Early start this morning! Alarm went off at 5am so we only managed to get about 5 hours sleep. And not had the best nights sleep due to people coming in all night (some of them had been to a party), not to mention sleeping on a plank of wood and sharing the bed with Therese, and fearing of being molested by a cockroach again (actually, one the Chinese guys has probably eaten it by now).
We rolled out of bed, threw some clothes on and brushed our teeth. We woke the Swedish girls (they wanted us to too) and said our last good-byes and gave them a big hug. At 5.30am we were thankfully waving goodbye to the Innjoy Hostel (they seriously need to change there name to something else) and making our way to the subway with the sun just starting to rise.
By the time we got to the station (5 minute walk) 'no Lee it's longer than 5mins and with no breakfast or water it's hard work!' Therese was already telling me that her bag was too heavy and hurting her, and we should have got a taxi plus she was worried about the public transport not getting us there in time. We had 2 subways to catch and then a train. The problem was, we weren't sure exactly what the opening times of the subway lines were.

We couldn't get a taxi anyway because I wanted to get the train. You see this is no ordinary train, it's the Maglev Train - it hovers and is propelled by magnets, and it reaches speeds of up to 430 kmph!! Plus we saved money and I had to try it out. The Maglev costs just 50 Yuan (£5) and got us there in 7 minutes. I wasnt happy though because it only went 301 kmph. It only reaches it's top speed mid day.

We were fine anyway. Got to the Maglev with 15 mins to spare, checkin at the airport had tiny queues and we could relax a bit in the airport.

Finally, free WiFi and free computers to use in the airport! Had a short walk through the duty free and waited for our plane. We flew with Hong Kong Express and it was a decent flight. The meal was lovely. Main was omlette with something like spinach in and to the side some potatoes, a small piece of roast ham and a tomato sauce. Bread roll, fruit bowl, orange juice - nice.

We touched down in Hong Kong - Free WiFi again! The hostel we were staying at requests guests to call them when we land to confirm we are on our way. Local calls from the airport are free too so I called to confirm we were on our way. We caught the AirBus A21 to Chung King Mansions which is stop 14 - the bus has a sign telling you what stop you are at in english. It was only 33 Hong Kong Dollars (33 HKD which is about £2.50 I think) too and took about 45 minutes to get into Kowloon. And guess what, free WiFi on the bus! I like this city already.
The views were pretty good on the way from the airport over a few bridges (the airport is built on a man made island just off the coast).

We were getting ready to get off the bus and got some help off a local guy - he helped Therese with her bag and quickly gave us some info about some sights in Hong Kong and also pointed out where our hostel was.
Literally as soon as we put our first step onto the pavement, the Indian guys were in our face trying to get us to stay in their hostel. We were warned by the hostel owner of this - they weren't too persistent though so wasn't that bad. We walked into the mansions, which is basically just a huge building that's filled with residents, hostels, businesses and then has a big market type thing on the bottom floor selling all kinds of different things. It was a little bit daunting when we walked in and we got a little lost, but we missed the information desk right at the front - the guy there directed us to the lifts. The market will come in handy though because they sell fruit and there's loads of Indian food which smelt good too.

Made it to our hostel anyway and was greeted by a little old Chinese man called John. He was really helpful and pulled seats out for us and took Therese's bags to the room for her. The hostel seems pretty secure actually and all seems very new. The room is tiny, really tiny, but it's so clean and all new. John was really helpful and was showing us how to work all the different things in the room, showed us the fridge in the little kitchen and the free drinking water tank. He also gave us a map and showed us different sights. The bathroom is tiny and a little odd - one of these where the shower is over the toilet so the whole bathroom is a wet room. Might be a struggle. Guess what, free WiFi.

We got a quick shower (whilst on the toilet) and wet for a wander around Kowloon. It's so much more like what I wanted to see. It feels more authentic with all the signs hanging and stretching out from the building, and the streets and paths are narrow. You can definitely see the British influence too. There's pretty much every shop you would find in Britain too (HMV, Body Shop are ones we haven't seen I China before). There's loads of people trying to sell tailor-made suits "best price for you my friend" and massage (not at the same time). We had a good walk around and as we were heading to grab a bite to eat, Therese spotted Valerie and Brian from our China tour! We knew they were coming to Hong Kong though, but it was funny to bump into them in the middle of this place.
Valerie and Brian gave us a load of info about a few things they had done in the past couple of days here so that gave us a few ideas of what we wanted to do. They asked us if we wanted to head up to Temple Street Market with them a little later.

We had something quick to eat and met them at 7.30pm at their hotel and then walked up to the market. It's a long street with lots of stalls selling all kinds of things. We both bought some new sunglasses. I needed some because when I was getting onto the subway in Shanghai, someone came past me and knocked my glasses off my shirt and then somebody kicked them down the side of the subway onto the track (there's that many people I have no idea who it was and they weren't expensive anyway). Got the new shades for 90 HKD for both pairs (£7.50). Had a long walk through the market - it's a decent market and they give you a much more reasonable starting price compared to China where they massively inflate the price. We'd walked ahead of Valerie and Brian but saw them on the way back - think they weren't even half way (Valerie buying all the presents for her grandchildren just like Carmel!) ha.

We really fancied a beer so left them and went to where the restaurants were in the middle of the market. The food looks absolutely delicious, but we weren't hungry so sat down and had a large San Miguel beer (apparently brewed in Hong Kong) and then had a Chinese beer called TsingTao. Was nice and refreshing and only 40HKD (about £4.10) for them both. We sat or a while and did some people watching. The food looks so nice and fresh, we're definitely going to eat up here before we go.

Well, we love Hong Kong so far. It's very different to Shanghai. It's much more authentic and traditional looking. There are some new buildings and new malls in and amongst all the old shops, but in Shanghai it's like a brand new city and everything looks new. We love both cities though for what they are.

Anyway, time to get some sleep, it's 1am here now so been awake 20 hours and got lots of exploring to do tomorrow!