Episode Six: In which our heroine hits Hong Kong

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Including her fantastic adventures:
Checking out the Walk of Stars
Relaxing in Kowloon Park
Fending of fortune tellers...
& hawkers...
& prospective husbands
Riding on the Star Ferry
Checking out Victoria Peak and the Peak Tram
Viewing the harbour lights on the Star Ferry
& Soaking up the Christmas Spirit at Santa´s Village

Wednesday started at 5:15am, when I woke up ready for George to drive me to the airport. I saw Cinderella Man on the flight, which I really enjoyed, then tried unsuccessfully to get some rest. Having had little sleep the night before, my arrival in Hong Kong had me tired and slightly grumpy, especially after more dragging of my bag through the streets getting hotter by the minute in inappropriate clothing (due to my assumption that the weather would be similar to that of Beijing). However, after checking into the hostel and changing clothes, I was most appreciative of the 25 degree weather and set out for a walk around the streets of Kowloon. I had managed to find a bed 3 minutes' walk from the harbour for only $A12 a night, so I was pretty happy with that.

After wandering down the famous shopping street of Nathan Road, checking out some of the prices, I dropped into a convenience store and picked up some sushi and fruit for lunch, then made my way towards the harbour. I found a nice spot in the park to sit and eat, and was enjoying the peace and quiet when along came a guy to stare at me. So far, my least favourite aspect of travelling alone, and I suspect particularly as a female, is that I tend to be bothered more by people wanting to talk for some reason or another. Often it's nothing more than hawkers trying to sell things, but there were literally hundreds of them, especially in Hong Kong. Over the course of my one hour walk around town, I had already been approached by people trying to sell me watches, clothes and electronics (usually trying to interest me by telling me that I was beautiful, or tall, or should be a model), two guys (separately) who could see luck in my face and wanted to tell my fortune, monks (or people dressed as monks?) trying to get donations for a new temple, and a multitude of others that I could barely see due to the brochures they were shoving in my face. So having finally found a quiet place to sit, I didn't really want to be interrupted.

The guy came over and said "May I join you?" and my first thought was that if I pretended not to understand him, he'd move along. So I said, "Sorry, no speak English," in a terrible fake accent and what do you know, he sat down next to me. He spent about 3 minutes unsuccessfully trying to find out where I came from and what language I spoke, mostly because I couldn't think of anywhere realistic that I'd be able to pull off. I tried a combination of ignoring him, giving him blank stares and saying "no understand" before finally throwing out a few sentences in quick Spanish, praying that he wouldn't understand them and would just leave. He was a determined fella though, and decided to strike up a conversation anyhow. Now I don't mind people who want to have a chat, but when the first question is "Are you married?" you get a bit of an idea of what their intentions are, and after he persisted with a number of variations on that theme, I pretended to understand one of them, and said "Yes, yes, boyfriend home." Apparently that meant nothing at all, because the next thing he asked was if I was alone, and although I pretended not to understand, and kept insisting that I had a boyfriend, his next idea was "I can be your second boyfriend in Hong Kong." Well, I figured that was enough reason to get up and leave, no matter how great my lunch spot had been, so I "caught on" to what he was trying to say, said "No, no, goodbye" very heatedly in my attractive accent, and made a point of "storming" off until I was out of sight, making a careful note that pretending not to understand English doesn't work.

After finishing my not-so-peaceful lunch wandering along the harbour, I came across Hong Kong´s Avenue of Stars, very similar to Hollywood´s Walk of Fame, but a tribute to Asian cinema. They had a number of different statues featuring various crew roles in the film industry, as well as many stars on the pavement with the names of various actors and actresses. Most of them I´d never heard of. In fact, I only knew four: Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Chow Yun Fat, but that was probably more than I expected. There were lots of people milling around taking photos of themselves with the various stars. Apparently there was a Bruce Lee festival on at the time, and a new statue of Bruce Lee had been unveiled a few days earlier in honour of his being named "Star of the Century" by the Hong Kong Film Awards Association, so that probably contributed to a lot of the excitement. I walked further along the harbour, and it was really nice to be back in warmer weather, despite the smoggy skies over the harbour.

