Hong Kong - not quite China

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I like Hong Kong. Maybe it's because I view it as a safe haven before we head to mainland China or maybe it's because it reminds me of London.

Staying in Kowloon - surrounded by shops and "copywatch" salesmen - we often made the trip across to hong Kong Island by the famous Star Ferry. This busy, no frills commuter service, with choice of upper or lower deck, was one of the highlights of my trip to Hong Kong. Providing David with 7 minutes to complete the Sudoko puzzle and me 7 minutes to catch up on world news, we felt like locals. We haven't felt like locals since May.

Hong Kong's skyline by day or night is dramatic. From the building work that seems to be going on on every street corner, the obsession for building up doesn't seem to have been sated yet, in spite of the fact that Hong Kong is supposedly yesterday's news in this area of the world and Shanghai is where the action is.

Walking around and between the skyscrapers that dominate the financial heart of the island is very different to walking around any other city I've been to so far. Maybe it was the humidity and heat but I've never felt so surrounded by buildings before. They really make their presence felt. Blocking sunlight in the day they compensate for this at night when they are illuminated by rainbow coloured dancing lights that cast their colour onto the bay. Sitting eating bread and fancy cheese (how very chinese) looking out across at Hong Kong island, in our latest diy restaurant location, may even have bettered the Kyoto railway station dining view.

A night spent at the race track turned out to be a thrilling night. Quite by chance Happy Valley racetrack was open and free during our stay. A 15p star ferry ride and a 15p tram ride took us all the way there. The race course itself which seemed to appear from nowhere, is plonked right in the heart of Hong Kong island. Every single rich, young, wine swilling banker or lawyer ex-pat seemed to be there. A bit much for us so we hung around at the other end of the stand with the shifty looking, chain smoking locals.

A series of steady $30 bets (that's about 2GBP) on each race soon amassed us a small fortune of $140 pure profit. Hot favourites were soon ditched in favour of gut feel picks, or in my case just favourite numbered horses, which saw our winning streak snuffed out and our profit reduced to $77 (nearly enough for two beers).

That's it, we are off to China proper tomorrow. We have chinese and russian visas, a bit of chinese money, 3 guidebooks, some trans siberian tickets and a brand new box of plasters and some emergency banana chips. I don't know what internet access is like in China and Russia - so just in case, Merry Christmas and a very happy new year. (I'm joking) (I hope).

Till next time......

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