After the luxury of 3 days in an actual real-life home (thanks Paul and Victoria and congratulations on the arrival of baby Maiya!) we got into another train bound for Hong Kong. Guangzhou is only about two hours from Hong Kong but I think by this point we had had a lifetime’s worth of train journeys and it felt much longer. Getting into a taxi at the rail station reminds you that you are no longer in China – since the taxi driver actually spoke English (of sorts) and there was no need for hand signals, maps and exasperation.
We had booked a hostel in Kowloon (Hong Kong is split into Kowloon on the China side and Hong Kong Island over the bay) over the internet. It had some pretty good reviews. Pretty good reviews that must have been written by blind and deaf people! The hostel was basically a corridor on the seventh floor of a crumbling residential block. The reception area was tiny and piled high with papers, laundry, and people’s bags. There was only just space to squeeze past into the narrow and drab corridor that lead to our room. And our room! Firstly it was tiny and felt like we were back on the Trans-siberian train again (if I rolled over in the night I had to be careful not to roll into Christian, and we were in separate beds!). Secondly it was very noisy and we could hear sirens and shouting as though they were just in the room next door (which is a possibility). And lastly, it was just bad.
Christian declared it was the worst place he had ever stayed in and so to take our minds off the awful accommodation (Golden Island Guesthouse – don’t be fooled by the name) we spent most of the next two days out of it. That evening we met up with some English friends who happened to be in Hong Kong that weekend. We went for dinner at Aqua, a restaurant on the 28th floor of a building next to the harbour. The views were amazing and the Skyscrapers really are phenomenal (all the more so when you see that they are built using scaffolding made of bamboo!). We then took the Star Ferry across to Hong Kong Island for a night out on the town.
Something that struck us about Hong Kong was that we were no longer celebrities! Unlike in China, there were Westerners everywhere (especially on the Island itself) and so the days of feeling like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were officially over. We had a fun night on the island and the next day while Christian nursed a hangover I took a wander around Kowloon. There is an amazing contrast between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. Kowloon is a jumble of street markets, cheap eats and people spitting, and like China you have to be careful where you put your feet. In contrast Hong Kong Island is a maze of wide streets, over and under passes to get you between skyscrapers and across busy roads, and shiny metal. If Kowloon is red neon then Hong Kong Island is mirrored glass.
The streets of Kowloon
And just across the water; Hong Kong Island
That afternoon we wandered around a big computer market trying to find me a laptop. Christian asked technical questions that (hopefully) made us look like we knew what we were doing, whilst I picked them up to assess how much they weighed, and made comments on things like… colour. We made a mean laptop-buying team and I came away with a great notepad (EeePC if you are interested) which I love. In between shopping, we watched a local football game and also some basketball and felt like real locals.
On our last day in Hong Kong we took a walk though Hong Kong park to the tramway that took us up to Victoria peak. The park itself is a lovely green oasis where birds and terrapins thrive, just next to towering skyscrapers. The tram is a cute experience and after being forced to walk past shop after shop selling overpriced souvenirs on the way up to the viewing platform, Victoria Peak offers a fantastic unobstructed view of Hong Kong.
So what was our overriding view of Hong Kong? Well, I think Hong Kong lost out slightly in our eyes because we had just come from China which was full of challenge and culture shock. In comparison Hong Kong was more familiar. There were many highs (skyscrapers, Victoria Peak, our dinner on the 28th floor, catching up with friends, me bagging a bargain laptop) and also some lows (our dismal hostel, the realisation we were no longer in China and gone was our celebrity status), and after a few days there we were ready to move on to the challenges of Vietnam. Vietnam was great and I still giggle thinking about our time there, so I hope you get some laughs too from the next blog.
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