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Published: October 15th 2009
Fortress Hill
Home of DuncanDespite being longer than our flight out to Dubai, the fact we flew to Hong Kong at 9.40am and arrived and 9.40pm (local time) made the flight much more bearable.
Duncan (old friend from Uni - a Canadian whos family moved out here 11 years ago) took us back to his flat. On the way I was struck by how, in contrast with shiny new Dubai, how old and battered some of Hong Kong looked. Im sure he wouldn begrudge me saying that Duncans flat is very much a Boy Flat, geared towards long periods of computer gaming (both of his flat mates are also game addicts) and the contrast between this and our lodgings with Cam in Dubai was pretty startling.
The next day after a considerable lie-in, Duncan took us out of the city and to the rural fishing town of Sai Kung (pronounced Sai Kong). It was at this point we were grateful we had a guide; Duncan and co. did not discover this area for two years! It overlooks a beautiful bay area, complete with sharp, green, volcanically formed islands peppered around the place. Duncans parents live about 20 mins bus ride North
A worried looking dog...
Allegedly a sign for pet food... of Sai Kung in a hamlet of houses called Tai Tan, pronounced Dai Tan. In Cantonese, the Chinese are very funny about not pronouncing consonants to harshly - its considered rude. The syllable Pok, for example, is pronounced Bo, that is, the P softens to a B and the K is left silent. Anyway, Duncans parents (Drew and Ailsa) live in a wonderful house overlooking the bay. We walked down to the nearby pier the following day and got a little boat over to a small island called Tap Mun (Grass Island). It was gorgeous! A small fishing harbour and a short walk around the island, through a graveyard of shrines, built in to the side of the hill, overlooking the sea. From the far side of the island you can see mainland China. We found out later that evening that there is a fair amount of smuggling that goes on in this area. Ailsa told us that some of the locals have a lucrative arrangement with a local fisherman who obtains big bags of rice, oil, booze etc on the cheap.
We feel really lucky to have a base in Tai Tan. Geckos of various sizes dot
themselves around on the walls. There are beautiful butterflies which flit around the place. We are told that there are wild boar, porcupines and monkeys to be found on the hikes around the hills which start from literally outside their front door. There are also snakes. Weve yet to see any of these but plan on hiking in the last few days before leaving for Vietnam.
Duncan took us in to the busier parts of the city. We took the famous Star Ferry to the Kowloon side of Hong Kong and walked to Mong Kok. On our way we walked through Kowloon Park which was really lush... they even had flamingos. It was an odd contrast... ornate ponds with flamingos overlooked by very tall, very urban buildings. Mong Kok was really busy and where you find all the iconic neon signs and markets. When it got dark the effect was very Blade Runner was obviously pretty excellent.
Foodwise, its not been a completely smooth road for us vegans. We had a pretty confusing time of it in some of the smaller noodle bars. However, in one of the metro stations is an excellent takeaway deli which
Kowloon City
These buildings were built in the 50's is completely vegan and sells not only various dim sum goodies but also a range of fake meat. Needless to say weve been stocking up - luckily its a station we have to pass through when we go to and fro between Duncan and his parents house.
As I am writing this, I am sitting in a flat on the 19th floor of a highrise, overlooking the airport. We e staying with Danijella, an old friend of Oriels from secondary school. Danijella lives with her partner Steve and young son Matty in Tung Chung. Other than it being excellent for Oriel to meet up with Danijella after all this time (they hadn clapped eyes on each other since they were 16), we were also able to vist the Tian Tan - the biggest Buddha in the world - via a very scary cable car. There is also the Po Lin monastry where we had a vegan buffet. Unfortunatey the Bhuddists monks forbid ginger and garlic and other spices so it was pretty wierd tasting. However, it did grow on us and we put away a fair bit.
We will be travelling to Vietnam via train on October 19th.
A segment of the old wall...
...which separated Kowloon City and the rest of HK. In order to do this, we need to go via China. Weve made the decision to travel down the length of Vietnam by train from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh, formally Saigon. Well be there for a month. Essentially, this is where our travels begin in earnest; Oriel and I will finally be going it alone...
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Tracey
non-member comment
Beautiful...
Man Hong Kong looks so cool, can't wait to see it for myself... shame it's only going to be for 10 hours.