Hong Kong 0.5

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Hello,

We got home really late last night after a LOT of walking, so hopefully my memory isn't too sketchy, I had to put this entry off till this morning.

It was our last day in Macau today, so we just took it easy and hung out in the hotel pool after another long breakfast. The hotel is only a few minutes away from one of the ferry ports that links up to Hong Kong and also to the mainland, so we figured it would be just as easy to have a bit of a rest day. It wasn't a rest day in the end, we did heaps, but it was good to have a morning to relax a bit from all the stress of a holiday!

Coming in and out of Hong Kong and Macau is so much simpler than from the mainland, there's hardly any security checks, and the passport checks are a breeze, so we booked a few tickets, grabbed some maccas with what little Macau dollars we had left, and then in a couple of hours we were in Hong Kong. The ferry trip in is really beautiful, there's a bunch of little islands scattered through the bay, most of them have a lighthouse on the points, and there's a bunch of boats sailing around doing whatever. When you get in closer to Hong Kong, those little fishing boats are quickly replaced by gigantic container ships in a line waiting to get into port. And then you see all the buildings. There are so many people here. In fact, since I'm sure everybody is as interested in statistics as I am, there's three people per square km in Australia, and 6,732 in Hong Kong.

After finding where we were staying and settling in for a few minutes we went exploring. We just checked out a couple of markets, first the goldfish market where they sell...goldfish...it's not really the sort of market you probably imagine when you hear the word, it's really a street where all the vendors are dedicated to aquariums, and they have some crazy stuff there, most of them are selling different kinds of goldfish, but there's a also a bunch of turtles in some stores, we saw chameleons, frogs, dogs, cats and a bunch of reef fish. Ivy screamed out with excitement when she saw a few Nemos too.

The other market we went to was the flower market, it was just flowers...I can't think of much interesting to write about it, it was a busy place with flowers and plants!

Given that the names of the Hong Kong markets are quite literal, goldfish market sells goldfish, flower market sells flowers etc, I'm not super sure what to expect from the Ladies Market.

Anyway, remember what I was saying about there being lots of people in Hong Kong? Last night, all those people were crowded into just one place. Today is China's national day, so the light show down at the waterfront was extra significant as there was a fireworks display too. We were told it was just after the light show so we went down to have a look at about 7:00. We walked around for a bit trying to find a vantage point but everywhere was taken, so we started following a crowd, and then everything got a bit mental - everybody was trying to push through to get to the water, the police were screaming and blowing whistles and yelling at people, people were screaming at the police and sneaking by them when they weren't watching, and the crowd started really pushing against us. So we decided maybe it wasn't the safest place to be and made our retreat. National Day in Hong Kong is a bit of a sore point, so the crowds had a chance of maybe turning a bit unhappy as well so it just seemed like a bad idea to be there.

We went back a bit to an old building that I should know the name of - it had 1880 heritage posted all over it and from what I can work out it was the Marine Police headquarters until the handover, now it's a bunch of expensive shops. It's almost definitely famous and I'm stupid for not knowing what it is, but I don't know what it is. Anyway, it has a nice balcony that looks out in the direction of Hong Kong Island, but most of the vision is obscured by the Concert Hall, but you can see the tops of buildings so we watched the light show from there. Then we discovered the fireworks were at 9:00, and didn't want to wait any longer 'cos we hadn't eaten, so we went to try and find food.

Awesome thing...on national day during the fireworks all the streets in Kowloon become pedestrian only, it was great. There were people everywhere but you didn't have to dodge cars and busses and the city really is beautiful, especially when there's room to move, and since we were going against the flow of people, the further we walked away from he bay, the less crowded it got. I say less crowded, it was still more people than we're used to, but all good

We found a Mexican place up a hill a bit in a really cool section with a few other interesting looking restaurants and had our dinner there - at 9:00 I thought the world was ending, there were explosions and the building was shaking. But that was just the fireworks, and although I'm sure they were awesome, I don't really regret not seeing them, seeing a less packed Hong Kong was worth more I think.

So probably Disneyland tomorrow. I'm writing this in the tomorrow and I'm still not sure if i'm awake enough to go...I think we will, I can't see the kids coping with not going...

Thanks guys, see you later!

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Photos

Ivy on the Hong Kong Metro
Kids get priority seating in China. Last time we were here I hated it. Now I think it's great. Possibly because we didn't have kids last time.

NEMO!!!
If you look closely

Frogs
Most of it was on the edge of cruel, this was plummeting off the edge. And it stunk.

Still a Crowded Street Market
With Lloyd & Ivy if you can find them

Sleeping Ivy
Because Lloyd uses Chloroform to style his hair

Light show
Bit underwhelming in a photo.

Comments

[Lyn]

Crowded street market
Ivy looks so tiny! Don’t lose her in the crowd!

[Lyn]

Sleeping Ivy
Awwwwwww!