Hong Kong

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We take the shuttle bus to Tokyo airport at 7am, try to check in at business class but get politely turned away and have to queue up with everybody else (as usual). This is suprising as I've gone to a real effort with my appearance, sewing up the big hole in the arse of my trousers with a snazzy blue thread. Obviously the Japanese don't recognise high quality tailoring when they see it.

We've been pretty thrifty and bought breakfast from the 7/11 last night, we spend the rest of our change on some cans of hot coffee (much better cold). I then try and spend the remaining 73 yen (50p) on something but even chewing gum is out of my range.

The flight leaves at 10am and we are treated to a great view of Tokyo and then Mount Fuji. I can even see a bullet train below following the same direction (nothing else could be going that fast) but it can't keep up with a 747.

I expected to see the Hong Kong skyline on the way in but it's not visible between the airport and mountain inbetween. We arrive with little fuss and take the express train into the city from where we take a connecting bus which drops us around the corner from our hotel in Kowloon. It's very hot and humid when we step off the bus, we're staying in a very busy area called Tsim Sha Tsui but fortunately it is only a short walk to our hotel which is icy cold and nicely scented when we arrive !

We get cleaned up then head out to the tailors - Raja Fashions where I get measured up for a suit. I went in with a strategy for negotiating the price, however the salesman showed his experience and had me choosing fabrics and styles before the final price had been agreed. Consequently he had me in a weak position when it came to final negotiations. The price was good compared to what I would have paid for the same thing in England but I definitely could have done better.

We went for a walk down to the harbour to see the famous skyline passing through the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui. It's very different from Japan / Tokyo and more typically Asian with food smells, narrow pavements, liquid dripping from buildings above and generally a lot more chaos. It's fun though and everything seems more familiar than Japan so it's easier to get into. The fun really starts when we hit Nathan Road - the main street in Kowloon, this is full of electrical shops, watch shops, jewellers, tailors and constant hassle from people in the shops and also on the street selling fakes (although a lot of the shops look pretty dodgy too).

When we finally escape we catch our first view of the skyline on Hong Kong island lit up at night. It is breathtaking and we excitedly rush down to the promenade for the prime view and light show at 8pm. The music for the lightshow is a bit naff but it looks spectacular and there are loads of photographers wanting to take your picture in front of it. We were stood next to a group of South Americans who were having orders barked at them from the photographer - "stay still" "next one" "don't move" as they rotated in front of the camera. After the light show we went to a fancy bar called Aqua with great views of the harbour and expensive cocktails, also confusing mirrored walls that you walked into after drinking your cocktails and needing to relieve yourself. We walk back to the hotel, get a pizza and watch Flight of the Conchords on the laptop. Bed.

The next morning we take the subway over to Hong Kong island to check out the famous view from the highest point - The Peak. The walk from the subway to the tram station isn't very far but the difficult bit is working out which overpass / underpass to take to get between the massive buildings and roads that are between them. When we get to the tram station we are both pretty hot and bothered. The tram ride up is fun and brings us into a 7 storey shopping complex with viewing platform on the roof, the view is everything you can imagine and thankfully it is slightly cooler due to being 500m up. We head back down and have a very nice lunch in a snazzy food court with all the bankers and other city workers. Lots of westerners. After lunch we have a look at the HSBC building which looks like a robot and rub the paws of the big bronze lions (allegedly for good luck), then head up to the 43rd floor of the bank of china building for another great view.

In the evening we go back over to Hong Kong Island, this time on the ferry and look for a place recommended in the book for yum cha (dim sums). It's a really humid night and we have more fun negotiating the streets and buildings until we eventually find it only to discover that it's closed until September. We walk over to an area called Lan Kwai for a Malaysian meal, this is quite a lively night time area and we're both close to boiling when we get there so the touts trying to get us into their restaurants do not receive a friendly response. The food is good though and we chill out after a spicy Malaysian and Tsing Tao. More Flight of the Conchords and bed.

We get up a bit late the next day and take a midday ferry over to Lantau Island to see a part of Hong Kong without skyscrapers. There are quite a few sights to see on Lantau Island but it is very very hot today and we walk from the ferry to the adjacent Silvermine Bay Beach which is pretty good considering how close it is to a city of 7 million people. The water is a good temperature but there is quite a bit of debris in it so we give it a swerve, instead taking regular cold showers to cool down and then lay down in the shade again. We had planned to hire bikes and ride around a bit but the heat knocks this idea right out of us and we just kill a few hours on the beach and then get the ferry back to the city. Back off the boat we discover the real way to walk around Hong Kong - through the air conditioned overpasses which seem to connect every building between the ferry port and the dim sum place we head to (this would have been good to know last night). This time it's open and what a treat - an old fashioned little place with wooded mirrored booths and amusing old waiters making funny noises as they pour our tea and bring out the cracking food - magic. It seems to have cooled down a bit so we look around the shops for a bit and then get the subway back to Kowloon to pick up my suit which is already ready, very impressive.

We get cleaned up then go out for a few drinks in the local area. We have one in a trendy little backstreet place full of locals then go to the Intercontinental Lobby Lounge bar for a spectacular view of the skyline with prices and service to match. They are pretty clever in these places, they have a minimum spend per person which is about 1 and a half times the price of the obligatory cocktail so you can't just have one. This coupled with the fact that they were very potent we leave after midnight very happy and also in posession of some stolen little towels and napkins that will be useful for patching the arse of my pants which have since resplit. We then do what everyone else would do in our state which is to get a kebab and then wake up the next day regretting it.

We have a late flight to Bangalore but don't have to check out till midday so feeling pretty rough we get up and go over to the lovely Hong Kong Gardens including a brilliant aviary before rushing back to clean up and pack our bags. I take my suit to the post office to send home, then we go over to the famous Peninsula Hotel for afternoon tea. One of the things it's famous for is the standard of presentation of not only the hotel but also the style of the clientele. As we queue up to be seated we can't help but notice the sign telling us that we don't meet the dress code due to the flip flops we have on (it is over 30 degrees outside, and we didn't arrive in aircon rolls royce). I do a couple of buttons up on my t-shirt and we stand trying to look as affluent and regal as possible. Something works and although we get an up and down, we are shown to a table albeit over in the corner out of main view. The tea is as good as you can imagine and it helps the hangover a bit. We then walk over to the very impressive Hong Kong museum of history including a very interesting bit about the Japanese occupation during the war which filled in some of the gaps from what we saw in Hiroshima. We head back to the hotel and then after a weeks research I finally make a decision and buy the camera I decided I couldn't afford not to buy while we were in Tokyo and Hong Kong. We then take the bus to the station of the airport express train where brilliantly they have a check in desk so we don't have to carry our big bags through the airport - great. At the airport we have something to eat then change our remaining Hong Kong Dollars and Japanese Yen to Indian Rupees before boarding the plane at 10pm .....

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