We've landed in Asia

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25th August 2006

We arrived in Hong Kong airport at around 22:00 after a 9hr flight from Sydney. Passport control asked me (Martin) whether the photo in my passport was me, ha! All westerners look the same to them! :o) We jumped in the airport shuttle and headed to Kowloon.

By the time we got to Nathan Road which as expected is full of bright lights with brand names everywhere, it was already 23:30 but the street was still as busy as you’d expect it to be in the daytime with people shopping. We’d already booked our hostel on the internet as we knew we’d be arriving late and there’s nothing worse than carrying a backpack in a busy street looking for accommodation.

Our hostel, The New Hostel, got pretty good ratings on the internet so we thought we’d give it a go. It was in the Mirador Mansions, which like the Changking Mansions, we’d heard about. They were once office blocks that have been taken over by hundreds of hostels and from the outside looked just as grotty as we’d expected.

Once through the New Hostels doors it was a different world, much nicer! We were shown up to our room by a cute lady who insisted on demonstrating all the features of the room; which light switch to press, the BIG TV, how the air con worked, pointing out the view of the ‘posh’ Holiday Inn Hotel across the road etc.. Ha. We thought she was never going to leave! Even once she’d gone she came back with extra soap, what was she trying to say?! Anyway the room was much better than we expected… clean, modern and secure. And after being awake around 20 hours it was time for bed.

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Photos

Mirador Mansions
The lovely Mirador Mansions, an ex office block now home to hundreds of hostels.