Hi from Hong Kong! It's absolutely boiling here and I think I might be melting! At least my mascara was yesterday! So I'm writing this to you know from the top floor open air Starbucks on the Avenue of Stars (Chinese version of that Americam one??) overlooking the river to Hong Kong island. So right now I'm pleased that I'm at least having a go at backpacking.. haha .. who would ever have thought I would say that!!??

Ok so whats happened since last time.. the last sleeper train was uneventful and so was leaving China and entering Hong Kong, it just seemed to take an age! But after immigration we had to get the metro and walk with backpacks to the hotel. The metro was packed, but at least it was only 6/7 stops.. no it took 50 minutes! My shoulders were killing by the end of it and then we walked in a big circle to get to our last hotel. I was not happy by the end of it, but seeing as it was the last group night we all went out for drinks, and found out that Hong Kong is definately not as cheap as China! But we had a good night, saw some good fireworks and said our goodbyes as everyone was leaving at different times on Saturday. But there are still some people around, quite a few people are travelling onwards to different places, Hanoi and Bangkok mostly. So after checking out yesterday, me Michelle Mike and Christophe went to get the tram up the peak on Hong Kong island, there were some relaly good views but again I think I've took too many photos of the same thing! I did get a nice panini up at the top which was good.. no rice or noodles involved! But somewhere along the way at the top we managed to lose Mike, and since no one had his number, we hung around for a while looking for him (especially as it was his birthday.. oops) I felt really bad leaving but we weren't even sure if he had gone back down. We decided to walk back to the bottom, its downhill (obviously) so how hard can it be! Well I was wearing my new shoes that I bought for a fiver in Yangshuo and they're flip flop things with a bit of a heel.. not the most practical but very multi functional I thiought! But now today my feet are killing and I have a blister on the bottom of one foot! So I may have to wait a while before wearing them again.

Once we got the ferry back over and collected our bags from the 1st hotel it was time to move to the hostel.. boooo. Its not bad really, turns out I'm staying at the same place as one of the other guys but the woman behind the desk looked really surprised to see us and I didnt think that looked very good. Especially since I had only booked the day before and hostel world said everywhere in Hong Kong was booked out last night (its the 60th anniversary of China or something so a public holiday) and I was a bit worried but they put me in a room for 3 people (just on my own) so thats fine.. double bed upgrade for free!! bargain. The room is a decent size as well but it has loads of stuff in it and I'm not really sure why, loads of books and night creams and stuff. But there is a decent tv (and dvd player) free wifi, bath and shower and a refally noisy but effective air con! Only thing is there is no window so feels a bit like a prison but its fine for 2 nights. No sign of any dirty bugs just yet but I've been using my sleeping bag just incase, the only other thing is that you cant go in or out of the hostel without being approached by loads of guys selling watches and tailors... do i look like I want a tailor right now?? It starts to get really irritating when the same guy asks you for the 10th time! Anyway, last night Christophe wanted to go see this Symphony of lights thing (I've never heard of it but since I had done absolutely no research on what to do in Hong Kong and forgot all guidebooks for Hong Kong I decided why not!) Turns out it wasnt that great! Just down by the river, there are some lights on building that flash in time with clinky music and some lasers on the top of the tall building flash and move about. It was alright though.. really busy! Afterwards we had a wander downthe avenue of stars (where i am now)but the only stars we could recognise were Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. I dont think I mentioned this before but we were asking our tour guide Cindy about famous Chinese people and when we said Jackie Chan she goes .. oh Jackie Chan the famous pop star??!! Who knew! Apparently hes huge singer over here, but she couldnt get her phone on the internet to show us his songs. I think thats all for now really, I might be going to this big bar strip in Hong Kong tonight, we'll see. Off to Thailand tomorrow and meeting Lydia at the airport. First thing I'm going to do when we get to our hotel is go straight to the rooftop pool! Keep your fingers crossed for nice weather! xx