Hong Kong Phooey!

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It was Saturday and we were quite literally on borrowed time, as it was today that we would have been going to Bangkok had we not changed flights

It was another warm day in Hong Kong and we headed down to our local bakery to pick up grub. The area that the hotel is in is called North Point and is largely the area where the city centre of Hong Kong Island stops and the more traditional, less gentrified sector starts. It basically means that there is very little English instruction and a lot of small Chinese shops, cafes, malls, and residential tower blocks. And a lot of McDonalds obviously.

Walking out of the hotel you are greeted with a whole hosts of sounds, smells and an extremely humid heat. One thing that struck me first of all in Hong Kong was the constant clanging of cowbells which accompanies the traffic crossings. Constant rattling means go, intermittent ratting means go (with caution) and a constant beat means stop. The combined smell of sewage and local Cantonese cuisine were also a prominent feature of Hong Kong and was probably my main and only complaint about the city. I love Chinese food and normally by extension the smell, but what was coming out of some of the smaller cafes was a bit sickly. It was probably more to do with the hazy pollution that certain smells seemed to linger though and the pollution was an unfortunate side effect for a city that had grown and industrialised as quickly as Hong Kong had.

Anyway, that was what I'll remember most about North Point as there wasn't really much in that part of the city for us (aside from the tasty bakeries) so we jumped on a tram and headed into the centre.

Although we had done some browsing/shopping, we hadn't really explored the proper shopping districts in Admiralty and Central, so Emma twisted my arm to have a couple of hours in some of the upmarket shopping malls. Too upmarket for us it turned out as it was pretty much all designer shops with price tags through the roof. We decided to make our way to a nearby coffee shop for respite from the heat.

After a bit more exploration of the central area we headed back to the hotel and had a meal from one of the Hotel restaurants, as being cheapskates, we wanted to use the money off vouchers given to us when we checked in. The meal was excellent, although my chocolate pudding took quite a while. After dinner we decided to explore Kowloon which is on the mainland.

We train hopped to Central and took the ferry over the water to Kowloon. Jumping into a taxi, we headed to the Temple Street Night Markets; a nice claustraphobic street/alleyway of stalls selling knock off dvd's, nick nacks, jewellary and assorted clothing. Fortune tellers lined this area and although Emma didn't want to go, I considered it until I noticed there was no set price. I can't be bothered with haggling and I'm crap at it too.

Heading home we went back into our hotel room and finally had our wine. I had wisely nipped to a supermarket we had found earlier and stocked up and it tasted a hell of a lot better than the cheap Vodka.

Anyway, I think I've rambled enough and it's a bit hard to think back as currently writing this from Bangkok. We have now developed quite a back log of blogs so I don't think this one blog a day is going to hold up.

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Photos

City View
A view from the Bank of China building during the day. Think it was the 43rd floor.

Hong Kong Landscape
It's a long way down.

Not for Vegetarians
We didn't eat here

Comments

[gordon kinsella]

How tall
Gary the picture of City View, Bank of China is awesome ... WAITING FOR IT... Here it comes... Is it so clear because you had not in fact entered the building you were just walking by on the street. 43 storeys tall u are