Hong Kong
Well, the sleeper bus was something of an experience. It was fitted out with bunks which resembled supermarket trolleys. There is a little basket in which you can put your belongings and then you sleep (or not!) in a semi-reclining position with your feet wedged under the basket. You also get a huge fleecy blanket which takes up about half of your trolley – if you are more than 5ft 6ins and inclined on the tubby side you would have no chance. I can understand now why you see all those toddlers screaming in supermarket trolleys and they are not being hurled along at breakneck speed through the dark. I thought it was a bit like the Black Hole at Alton Towers, an experience I swore I would never repeat. We were at the back so everytime the bus went over a bump we flew off our “mattresses”. However, we did arrive in Shenzhen in one piece and then came the fun of finding out how to get to the border. In the guide book it makes it sound very easy but in practice we had quite a long bus journey followed by a long underground journey until we finally got to the border. Getting through was quick and easy and we then caught another train which dropped us in Kowloon just before lunchtime. Our hostel is not very nice and we saw a cockroach in the room this morning. It is, however, our first cockroach of the trip so that is not too bad. We are staying here until Friday when we fly to Darwin.
Hong Kong is a big contrast to mainland China. What a difference 200metres can make. The toilets flush, they provide paper, hot water, paper towels etc! Another big difference is the ethnic mix. There are a lot of Indian people here and so there are Indian restaurants and people on the streets trying to sell you made to measure suits and watches etc. And there is no spitting or smoking in lots of public places (huge fines are in operation for transgressors). When we had deposited our luggage in our room we went down to the Star Ferry terminal where you get the ferry across to Hong Kong island. The view across the water is amazing – although I had seen lots of photos of Hong Kong nothing prepares you for the real thing, a bit like seeing the Grand Canyon in the flesh as it were. Every time I see it I have to go “Wow!”. They have an excellent tourist information office at the ferry terminal so we picked up lots of leaflets and went off to have a coffee and consider our options. I had wondered if a whole weeek in Hong Kong would be too much but we will have trouble fitting it all in. There are so many good museums and other things to do (we are going to a free Tai Chi class tomorrow and a free boat trip on Thursday). We spent Saturday morning at the history museum and only managed to see half of it (you can get a weekly pass that gets you into all the museums for $30) and then we went across on the ferry to the island. It is an amazing place to walk round: there are sort of aerial walkways through the central part where the shops and offices are. All the shops seem to sell designer stuff so I guess you have to be very well heeled to live here. We then went to the Dr Sun Yat Sen museum for a guided tour. He was instrumental in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty (“Last Emperor”) and is a bit of a hero in HK. I don’t know how well he is thought of on the mainland though. After our bit of culture we caught the tram up to the peak just as it was getting dark for stupendous views over all the buildings all lit up. Very spectacular. We then walked down and got the ferry back to Kowloon.
On Sunday we went hiking. There is, surprisingly, a lot of good hiking in the New Territories. We took the tent and did the first section of the MacLehose Trail. The whole trail is 100k. But our section ended at a beautiful beach of white sand with waves rolling in. We camped there overnight and lazed about on the beach in the afternoon and had a swim. The water was lovely and warm. We were the only people camping there. When it got dark we lit a fire (after eating our noodles!). But when we got in the tent it was unbearably hot and we could barely breathe. I’ve never sweated so much just lying still (note to self:do not bring a 4 season sleeping bag next time). Eventually it cooled down a bit but it was a relief when the morning came and we had another swim to cool off.
Yesterday (Monday) we carried on with the trail. The second section was more interesting than the first and we gained some height which gave us good views before dropping down to yet more lovely beaches. I didn’t think that we would get good walking or beaches like that in Hong Kong – quite a revelation. The downside of the trail is that an awful lot of it has stone steps or is a concrete path. I suppose it is a permanent solution to erosion but not one that I would like to see in Scotland.
Back in Kowloon last night we went for a curry. We have abandoned the idea of eating Chinese food because Hong Kong is not China at all. You can get any sort of cusine you like. We have (I am ashamed to say) even been in the Irish pub just down the road from the hostel where a pint of Guinness is $44 (about 3 quid) during Happy Hour (5-8pm). We are off to do the Science museum this afternoon and then a walk through the market area of Kowloon.
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