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Published: April 29th 2006
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Thankfully today turned out considerably brighter than yesterday, which was fortunate cos I had plans to go further afield.
Packed up some gear and ventured down into town, crossed the harbour on the top deck of the Star ferry then jaunted round to pier 5 of the Outer islands ferry terminals to buy myself an island hopping pass.
With that I boarded the ferry to Cheng Chau and set out for a days discovery.
Cheng Chau, (meaning Long Island), is a good 50 minutes away through the busy harbour, giving you a good backwards glance at Hong Kong, much the way you imagine former British Governor Chris Patten probably watched it from the stern of Britannia back in 97 when the then colony reverted back to Chinese rule.
It's a dumbell shaped island, with two rocky and forrested areas either side of a long sand bank, which forms the foundations for the town.
Except for bikes and motorised lawn mower type things there are no vehicles on Cheang Chau which makes it fairly easy to meander through the narrow alleyways that make up it's streets.
It has a sinister past, in the 18th century it
was the haunt of demons and pirates eventually driven off the island by fishermen which is commemorated in the annual bun festival which is due next week, (too late for me), and which preparations were well underway with today as I walked about.
There have also been a recent spate of non islanders comitting suicide via Charcoal?
So much so that local holiday flat rental firms refuse to rent to single people.
Not that I had plans to stay, the town is a bit run down and squalid, though it has an ok beach, and some good walks on to the forested outcrops on either side.
Don't get me wrong, its well worth a visit, and is very popular locally, but must be a nightmare when it's hooching with people.
I was stopped by two school boys who were doing a survey and wanted my opinions on water pollution in Hong Kong.
I of course know nothing of such things, (but pretended I did)!
I did a large circuit of the island and when I got back into the centre discovered that I had an hour to kill before my connecting ferry, so
bought myself a Mcdonalds and settled down by the harbour to watch the Sanpans.
I know, I know, Mcdonalds... not very ethnic, but if there is one thing I learned from India it's that there is a time and a place to go native!
For the time being I'm on my own here people and if I suddenly get jippy tummy or the trots I'm going to be ill all by myself on the other side of the world, so I aint risking it.
There will be time for more adventurous cuisine later, (those squid legs yesterday didn't exactly do it for me)!
My next ferry took me to the Island of Lantau, which is even larger than Hong Kong island.
It has a number of communities, and is very mountinous and forrested, though in recent years there have been encrouchments from the new airport and Disneyland.
It's a 40 minute ferry trip from Cheaung Chau to the town of Mui Wo, and then I caught the No 2 bus for a 50 minute bus ride into the mountains to visit the Giant Buddha on the hill by the Po Lin Monestary.
It's
the worlds tallest outdoor seated bronze Buddha, (don't know if that means there are Buddhas standing or made of other stuff that stand taller), and it is an impressive sight, but also it's all a bit overly touristy for my liking.
It's going to get worse too, this year sees the completion of a cable car trip that will bring you right from the city across the mountains to the Buddha direct.
(Between me and you I'd have loved it to be open now to give it a try... but I think it'll also just make the whole place even more of a tourist trap than it already is)!
I climbed up to the Buddha and came back down, and had a quick mooch at the monestary but the whole thing felt very hyped and money grabbing so I opted to get on with the thing I'd really come up there to do.
In my internet research I'd found a walk that takes you from the Buddha right down through the mountains through the forest back to the town of Tung Cheng, (which has an MTR staion back to the city).
It's a three hour hike, but looked far more tempting than the crowded tourist busses that were loading up just outside the temple.
I can deffinitly reccomend the walk, though I think in the long run it did for me today.
I bareley saw anyone the entire walk, you really were out in the wilderness with only the sounds of the forest for company. At one point I did come across a village buried in the mountains but it was like a ghost town, totally deserted, the tools in the field just left there, but from the village temple could be heard very rhythmic chanting where I assumed all the local inhabitants had gone.
You really did feel away from all the hustle and bustle and the noise, and I really enjoyed the walk up until the final hour I'd say.
I think I was fine until I turned a corner and ahead of me in the valley instead of forest I could see the tower blocks of the town.
Think my brain made the assumption we were nearly there, AND WE WERE IN NO WAY NEARLY THERE AT ALL!
Though I'd packed provisions and water the final leg of the walk was really hard. The sun had come out, it got very hot, and my feet were very sore.
Still had no choice but to carry on, and finally managed to stagger into the MTR station looking, (I reckon), like I'd been lost in the bush for 6 weeks, not just popped down on an afternoons stroll.
I'd intended tonight to run one errend and then stay in the hotel.
Yesterday on the way to Ocean park I'd stopped off at HMV to see if I could get a rare DVD that Adrian had asked me to look out for.
It's by Korean director Takeshi Miike and is called IZO.
They did'nt have it, but said they could order it in for today, so I arranged that, and, (at the same time), bought him the wide screen special edition 2 disc UNRATED copy of 'The Hostel', which wont ever get allowed out in the shops back home, and which hopefully he won't try and lend to me cos it looks horrible.
Anyhow, went back tonight to see if it was in, got a different person, totally different attitude, told me it would be 2 weeks before it would be ready.
Tended not to believe him, he didn't seem like he knew what he was doing, and found myself generally a bit stroppy with him, (partly tired... partly cos he was just crap in comparison to the bloke the day before).
Oddly enough though it kind of woke me up and I set out to Tsim Sha Tsui to see if I could find it somewhere else.
Allegedly you can get anything in Hong Kong, I'm here to tell you IT JUST AINT SO!
You get offered a lot, as I pushed my way through the very busy streets in a generally grumby mood I got approached and offered all sorts of things, (AND I DO MEAN ALL SORTS OF THINGS), but when it came to DVD's I had no luck at all, (well I did get myself season 2 of the new Battlestar Galactica but that wasn't really what I was looking for).
Be it big department store or a seedy cut price knock off DVD flea pit I could'nt even find anyone who knew what it was?
At last I did find a spot in an alleyway with blaring bollywood music and assorted undesirables hanging around where they did know what I was on about.
Found myself chatted to by two scrawney youths with various piercings who told me...
'Ah Izo, it's very good, very old, not easy to get, Takishi Miike, he's our hero!'
At last I knew if I looked long enough and hard enough I'd find locals with the same sick and twisted taste in movies as Adrian.
This of course aint sorted where I'm going to find it, but I reckon I've given Hong Kong my best attempt, (I'll try other bits of China on the offchance as I pass through them)!
Right I'm going to bed, I've got sore feet, insect bitten legs, and feel absolutely done in.
Tomorrow I'm off to the races so hopefully that should all be a tad more civilised!
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Jan
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Diary highlights
Ant, you sound as though you are having a whale of a time I am enjoying the 'diary' and look forward to reading it each day