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Published: December 18th 2014
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Hi guys! Hope you're all fine
This is my third travel blog of my world trip, focussing on Hong Kong. Although it actually includes other areas too!
Leaving Tokyo, I flew to Hong Kong with a transfer in Taiwan, unfortunately only spending an hour there - but enough time to buy a souvenir, and see some views out of the plane. I then flew into Hong Kong circling over Hong Kong Island, and again seeing great views over the central areas.
On my first full day the weather in Hong Kong was torrential...getting absolutely drenched after a few minutes, despite all my waterproofs on, but this didn't matter so much as I walked a short distance to the ferry terminal, where I would take a ferry over to the Portuguese version of Hong Kong - Macau. The territory was handed back over to China in 1999 and unlike Hong Kong is very very small (around half the size of San Marino, compared to HK's half the size of Luxembourg), and actually makes more money in gambling than Las Vegas.
Luckily the weather in Macau was much nicer, although it did make
the first half of the hour long ferry journey pretty bumpy. I then spent about 5 hours walking around the territory, starting with the newer developed areas where the casinos are, before walking around some of the more Chinese areas, and then over to the landmark of the city - the ruins of St. Paul's - a former cathedral that was mostly destroyed by a fire after a typhoon in 1835, with only the front façade remaining. It was here that the bizarre moment of my trip occurred, when after being asked by a group of what looked like Chinese to take a group photo for them, I was asked if they could take a photo with me...
The following day I made my way over to Lantau Island, close to the airport to visit the Big Buddha statue and Monastery (which was unfortunately undergoing major reconstruction) at Po Lin before visiting the traditional village of Tai O with stilt houses. Making my way back to Hong Kong earlier than expected, I walked down much of the length of the main street in Kowloon, on the north side of the centre and taking the ferry back across
Po Lin
Hong Kong Victoria Harbour. I then rested back at my hotel for an hour or so, before meeting up with my first friendly face of the trip - Pan, who I had met in Germany almost two years previously, we then spent the evening together watching the Light Show over the harbour and then visiting the markets in Kowloon.
The next day I took the trip up to Shenzhen, crossing into Mainland China, which after handing over about £50 and walking over the busy predestrian bridge allowed me access to the Special Economic Region - far easier than applying for a normal visa. I was then met by another friend of mine, Alex who took me round the city - which felt in many ways just like Hong Kong and not as communist as I had imagined, as well as visiting the Diwang Building, the 17th tallest in the world.
On my final day in Hong Kong I spent the day on Hong Kong Island, visiting The Peak, as well as some of the central sights like the escalators uphill, Hong Kong park, and the convention centre. I then headed over to the airport and awaited
my journey to the next destination....Australia!
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