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Published: September 14th 2009
After 14 countries, 7 time zones, 124 taxis, 74 minibuses, 61 buses, 32 cars, 28 metros, 11 boats, 10 trains, 9 motorbikes, 5 ferries, 4 rickshaws, 4 dugout canoes, 1 truck, 1 cable car, 1 funicular, 1 horse, 1 donkey cart and frustratingly 1 plane (not to mention 37 visits to embassies), we have made it from Nairobi to Hong Kong.
Well it’s certainly been quite a journey and we couldn’t think of a better place to end it than the fantastic city of Hong Kong. Despite being busy, Hong Kong is an incredibly civilised place and perhaps more than any other city we have visited, easy to get around. The public transport system goes everywhere you could want it to, is kept in immaculate condition and runs like clockwork. We can only assume it wasn’t like this during British rule! For shorter distances there are vast networks of raised walkways, which removes the need for
Russian Roulette style road crossing. Perhaps most impressively is the world’s longest escalator, which takes a full 20 minutes to travel the length of, not as you might expect located in a building, but climbing a particularly steep hill in the city.
Whilst in Hong Kong we generally marvelled at being in the first truly multicultural destination of our trip. After so long of having to eat the local food, regardless of how enjoyable, we treated ours some varied cuisine and dined on world class Italian, Indian and Japanese food. More predictably, we also had some excellent Chinese food and enjoyed the novelty of ordering it from a menu we could read!
As well as food, we also played to Hong Kong’s other strength, shopping and thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being able to purchase anything under the sun. Although sadly Hong Kong is far from cheap enough to indulge all of our materialistic desires. We can also confess to visiting
Marks and Spencer for a little taste of home, but with prices higher than home, we definitely couldn’t afford anything there.
We also partook in the obligatory tourist activity of visiting Victoria Peak, which is reached by an almost incomprehensibly steep tram, for magnificent views of the city. Finally no trip to Hong Kong would be complete without viewing the impressive skyline at night.
So the first, epic, leg of our journey is finished.
Next stop Australia, for the closest thing to home we’ll have experienced for quite some time, albeit the furthest away from home we have ever been .
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Kay
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Photos
I'm really enjoying reading the travel blogs and looking at the photos. thanks for including me on the list. the only downside is i'll sit and dream for a fair few minutes after reading them. take care and thanks once again K x