We arrived in Hong Kong after travelling for about 12 hours to find it was so easy to navigate the public transport system. Everything was in English so we jumped on a bus to get to our guesthouse.

We weren't expecting a lot from the place we had booked and we definitely didn't get a lot! Space is a premium in HK so all the rooms are tiny but this was tiny on a whole other level. It was basically a huge block of flats with guesthouses, cafes, gyms etc on each floor. The only thing it had going for it was that it was clean. Unfortunately our room which was £16 a night went up to £21 a night so we had to move to the infamous Chungking mansion on our 3rd night. As you approach the mansion (don't let the name mislead you it was another block of flats) you have to run the gauntlet and get past about 30 men hanging around outside trying to sell you things, get you in their guesthouse etc. Once past them you walk through a shopping area with people trying to sell you sim cards, get you in their restaurant etc and THEN you have to queue for ages for the lift! It was definitely not the Ritz!

We felt like we needed a sign saying "we don't want a copy watch, or a copy handbag, or a guesthouse or a tailor" we used to take it in turns being annoyed at being hassled!

Apart from the accommodation we LOVED Hong Kong, it's such a chaotic city and some of the sights are bizarre but it's so tourist friendly and you can get everywhere on the metro.

On our first night we were walking down a street when we realised we were on petshop street. It started with tanks full of fish and terrapins and progressed to hamsters, rabbits, cats and then dogs! We couldn't get our head around the fact that there was a shop with dogs in tiny cages. We were stood outside looking at some puppies when I spotted it, a British bulldog puppy, I was in like a shot (there may have been a high pitched scream at this point). Then we saw a couple that looked like huskies and a gorgeous Labrador. It was so sad, I wanted to buy them all.

That night we went to a noodle shop and ordered noodles with prawn dumplings .... they were rank! I managed to get 2 dumplings down but by the 3rd I'd started to think about what was in them as they were unusually crunchy! Casson polished mine off even though afterwards he said it had turned his stomach (he's a human dustbin). A lot of the restaurants don't have their menu in English and those that do were pretty expensive. We probably could have found a decent bowl of noodles for about £4 but we'd realised we could get a McDonalds meal for £1.80 so in 6 days we had 7 McDonald's. With 2 months left to go we're now on a really strict budget and every bit we can save will go towards seeing things in China. Casson was in his element, I enjoyed the first couple but the novelty soon wore off.

We did all the usual sightseeing on our first full day, the clock tower, avenue of the stars, Victoria harbour and just generally mooched about taking in the city. We both can't believe the number of shops there are here especially jeweller's. We both hate shopping but it turns out Casson loves window shopping, he doesn't want a new pair of trainers but he wants to know how much they are, he doesn't need a new freezer but would check out the price to compare it to back home...... it's torture for me! Having said that we both developed an addiction to looking in every jeweller's window and believe me there are a lot! Every other shop is a jeweller's, I was checking out the rings for about £30,000+ and Casson was checking out the £70,000+ watches and the bizarre gold necklaces (check out the pics, my explanation wouldn't do them justice)

On another day we went to Lantau Island and went to see the Giant Buddha, Po Lin Monastery, Tai O fishing village with it's stilt houses and then finally got the ferry back from Mui Ne pier to central. It was dark by then so we sailed into Victoria harbour with the Hong Kong skyline lit up, its an incredible sight.

One day we went to Hong Kong island and walked through Soho looking at all the bars and restaurants we couldn't afford to eat in. It's pretty hilly so there are escalators going straight through town right up to the top. Once at the top we walked back down through the botanical gardens and made our way to the Victoria Peak tram. There was a bit of a queue but it went quickly, once inside though the queue was more like a scrum. We made it onto the tram in one piece and were expecting to get off at the top to amazing views of Hong Kong, we got off and walked straight into a shopping centre! It was the most bizarre thing, they have everything up there, loads of bars and restaurants and a smaller version of the Trafford centre. We felt cheated at first but eventually you make your way outside and the views are spectacular. We stayed until it went dark so we could see the skyline of Hong Kong lit up, it was totally worth it.

At about 8pm we went to catch the tram back down and the queue was massive! That bit wasn't so bad it was after you'd queued up and were herded inside that it got ridiculous. People were pushing and shoving and once the tram opened its doors it was a free for all, elbows at the ready in the quest to a) get on and b) get a seat! It's only a 10 minute journey if that so all we were bothered about was getting on. I muscled my way on before Casson and staked a claim standing by the doors, Casson had tried to block people to let a mum with her baby on but he was pushed out the way. This was our first introduction to the pushing and shoving we were going to have to get used to. It will come as no surprise that neither of us has got used to it yet and again take turns being annoyed about it.

On our last day here I'd planned for us to do a 24km walk along the Sai Kung peninsula, Casson wasn't really up for it but as I've been tour guide for the past 8 months he didn't have a choice. For some reason I was really looking forward to it. It took us over an hour and a half to get to the start so you can imagine how annoyed I was when it was lashing down when we got there and we were told part of the walk was blocked due to landslides!!!!! Casson on the other hand was overjoyed (although he tells me otherwise)

Hong Kong was amazing and has been added to the cities that we both love. Next stop Mainland China ..

General points
1) McDonald's has been banned for at least a week

2) We fear for what we may end up eating out here, the rule is, if it tastes OK eat it, even if you don't know what it is, not sure how well I'll do at that

3) Mobile phones are permanently glued to people's hands, we've never seen anything like it. A family can be eating lunch and they won't talk to each other, they'll all be on their phones (including children as young as 4 and 5)