Second day in Hong Kong

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Today was my second and last day in Hong Kong.

Last night after I wrote I wandered down to the harbour to see the city lights at night. It was very beautiful because there was still a thick cloud of heat haze resting across the bay and it made all the city lights blurry. The sky scapers looked less bold, even a little bit fragile, quivering in the hot, hot heat.

This morning I caught the Star Ferry from Kowloon across the harbour into Hong Kong Central. It is a gobsmackingly beautiful city. Clean, immaculately groomed and filthy, filthy rich.
I did all the touristy things while I was there, mostly because I couldnt think of anything else to do. First I caught the infamous Peak Tram to the top of Victoria Peak. I was told it would be pointless going on a wet and hazy day like I did because I wouldnt be able to enjoy the view. But I thought the view was breathtaking, just because it isnt the view they try to sell to tourists. Giant pillars of steel and glass emerging through the smoke and fog circled entirely by massive, jagged, and luscious mountains. There was something primordial about that view. The bonus was I didnt have to share it with loud, sweaty tourists. It was quite tranquil to be away from the constant hustle and bustle of the city.

After the peak tram I went to the Zoological and Botanical Gardens. They were very cute, and best of all, free. The Botanical part of the garden was basically just a lawn and a fountain, but the Zoological part was pretty cool. They had all sorts of monkeys and I got to see baby gibbons and baby lemurs. They also had the most beautiful collection of birds, the most amazing of which were the Sacred Ibises, the Blue Cranes and the American Flaminos. They even had a random and probably quite lonely echidna plonked in a cage with half a dozen Golden Lion Tamarins. The best part was I got to see a sloth, and I saw it move (after waiting patiently for half an hour).

The craziest thing I saw was the green house in the Gardens. I looked out of curiosity because Hong Kong IS a green house. If it were possible for humidity to reach over 100% Im sure HK is the place to make it happen. Turned out that it was a reverse green house, refridgerated to hold a pretty impressive collection of orchids. I spent more time looking at the orchids than they really deserved because it was so wonderfully cold.

By the mid afternoon I felt I had seen most of what Hong Kong Central had to offer so I headed back on the ferry. The highlight of HKC for me was definately the pond out side the Bank of China building that was home to the most amazing school of gold fish I have ever seen. There would have been close to 100 of them, all of them nearly two feet in length and so vividly coloured in red, yellow and white they they looked like they glowed.

That night after a much needed nap I headed out to the Temple St Market. It was totally overrated. It was definately cheap, I dont dispute that, but it was all crappy touristy stuff like watches and earings and little electronic doodads. I bought a watch for $3 because I needed one.

I discovered that Hong Kong food is an indecipherable thing. Its either outrageously expensive or outrageously cheap, and neither gives you a fair indication of quality. I had very expensive, very average duck noodles for lunch, and very cheap, very average fried noodles for dinner. I am a bit disappointed really, everyone raves about Hong Kong food. Ive been picking places at random, trying to get places that are busy looking, and I have only had one hit in four.

Honk Kong is very spectacular to come and look, and a simple entry point for travellers because it is so westernised, but I think I have seen most of what it has to offer. I have heard that it is a great place to do shopping, but I havent seen much of that. All I wanted was a plain cotton shirt and I couldnt find ANYTHING. I was looking for some kind of Target or Kmart equivelent, if it exists I didnt find it. All the shops are boutiques to cater for the thousands of gorgeous little asian girls who are superbly dressed with perfect hair. They are all so dainty and pretty they made me feel like a big clumsy ogre with my frizzy hair and daggy baggy T-shirt.

Tomorrow I am heading on to Guangzhou, a quick train ride north of here.

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