Written 26th and 27th August 2011

Hello!

I am currently just flying over Alice Springs and have 1 hour 54 mins until I land in Melbourne. That sounds crazy! I have just spent the last 5 days in Hong Kong and had the best time ever…It was one of the coolest places I have ever been to and was great fun after spending the last 2 and a bit months in Egypt, Kenya and India.

So I arrived in Hong Kong from Delhi and immediately loved it. Where else in the world has an underground in the airport?! I am yet to find another one… I checked out with a girl at tourist info what there was to do in HK and then bought my Octopus card, similar to the Oyster card in London, for my 4 day stay. I then 'beeped' my way onto the Airport Express and headed for the city. In the city I got a free shuttle bus and got off at a very posh hotel! The Kowloon Hotel looked amazing, just like the rest of the hotels we passed, but from here I turned left, then right, looked up and found my hostel. The Hop Inn. Now, I was excited to see the place after booking before I left and it lived up to my expectations. The rooms were well cool! I was in Lemon project so consequently it had loads of Lemons on the wall. My room was small, about 2m by 3m but had a fantastic built in wet room, bed, tv, air-con… it was great for me!

So… I discussed my plan with Elena, the girl on the desk, and we devised a 4 day itinerary. It was about 1pm so I had the day to explore and headed straight for the back of HK Island. I again 'beeped' onto the metro and then tried to 'beep' onto a bus. However… you have to top the bloody thing up to use a bus so it was back up the stairs, across the skywalk and back into the metro to top it up. Don't worry I did get used to thinking ahead of things! I arrived in Stanley Market, right at the bottom of HK Island and it was roasting. On the way the bus had driven along some amazing coastal roads, everything was pristine, and things were looking good. I jumped off the bus and headed to the market. It was full of gadgets, check out the new mini portable projectors on google (I was tempted), tat and other souvenirs. I bought my postcards, a new camera case with MM on it and then looked out over the islands as I walked along the bay. Stanley had many restaurants that looked very nice along the front but it was still a bit early for tea so I got back on the bus and went to my next stop Repulse Bay. This is the main beach on HK Island and it was pretty picturesque. It was jam packed and as I walked along the beach having a paddle I again felt like a celeb. A group of girls even decided to jump up from their towels (one girl was crawling in the sea posing for pic's!) just to have a picture with me. Sure why not ;-) I walked along the shore and found a spot where I lay down and had a sleep for about an hour. It was great, I had only got 4 hours sleep the night before and that was on a plane. I then woke up, had an ice cream, because I'm fat (sorry… was fat!) and then got back on the bus to Aberdeen. My plan was to go to the next beautiful seaside town to have tea, however when arriving it was clear I had got back to the city and as I got off the bus I didn't have a clue where to go or what to do… I wondered along the pier and was offered a free boat ride. Why not… we sailed all along the coast of Aberdeen looking at all the fishing boats and cruise boats while the sun set before docking at the Jumbo floating restaurant. My free boat ride was a restaurant taxi service. Bingo, I needed food and I had found it. Found it for a price though! One look at the menu and I was back on the boat! From the boat I followed my GPS back to the main road where the bus had gone and then got on my bus back to Kowloon. I arrived back in Kowloon at about 7:55pm and dashed to the Star Ferry terminal, the best place to watch the light and laser show, and go their bang on 8:00pm. I had just enough time to find a good spot and set up my tripod. To be honest I was expecting a little more from the Lights and Lasers but the skyline just looked incredible and made up for it! I loved getting some fantastic pic's! I then went to the New Korean BBQ for tea, a place I had found in a guide on my phone. I eventually found it and walked in… it was clear this was a locals restaurant, no tourists inside and I got the same looks you get when you walk into a small pub in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, I sat down and had the meal of my life. After just under a month without any real meat a BBQ was just what the doctor ordered! It was more like a hot plate in the middle of the table but it cooked meat for me so it was great, I tucked into everything and had loads, I had to make use of the all you can eat offer! After that, I went back to the Hop Inn after a great first day. 30 Mins later I was back out the Irish Bar to watch Bolton V Man City. We ended up losing 3-2 but I had a good night with a guy called Nick, manger of a HK betting company, and managed to convince him to bet 50 quid on a draw. He lost his money and then paid for my drinks! What a guy J I finally went home and caught up with Rachel, Rachel, Tom F and Mum and Dad before finally going to bed at about 4am!!

I woke up raring to go the day after and set off to the Avenue of Stars along the sea front. It was already roasting! I walked along looking at all sorts of names and hadn't heard of any of them. I eventually found Bruce Lee, who I have heard of, and for some reason decided to pose like a statue of him. Then I found Jackie Chan, and did the old favourite of putting my hand in his! Tourist!! After this I 'beeped' onto the metro again and after getting slightly lost and confused ended up at the far end of the bay/sea front. I went to the Western Market and Man Mo Temple, which was beautiful and different to any temple I have seen before, before boarding an told traditional tram along the length of the bay/front. I sat on the tram for about 1 hour all the way from one end to the other looking at all the different jam packed streets and crazily tall sky scrapers. It was very very cool! When I arrived in Causeway Bay, I again went for a little wonder around taking it all in, this was a little bit longer than planned due to a little confusion regarding the map, but it was good all the same. I then decided to visit the Hong Kong Convention Centre, one of the main buildings on the sea front. Inside it was packed, loads of tech geeks all at a computer convention. When I found my way out I checkout out the pier, took a few photos before working my way back through the city to 'The Peak' tram station.

