The end of Asia looms

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Well our one and only week in the HK is just a single sleep away. Sad times. It's been good to say the least. We (that means I, because I was in charge of the map) eventually managed to stop getting lost when I bought a compass from a market stall. Only prob there was that it took a while for me to figure out which squiggle meant North and which one was South!!! With that mastered I got way explorative and took Ali to many an island via many a train/tram/ferry/metro/way dodge bus. That's when things got exciting and we found tourist attractions instead of our ghetto. This involved Hong Kong island which is a much calmer place. We found temples, the antique district, strolled, up Victoria Peak to get a view of HK beneath us. There was a shopping mall at the top which is surreal to say the least. The view was also slightly obscured by the smog cloud that swamps the joint by most avo's. After our descent back into the pollution we dandered, or should I say got transported, up the longest escalator in the world - which may I point out has nothing at the top of it of interest for those of you who may visit - and walked back down again!

Temple trails and a tram followed. I was ok at getting the 2 of us on the right tram back to the ferry we planned to take back to our ghetto. The problem was getting off as no one knew what we were asking and the ferry was hidden from view by skyscrapers. I didn't tell Ali we got off the tram 6 or 7 stops too late and had a chuffing huge walk ahead of us. She survived!

Another day, another island. Visitation of the Tian Tan Buddha statue beckoned. Good times. This trip could have involved the utilisation of a cable car - not a mode of transport one frequently comes across - but alas the queue was over 2 hours long and we actually communicated with someone who could point us in the direction of the right bus. Wahey! A trecherous bus ride later and the Buddha loomed over the treetops. This is not just any old Buddha, but the largest bronze Buddha in the world that faces China in an attempt to make them like the ole HK before the handback. Nice. Every tourist and local in the surrounding area appeared to have flocked to it as well. Didn't give us the serenity we craved though.

Now in our early days in HK (1 week prior to this), I had seen the most amazing postcard of a wishing tree which I promptly sent to my Grandad fyi. "We must go!" I declared to Ali and so we did. 2 buses and a train later we arrived, and may I say the difference between postcard and reality were apparent. As we arrived a cry went up around the 12 house town of "People...They've come! We can afford to eat again!" (That is a loose translation using the Chinese I've picked up on my travels and during my time at my language college). We promptly got ripped off during our 'wish making process' and tried to scarper asap using the bus/train in reverse.

I threw caution to the wind and made a stop off at Sha Tai's 10,000 Buddha monestry. Blew the tree out the ground! All red and gold we scaled the heights in the rain to find that not only were we the only tourists there, but that it was a spectacle worthy of the 10,000 stairs that accompany the climb to the monestry (didn't actually count). This did at least in part, help us to recover from a wasted morning with the tree of twigs.

So that was our most cultural accomplishments. The rest of our days were spent bartering in the markets, parcelling up the bought goods to send home in a rather large box, and hanging out in parks. There was more involving me making a friend in durham and playing Chinese drinking cards into the wee hours, but I'm cream crackered after this epic and it wasn't that interesting anyways, so will catch you up from the land down under!

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Photos

Big buddha
It was big.

10,000 Buddha monestry
It was red