Hong Kong: 23-27 January

We landed in Hong Kong in the mid-afternoon and negotiated the airport express and subway (all very efficient as you'd expect) through to our hotel in the Wanchai area of Hong Kong island (just to the east of Central - the main finance sector - or on the left hand side of the picture-postcard view of Hong Kong across Victoria Harbour, although we're a few blocks back from the waterfront).

It's so nice to be somewhere warm and to go out on the first evening without coats, gloves and all that paraphernalia was bliss. We ate at a little Chinese cafe/restaurant - really good food for a few quid (and having been munching down the noodles and rice since!) and then hit one of the bars. The guidebook describes the bars in Wanchai as 'slightly sleazy ex-pat bars' and that they were - a round of drinks (we found a Magners for Sue!) setting us back as much as dinner had and strip-clubs were abound. Fortunately we had a couple of rounds and the barman forgot to charge us for the 2nd so it all kind of evens out.

Our first full day was spent on a full sight-seeing day powered by excitement and warm weather (we were even down to t-shirts at one stage - a landmark moment for this trip!), we took in the Hong Kong park with it's contrasts between sculpted gardens, fountains, waterfalls and ponds among gleaming glass skyscrapers; we took the tram up Victoria Peak (although it's been hazy all of the time we've been here, so the view wasn't as clear as it might have been) and walked back down through the mid-levels where the more well-to-do people live (although it looks like they're paying for the view and clear air more than for the buildings themselves) and wound our way down into Central and through the many shopping malls. We took the Star Ferry across the harbour to the Kowloon side, strolled along the Avenue of Stars admiring the view of the waterfront and walked up through town to the night markets, stopping for dinner on the way.

We were back at the waterfront in time for the music and light show which takes place at 8pm each night - a number of the buildings around the harbour are fitted with lasers and coloured lights that fire in time to music broadcast over the PA system - it's really impressive and the waterfront was crowded with people there to see the 10 minute show. We've tried to capture a couple of photos which are on the blog. Then it was back on the ferry and back to the hotel for a well deserved sleep - we'd walked miles and up and down numerous hills.

The next day was a little gentler - we rode the escalator up through town stopping off at various streets, alleys and markets for a mooch around. The escalator is a series of outdoor moving walkways and stairs that take you up (or down) hill from Central to the residential areas up the face of Victoria Peak. It only runs downhill early morning when people are going to work and then runs uphill only from 10am-ish. We also paid a trip to the post-office and sent home a parcel with all of our cold weather gear in - it's great to be rid of it and able to travel a little lighter now! It only cost £20 or so for a 6-8 week sea delivery.

We spent our final full day in Hong Kong on Lantau, one of the other islands that comprises Hong Kong, visiting the Tian Tan Budha and the Po Lin Monastery in the middle of the island. We got there by ferry - us and a big school trip - lots of kids wanting to say hello and offering us sweets, and by bus from the ferry stop. The Budha itself is very impressive - built on top of a hill with a long set of straight steps leading up to it (quite a demanding climb!) and the monastery was great to look around. There were another set of golden Budha statues within the monastery itself and we were looking around accompanied by the musical sound of the praying being broadcast through the building - very atmospheric.

And so we're ready to depart for India now. It feels as though we've finished the first leg of our journey - the pre-booked high mileage part and are now heading off into the unknown - looking forward to it, but also apprehensive (particularly about Delhi-belly!!). It will be nice though for us to slow down a bit and spend some time getting to know a particular country a little.

Bon Voyage!

Dan & Sue