in to the irish pub, just to really try the local cuisine.

Here I found some nice people to talk to while I almost died trying to comsume just a portion of fish & chips, being very accustomed to small, light dishes and not a monstrosity like this. I thereafter walked down about 30m, to a small bar, where I began talking to an englishman and an american girl living in Hong Kong, we hit it off and went out to drink some more together, all the night staying in the small alley that contained several bars. The night ended close to sunrise the next day and I walked home and promptly fell asleep once my head hit the pillow.

Day 18
I awoke around noon and felt less than perfect, but I got up anyhow. I thought I had the whole day in Hong Kong, but got alarmed by a passing thought. I checked the initiary and sure enough my plane was later this day. I was both glad that I had found out about this in good time and pissed because I forgot to count the first night I came to Hong Kong and because I had wanted to do some stuff that day. Seeing as I still had some hours before I had to leave, I decided to make the best of it. I cleared my room and left my luggage with the hotel staff, before wandering in to town again. I walked around many of the small streets and was really just enjoying myself.

As I started feeling better, I also started to feel hungry so to make up for my past “culinary mistakes” I went to a specialzed dumpling restaurant that I had seen earlier. I was not dissappointed as the three different kinds of dumplings that I tried was delicious and I felt that I had made up for at least a bit of my faux pas. I then went out and found a place that made milk-tea drinks, which I had wanted to try for a long time after seeing it the first time yesterday. It was delicious and very much unlike what I had thought it would taste like, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It was now time to go back and I got my stuff together and waited for a shuttle that could take me to the Airport Express. I arrived with no problems and could even get my ticket and check in my luggage at the trainstation, so I did not have to stand in line at the airport. I got on the train and arrived at the airport where I now spent time looking at the shops. I actually found some nice stuff that I bought for gifts, before boarding my plane to Guilin in Mainland China.

The flight went fine and the guide, a friendly and funny woman met me and took me to my onenight stay in Guilin. I did not do much that night, as I arrived late and it poured down the whole time. I walked around in the streets looking at all the stalls, before eating at a place that, as I discovered also served fried whole dog with a “nice” picture too, with head and all. I then ate what I really hope was small porkchops and not the ribs of mans best friend, but seeing as I was very hungry I put of my worries and tried not to think too hard about it. I then walked some more in the still pouring rain before going home and to bed.

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Photos

Hong Kong By Night
Ooh shiny!

More nightlife
Still shiny! Also the blurriness is an artist's choice and not at all because my camera could not focus properly. Seriously.

Room view
Proper city-view. But I would have loved to stay by the waterfront.

Just awesome
Samurai-sword umbrella, my search for a suitable rain-protection-system is finally over! Also, panda-bags.