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Laura - Not an incredibly eventful day. We got the Star Ferry again to HongKong Island and went to find the world's longest escalator. It's really very lame and not very impressive - more practical for locals than it is spectacular for visitors. It's apparently over 800m long but this a lie because it is broken up into about 12 seperate escalators. Pretty dull really. Still it got us half way up a big hill without having to break out into a sweat! We found a more amusing escalator later in a shopping mall that was no more than 1 metre high. So unneccesary!
After the excitement of the escalator we walked to a 'zoological and botanical park' (?!) which had lots of trees and lots of monkeys. Plus a rather crappy 'reptile house' which had just one tiny aligator and a huge scary snake. I liked the monkeys though. And this zoo actually kept the animals in decent sized cages and the animals looked happy and healthy. There were signs in the park telling people not to go near any birds and to wash hands thoroughly if coming into contact with them. The Daily Mail would be proud.
There was a Holiday on today, so many people weren't at work and for some very strange reason they all decided to congregate on the ugly streets in big groups, playing cards and varnishing each other's nails (it was mainly women)! Even stranger was that they seemed to centre around the HSBC building. Very bizarre. They had supplies for the entire day - food, blankets, games etc. There are parks in HK so we really don't get why they choose to sit in the streets! We thought there was a protest at first, because the roads were closed, but if it was a protest then it is the most laid back protest in the world! If someone can explain this to us then please do because we are totally baffled by this bizarre behaviour!
The weather was very grey today, quite miserable. The humidity was so high though that after going in a shop that had air con my glasses steamed up! Very funny. The dull weather made the skyline look ugly in the daylight but it was quite impressive at night and there was a very random light show that went in time with music.
We got
back and saw that 'A night with Barry Manilow' was on the english channel (WICKED), followed by '4 weddings and a funeral'. I cringed as usual at the "is it still raining, I hadn't noticed" line. Brilliant.
Bed now, we have to get up early tomorrow to get our visas and sort our flights. Night night!
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anonymous
non-member comment
The people you saw sitting in the streets are not locals. They are domestic maids mainly from the Philippines and Indonesia enjoying their day off. No one knows why they love to gather in the streets, but since no one feels the need to ask them to go somewhere else. it has become a weekly tradition for many many years.