Hong Kong

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Had a good flight to Hong Kong - watched Mamma Mia (loved it), met a lovely Indian lady who has kindly offered me to stay at her sons house in Melbourne when I get there and handed out his telephone number (bet he would be impressed that his mum is handing out his number to strangers!) also met a lovely guy who shared his limo with me from the Airport to Kowloon...

The hotel got even better - I booked it before I came out and as I thought I was only staying for 2 nights got a reasonable place - great views, white fluffy towels, a proper hot shower and big TV! After a month in Nepal this waspure luxury..

However - now back in civilisation - hearing of the news of the protest at Bangkok airport was not great...

I did a full day of sight seeing - MTR to Hong Kong island, walked up the escalators, wondered through the botanical gardens, caught the Peak tram to the Peak with fantastic views of Hong Kong, then caught the Star Ferry back to Kowloon. Walked the Avenue of the Stars at sunset again great views of the Hong Kong skyline at night. Topped it all with a trip to the top hotel in Kowloon for a 10 pound cocktail at the top floor bar - Felix at the Pennisula...managed to get away with walking boots, jeans and a reasonable top - the only decent stuff I had - felt a little underdressed to say the least! I also got talking to some English guys who brought me another cocktail while we watched the laser show!

I had the best sushi, great chinese and also a big burger ( I had been vegetarian nearly the entire time in Nepal and it tasted amazing!)

However - my flight to Bangkok kept getting cancelled and the protest didnt look like it was going to resolve itself anytime soon. I kept having to add another night in my expensive hotel.

Hong Kong was lovely but expensive, difficult to meet other travellers, and it felt almost a bit too perfect (I was worried about crossing the road on a red light, eating in public places, coughing without wearing a mask etc!), and with endless fantastic shopping malls and no money to spend it was torture! - mainly it was eating into my limited time I has set aside for the rest of SE Asia -

So felt like I spent the next 2 days in internet cafe's, immigration offices or airline counters trying to find alternative overland route or try and re-route my flight.

This is very difficult when the only places I could use the internet was if I brought a coffee at a starbucks- like place - hence I drank a lot of tea and ate loads of muffins.. It was also very difficult to get through to the airlines by phone.

I tried overland options China through Vietnam to get to Cambodia - but the visa's were very expensive and were going to take another few days to organise.

Eventually at the BA office they managed to find me a last minute cancellation to Cambodia - the only flight available for a couple of weeks.

So 2 nights in Hong Kong became 5 nights - but I suppose I was fairly lucky in the end.

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