The Journey Begins

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Finally arrived in Hong Kong today, feels like I have been waiting an eternity for this trip. It is like nothing I have seen before, a melting pot of cultures, walking around I was on sensory overload! Seems like old and new are haphazardly crammed into any available space. There are trendy bars beside tenement housing, old fashioned nail bars over classy restaurants.

I am staying in a really trendy part of town where all the "Filths (failed in London Try Hong Kong)" live. To get there you have to travel up the escalator....not a bad way to get up the hill! Daily traffic exceeds 55,000 people, its a brilliant way of moving lots of people fast!

Did some touristy stuff like get the Star Ferry to Kowloon and walk Hong Kong's equivalent of the Hollywood Boulevard, go up to the peak of Hong Kong on the Peak Tram, Kowloon Park and Ocean Park.

One of the nights I went to a Szechuan Chinese restaurant, this is definitely one of the best things that I did in Hong Kong, it has completely revolutionized my opinion of Chinese food, gone is the bland MSG infused crap we get at home and in with a tasty, well seasoned, flavour full delight. Szechuan cuisine often contains food preserved through pickling, salting, drying and smoking, and is generally spicy. Most dishes include the Sichuan peppercorn a numbing fruity spice. There are three varying degrees of spicyness, generally you start with the coolest finishing with the hottest dish. We had brocolli, sweet potato, aubergines, vegetarian dumplings and my favourite, a mixed veg with shredded crackers lettuce wrap, yummy! My friend Fabian who I was sharing the meal with got the restaurant's special, which was obviously VERY spicy as he was absolutely sweating buckets! It was a wonderful experience, really authentic chinese and something that I more than likely wouldn't have had unless I was staying with someone from Hong Kong.

After the wonderful meal I finished the perfect day with a visit to the "Take Out Comedy Club" which was absolutely brilliant. One of the couchsurfing community performs there every Saturday. There was about ten different acts with really different styles of comedy, some I thoroughly enjoyed. It was all based around experiences with Hong Kong and after being there for a couple of days I really felt like I could relate to it! Just there are so many funny idiosyncrasies that occur when east meets west in such a obscure and mental way... Went for some drinks afterwards with some of the performers so it was good fun.

Also went to Ocean Park, this is a theme park that is favoured by the Hong Kongers, wheareas Disneyland has been somewhat shunned. It was a great idea to go on a Monday as we(myself and a girl called Edel from Cork I met randomly at the peak tram) didn't have to queue for any of the rides. Some of them were just pure adrenaline rushes, never been on the one that drops you from a crazy height at break neck speeds before....I nearly shat myself!!!

Luckily I was able to get my Vietnam Visa in one day, so would be leaving Hong Kong as planned. Left the next morning at 9am.

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Photos

The Iron Man
Thats one big gun you got there sir

New Olympic Sport
Looks interesting

Esculator
Getting up to Soho is a breeze

The Star Ferry
A must if you are visiting Hong Kong, great views of the city.

What a View
The view from my window :)

My Star
I give you the famous Hong Kong starlet Emma Farrell!

Cable Cart
Ocean Parks glorious finale.

Comments

[James]

Cool
Sounds cool Emma. Seems like couch Surfing is a great way to travel..