Hong Kong

It was pitch black outside still as we were heading to land, there were lots of little boats out on the sea with their lights on, it looked really pretty. We went to go into the arrivals area and I suddenly got pulled over and had a probe put in my ear without a word said, the lady gave me a nod so I took it as I was OK to carry on through! Getting through customs was a breeze, they don't really care what you bring into the country like others do! So we sailed through and then found somewhere to sit to get my bearings. I had worked out how to get to our hotel whilst in Sydney, but I figured it'd be easier to do it all in daylight, and there was free WiFi in the airport so we hung around for a couple of hours. Plus, we wouldn't be able to get into our room until lunch time anyway so the more time we wasted, the better. About 7am we went out to find the bus we needed, we weren't sure whether you paid on board or not and didn't want to cause a problem so we thought we'd go and ask. We had a confusing time trying to find the office but found it eventually and were told we paid on the bus so that was fine. The bus came, and he said they don't give change and we only had a $50 note, so we lost $8 but that only comes to around 75p so we weren't too bothered! We asked to go to central, where we'd then need to catch another bus. It took about an hour to get on Hong Kong Island and head towards the centre. We were both watching like Hawkes for central station, or signs for it, and also a couple of landmarks I'd noted down. People were leaving the bus in hoards at various stops, but none of them said central. We went past Bank Of China Tower which I knew was nearby, so we were expecting it to be the next stop or something. Still no sign of central. I was getting worried we'd missed our stop by this point and eventually I saw a sign for Wan Chai which I knew was East of the city centre. I was hoping I'd confused my orientation but I hadn't, and we eventually reached the end of the line. So we were left feeling bewildered as to where on earth central station was meant to be, and after being awake nearly 30 hours, and travelling for 10, we were lost in Hong Kong, with all our luggage. I didn't even know where to start. We had no maps or a guide book, no idea how far out we were or where we needed to go. Nightmare. We just decided to walk back up the road the bus drove down and hope to get to somewhere I knew. We walked for ages, and our bags were so heavy, we stopped to look at the bus route at one of the bus stops, and we'd barely made a mark on the map in getting back to central. We carried on anyway, and found a taxi bay so waited there for a bit. No taxis came at all so we had to move on again. Checked another bus stop route map along the way and had only reached East Wan Chai which was still ages to walk to get to central, especially with all our stuff. So we found another taxi bay, but still no taxis! Eventually we found a bay where loads were coming in, so we hopped in and just hoped we weren't going to be taken for a ride. It was difficult communicating with the taxi driver, we weren't getting anywhere so Phil got put on a walkie talkie with someone, no idea whether they understood us or what. I just got out the hotel confirmation and luckily it had the road name in Chinese characters, so we got going. We weren't actually that far from the hotel at all, but I only had directions from central so we'd have never found the hotel if we tried! The taxi was very cheap luckily, and in we went to check in. It was a nice hotel. We couldn't get into our room until 1pm so we had to leave out luggage in storage, and kill 3 hours. Luckily our hotel is situated right across the road from the Hong Kong zoological and botanical gardens, so we just went there. It was actually amazing and had all sorts of birds, lots of monkeys; there was even a sloth, never seen one before! Fascinating. It the gardens were lovely too. It took us an hour or so to get round all the animals, and then we found a nice area to just sit down for a bit. We were shattered. It was a beautiful sunny day, and a perfect temperature. I wasn't expecting to get much sun so this was nice, especially after having bad weather in Sydney! We decided to lie on the grass, but we got told off by security as you are not allowed on it, no signs though! Maybe it's a general thing not to go on grass in public gardens and stuff. So we sat back on a bench and rested for a bit. We decided to go back to the hotel around 12ish and ask if there was a supermarket nearby, as we were getting hungry. There was one just next door which was handy, so we used some more time in there. Everything is so cheap. And strangely, the supermarket sold a range of Waitrose food and Superdrug toiletries! I double took when I saw it, home from home I suppose! We got our food and then just sat in the lobby for the last half an hour. We got into our room which was really nice, definitely felt like we were on holiday now! We had a nice little view over the city. We sorted our stuff out and had some lunch. We just wanted to recuperate for the rest of the day really, Phil conked out after a little while, and after I shower I did too. I didn't wake up until 7pm, I slept for 5 hours, way longer than I'd planned to! It didn't really matter though. We woke up, had a bite to eat for tea, and pretty much went back to bed again by about 9ish, and we both slept through until 7am. So much sleep, but very much needed.

