Hong Kong-first stop in Asia

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We arrived in Hong Kong after 16 hours on the plane from Newark. It was such a weird feeling to have got on the plane on Monday afternoon and then suddenly (well, after about 4 films and 10 in-flight meals) it was Tuesday night. We didn't even have to change our watches-12 hours ahead exactly. We slept quite well through the first night and thought maybe we had beat the jetlag, but it really caught up with us over the next few days.

Our hotel was in Aberdeen on Hong Kong Island, a bit outside the main area but good as very authentic Chinese feeling and not a lot of English spoken, or on any of the menus which made for fun at meal times, or when trying to get buses! We walked for miles the first day, all around the Hong Kong Island central area and we went through the Botanical gardens and free zoo towards the peak tram-well worth the trip. The tram wasn't very dear and the view from the top was amazing. A really pretty city. We went through the busy bar district area and had lunch in a kind of fast food chinese place-very different from the kind of chinese takeaway at home but really good food. We found that Hong Kong wasn't as expensive as we thought it would be as long as we ate and drank in Aberdeen, outside of the centre.

Day 2 we spent taking the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour and walked along the Avenue of the Stars-chinese style-with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan! They were the only ones we knew! We wandered around Kowloon and ended up getting soaked in a good old thunderstorm-well, we did choose to come to Asia in the rainy season! There is more thunder-and louder-thunder than we have ever heard at home but they go over quite quickly and then it is hot and sticky again.

A running theme in Hong Kong seemed to be lots of walking in the day and seeing the sights (and spending time in the massive ifc mall looking at the expensive shops) and then falling asleep at about 6pm and waking at about 4am! Nevertheless, we enjoyed our first venture into Asia-a good starting point as you can definitely feel the British past-driving on the left, old Dennis Fire engines and number plates like at home. On the other hand, Aberdeen, which is an old fishing port, felt very chinese and it was great to walk by all the shops and see what was on offer. The people were really friendly and we stuck out like a sore thumb as seemingly the only westerners around that area. We didn't get a chance to see the Big Buddha but I am sure there will be more on our travels. We did manage to cross the world's longest bridge on the way to the airport though! Next stop, Hanoi, Vietnam-into the unknown for us!

Love from us xxx

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Comments

[Gillian]

Nice that this blog entry has a huge ad above it saying IS YOUR DESTINATION IN A MALARIA ZONE? Hope you've got your tablets!!! xxx

[DazandDebs]

Hi
We are soooo lucky we managed to get some from other tourists!! xxx