Hong Kong in July - DO NOT wear a hoodie and jeans when trying to get from the airport to the hostel, with all your bags on your back in 30 degree heat - ancient Chinese proverb.

---

Final blog people! D'oh.

So, yeah, got off the plane, sort of forgot about the whole north hemisphere/ south hemisphere thing, and immediatly regretted the fashion choice. It is about 35 degrees here during the day, and dead humid too. So, I was very unpleasnt by the time I found a hostel.

The hostel is hilarious, by the way - in a place called Mirador Mansions, and huge and filthy block of shops and backpacker places, it is one of the least pleasnt places I've stayed so far. It stinks and it is hot. But, on the upside, it is very cheap - about 4 pounds a night. Which for Hong Kong (or Kowloon, actually) is very good.

Anyway, by the time I got to the hostel, I had been travelling for 23 hours, so I grabbed some noodles to eat, and hit the sack.

The next day, I got in touch with some old mates from school who are all living here. We arranged to go for lunch, so I had some time to kill in the morning. I, geek that I apparently am, went to the Hong Kong Space museum, which was a wee bit dated, but OK to pass an hour or so.

Anyway, met Stan and Louis for some lunch (the mates are chinese, by the way, which is a major advantage in restraunts - most of the time they refuse to tell me what I'm eating until I've eaten it, but its always good). After eating we crossed the harbour, to get to Hong Kong Island, to go and watch New Zealand play South Africa in the pub. Stan and Louis still play rugby out here, for a local team, so met a few of their team-mates in the pub too.

After that, we went wandering about, went on a rickety old tram (which I am told is more or less only used by tourists), and then went to a video arcade place. That was pretty odd - the place was huge, and absolutly packed.

After being thoroughly embarrased at various shooting games (I seem to have lost the video game knack that I possessed when I was 14), another old school friend, Kency, turned up. So we went back to the pub. I should explain at this point that I am not an alcoholic - in Hong Kong, shopping, eating and drinking are the major activities. And since I am in the habit of avoiding shopping at all costs, eating and drinking is what was left to do. Not that I was complaining!

Anyway, we then went for another meal - and in true chinese style, everone ordered something, and then shared it all around. So, ate all sorts of good stuff, half of which I would not be able to point to on a menu.

That night, we picked up yet more people from school who happen to be living here, and went to a bar - where I learnt a chinese drinking game. Or THE chinese drinking game - every bar has these tumblers with 5 dice in each, which you each have, and you roll them and then guess what everybody else has. Sounds a bit odd, but it was good - spend a good while playing that.

Anyway, after a few beers, it was decided by Kency that we were going to go to DisneyLand the following day. He also suggested that I stay at his house, having seen the state of my hostel, an offer which I took him up on.

So, the following morning, we headed off to Disney Land, for a day of cocking about. Great fun, until I took out my camera to take a photo of the castle (had to have at least one tourist snap) and discovered that I have cracked the screen. This is the camera I have had for about a month. Pants. Anyway, still takes photos, so no big deal.

After going to every ride twice, we went to have a meal in town. We went for a hotpot - I mentioned to Kency that I liked spicy food, and we went for a particulary hot one. A hotpot, by the way, isn't a stew like in England - its a pot of boiling soup (and chillis in this case), which you cook various meats and veg in. We made our way through two enormous plates of beef slices; a plate of fish dumplings, a plate of vegetable, and a plate of what looked suspiciously like testicles. I am convinced they were little chicken kidneys (when they were cooked, they soaked up the soup, so they popped when you bit into them - took me by suprise a bit the firt time...), but Kency maintains it was something's balls. I am pretty certain he's taking the piss, but not totally sure...

After that, I was were totally stuffed, so headed back to the hostel for the night.

The next day I spend wandering around Homg Kong Island, and went to the Zoo and Botanical gardens which were nice, and the Hong Kong Park, which was good too. So hot though - not used to all this nice weather!

Oh, I also went for Dim Sum for my lunch - but somehow ended up in a massivly posh hotel restraunt. I didn't realise it was nice until I sat down, and then it was too late - I'd waited for a table and everything. People were wearing shirts, I was in a pair of worn out shorts and a sweaty T-shirt. Oops. Also, according to the menu, it was voted one of the top 15 eateries in the world by some American publication (and the only chinese one). That would make it the best chinese restraunt in the world. Ha!

Fortunatly, the Dim Sum (steamed dumplings filled with a variety of things, by the way) didn't set me back anywhere near as much as the rest of the stuff on the menu, so all was well. But I didn't hang about after I'd finished...felt a tiny bit out of place in there.

That evening, I took the tram up to the Peak, the mountain on Hong Kong Island to see the skyline from up there. Spectacular views, and I took a few photos, but no idea how good they will be, as the screen on the camera is broken. Damn Space Mountain.

Then, met Kency again for some more food. We headed to Temple Street, in Kowloon, to a tiny place that I'd never be able to find again. Had some great things though, like deep fried clams in chili and blackbean sauce; oyster fritter-things; and 'four seasons pork rice'. Oh, and a chinese sausage (the ingredients of which I was advised not to question).

And thats about it. Having seen as much of Hong Kong as I intended to, I have spent the day doing very little, and just sorting out my stuff for the flight later on this evening.

Sad to be finishing my travels, but Hong Kong was a nice way to end things - seeing some frineds I havnt seen for 5 years was good, as was the city. And the food...

Anyway, I shall be seeing you all shortly - hope the blogs were OK, and thanks to the 20-odd people who are still reading them (that right - I have a counter thing that lets me know how many times something has been read). Those that have read them all win prizes. Figurativly speaking.

Simon.

---