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Published: November 25th 2011
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So far this much seems obvious about Hong Kong: it's a city of conspicuous - let's say profligate - consumption. It's a place where the rich drive E class Mercs while the legless beg silently in the subway for thrown coins. Where the motto seems to be, 'Live hard, because life is cheap,' and the worldview carries echoes of 'Earth, what a shithole'. It's a city where the infrastructure hangs together just enough not to spin apart from the weight of people exterted on it. But it's still jarring as hell after Japan, where there seems to be an ingrained degree of respect for others and calm prevails.
Yesterday we struck out for Hong Kong island on the Star Ferry. Bruno's advice was 'Take the Star Ferry as often as you can, whenever you have to cross the harbour'. It's good advice! The journey is quick, the senses are in overload (particularly sight and smell!) and it's so cheap. Costs about 30 cents AUD to cross the harbour! The MTR costs about 4x as much, with less views and more sweat. We'd hoped for some spectacular views of the harbour but the smog had settled in for the day with
If you look veeery carefully...
You might see Hong Kong through the smog a haze overlaying everything and turning everything from the middle distance into shades of variegated grey and brown. Photos turn the view monotone, with splashes of dull colour; and after going out your skin seems to have a tacky sheen to it that has nothing to do with the warmth and humidity and everything to do with the vast fog of burned hydrocarbons filling the sky. We made a valiently attempt with some photos but well, you'll see.
In less than 10 minutes we made landfall at Central and then wandered towards Maxim's Palace City Hall for the Yvanovich family's meal of choice, yum cha. There are huge construction sites over on the HK Island side, huge like the size of entire city blocks, spread all along the waterfront - apparently it's yet another land reclamation project. Who knows what they're building but it seems to be huge like everything else here. The HK Island side seems to be a bit more corporate and have a little less culture (and mania!) going on than Kowloon, reinforcing why we're staying on the Kowloon side.
The yum cha place was big when we finally found it, with tables stretching out
in a vast and gaudy room full of people. Also big was the line of people out the door, filling a second foyer and stretching down the stairs, all waiting to eat. So after taking our ticket and learnign we had about an hour's wait, we left to find something to drink and an ATM to kill the time. Arriving back we'd missed our ticket number but no matter, the woman on the door put us through next; at least the yum cha around here operates with brutal efficiency. Aisha's considered opinion is that he's had better yum cha in Canberra which is good news for everyone as now you don't have to trek over to Honkers for the yum cha! Although the view back out across the harbour is certainly a notch above that to to be found in Canberra.
Tess was pretty stoked, as eating cha siu bao in a Hong Kong yum cha restaurant is pretty much the ultimate HK experience for her. And here is where Tess' peanut-free run endeth. Twelve days though, that's not a bad run! Tess hung out in the bathroom for a while and after about half an hour and no
Thirsty?
For a loving moment? improvement, we began our journey back down to the pier, across the harbour, through the throng of people in the subway underpass and, with Tess feeling evermore touch and go with every step, made it back to the sanctuary of the hotel room. Tess spent the rest of the afternoon dozing/groaning in bed, but by dinnertime was feeling back to about 80% and being the trooper that she is, ventured back into the big bad world!
We decided to go up to The Peak. This had been part of our original day time plan until PEANUTS came along and ruined everything, but realistically we would just have been viewing smog from a different angle and visibility was very poor, so ultimately we were glad to be going at night. The Peak Tram is a funicular and tows you up the mountain at a very steep angle. It got to the point that Tess couldn't even hold her head up anymore and just let it loll about instead. Once at the summit you enjoy the silence and the beautiful views. I mean, once at the summit you have to make your way through a NINE STOREY SHOPPING MALL, then jostle
for a position on the viewing deck. The view is pretty great though (although looking straight down can make your stomach do a lil somersault).
Aisha enjoyed a slice of pizza the size of a small child for dessert back in the hotel room, we did more washing (WASHING - THE BANE OF A TRAVELLER'S EXISTENCE) and we hit the hay! We've been out/awake quite late in Hong Kong, probably due to going back a timezone or two, meaning that really we haven't adjusted to the new timezone at all, we're just doing everything later! It actually works quite well, as Hong Kong is definitely a city where night is no obstacle.
Off to Macau today!
Love Tess & Aisha
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