Botanic gardens opposite our hotel

The next morning we just popped to the shop again to get more supplies as we had a fridge in our room so could get some chilled stuff. Just up the road the other direction was Hong Kong Park, so we had a wander round there. It was another lovely park, with a viewing tower, Thai chi garden which was dedicated to all the medics who died treating people during the SARS endemic, huge aviary, a lake home to terrapins and fish, even a wedding registry, and many other things. It really was very nice. We went back to our room for a bit to eat, and then wed decided to head into the city to explore. It wasn't too long a walk to the centre. We walked up and down a couple of the main roads, surrounded by the high rise buildings, it was all very up market with huge designer shopping centres and massive banks and businesses. We kept walking one direction and saw signs for Man Mo Temple which was something I had wanted to see, we headed towards that. It was a beautiful building, and inside was incredible. So much amazing detail and colour, and so peaceful. There was a very intense smell of incense from all the sticks people put in front of the Gods. That was the first taste we really had of Chinese culture and it was great. We headed back towards the centre and got distracted by some hustling bustling side streets full of people, colour and market stalls. This was what I had wanted to see in Hong Kong, not so much the big, posh, Westernised side of it. It was smelly and grimy, but amazing and I loved it. There were some really nice stalls and the shopping got underway! We walked through these streets for a while, saw lots of nice and nasty things, and then delved back onto the main streets to get to HSBC building and Bank of China Tower. We found HSBC, 'Occupy China' had taken over the bottom floor pretty much. We went for a little wander, it was such a posh building, Phil used a computer to check his balance and then we went again! Bank of China was just next door, we didn't go in but it was equally as posh, I took lots of photos, it's a building I'm a bit obsessed with. We found our way back up hill to our hotel, it's a tiring walk back! We had planned to go out in Wan Chai that evening as it was 'ladies night' in various bars, so drinks were either very cheap or free! We got a couple of beers to drink before we went out and then got ready to go. We went out around 10.30pm, determined not to mess up as badly as we did in Vegas this time! It was about a 20 minute walk in and we found the bar we'd planned to go to quite easily. It was a small little place but really cool. It wasn't too busy when we got there but it soon filled up, I had free champagne all night! I bought Phil his first drink but it was $55, so I told him to keep the bottle and I went up to the bar for top ups regularly so I could put champagne in his bottle too! We stayed there a while, had a dance and felt pretty drunk so we left and looked for a second bar, but we couldn't find it so we just thought we'd call it a night before anything went wrong! We had both forgotten until the next morning that we went to a 7-11 shop on the way home and bough another beer! We walked back and drank it as you can drink on the streets in Hong Kong but that must have tipped us both over the edge and we can remember walking home until we got back to the hotel. No idea what time we got in but we both made it in one piece, that's the main thing. 

The aviary in Hong Kong Park

Nice little pond in Hong Kong Park

Streets of Hong Kong

As expected, we both woke the next day feeling awful! Champagne always gives the worst hangovers. So that day was a bit of a write-off! We went across to the botanical gardens to get some internet (it is free there) to try and figure out what to do for the day. We decided to go to Tsim Sha Tsui on the Star Ferry in the evening to catch the Hong Kong skyline at night. So basically we went back to the room and slept for the day until about 4pm. The cleaner woke me up, which was a good thing otherwise we probably would've stayed in all day! So we got ourselves sorted and headed inot the city again, we went down some of the roads we did the previous day again to do a bit more shopping, and then found our way to the ferry terminal. We still felt rough and it was a bit choppy on the water but it was cool only takes 10 minutes to cross. We headed straight up to the viewing platform on the waterfront to get some photos. The skyline is out of this world, you had to stand and stare and it for ages to absorb it all, it really is impressive, one of the greatest night time landscapes in the world, supposedly. After we'd had enough of that we wandered along 'Avenue of the Stars' which is like a little Hollywood Boulevard type of thing for famous Chinese actors. We didn't really know any but it was cool and there was a statue of Bruce Lee which was good. After that we wandered back towards the way we came from, and then diverted off up the main road through Tsim Sha Tsui. We reached 'Chungking Mansions' which I'd heard and read a lot about. As soon as you start walking the streets as you get off the ferry you have people trying to sell you dodgy watches or fake designer handbags, and it steps up a large gear as soon as you enter Chungking Mansions, it's a little intimidating but I was fine being with Phil. There were signs for fake Chinese visas and all sorts of illegal things, people offering accommodation, food, it was quite funny really but we didn't spend too long in there, we definitely didn't fancy using the lifts to reach the higher floors! We took a walk down some side streets, found some good shops, soaked up the busy atmosphere, and then made our way back to the ferry. Once we crossed we stopped for a McDonalds for some energy to make it back up the hill to the hotel, and we crashed.    

Bank of China Tower

Hong Kong night time skyline