I then wandered back up Nathan Road and in and out of the various shops. I didn´t really have a plan and was just wandering around the streets, but after a while I came across Kowloon Park, which was wonderful. In the middle of all of the hustle and bustle of the traffic and neon lights, it was amazing to find such a peaceful, quiet place that was green, natural and full of gorgeous old trees, birds, water features etc. I sat there for a while and watched the sun go down, and it was really rejuvenating after being "harrassed" all day. There were different kinds of birds all over the park, and lots of signs warning people not to get too close to either the birds or their droppings in case they caught bird flu. I thought it was quite amusing because flamingos aren´t the first things that come to mind when I think of bird flu, but I kept my distance anyway, and I haven´t had any "flu-like symptoms" so I think I´m safe.

After dinner at a little noodle bar in the back streets and some more wandering around, I made my way back to the hostel, where I talked to some of my roommates and read some of the Hong Kong brochures I had collected, making plans for the following day....

After a sleep in the next morning, I caught the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island, where I spent the majority of the day. I caught the Peak Tram up to Victoria Peak, which was a good experience. The ride was fairly steep, but the views from the top were magnificent, despite the construction work going on. I walked along the little trail up the top and looked out over Hong Kong. The walk probably took an hour, and it was once again really peaceful and relaxing. For most of the time, I was the only person on the path. When I arrived back at the top, I explored the shopping complex there before catching the tram back down the hill. I spent the entire afternoon wandering around Hong Kong island, including the other side of the harbour, some shopping centres, St. John´s Cathedral and a couple more parks. I don´t know what I would have done without all of the little natural refuges in Hong Kong. I enjoyed the city, but I really felt like I needed a break every so often, and they always seemed to pop up at the right moment.

I caught the Star Ferry back across to Kowloon, where I had a rest for a while and dropped off some of my things at the hostel. At dusk, I set out again to see Hong Kong´s Christmas displays. The Tourism Board had set up Santa´s Village in Statue Square on Hong Kong Island, and having passed it earlier in the day, I decided to go back and check it out. I caught the ferry across the harbour, where most of the buildings on either side were set up with Christmas lights. Arriving at the other side, I walked through "Mistletoe Boulevard" and arrived at Santa´s town. It was an amazing Christmas display. There was a giant Christmas tree, lots of little buildings including Santa´s Lodge, Santa´s Post Office, Santa´s Clock Tower and the Snowy Chapel, all lit up with thousands of coloured fairy lights. At the Post Office, you could either send a letter to Santa or write a message to be displayed on the big screen in the Square for everyone to see. There were wishing trees scattered all over the Square where you could tie Wishing Cards with your own thoughts, and even a Advent Calendar where you could reach in and pull small presents out of that day´s box. Everything was completely free, and there was a great atmosphere around the area. Even though Christmas was a long way away, it felt really special to be enjoying the celebrations in another country.

After spending some time there and getting dinner nearby, I caught the ferry back across the harbour and returned to the hostel, where I packed my bag and tried to get some sleep before leaving for Japan the next morning.

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Photos

Flamingos
Kowloon Park

Cinematographer and Director
Hong Kong´s Avenue of Stars

Fishing Boat
Victoria Harbour

Self Portrait
On the Star Ferry

Christmas Tree
Santa´s Village, Statue Square

Comments

[Jon and Jenny]

Christmas
We saw about the Hong Kong Christmas displays on TV. They looked awesome. Go the Flames.

[Joseph]

You get the Hong Kong christmas displays - I get Lobethal and Deano giggling, Kalinda randmonly laughing and the Nyberg family losing the plot altogether. Hmmmm .... how much to Hong Kong?

[Kris and Tony]

Christmas
We went to Lobethal - didn't see a Santa's village as good as that one!

[Vanessa]

Happy Christmas!
Happy (Belated) Christmas Kirsty San! Hope you enjoyed your day being half way around the world (how exciting!) ...That Christmas village/tree looks awesome!!! Miss you, luv ness! xox