Sat in the airport ready to leave Hong Kong having had a great few days being a tourist... Even if the weather was pretty poor!
Arrived at about 5pm on the 7th with no idea where I stay or how to get around. First went to Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon to try the YMCA with no luck. Then went to the Holiday Inn... Still no luck! Totally exhausted I decide that (even knowing the stories behind them) checking into a guesthouse in the Chung King Mansions was a good idea!
The room I was given was quite possibly the dirtiest room I've ever stayed in... Having said that I did have a great night sleep and I did find a decent place to stay while using the free wifi!
After "checking out" (just left the keys on the bed as there was no reception) I jumped on the very efficient MTR (mass transit rail... No messing with words) to Hong Kong island to find the hostel I'd looked up, yesinn @causeway bay, which turned out to be one of the nicest hostels I've stayed in!
So after checking in and meeting one of the guys in my room it was time to be a bit of a tourist! I went and did what I normally do when I get to a new city... I went and got lost! Wandering around the causeway bay area of the island in the middle of the day turned out to be a bit of a silly decision as after about 5 minutes I was dripping! Nevertheless I strolled around Victoria park before retiring to the air conditioned library (which is massive) to cool before heading back to the hostel!
After arranging to watch the first match of the Euros with Joe I decided to pop to central for some local food. Having failed to find and street vendors in central I jumped back on the MTR to Kowloon to try there. Having strolled around for a while I ended up at the Temple Street night market which was full of street vendors as well as what you'd expect from a market in Hong Kong... Lots of replica goods!
Having eaten I wandered around the market a bit more before heading back to the hostel where I briefly met Alex before heading to buy a few cans before the game. Head out about 11.30 to find a pub/ bar showing the game to wander into the red light district and finding an expats bar... Result!
The game ended and it was definitely time to head to bed... Only thing was it was hammering it down. Ducked down an alley where there was a couple of market stalls after about 20 seconds of looking found what I was looking for... A bit of plastic sheeting big enough to use as a cover! After a 20 minute walk we were back at the hostel and passed out!
Woke up the next day at about 11 and headed to get some dim sum with the boys in a little spot Joe had been shown by a girl the day before. Nice enough food... Not sure I'd have it again but at least I've tried it! After brunch Alex headed off to the Picasso exhibition while Joe and I headed to a electricals mall before splitting up. I went to the Hong Kong history museum for the early afternoon which was quite interesting but without a guide of some sort, it's a lot of reading!
After I was done there I had a wander around Kowloon park, which was very much like Victoria park, before heading to star house and harbour city shopping centres, both of which are very designer based areas. Jumped on the star ferry back to hong kong island, had a quick look around the IFC mall before jumping on the MTR back to the hostel where I chilled (quite literally) for the evening while watching the hangover in the communal area. Early night.
Got up fairly early (about 9) and head to Lantau island to see the 23m Buddha at the top of the hill. After a fairly long MTR ride I got to the cable car station. Queued for about an hour before buying a ticket and then another half an hour before being told that the cable car was no longer running due to high winds... Great use of my day!
Jumped on a bus to the Buddha which took an hour but I chatted to Mandy from California most of the way. Wandered up to and around the Buddha for a while before heading to the local fishing village Tai O. Wandered around there for about half an hour before heading to the ferry. Caught that back to central and then jumped on the MTR to Kowloon to find the electronics mall Joe took me to do I could get a couple of memory sticks to send pictures home. After about an hour of searching I final found it, bought what I needed and head back to the hostel to die!
Packed my bag, sorted my pictures and had a power nap before heading out to find a bar to watch the England game. Come 2 in the morning after a bit of a poor game crashed in bed ready for my flight to Bangkok!
Woke up at 6.50 and got the MTR to the airport where I am now. And that's Hong Kong... Now it's time to tear up Thailand!