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Published: September 4th 2008
Walking Tour
they have double decker trams in HKHong Kong….what an incredible place. A huge international city with skyscapers, designer shops and amazing restaurants…but at the same time, you can walk down one of the little side streets and come across a small shop selling dried seafood, or a little stall with traditional Chinese medicines. A city of many contrasts, and one we really enjoyed exploring. Oh, and it has Disneyland. Can’t beat that!
We managed to find our hostel fairly easily…after walking up and down the street many times we finally spotted the very small plaque advertising the “Yes Inn“…we then had to go to the 11th floor, and walk around a maze of corridors, before finally spotting the name painted on a wall with an arrow pointing us in the right direction. But that wasn’t all! After checking in, the girl walked us back down to the street, across the road and up about 100m, into another building completely, where our tiny little room was located. Slightly strange introduction to the city, but it was clean, so we were happy.
Ben continues.. Our first day there we did a bit of a walking tour that we picked up from a pamphlet at the
Walking Tour
old lady pushing a trolley.. airport…was a great way to see the city. It took us past some old heritage buildings, a temple, dried fish markets, antique markets, Chinese medicine shops, the Soho district with great restaurants and bars, eventually finishing at an old cathedral where we spotted some people having wedding photos taken. This tour ended close, by chance, to another area we read about and wanted to visit. It was a rail cable car that took us sharply up the steep hills behind the city to the pinnacle where they had a shopping complex, numerous restaurants, bars and an observatory platform which had incredible views of the city. We took our time, naturally in stifling heat, and took in the views… we then called into ‘The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company’ Restaurant for a few drinks overlooking the city.. This was a themed restaurant based on the movie ‘Forest Gump’(you may have already assumed as much) selling all sorts of shrimp dishes.. I sipped my beer, Sarah slurped her cocktail, and we watched a bit of Forest Gump that was constantly screened.
After Bubba Gump we made our way back down the steep descent to the city and walked down to the port
Walking Tour
dried seafood.. this place didn't smell good at all area to catch a ferry across to Kowloon. At 8pm every night they had an impressive light display over the city that was viewed from here. There was an expansive boardwalk ’the avenue of stars’ that stretched for km’s along the HK shoreline with uninterrupted views across to the city. It was buzzing with bars and restaurants and loads of people. We got comfortable at an outside table of a restaurant and enjoyed some drinks and a meal before the light display kicked off. It was impressive, using some 20 different participating buildings of the city which beamed different lights and lasers in sync with music that was played on load speakers. It lasted for about 20 minutes and was worth the effort to be there.
There was a real Olympic buzz in HK whilst we were there as the Olympics had just started and HK were hosting the equestrian events. They were proud partners of the games with loads of advertising and public functions going on all over the city.
Sarah and I have never been to Disneyland and HK had their own just a short train ride out of the city. So we decided to be
Walking Tour
me at the antique market.. package tourists and go along and see what all the fuss was about… but we regretfully found that we were 15-20 years too late. The kid in me is still alive but this sort of fantasyland does not quite do it for me anymore. It just doesn’t have any real appeal for adults… the few rides that it does have were just not thrilling enough. Sarah enjoyed it more than me.. But we still didn’t last a full day, only a few hours. The next time I visit, it will probably be with my own kids!
On a Saturday night we went out to a great Lebanese restaurant called ‘Beirut’ (thanks Briony) which had fine food and stocked a favourite beer of mine ‘Tsingtao’. We then moseyed over to a Comedy Club that we noticed when we did the walking tour. Being a big fan of stand-up in London we thought we’d check out the local action here so we bought a couple of tickets. We were early and were given some drink tokens to use down at a nearby bar.. We had a couple of drinks and got talking with the bar owner who was also going up
Walking Tour
Sarah at the antique market.. to see the show.. He actually did stand-up himself on the open mic night so this is how the association came in with the club. He was an expat from Melbourne and had been living in HK for 14 years, had a Chinese wife…the whole nine yards, so he was a good guy to talk with to get a feel for what life is actually like in HK. After a mildly entertaining show, during which we were a good audience.. We resumed drinks at this guys bar along with most of the comedians of that night, about 6 of them and the owner of the comedy club.. plus the invited guests, which was just Sarah and I. You’d think it would be an intimidating group for the two of us but they behaved and we ended up getting on well with all of them. We moved on from the bar to a 7-11 party hosted by another comedian, supposedly the funniest guy in Asia.. We drank and talked.. Out on the street in front of this 7-11 store in a bustling area of HK.. We observed the crowd…spoke to some random people…drank and talked some more. Eventually we moved off
The peak
great view.. the street into a busy bar playing live music.. Had a few more drinks, danced and sang… and finally we were the only ones left and decided it was time to leave.
The next day started slowly.. We both had hangovers. Luckily there was a McDonalds just down the road to satisfy the natural desires that came with being hung over. This was our last day so we eventually left our tiny room by the afternoon and strolled down to a local park that was teeming with people as it was a Sunday. It also had an Olympic function area with big screens, different interactive stands, fitness challenges and a band playing. We continued and walked from here into the city and did some general exploring amongst the masses of people and in the searing heat. Our fuses were burning out fast so we decided to head towards a market that one of the locals told us about. We caught the subway and arrived where we needed to be. The market was one main narrow street that continued on for almost 1km.. They had just about anything you wanted.. All leather goods, electronics, clothes, shoes, toys, fake Rolex’s… plenty
Kowloon
traditional boat of imitation items that were pretty good quality (and Sarah would have bought lots of if we were heading straight home!). I actually bought a fake Rolex and am quite proud of the purchase, it cost me just 200HKD or 30 aussie dollars and looks the real deal - and it is still working. We also bought a digital alarm that does some strange things sometimes…but also does the job of waking us up. After we got bored of the repetitive nature of the market we settled in to a fancy Pizza Hut restaurant.. I know, where has the culture gone… but we were still struggling from the previous nights shenanigans and this was by far the most luxurious Pizza Hut we had ever been to so it was well justified.
We retired early that night as the next day we had an early trip to the airport via the express train. Next stop India…the last country we visit before our adventure must come to an end. Luckily we do have plenty of time for India.. So the fear of reality dawning on us is a little way off yet. As we boarded the plane we were both excited
Kowloon
At night on the avenue of stars.. and nervous as we were leaving some mild comforts in Asia to be thrown into the depths of discomfort, for 10 weeks...hopefully we were prepared and more importantly, we hoped we liked it!!
CYA..
Luv Ben & Sarah
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