First stop Hong Kong

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I am arriving in Hong Kong at 7.10 am in the morning after a 12 hour flight. To be continued when I arrive...

... so the good news is that I made it to Hong Kong in one piece! The bad news is that Hong Kong is SOO HUMID!! My god, the moment I stepped off the plane, I could feel it and the thick hiking socks and boots didn't help. First impressions of HK is that it's a bit like someone's playing a trick on you. For starters it was 7am in the morning and light outside when it should have been pitch black. But otherwise, it looks a lot like London, but then you catch a glimpse of a huge mountain shrouded by clouds in the distance and realise it's not London. The adverts and posters seem familiar but are in Cantonese.... or it could just be the jet lag!

So I found the bus stop, hopped on the A11, got off at Causeway Bay and after not too much getting lost, found my hostel. Round one - success! Only problem was that it was 9.30 in the morning and I couldn't check in until 12pm - failure, boo!

Anyway, tired as I was, I decided to go to the main train station to try and see if I could find a connecting train to Guilin. One bus ride later, I was there, but it was a hot humid, maze of a train station. Eventually, after getting lost, paying $45 to get into a terminal I didn't need to be in, I found a ticket- hooray! So tomorrow I leave from Shenzen to Guilin, it's a 11 hour sleeper train. There will be 6 sleepers per carriage and I have chosen the top bunk, hoping that this will be the safest option.

When I got back to the hostel, I had a full blown panic about what I had done. The humidity, along with the tiny airless room and no sleep for 24 hours was too much. It lasted about 30 minutes before I told myself to suck it up!

So Hong Kong... it's busy, it's buzzing (did I mention it's humid?), it's got fabulous modern high rise apartment blocks, swish shopping centers, parks, and it's peppered with derelict buildings that you can't believe people live in. It's a real mix, but it's very vibrant. There are smells that I don't recognize, some bad, some good and the best thing so far, wait for it... they don't have any metal scaffolding in HK, everywhere there is bamboo poles instead. The lift in my apartment tells me to not use the lift if there is a fire (dur?) and the menus say that you can have fried intestines.

Best bit so far... a mango smoothie thing with coconut cream and funky rice balls in the bottom.
Worst bit so far... humidity, sleep-lack panic attack.

This is my first blog, I hope it's okay! I haven't done much yet, I walked around for an hour, trying to pluck up the courage to order some food and I couldn't!! It's all too unfamiliar and strange, but I'm really hungry so I'm going to go and try and actually buy something.

Over and out!

Namaste

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Photos

Mango Smoothie
This was so delicious, it had little rice balls in the bottom.

Comments

[serap Isik]

Heyyyyyyyy it all sounds great, reading your blog makes me feel like I am there myself:) enjoy every moment, take care xxxx

[M]

Is it hot and humid in HK???
Hi Serpil, Great blog and most entertaining read. Feel as if I'm almost there with you. Considering Chinese after the Indians are the most popullace of nations I think is an indication the food will not kill you. I suppose it might but I read somewhere there is a 98.6% similarity between a chimpanzee and a human being. Having said that there is also a 70% similarity between a snail and a human being's DNA. So go for it and try every type of food you come across. You never know one day you may be on I'm now a celebrity get me outta here so plenty of practice for you to win those challenges. :) :) Enjoy all that you do... M.

[chaskemp]

Great 1st blog
and great photos - just the sort of things you see all over vs. "the sights"

[Serpil does it alone]

Thank you!
Yay, that's so cool, glad the blog is okay and you enjoyed it! Feels a bit self-indulgent just writing about myself all the time, but I guess that's the idea!! Love xx

[Serpil does it alone]

Hi abi
Hi abicim and happy bayramlar and all that jazz! I'm fine, it's been a bit difficult finding an internect connection and I've been moving around a lot. I just arrived at this hostel, Kunming Cloudland Hostel and they have free internet and decent computers so I will update my blog later on today. I've been really really struggling with food! I didn't realise what a fussy eater I was, I have lost loads of weight and I'm basically eating one meal a day - normally noodles, I'm sick of them! I'm really craving some meat, especially chicken, but what can I say, I am a MAJOR wuss! My only defence is that it's really stressful to have to eat something where you have no idea what you're eating! Especially having seen some of the menus, to date, these are the things I have seen on a Chinese menus (the only one English one I've seen), horse ribs, sparrow porridge, snake, bacteria!, cataphillar fungus, old chicken soup, fried intestine, pigs feet, a whole pig's face!!! Do you get the picture?? Anyway, I am absolutely fine, love lots xx

[M]

Slimmers holiday...
Great to hear you updates Serpil - keep em up... I do think you should try the food and write about all the different tastes and smells on your travels though. When we go on holiday eating is one of our favourite past times at various places we visit. In fact we rate the places on choice and taste of food to a large extent... As mentioned before golden rule is to eat where you see lots of other people eating. They must know something. Don't eat in places which have lots of empty chairs and tables as inviting as it may look. Good to hear you are making friends with the locals. I do like Chinese people as they are always so hospitable and polite. Don't mean to make you hungry but I shall be having tuna and salad washed down with a nice cup a black coffee then driving down due South... Take care, XX M