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Published: October 6th 2008
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1st/2nd OCTOBER 2008 - PLANE RIDE AND ARRIVAL IN HONG KONG!!
The journey so far had been interesting to say the least!!
The drive down to Heathrow passed quickly and we didn't get lost which is a first when my dad is driving.......though we did take one wrong turn!! We arrived at the airport in plenty of time and checked ourselves in. We couldn't put our bags in until 1 hour later so we went for something to eat with the folks to pass some time and stock up before the plane! We then heaved our bags on......so so heavy (16.2kg)...and at that point in time I kind of wished I had not packed so many clothes...surely 2 tops and 2 bottoms would have been ok?!!!
After putting our bags through and saying an emotional farewell to the folks we went through passport control to browse the shops and wait for our flight. The time passed quickly and we boarded the plane at approximately 6pm. As we got on the plane we had to walk by the business class seats and Natalie and I both got excited as we thought they were our seats for a split second. We
then realised it was just a form of cruelty as we made our way to where the normal people sit at the back of the plane! Look at what you could’ve won!! The 11 hour flight passed quickly with our own TV screen for films and TV, 2 meals, small bottle of wine, eye mask, socks and free toothbrush! Love it!! I settled to watch Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging after our evening meal and then slept pretty much until breakfast!! Surprise Surprise....I think not!!!
After getting of the plane and seeing my bag safe and sound, my nervous rash faded and we made our way to the bus stop where we were to catch our bus to the hostel!! As we tried to get on the bus we were advised that they do not give change so we had to trek back into the airport to buy a bottle of water so we could get some change. By this time I wish I had not packed anything as my shoulders were already killing!! Once we were finally let on the bus we looked out for our stop on Nathan Road......the driver was so unhelpful we felt like having
Hostel Room
1920s tiled bathroom springs to mind - you can imagine our faces as we saw the delights of the room!!! fisticuffs with him but instead we got off where we thought was right.......it wasn't!! Luckily a man stopped and pointed us in the right direction via the tube.
We entered the hostel building. It was one big building with loads of hostels inside it on different floors. I think they get progressively worse the further up the building you go and wey hey...ours was on floor 15!! Ours was called 'Ocean View Guest House!' It sounds nice doesn’t it but it certainly did not have an ocean view. It is difficult to describe what it was like as it had so many good points about it....own room, aircon, shower/toilet/sink room joined on though you can't call showering over the toilet an en suite!! It was also pretty clean but despite having all the right features it was so wrong in the way it was put together!! It looked like a pre-war 1920s bathroom!!! It was all tiles and apart from the bed there wasn’t much room!! I hoped this was as bad as it would get but I feared that this may only be the beginning and some places would be even worse!! At this point I was already
Bruce Lee Eat Your Heart Out!!
My failed attempt to re-create his pose!!! Don't think I have the killer look! looking forward to Thailand!!
After having a sleep in our ‘luxury room’ we decided to have a wander out into the city. Things improved. We found a tourist information point and picked up some information about things to do whilst in Hong Kong!! We had some food (Chinese food that we had to use chopsticks for...took ages...ha!) and caught the end of a light show in the harbour. We planned our remaining days and then returned to the hostel to go to bed!! Not surprisingly, we were not in a rush to get back to the delights of the room!!!
3rd OCTOBER 2008 - AVENUE OF THE STARS & SYMPHONY OF LIGHTS!!
Surprisingly I slept really well (about 9 hours) and felt fresh when I got up! We then set off to a nice bakery we found the night before for some breakfast! Along the way we passed loads of shops....seems that Hong Kong is for the rich as most of the shops were Gucci, Prada and Dior....not in our budget!! Thankfully, breakfast only cost 20 Hong Kong Dollars which was just over 1 pound....score!! We ate breakfast in the harbour on a bench and then walked the
Avenue of Stars!! Saw Bruce Lee....or a statue of him anyway and I made a fool of myself and tried to recreate the pose...as you can see on the photo...I failed!!!
We then thought it would be nice to visit a park located in the centre of Kowloon. We expected to be able to sit on some grass and chill for a bit but that was not to be. No one sits on the grass and although we did eventually find some it was weird because everyone kept walking by taking photos of us...a little off putting!! There was also a little park behind a hedge called exercises for the elderly.....at 24 years old I know I am not heading for the grave yet but still had a go anyway!! The park was weird as it was a world away from all the hustle and bustle of the city however you could still see all the sky rise buildings around you! We then strolled out of the park and explored Hong Kong further as we tried to find a temple that unfortunately was not on the map!!
After a good walk and a little bit of a struggle
Nemo
I think i've found him!!! we eventually found the temple...not really my cup of tea but behind it there was a garden of wishes which was more up my street. There were some cool turtles to look at too!! After the temple we headed back to the hostel for an afternoon nap (must have been the elderly exercises that did me in).
In the evening we decided to go and watch the Symphony of Lights again from the beginning and thought it may be good to watch it from a boat. Turned out we caught the wrong boat and ended up doing a round trip back to the harbour before the light show even started. Luckily we still caught the beginning and watched as the buildings lit up as they were announced. The song then started and the lights flashed up in the sky from across the harbour in time to the music. There were laser beams, flashing lights and sometimes whole buildings lit up!! It was well worth a watch!
Hunger then struck and we tucked into some spaghetti from the Spaghetti House before getting tucked up in bed! I realised that many on the people in Hong Kong are quite short
and the beds must be made to match as I was far too long for mine......I had to curl up or else my feet hung off the end!!
We had decided to move on tomorrow......to a different island (Hong Kong Island) for a different experience. There were some good attractions over there and we though it would be good for a change of hostel too! We hoped it would be better than the 1920’s bathroom!!
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lefty
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heeelllooooo....
hey hey hey girlies...so wierd you being all the way out there!! sounds like your having a real advent thow ladies!!!! wish i was there with you, im excited for you and im at home sat warming ma feet up in bed...and reading this just made me smile....!!!keeep us posted ladies..follow the adventure with ya ...miss lots xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx