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Published: April 27th 2006
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Well got here in one piece, AND WHAT A LONG JOURNEY IT WAS!!!!!!
Finished work at 6pm Tuesday then train to Preston, train to Manchester Picadilly, train to Manchester airport, overnight in a hotel then Plane to Frankfurt and finally Jumbo Jet to Hong Kong, arriving here this morning at 10:15am.
Not a comfortable journey, Lufthansa don't give much leg room, though to be fair they seem quite generous in handing out the free drink!
Gotta say, (cos I'm a show off)... HOW CLEVER AM I!
A few weeks ago, when I was trying to use up last years leave before this years started, I spent one Thursday sitting with my laptop in my dining room going over every minute detail of the Hong Kong leg of this trip and today it paid dividends.
Everything worked like clockwork, came through customs without a hitch, followed my own printed instructions to the airport express link, got on the train, (great system the express by the way), took it to Tsing Yi, where I got off and picked up my Octupus travel card, (as ordered by me online in advance via the net that same Thursday), followed my
instructions again via the MTR to Lai King, changed and took the Hong Kong line to Prince Edward where I got off, followed my instructions again straight up the road straight into my Hotel.
I'm a smart arse I know, and if I keep going on about how clever I am no doubt I'll get bitten there eventually!
Really like the hotel, as your probably aware I don't go overboard on costs of Hotels so to have somewhere that is really quite decent is a surprise to me.
My rooms on the 11th floor and has got a massive picture window that looks out over Kowloon.
I spent an hour unpacking, and freshening up then I got back to my itiniarry and hit the streets.
First port of call today was Victoria Peak, which I reckon is anyones first stop in Hong Kong normally, though June did warn me to stay away if it was cloudy.
Well to be honest cloudy it was, but I took the risk, climbed on the furnicular railway thing, (probably should have sat down on it cos the floor tilts at a fair old angle on route), and made
it to the top to find things a bit misty and overcast, but the view still good for some photo opportunities.
(Reckon it'll not be my only visit while I'm here though)?
Then it was back down and on to the Star Ferry to cross over to Kowloon.
(Which is probably the other touristy thing everyone does on their first day in Hong Kong).
Gotta say the ferries are smaller than I imagined.
(Not a problem... they just are)!
Didn't know you had to choose between your top and bottom deck either, (first crossing I went over on the bottom deck, which I'm guessing is more used by the locals).
(Had a bit of a Blue Peter moment when boarding, got the distinct feeling I'd been through this before with Valerie Singleton on Special assignment sometime around 1974)?
They kind of get you on and off like cattle being loaded and offloaded at Silloth docks, (if they still do that), which seems to work.
The cross across the bay was shorter than I thought too, (I imagined half an hour with a bar where I could order gin slings), I can
get from the centre of Carlisle up to work on a stagecoach bus in more time than it took to cross the harbour!
(Crossing though, busy waterway that it is, good fun)!
I'm fininding a lot of things smaller in Hong Kong than I thought, (not so much the people I kind of guessed that would be the case), I kind of imagined it on a larger scale, but it really is a lot of buildings all crammed into a very tiny area.
On the whole I've been finding the folk friendly enough, (not at all impolite like all the guide books suggested), and as a city it's fast, modern and very westernised.
In fact after India last time where I spent every moment fighting off folk who wanted to become my new best friend it was kind of nice to walk around the city streets without anyone batting an eyelid at you or giving a toss who you are.
That kind of ended when I got off the ferry at Kowloon though, around the ferry terminal I was slightly mobbed by Indian blokes wanting to make me cheap suites or sell me dodgy watches,
but I managed to fight my way through them.
Had originally planned to do afternoon tea at the Peninsula hotel, (kind of become a tradition having tea somewhere posh everytime I go away), but I looked at the outside and it looked nowt outstanding, (not a Raffles standard of experience I reckoned), so I gave it a miss and had a look in the space museum instead.
Been kind of wondering why the Chinese would have a space museum, (totally forgot they have a space program)!
Went to this planitarium show thing which was a BIG mistake.
Didn't cross my mind until I found myself lying on a reclining chair in a dark room with the stars above my head and soft orchestral music playing around me that I'd just that morning gotten off a 14 hr flight where sleep was something I don't reckon I did much of.
Within seconds I could feel myself nodding off, I fought it a few times but before you knew it I'd gone and didn't come round until the 'wonder of the cosmos' stuff was drawing to it's conclusions.
When the lights came up I got a
lot of looks off folk, (think I might have been snoring)?
I then went for a mooch about to find some grub but didn't have much luck.
(Nobody throw stones at me... BUT CAN YOU BELIEVE I COULDN'T FIND A TAKEAWAY)?
Lots of sit down type meals but all I wanted were a few noodles with something in them!
Ended up with a bit of pizza, (and one of my stashed Yorkies from my emergency supply of food)!
By then it was getting dark so I walked along the Avenue of the Stars, (which is kind of Hong Kongs tribute to it's film industry).
Adrian is the bloke to see about Asian cinema more than me, though to be honest I don't think any of his kind of films were being honoured here and he wouldn't have been impressed!
It was more Jackie Chan than Chan Park Wok, (is it Chan or is it Kim), and not a sight of anyone having their eyes gouged, tounges slit or any other gratuitous Asian extreme type violence.
The other reason for being here at night is to witness the 'symphony of lights', which gets
a lot of hype in the Hong Kong tourist literature, but to be honest I thought was a bit crap really.
(Sorry but I'd been led to expect more).
Basically you stand on one side of the harbour and all the lit up office building and skyscrapers on the other side, (of which there are many), do this sort of laser, light switching off and on thing to music.
In theory it sounds worth seeing, (kind of assumed I'd come back every night), but in practice it seemed a bit tame to me.
(Could be I'm just VERY tired, so don't be surprised if I've changed my opinion by tomorrow).
I took the Star Ferry back to Central, (top deck this time), and there found a spot that would do me takeaway steak/ham and rice with chopsticks.
Bought a bottle of pop and took it all along to Chater Square, (think that's what it's called), which is a small pleasent square next to the MTR station surrounded by skyscrapers, and littered with fountains and tropical plants.
(You don't get any real litter in Hong Kong, I'm telling you you could eat your dinner
off the pavement... and at some point, if my chop stick handling don't improve, I may well end up in that situation).
While I sat there I watched a group of lads practicing tai chi in a corner of the square and in a glade on the other side a group of girls practicing ceremonial sword fighting.
(Gotta beat hanging around the back of Spar with bottles of white lighting like the kids back home do)!
I'm back at my hotel now, going to have an early night and get myself all woken up and refreshed for doing lots of stuff tomorrow.
Hope all's well with your all at home.
See ya for now!
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Claudia
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White Lightning!
I thought this stuff was only made and drunk by American hillbillies in the outermost countryside of the southeast USA. The things you have taught me about the world, my friend. I am convinced I am twice the sophisticate that I was prior to making your acquaintance. That's a partly tongue-in-cheek statement, as the white lightning bit is just the tip of the iceberg in the list of interesting facts and random amazing occurrences that could assail any tourist that your travels have introduced to me. Honestly, seeing the world through your eyes is top drawer entertainment! And I felt like I immediately understood your impression of Hong Kong being a compaction of buildings in a very small space. That's how I felt in New York City. I expected it to feel so much bigger and unmanageable. But it didn't. It makes me think New Yorkers have really put one over on the rest of us, because their municipality really isn't the bellybutton of the universe. I'd give that award to New Orleans, instead, and maybe allow New York an armpit. (Oh, dear--now I'm getting catty.) What did you think of the latest terrorist acts on the Sinai peninsula? Were they anywhere near where you were in Egypt? All is well in old St. Lou. We might have gone to a Cardinals baseball game tonight with my new clergy pass, but there's two excellent shows on TV tonight that we were drawn to more. It's turned chilly here and that could be uncomfortable at the stadium. Plus I have to be up early for work tomorrow morning. I also had to go to the grocer's and get ingredients for a recipe I'm submitting in a contest, due by 11:59 p.m. on the 30th, that could win me a trip for two to Italy. I've been so busy lately, I'd not entered a grocer's in more than 2 weeks! Keep up the great commentary! And be safe, too! Claudia