Is not enough. By a long way.
Hong Kong is a great city - already one of my favourites. I arrived very early in the morning on Friday - about 7am, after a rather nice flight with Cathay Pacific. The food was surprisingly nice, and the entertainment system is among the best I've seen, although I'd already seen most of the films on there and the remaining few looked shite. I watched the entire first series of The Inbetweeners for the first time - very funny, very impressive. I talked for a long while with a nice Welsh chap sitting next to me, who was on a rather ill-advised journey to propose to a woman he'd met on the internet a few months ago.
Anyway. After landing I went straight to my hotel - one of dozens of small independent guest houses in a huge dedicated building, called "mansions". My room wasn't ready yet, but they let me leave my rucksack behind until it was. So I went off, little backpack in hand, to have a wander.
I was in Kowloon - one of the main areas of Hong Kong - which is a very busy, popular area. You can't help but notice the thousands of people buzzing about. It's the middle of summer here and you really notice it. 35C all the time, even at night. I've got to say it became a bit unbearable at times. It gets to the point where you're soaked through in sweat where you have to bail out and head indoors somewhere - nearly every shop/restaurant/pub is overloaded with air conditioning, which was handy, and very often a life-saver.
I must confess that I didn't really do much on my first day except take a wander. To be honest I feel that is quite a good way to get to grips with a new city - walk around it, explore it, get lost in it. It's perhaps the best way to navigate yourself around the entire time you're there.
One thing I did notice is that you did feel quite safe - it's a very clean city with a subtly large police presence. It's also extremely clean - I don't remember seeing even one piece of litter on the floor! There's also a lot of improvements going on to buildings, especially in Kowloon. Here is Hong Kong's version of scaffolding:
Bamboo!
This is a typical street in Hong Kong:
There is a rather large number of hawkers on the streets - mainly Indian men offering you discounted suits or watches, or locals offering you cheap massages and "more"... Fortunately they are no where near as bad as the Zambians - just say no and they'll back off on at least the second rejection (Unlike in Zambia where you literally have to tell them to f*ck off - twice)
When it came time to properly check into my room I took the time to sort a few things out, and decided to leave my little backpack behind too. It was just too warm to carry it along. A bit more exploring and a badly scalded hand later (long story; it bloody hurt) I found an Irish pub down the road (If in doubt, find an Irish pub) then went back to my room for sleep.
Fully rested, the next morning I made a plan for the day - to be a tourist, but to try not to cram too much in. I really wanted to go to see the Giant Buddha - but it was far too far and perhaps expensive to get to; I'll do it next time.
Instead, I wandered down to the pier at Kowloon, where I got my first, proper look part of the city - and wow, it's impressive.
You can't even fit it in one photograph! I got ferry (The green and white thing in the right of the picture) across to Central - total cost 30p each way - then caught a bus up to Garden Rd - total cost 40p - in order to catch the tram to The Peak. I had to queue for an hour, which is where I noticed this:
Flagstaff House!
Random! I didn't have time to do any investigating - perhaps next time.
Finally, I reached the end of the queue for the tram, and boarded. It is a very steep journey, but very much worth it, because at the end of it you get to see this:
WOW. What an incredible sight! It's just HUGE! And so vast!
This is The Peak
From which you can see that view. Total cost? About a fiver for the tram and entry to observation deck.
I caught a taxi back down (the queue looked almost as long to get down to get up) to the pier, and with the sun setting, decided to head back over to Kowloon and to the Sky100 - the tallest building in Hong Kong and the fourth tallest building in the world
It costs about a tenner to go up to 100th floor - 379metres up! You go from 2nd floor to 100th in 60 seconds!
Once again - it's an impressive sight.
(Please ignore the reflections in some of these pictures - it really could not be helped)
A new favourite sunset picture - from the fourth tallest building in the world:
SO there you go. I've had to stop writing for now as boarding for Auckland is about to start; forgive me if this seems rushed.
It's a huge regret that I have only spent 2 days here. I've nearly fallen in love with the place. It's certainly opened my eyes up to seeing more of Asia, something I could not have said two days ago. I wish I had longer - I'll definitely be coming back on the journey home from New Zealand - and for longer.
See you soon, Hong Kong
