Soho

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I’m not even a vegetarian but today I went to vegetarian paradise haha. Jodie is a celiac and therefore can’t eat wheat and has to avoid gluten. It makes eating in China very challenging! I came across a vegetarian restaurant in my guidebook so we decided to check it out. Dad - quit trying to make cauliflower soup because I now know what it should taste like! The restaurant was in the Soho area of Hong Kong and was my kind of scene. It was full of trendy bars, restaurants and quirky vintage clothes shops. Soho is all uphill so they have an outdoor escalator. It’s quite bizarre. Apparently it’s the world’s longest outdoor escalator - a wee fact of the day for you!

We then hopped on the Star Ferry which took us across to Tsim Sha Tshui, The Star Ferry is a commonly used way for locals to get from Hong Kong island to the mainland. It takes about 10 minutes and certainly beats jumping on the MTR! The view from the ferry is absolutely incredible; it’s surrounded by lights and massive skyscrapers. It’s a perfect postcard picture. The Hong Kong Museum of Art is situated near the pier to we decided to have a look around. The gallery was mostly full of paintings and lithographs of old Hong Kong. I’m not really a fan of ancient Chinese art but it was still interesting.

In Hong Kong it’s common to see people doing really strange and pointless jobs e.g. people polishing tiles, security guards in unnecessary places. According to Jodie it is to keep down the unemployment figures. In the art gallery there were three toilet attendants for one toilet. They stand there on guard for some one to leave the toilet and they all rush in and sterilise the place haha.

The Chinese swine flu paranoia continues. …… I’ve got a really chesty cough at the moment (I blame the jungle trek!) and whenever I cough I swear people turn around and look at me like I’m an actual swine flu pig! The lifts in my hotel have signs detailing how often it is sterilised. There are also lots of really cheesy adverts on the TV and posters plastered around Hong Kong.

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