Hong Kong

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Cathay Pacific rocks. We managed to get extra leg room, great movies and plenty of red wine/beer on our flight from London to Hong Kong. The only downside to the flight was that we didn't get any shuteye for the whole flight.

We landed at 6am or so and headed towards our hotel in Kawloon, the 'Las Vegas', which promised sea views, big windows allowing us lots of light and very spacious. The Las Vegas was nestled within a building in Kawloon, an area renowned for its multi national community y, shops and the ability to score a 'real' Gucci bag or Rolex. Not that we are snobs, but we were after a sea view and a sea view was not what we got. Our view was of a million small windows belonging to people who lived within the enormous building. However, the room was clean and it was cheap enough at £15 per night !! .

Shattered and feeing slightly nauseous, we headed towards the boat's that were to take us over to Hong Kong island. Once on HKI, we just didnt know what to do with ourselves, we were too tired to sight see but we didnt want to go to sleep so we headed for Repluse Bay, a little gem of a place not at all what we expected, with a beautiful clean beach. Very different from the local beach in Korea ( Haeundea). There was no litter (which the Koreans seem to be blase about ) as the $500 dollar fine keeps the Hong Kong community and it spotless sand at a enviable level. Within an hour, we were snoozing in 36 C heat...

After our catnap, we headed back to Kawloon for some dinner and drinks, however we were not very rock 'n' roll and headed to bed at 9.30pm!

The next morning we woke full of energy and were up and out of the door by 9am. We headed to the island of Lantau by subway to Po Lin Monastry to see the Worlds largest outdoor seated Bronze Buddha. The Buddha was enormous, however we did feel a bit cheated as it was not that old and we felt it had possibly been built purely for a tourist attraction.

We followed a trail up to the mountains through to the Wisdom path and found spectacular views of the Buddha and the area it was built in. On the way we found the biggest spider we think we have ever seen!

Postponing lunch, a visit to the Tai O ( traditional fishing village) which was a short bus trip away seemed worth checking out. The touristy guidespromised Fishing junks, wooden stilt houses, shrines and temples all inhabited by the old fisherman and their families. On arrival we were aware off the lack of young people and so after a little investigation and typical Emma questions to the local templekeeper, it would seem the young folk had headed towards the bright lights of the city.

Then it was time to watch the sympthony of lights, a lightshow that lights up key buildings on HK's skyline. The views were incredible and well worth the dash across town to see the show in time.

To top the day off we headed up to Victoria Peak by tram, an incline so steep that the buildings look like they have been built at a 45 degree angle. Again, the views were amazing.

HK really is an amazing city. Vibrant, cosmopolitan and cultural. Contrary to what we had originally heard, HK is not expensive. We had a great 2 day trip and spent next to no money. Of course it did help that Emma could not be bothered to visit the markets! HK is suprisingly clean for such an overcrowded city and it helped that there were many English signs informing us of what things were/meant/sold.

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Photos

Buddha
largest free standing Buddha in the world ....apparantly

buddha pic 2
maybe its is .......

buddha pic 3
maybe it really is .......

HK LIGHT SHOW
COOL

WORSHIP !
incense stylee

chille nature vibe
emma stylee