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Published: April 30th 2008
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Here goes the first of perhaps many or possibly not many entries into my travel blog...
Setting off with a glint in my eye and a backpack which would surely set the back of a Himalayan sherpa out of joint it was a gloomy day in Manchester as I set off airport bound. An uneventful flight to Heathrow, which included a free breakfast miraculously, followed and I checked into my Hong Kong connection at Heathrow... All normal it would appear.... Now after the usual temptation of buying toblerones and bottles of spirits you neither need or like, and I set off to the departutre gate to board the luxury 747-400 series Quantas airplane to Hong Kong, a mere 12 hours of in-flight fun...
Not at the gate I had been advised to ask for a free upgrade to normal person class from stuffed in like cattle class so this is what I blagged for, I mean did... ON asking they tehn conter-asked me if I had 2 bags... Now I'm not going to lie, this threw my well-oiled plan of tears and ple bargaining for a free upgrade into anarchy to my bemusement... I advised them that I would
need an african elephant to transport my baggage if I were to bring nay more and as such only have the one bag which I entrusted your fine airline with no more than 3 hours ago... I got the dreaded "just sit there for a second and we'll sort it out".. Cue a lot of tapping of computer keys and turning the radio down so I couldn't hear what was happening... Sure it'll be fine won't it... It would appear not. After much deliberation and general bag theivery cover-ups and very nice lady advised me that my bag was lost and was not on the flight at all.. Ah well sure I'll travel light I thought...
The lovely Quantas people provided me with so many great options on what course to take...
(1) get on the flight minus 1 bag and live a life of squalour
(2) don't get on the flight, rage and if there were not seats on the next flight, lose my money and flights...
A hasty decision was made to board the flight minus baggage and 12 hours of top quality video, documentary and sport biography watching later I was touching down in Hong
Kong rather randomly!!
Off I went at 8am to find my hostel which when found it, with the aid of a fantastuic local woman who brought me there on her way to work, appeared to resembel what I imagine Spandeau prison in Germany would have looked like in it's prime... 14 floors up i found a welcomgin local couple who appeared to have hired me their spare room for the night... Not to worry a bed's a bed.... great!!
Straight back out and up to the Peak it was on the famous peak tram... Very nice views even if the smog covered half of the city but nice all the same... The gradient comign up is pretty fierce, you wouldn't want the brakes to fail or you'd find yourself a premanent fixture in downtown Hong Kong... After a buit of a walk around the peak and the obligatory photographs from every angle back down I went and grabbed some beef and ginger dim sun which were great... next it was the Star ferry across the harbour to Kowloon and some more photos of the rather impressive skyline of Hong Kong island... Nice.
At this stage sleep deprivation
kicked in and it was back to the hostel of doom for a few hours kip. On waking up at about 9pm I went out to the Mong Kok area in which I was staying and popped into a local death cafe complete with all types of food guaranteed to make you ill. As the manu was in Chinese and there wasn't a hint of English being muttered I ended up with spicy noodle soup with beef dumplings and crab sticlks... Don't ask how as I have no idea. Anyway it was spot on and had a couple of beers with a local guy there who was a reitred accountant even though he looked about 40... Work hard play hard eh... After this it was Champions league semi-final time back in teh Wan Chai area of Hong Kong Island. This place is pretty grim with many;s a western steak house and a touch of neon to say the least... But it was a place where the man U game would definitely be on... There was a US Aircraft carrier in and as such the place was awash with US idiots, lashed and annoyingly American... After avoiding them like the plague
and the considerable populous of Thai/Hong Kong prostitutes who were out in force, I ran into a couple of Scottish lads over for a conference. A couple of pints later and I bid them farewell and watched the triumphanty reds stutter to the final... hurrah...
Now that beings me to today where I caught the fast ferry to Macau straight after the game and if anyone has ever been to Macua they may well know that all there appears to be to do is to gamble in the massive casinos... Off I went to the Sands and then onto teh venetian complete with Canals, gondolas, shopping malls and yes, a casino of course, it's Macau remember... Anyhow not one to shirk away from irrepsonsible gambling I decided to join the rather worryingly intense locals who sat stauchly in their seats only moving to pay more of their hard earned cash to teh casino with no hope of winning... I won of course... Me being lucky and all that... 170 quid to be precise... No idea how I did it but the chain smoking chinese man beside me didn't look best pleased with my lack of gambling know-how but abundance
of jamminess... ch ching....
Then it was time to say goodbye to the gambling capital to get to Singapore. The free shuttle bus from my adopted home for a few hours, the Venetian, brough my to the airport, I checked in and then fell asleep only to awake on final call. Lucky indeed although another 170 quid could've been jammed but I didn't want to take toom much money off the casinos!!
So there it is up to here. Nwo in Singapore. 30c at 10pm, pretty darn humid and allegedly no mosquitos... not so sure about that one!!
Will add some photos soon and you can all see the fantastic sights I have described in such glorious detail. Until then keep er lit...
Owen
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Morty
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HEEEEEEELLLAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!