Well we?eventually managed to escape Hanoi, thank goodness we used to own Hong Kong, saved us any visa trauma!

So we arrived on a flight at about 11pm, so didn't really get any chance to book anywhere nice! We heard there were a couple of mansion blocks in Kowloon area that were supposed to be cheap so headed there. We ended up taking the tinyest room, with the added luxury of an itchey bed, well it was only 10 quid! In Vietnam we got hotel style accomodation for that with aircon, fridge and cable but Hong Kong was very expensive. We stuck?it out?out for a few more?nights then bailed to a nice hotel nearby.

Whilst in Hong Kong we visited the history museum which was absolutely massive! Rich was in heaven, we visited it over 2 days as?it was too much to handle at once. It was really good at?explaining the opium wars though. Apparently the Chinese said they didn't need any other countries imports, they were self sufficient, so they wanted all the other countries like the British, to pay for exports in silver only, they wouldn't let them exchange goods. However the British realised there was something they wanted, opium. So much to the Emperors dismay the Brits traded this with them. The Chinese were hooked so the Emperor sent some men down to the harbour to destroy all the opium that came in on British ships. This led to the Opium Wars which the British won and made the Chinese sign an unfair treaty where the?they had to compensate the British?for the damaged opium and the cost of the wars.This was when the British took control of Hong Kong. Sounds like the Brits stitched them up like kippers! But they did say?they didn't need anything,tut tut dreadful habit!

We walked around Hong Kong Island in the daytime and saw Possession Point, where the British took control. We also took the cable car to Victoria Peak. We saw great views of the city. It actually looked better at night as Hong Kong has too much pollution so in the daytime everything looks really misty.

There was also a place called The Avenue of Stars on Kowloon, a bit like Hollywood Boulevard but had signatures and hand prints of all the famous chinese movie stars. There was a great statue of Bruce Lee there. There were also great viws of Hong Kong Island and a laser show in the evening.

Hong Kong was quite surprising really. Before we arrived we expected most people would speak English as we only gave Hong Kong back to China in 1997. However many of them didn't speak a word and they weren't very friendly either. There was lots of staring and spitting of course! We were also surprised at the pollution,it was misty every day in Hong Kongwas hrd to see the skyline in front of you. Also much of the city was quite run down.The mansion we stayed in our first few nights looked like Nelson Mandela house from Only Fools and Horses, not really something you'd expect from a bustling world city such as Hong Kong.

Overall though the best thing about Hong Kong was the night views over the city, was truly amazing!

Next stop Shanghai,a 20 hour train journey surrounded by many Chinese people spitting and slurping,hmm can't wait!