Hong Kong

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After crossing the Chinese border into Hong Kong we entered a more western, diluted version of China. I think the first realisation that we were no longer in China came when we were crossing the road; people pressed the buttons at traffic lights, waited patiently at them and then when the light turned red the cars they actually stopped and people crossed the road on cue from the 'green man'. The calmness and orderly fashion was a bit of a culture shock for us, as we had become so accustomed to sprinting through moving traffic and had gained the understanding in China that just because a light was red doesn't mean the cars stop, infact any traffic light signals in China mean nothing. The second shock was that pretty much everything was in English; for the first time in 6 weeks we could read menus and adverts. The third and final indicication that we were out of China was the reduction in noise level. People conversed in lowered voices and car horns seldom seemed to sound... yes we had definetly left China.

We had only one night in Hong Kong before we took our flight into Singapore and wanted to make the most out of our time here. Our first task was to find our accommodation Maple Leaf Guesthouse that was based in Chungking Mansions on Nathan Road.

Nathan Road is an upmarket shopping area of Hong Kong and is home to Gucci, Prada and every other high end designer name you can think of; slap bang in the middle of this road is ChungKing Mansions; a far from upmarket building and home to cheap DVD shops and knock off goods. ChungKing Mansions is a tourist attraction in itself. It is extremely culturally diverse; to give you an idea of how just how diverse it was voted by the Times as the best example of globalisation in action within Asia and is home to over 4000 residents, 120 nationalities and countless Indian Curry houses, phone shops, guesthouses, cheap clothes and DVD shops. Its ike a little rebellion against all the grandeur of Nathan Road.

After a walk around our new home in ChungKing Mansions we put our bags down in a extremely clean guesthouse then setting out to explore Hong Kong.

We decided to take the peak tram up to the top of the city to get a better view. The tram was pretty impressive making its way up the 45 degree angle hills up to the very peak of Hong Kong. The views from here of the city were simply amazing; huge skyscapers, swimming pools on top of buildings and helicopters taking off from their heli-pads. We spent a while on the top of the hill, walking taking in the views and relaxing with a coffee.

That evening we headed towards the SoHo area of Hong Kong to take a ride on the worlds longest covered escalator. We had went with the intention of riding the whole escaltor but it was long, really long and the only way down was via a series of steep stairs. So after a while on the escaltor we spotted a small little pub and hopped off. The bar was really nice, small, filled with western workers in Hong Kong enjoying an after work drink. We shared some nachos, two beers of locally brewed - an extortionately priced - beer and reflected on our China adventure and all the adventures to come. We ended the evening tucking into some Indian delights in the form of onion bajjis and nann bread from Chungking Mansions in our room.

Hong Kong was really nice, the type of city you could live in and although we only had a day in it we both felt that we really made the most out of our time there.

We departed Hong Kong by air, heading southward bound for Singapore.

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Comments

[madre]

wow
such amazing photos! If they look amazing on the pc how fab to see hk in real life. Would really love a good indian meal now!!!! you pair look wonderful . madre xoxoxoxoxox