Hong Kong

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Hong Kong - How much bbq duck can you eat in the land of suzie wong??

Well, a lot if you're a 6'5" brit who loves his msg. It was our second visit to the steamy city of Hong Kong in 7 months and it was no coincidence that we picked this cramped island for a whirlwind visit. From the weird, wonderful and sometimes downright putrid smells, to the maze of undercover walkways linking all the designer department stores, unbearably humid weather, delicious restaurants with pickled poultry hanging from their windows, dozens of tailors offering you discounts on 'quality made' clothing, the contrast of ludicrous wealth and prosperity with the humble offerings of street hawkers, the magnificence of the city skyline from kowloon....you either love it or hate it....and you can confidently lump us into the former catergory.• city highlights: the shopping! if you're into your designers and bling, than look no further than this city....in fact no further than every half block where you'll have 50 of your top designers stuffed into every department store; getting suits/shirts made to measure by local tailors who were skillfully able to turn them around within a 24 hour window; the trips to kowloon on the star ferry that never fail to give you the most romantic view of HK island (in jean's opinion anyway); train ride to the peak to witness the grandeur (and smoginess) of the city firsthand; the tourist trodden visit to temple street night markets.• Accommodation: 4.5/5 for a very modern hotel room in wan chai. we were surprised at the sheer size of our digs considering that the city is reknowned for having miniature sized everything. what proved to be amusing was that our bathroom had completely see through, glass walls....no more secrets!• food: for those who like it traditional (including the authentic glaze of msg), it's a food junkie's heaven! we ate our way through bowls of noodles, bbq everything, a very aggressive and crowded yum cha session and sweet/savoury baked pastries.• misc: everyone kept mistaking jean for a local and barking instructions in cantonese/mandarin at her much to paul's amusement; watching the elderly do their tai chi exercises in victoria park; finding ourselves sticky and wet with perspiration at 9am in the morning whilst walking to central....and then being blasted by sub zero airconditioning when entering a department store resulted in paul catching his first cold on this trip!

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