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Asia » Hong Kong
November 18th 2006
Published: November 18th 2006
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Hong Kong!!

It's still technically China...but it feels very very different. Signs are in English. Everyone speaks English. There are mass tourists everywhere. The metro is clean and efficient. And prices are HIGH! Well. Still cheap compared to home, but SKY HIGH compared to mainland China. For example. In the 7-11 a bottle of Coca Cola is 6.90HKD (Hong Kong Dollars) and in China it was no more than 3. Yikes! Both currencies have nearly the same exchange, so it makes converting back and forth easy for us, we're now used to dividing everything by 8.

The sleeper bus was pretty much a nightmare. It was our first sleeper bus, our preferred method of transport was the sleeper train but from Yangshuo the most common way to Shenzhen (across the border from Hong Kong) is sleeper bus. In order to take a train we would have had to backtrack to Guilin, and the ticket was much more expensive.

Our hotel manager, sweet Deng, escorted us to the bus station shortly before 9 to help us find the bus and see us off. It was almost a tearful goodbye. We felt like this woman was a close friend of ours, she was soooo nice and sweet and genuine. Buying us fruit everyday and helping us arrange amazing tours. We hugged and she wished us the best, and stood waiting while we settled into our beds. We waved furiously out the window as the bus pulled away, both overcome with sadness at bidding her farewell. I felt like she was a long lost family member whose house we had been staying at, but we both knew we will most likely never see her again...Boo. If EVER you go to Yangshuo, China BE SURE to stay at Sweet Hotel. The rooms were so clean, the staff was incredible, and sweet Deng made every penny worthwhile. To boot, it was the cheapest private room advertised on Hostelworld.com.

Onto the bus ride. The beds were too short even for me at my measly 5 foot 3, so you can imagine towering Devlin was absolutely cramped. The bus shook and rattled well into the night, as we both lay awake on the dingy beds wondering when we would finally fall asleep. Just when you dozed off, WHAM, the bus would hit another massive pothole jarring you awake and throwing you into the hard metal guards. Ow. To top it off, the supplied blankets were the dirtiest things I've ever seen so I was scared to even touch mine. Same goes for the covers on the mattresses, but this was unavoidable. Luckily the temperature in the bus was a balmy 35 degrees (I don't know how hot it really was, but it felt like a sauna) so the furry dirt encrusted blankets were not needed.

Of course the bus didn't have a toilet, so when we needed to go we had to trek up to the front and ask the driver to stop. Does the driver speak English? Heck no. Does he even pay attention when you go up and motion to pull over? Heck no. Grrrr.

The bus was pulled over and I needed to use the facilites (a bush would have done fine) and the driver blatantly ignored me and the two other Brits behind me. Frustrated we tried to put on our shoes, but he now noticed us and motioned for us to sit down. Then a police officer appeared at the bus door and handed the driver back his license. I guess it was a routine (?) check stop.

I fell into a fitful sleep when an hour later I heard "HELLOHELLOHELLOHELLOHELLLLLLOOOOOOO" being yelled and awoke. Yup, the driver was yelling at me. We had reached a toilet. Hooray! There were no lights, but at least there were doors (unlike the first stop, which was a long trough seperated by waist high walls...no doors) and I did my thing. Back on the bus. Now relieved I managed to get some sleep and eventually the sun came up and morning was upon us. Our bananas were completely bruised and black and some even squished and oozing because the bus was so bumpy. So no banana breakfast for us.

We hailed cab and arrived at the train station and border. A quick McDonalds breakfast and we headed to depart. Goodbye China!! It was sad, saying goodbye. But I'm sure we'll be back one day.

Customs and Immigration was easy, and before we knew it we were on the other side ready to venture to our hostel. Immediately we noticed the price hike. The short train ride to our hostel cost 73HKD!

Our hostel is located in Mirador Mansion. No, we are not staying in a Mansion. It couldn't be further from the truth actually. Two of the cheapest places to stay in Hong Kong are Mirador Mansion and Chungking Mansion, tall apartment style buildings with various guesthouses and seedy businesses on each floor. Ours was on floor 13. It's not actually that bad, but the price we're paying is nearly the same as what we paid at our most expensive private room accomodations in the rest of China. And we're in a 12 bed dorm. Ahh, luxury.

It's hot and humid in Hong Kong, so the fact that I couldn't get the hot water to work was actually ok. Once I got past gasping-for-breath-holy $&@*-is-it-cold it wasn't that bad. Enjoyable almost.

We could easily shop till we drop here in Hong Kong. There are stores selling everything and anything you could imagine, from top end brands to copies of everything. Tailormade suits are hawked on every corner, electronics stores sell the latest goodies, and DVDs blare from television sets. We wandered around a very modern shopping mall tonight, filled with stores we recognize from home.

Dinner was at the most delicious Vietnamese restaurant we've ever eaten at. So SOSOSOSOSOSO delicious. Really. A little expensive, but it was recommended in our Lonely Planet and once you reach that status it's your right to hike the prices I suppose. The food was worth it. We met a guy from Montreal in the restaurant, who told us that he had his copy of Lonely Planet China taken away from him at the border from Macau to Mainland China...why? Because Taiwan is not mentioned. So he told me to watch mine and keep it hidden in my backpack if we cross back in at some point. How strange is that?!

Anyways, can't type more as internet is also expensive and we're running out of time. Just wanted to tell you all that Hong Kong is incredible, and appealing to every sense. It's nice to be back in a bustling big city.

Thailand in just a few days...more adventures! (although I've been reading about elephant cruelty so I doubt we will be riding any elephants. I really wanted to ride at least one, just to say I did it, but after the things I've read...I would rather my Baht go elsewhere)

Cheers!

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21st November 2006

So Much Fun!!
Sounds like you guys are having an absolute ball!!! How has the McDonald's been cpmpared to Canada? Your pictures are just fantastic too!! Can't wait to see you guys :)

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