Wow is what we both said when we were driving through HK to our hotel; the cityscape was awesome with buildings packed in and up like we had never seen before!
Our hotel was amusing, in the little sister of the infamous ChungKing Mansions(Google it!), ours was in Mirador Mansions up on the 15th floor. Our “room” was in a rabbit warren corridor, windowless and no bigger than a box room in a 2.5 bed semi!! Well, that’s HK. We had our own loo unlike some other rooms which had to share so that was a bonus. After tripping over Karen about 10 times I decided it was time to go out before I went mad.
We spent the first full day pricing up electronics, Ipads, camera stuff etc and then went and slept on it to see what we really needed. I was going to get an Ipad but decided against it and got a PC Notebook instead, in fact we got 2 for the price of 1 Ipad. I also got myself a new lens for the camera. Again I will say that the bargains in HK are not what they once were, the Ipad was 140 quid cheaper than UK but with a new release it wasn’t worth my while. The camera lens was only 20 quid cheaper!! We went to a night market and found a DVD shop with a secret room at the back selling the latest DVDs for 2 quid a pop, the kind of price we liked ;-) So we bought a few and I grabbed a cheap player from the sellers in the ChungKing mansions and checked that they played, in fact they were perfect. We went back and bought 16 films as China was going to be difficult entertainment wise!! Therewas a nice café place that we ate at nearby and had some stunning Chinese food for a reasonable price. That night we were kept awake by extra loud Italians staying in the next room(s) who I told to shut up a few times, I have no idea why they feel the need to use outdoor voices indoors but they got the message.
Next day was off to Lantau to go on the cable cars there, we took the MTR (what a great underground system it is) and then walked to the cable car station. We got in and it took us up above HK airport and some fabulous views, it lasted about 20 minutes then you got out at tourist hell at the top.
We grabbed some noodles at a Japanese place and then trudged around the summit in and out of tat shops trying not to punch the constant picture taking Chinese tourists. They outnumber the Japanese by far now. There was a giant Buddha statue with about a thousand steps to climb, I left Karen to it and went and got an Ice cream, the view was fine from the bottom. We got the cable car back down with some annoying locals and scurried back to our hotel for some peace and quiet…or so we thought. That night we were kept awake by Chinese guests who again seem to shout to each other for no reason, I had to go out again and explain what F’ing time it was (1am).
We were both pretty edgy the next day after 2 sleep deprived nights and visited the Victoria peak via the Tram, a great little tram system, difficult to find but we got there using the outdoor escalators and some help from a friendly expat. The tram ride was really steep and the summit was the usual tourist trap but we found a 3K walk to do around the summit which provided us with peace and quiet as the locals don’t really walk anywhere. That night we were woken up by returning Asian party animals at 3am who decided to chat and party when they got back, for about 5 minutes until I got up and had a word…this is becoming a theme now.
The next day was a mission as we were going to find the grave of the Wing Chun master Ip Man. I wanted to pay my respects and we had vague directions of how to get there. After a 35 minute very busy MTR ride we got off and followed the written Instructions we had copied of the net. We got lost in 2 minutes but a local Policeman pointed us in the right direction and after a while we got to the grave and as I am not religious I performed one of the Wing Chun forms and Karen lit some incense which had kindly been left with a lighter.
On the way back we grabbed some Dim Sum from a little local place who specialized in only that, cheap and yummy!!
We went out again to eat that evening to one of the local cafes and got ready for an early night. The Asians decided it was party night again and after getting back at 3am chatted until 5am. I couldn’t actually be bothered to get up again, I think I may have passed out sometime after 5.
The last day we spent chilling out, avenue of the stars to see Bruce Lee’s statue and a kung fu demo in the park which they do every Sunday afternoon.
The last night was as noisy as ever and we were glad to leave. The difficulty is that without paying premium rates you are going to get noise and tiny rooms. However we were off to Macau on the ferry, a mini Las Vegas!
HK is a great place to visit, after 4-5 days us Jerseyites had had enough. It’s like when you spend a few days shopping etc in London, it drains you!! The people were the most helpful of anywhere we have been so far, stopping in the street when you are looking at maps, a fair few guides to point out the way in public buildings/stations/ferry terminals etc. Their English was excellent thank god, as my Cantonese was terrible.
We also got a preview of the Chinese habit of clearing your throat in the loudest and most disgusting way possible and then spitting the resulting Dockers oyster on the floor, in a bin or in a sink/toilet. Nice!
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