Hong Kong: A different side of China

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We flew to Hong Kong from Xian on the 14th of November and I have to say that I was glad to be leaving China (at least for a couple of days!). It was nice to be somewhere where, for the most part, people speak some English and the toilets are clean and of the western variety! One of the first things I noticed about Hong Kong was how built up it was. Apparently, its one of the most densely populated places on the planet. Had read about the pollution and poor air quality but have to say it didnt bother me that much. Vinny, on the other hand was dying of a head cold so he noticed it a lot more.

Checked into our hotel, which was fab and went for dinner! Our hotel is in Wan Chai so its pretty bustling at night so was a cool place to walk around. With Vinny feeling so bad, it was a quiet night!

Anyway, the following day we headed to Kowloon on the ferry, which was good way to see Hong Kong! Kowloon was mental so we didnt last long there and ended up in a steakhouse spending a fortune on lunch! That evening, we headed up Victoria Peak.We got the bus which we were advised was cheap and provided really good views. Oh my God, it was terrifying!! Im afraid of heights so half way up I was asking myself why the hell I wanted to go up there in the first place!! The road wrapped right around the mountain, with only a barrier between the bus and the steep precipice but the view was amazing! We were looking down over the tops of skyscrapers that had been towering over us only ten minutes before. Once we got up there, it was class! Vinny was in his element, taking some amazing pictures while I watched from a safe distance, thinking about how we were going to have to get back down!! On the bus back, I sat on the bottom of the double decker with my eyes closed for most of the journey while vinny went up top to take more photos!

On our last day, Vinny was feeling worse than ever so we got on the tram, which runs from east to west and back across Hong Kong island! Was nice to sit up on top and see the sights without having to do any walking! We then deciding to get a ferry to Park Island to see some sort of Noah's Ark. Anyway, we get the ferry and realise we are starving so end up going for lunch in a restaurant that had "wine wednesday" so we spent the afternoon drinking free wine until it was time to get the ferry back!! Didnt even go near the Ark in the end! Legged it to our hotel to collect our bags, and head for the bus stop to get an overnight bus to Nanning, China on route to Hanoi!

Hong Kong was a cool city and would have liked to spend more time there going to the different islands and seeing more of the sights! It was a lot cleaner than China but there were still moments where we came across some strange smells, one so bad that Vinny took off running to get away from it!!

A xxx

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