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Published: June 10th 2007
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The train ride itself passed very smoothly however we did almost miss the train as we were queuing with all the regular Chinese folk to get on the platform when a Chinese guard starting shouting and waving at us. It soon became clear that we were in the wrong place and due to us being foreigners we had to go through immigration controls before we could board the train, we did however discover that we can in fact run with our packs on which is a good thing!!
The cabin on the train was very nice but the toilet did leave a little to be desired as you will see below..... For the first part of the journey the scenery was fairly dull with just flat farmland to look at however when we awoke the following morning we had far more interesting views of towering tree covered cliffs, rivers and rice fields.
On arrival in Hong Kong the heat and humidity hit us like a wall!! It really is roasting here hence the tenuous blog title to the 1970's cartoon character!! On our first night we decided to go up to The Peak for a night time view
of the island and Kowloon on the mainland. The views were stunning as was the tram ride up to the top which was so steep it felt like the thing was going to fall backwards. We had a lovely dinner at the top surrounded by nothing but fairy lights (which made reading the menu a bit tricky).
With our first full day in Hong Kong in front of us we set out to explore the area known as Central. Much of the day was spent wandering the markets and shops whilst craning our necks to look up at the ridiculous number of skyscrapers. Hong Kong is very much a multi dimensional city with the everything in layers. You have numerous ways of getting about, your basic street level, then a series of elavated walkways, then trams, buses, taxis, a subway and finally boats!! We managed to use all but the subway as we didn't really need it. The trams were our favourite way of getting about as you get a good view from on the top deck and they only cost HK$2 (13p) no matter how far you go!!! It also gave us a bit of a breeze and
a break from the oppressing heat and humidity, it was 32-34degrees and 85%humidity!!
The following day we moved further East across the Island to Wan Chai and Causeway Bay, we visited the very impressive looking Hong Kong Exhibition Centre in the morning to use the Internet but also to get great views across to the mainland. We visited a tiny old temple that is built into the hillside about 1 mile back from the seafront. This used to be the seafront but due to all the land reclamation (which is still ongoing) it is now very far back. You can't help but wonder where all this sea water goes and if it will one day come back!!!!!
In the evening we visited Victoria Park which happened to coincide with a memorial evening to the victims of Tiananmen Square. There were people there in huge numbers to commerate the occasion in stark contrast to the lack of any reference to it duuring our visit to Beijing.
When we visited the mainland the next day we were a little dissapointed. I don't know if we just visited the wrong bits but within the first 20mins of being there we
had been offered about 79 Rolex's each and been asked if we would like a suit made about 100 times!!! We did manage to find some nice dumplings from a street vendor for lunch and then decided to check out one of Hong Kongs shopping malls. They really have to be seen to be believed. Everybody who lives in Hong Kong must have a lot of time to shop!! The malls are enormous and filled with every type of shop you can imagine and every designer label you have heard of. Armani even has it's own mall just full of Armani shops!!
For our final day here we decided to get away from the hustle and bustle and head to the Island of Lantau and the Po Lin Monastery, home of the largest outdoor bronze Buddha in the world!! This involves a 30min fast ferrry trip and a 40min bus drive but is well worth the effort. The buddha is stunning and the Monastery equally fascinating. They also have a vegetarian restaurant were the monks serve you up soup followed by 6 courses of vegetarian food all washed down with Chinese tea and all for the grand total of
5pounds(there are no pound signs on Asian keyboards).
We also took a walk through the Island undergrowth to the Wisdom Path, a collection of Wooden stakes about 30 foot high with ancient inscriptions on them. We also had breathtaking views down to the sea from up here. Our drive back to the ferry was hilarious, we were sat at the front of the bus and had a driver who during the 40mins must have belched about 25 times, and not just little ones either, great big burps!!
On our final evening we hit the track and paid a visit to the nighttime racing at Happy Valley racecourse. It was a fantastic evening at a great venue. The Chinese certainly like a gamble and the place was packed. We got a welcome surprise at the entrance when we got in free because we are tourists and also got a free goodie bag!! Vicky and I had set ourselves a challenge of who could make the most money from a starting point of HK$300 about 20pounds. She won by a mile!! I picked 3 winners from 7 races but Vicky picked 4 and at better odds. We ended the evening
in profit even after deducting food and beer, not bad work!!
All in all we really enjoyed Hong Kong and would definatly recommend it to anyone. We are now moving on to Bangkok from where we will explore the rest of South East Asia.
Good bye for now.....
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Paul
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Eagles!
Just back from Iceland today. Fantastic place! Good pic of you Jase in your Eagles kit! I see you still are aiming to look like Salman Rushdie with that beard! Hope you are bothing having a great time and well done Vicky for being a better gambler than Jase! Eagles!