Hello from Hong Kong!

Just to update you since our last blog - we took another extremely exciting overnight train from our trip in the Lonji Rice Terraces down to Hong Kong. This was by far the best train though as we were sharing a berth with four other people from our group so luckily there was no snoring or interruptions during the night - we both slept pretty well even though we were both on a top bunk. We arrived at the train station at about 11am (and had boarded at 10pm the previous evening so we pretty much slept the whole journey) and then had to go through immigration before we could actually enter Hong Kong properly. This was quite smooth and not as painful as other immigration procedures have been (Dubai and New York spring immediately to mind!). After getting through immigration we took the metro for about an hour to Kowloon island which is one of Hong Kong's many islands (there's 234 to be specific!). Kowloon is the busiest island and is where all the travellers tend to stay - there's a big road stretching through the island called 'Nathan Road' which is where all the hostels are and loads of shops and posh hotels, it's the most bizarre place.

When we arrived in Hong Kong with the group we had a brief walk of the surrounding area and looked at the street markets and shops and then got ready for our final group dinner which was quite sad (and expensive!). After our dinner we all went to the room of two guys from our group and played a few drinking games (we are learning a lot of them for some reason!) and drank our fine bottle of red 'Great Wall' wine that cost us about 2 pounds and tasted like a 2 pound bottle of wine!!!! We then went out 'on the town' which really meant walking around the island trying to find a fairly cheap bar where we could continue to evening. Unfortunately we didn't find anywhere cheap so just ended up getting a McDonalds ice cream and walking back to our hotel!

The weather here is soooo much better than China - we are wearing t-shirts and enjoying not having to wear a coat! Those last few days in Lonji were really cold so it's a huge relief.

The following day (23rd) we got up early and went to the Vietnamese Embassy (quite a tough place to find but we managed it) and realised that the visa was just too expensive. So we then had to run around trying to find an internet cafe to book a flight to Thailand (last minute change of plan!). There is a surprising shortage of internet cafes here - lots of cafes have WIFI but that's no use without a laptop! We finally found a flight that leaves HK on the 25th Feb, booked it, paid for it (ouch!) and then had the rest of the day to mooch around and take in the city.

We also checked in to our new hostel which is pretty grim. We realise now that our Intrepid tour, although meant to be 'basic' wasn't so basic and have been spoiled by having a double room to ourselves the entire trip in clean hotels! We are now staying in the real ghetto of Hong Kong in a horrible building called 'Mirador Mansion' which houses about a million different hostels in the most hideous building we have ever seen. We are taking photos to scare you Mum!!! We had to share with one guy who was the smelliest guy in the world - the room was boiling all night and it stank. We hardly got any sleep and had to shower in the toilet which was an interesting experience. And we have to do it all again tonight... agggghhhh! But it was cheap and it's in a good location so we can't complain too much. It's all part of the travelling experience we keep telling ourselves!

Today we got up (early, as you can imagine) and went roaming looking for some breakfast. We found ourselves walking along the 'Avenue of the Stars' which is a bit like Hollywood with all the handprints and names of Chinese movie stars (we only recognised Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Jackie Chan!) and of course the statue of Brue Lee which was really cool to see. The view of Hong Kong island is amazing, very similar to the skyline of New York and this afternoon we are getting the Star Ferry over to the island and have lots to do there. So we will leave the blog here and update it when we have done some more sightseeing! We also have some great photos of HK and will put them on when we have a chance too.

Lots of love from Hong Kong! Holls & Matt xxxxx