KOWLOON, HONG KONG

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After the cruise I was spending 5 days in Hong Kong (22-27th Jan) and unfortunately because its winter in January, the place was cold and wet and foggy. I am truly amazed how the weather can go from 26 degrees to 9 degrees in just 200 miles. I'd booked a Hotel in Kowloon so after checking in, I headed to the Post Office to post my lacquered panels home.

Even though I'd been to H.K. before, I'd planned to do a lot of touring and photography. However, there didn’t seem any point in going up to The Peak as you wouldn’t see anything with all the mist and cloud coverage, so I went down to a Station to pick up an Octopussy card (which allows you to travel on all transport instead of having the right change), put $HK500 on that, before going to a Tailor and ordering, & paying for some waistcoats to be custom made in chinese silk.

Well, thank goodness I did because the following day in broad daylight, a pick pocket nicked my purse from out of my backpack in broad daylight, whilst I was walking along the street. I didn’t realise a single thing until I went to return to my hotel and get my keycard out of my purse. Discovered it then- and cannot tell you how my heart sank.

They got away with $HK2,000, $A350, my travel card with $HK500 on it, my Driver’s Licence, Gold Debit card, Seniors Card, Hotel keycard and I think a few other cards, but I can’t remember what they were.

Worse still, it left me without any money whatsoever and not knowing anyone in Hong Kong. I had to place a couple of trunk calls to my Bank in Australia and Visa to freeze my card, and that night didn’t have any dinner as I didn’t have any money to pay for it. Visa can transfer money to you, however, because it was Chinese New Year, all the Banks were closed for the next 3 days, so I was really in the stew.

That night was the parade through the streets for Chinese New Year, but I was still upset by the whole experience and had lost my enthusiasm for H.K., so I just watched from the landing of the Hotel with another Chinese American couple. Surprisingly, on learning my plight, they presented me with a red envelope with $HK10 in it. Soooo nice.

Whilst dropping off to sleep that night worrying about how I'd pay for the trunk calls and indeed, even get a train home from Sydney Airport, I remembered that an Australian couple from the ship had given me their business card and on that, would be his mobile number. So (thankfully) I rung them and they loaned me cash to get me by (which I could transfer as soon as I got to an internet café).

Needless to say that experience put a real damper on Hong Kong, plus I wasn’t feeling that well with my cold, and what with the weather being cold and wet, I decided not to bother with touring and just whiled away a couple of days in the Hotel room (after I’d got a Police report). Such a hassle and it ruined all my plans I had.

I did finally go out at night to photograph the fireworks for Chinese New Year, the laser lights across the harbour and the lights along Nathon Road (the main street of Kowloon), but my enthusiasm had gone and I was looking forward to leaving and getting home.

You see some right sights in Hong Kong with fashion and you can buy just about anything in the shops, but this Kenwood with its bling really takes the cake. :-)

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