'The Peak' is situated at the top of Victoria Peak and can be accessed by road. However, the coolest, quickest, most direct and defiantly the steepest way to the top was via the ancient tram. The cable pulled tram took about 5 mins and at points was moving along at around 45 degrees. When we got to the top I was surprised to find massive complex up their with shops, restaurants and basically anything else you can think of! Instead of staying on the peak with the tourists I decided that after getting my pics from the top of the observation deck during day light I would venture out to watch the sun set and city lights come on from somewhere more remote. I set off up one road and was soon told that I was on the road to know where by a nice couple. They pointed me in the direction of Lunguard Road. This was a 5k road/path all the way around the actual peak. I walked halfway around and saw the sun set of the back of the island before walking further to find a fantastic view point. I sat and watched all the city lights come on 1 by 1 and then had great fun snapping away with my tripod. A girl called Amy from Canada then appeared and we had a good chat while watching the light show. The view from the top of the peak was outstanding, in daylight I was cool but when it was dark it was 10 times better. I could see over the whole of Hong Kong and just loved looking at the view! It is something I will never forget! I then continued the walk to complete the circuit around the peak before I went to the Spaghetti House for tea and wrote my Post cards to home from the top. It was a fantastic fun filled day which I loved! I walked just over 17 miles and was out of the hostel around 11 hours! I was then straight to bed as I was off to see Mickey the day after!

So… Hong Kong has a Disneyland, I had to visit! My plan for the day was to go up the 4th tallest building in the world, Sky 100, and then head to Disney for the rest of the day. However, when I got to the tube I was soo focused and excited for Disney I totally forgot about Sky 100 and got the wrong tube! I didn't remember until I was in Disney! This though was the best stroke of luck so far on my tour! While on the metro a group of Americans go on, so of course chatty tom said hello. It was obvious where they were going, so we all walked together off the metro and down to the park. By the way, the metro was a complete Disney style metro! Well cool! Just outside the gate one of the guys, Nick, asked if I had a ticket. I didn't, and his reply was to follow him and the would get me in. I was well up for that, it was 30 quid for a day ticket! So i stuck to Nick like glue until we got the gate where he and the other pulled out Disney ID cards, I just followed them in! Fantastic! I then enquired as to what they actually did at Disney. James told me who they all were. But not their real names, their character names! He was Woody and the rest were, Buzz, Jessie, Mickey, Donald and The Genie! It turns out they were all from the cast of a world touring Disney musical from Florida! They were all singers, dancers, actors and actual characters from the show. How cool is that! Who else to go around Disney with than the actual characters themselves! The guys were great! All as gay as can be and all loads of fun, we all (myself included) walked around Disney singing and dancing (myself not so much) to Disney songs all day! Disney itself, although tiny was really good. We watched the Lion King show, saw the parade, experienced a 4D film, watched the Golden Mickey's show, went on Space Mountain and a few other small rides, including the fantastic 'Small World'. This brought back fantastic memories of running round and round the ride in Paris with Mum, Dad and Lucy. We rounded the day off by meeting Mickey and watching the firework show before heading back to the metro. I had the best day ever with the guys and couldn't have wished to spend it with anyone better. I got on really well with them all, and loved sharing my day with them! I was gutted that their opening night in Hong Kong was the night I left so I couldn't see them do their thing but oh well. I was on a high after the day as I was soo good, Hong Kong was just getting better and better!

The next day I decided to head back to Lantau island where Disney was, only this time to see a Big Budda, which I have now renamed Big b*****, the small fishing village of Tai O and then catch a ferry back to the mainland. The Budda is accessed by the Ngong Ping 360 cable car, just an ordinary cable car accompanied by spectacular views. It was funny to see people who had never been in a cable car before be terrified nearly all the way to the top! When I got to the top I got their just as a demonstration of martial arts was taking place. It was fantastic! After the show I again got a really embarrassing pic as they asked you to do a pose, my pose was pathetic! I then walked up the 250+ steps the giant Budda, the tallest Budda in China. It was cool, but just a big Budda however the views were again stunning. I then boarded a bus to Tai O, this place stunk! I'm not sure what the smell was, either fish or a mixture of fish and s***, it wasn't very nice anyway. They actual village was very interesting. People were drying fish everywhere! There was a very strange market and lots of fish lying around. I suppose that's what you get in a fishing village! I actually nearly stood on one that was just flapping around on the pavement! After a wonder through the town I decided I would go on a dolphin spotting trip. I should have guessed by the cheap price the chance of seeing dolphins was pretty slim and this proved to be the case. Anyhow it was still a good boat ride. One interesting thing about Tai O is that many of the houses are built over the sea on stilts! Maybe this would explain the smell as I think waste went straight into the sea! It was then back on the bus and round to Mui Wo, the ferry port. I had about 30 mins to spear before the ferry back to Central so I decided I would get some food. I wanted local stuff as I thought I better have some while in Hong Kong and chose one of the few restaurants. I ordered Chicken noodles but wasn't too sure what I ordered or what ate. It was ok anyway, and I liked it. I then go back on the ferry to central on which I had a phone call. It was Meg, Jessie from Toy Story, who wanted to meet up. Cool, I rushed back to the hostel, had a shower and spruced up before going back out to meet her. It was like a blind date, we met at a neutral location, I told her what I was wearing and I waited until she arrived. It was funny. We headed to one of the main streets for clubbing in Hong Kong, Lan Kwai Fong. It was well cool! We had a starter drink in a posh bar before moving onto a few clubs. In one she taught me to Latin Dance, the next I taught my local twin the London eye, and then we went to an Ice bar! That was pretty cool! We had a really good night and got on well…… J Then realised we had missed all the metros and ferries so got a cab back to Kowloon where we walked along the sea front, checking out the amazing views on the way, before I dropped her off back at her swanky hotel and went back to my swanky hostel! It was a great was to spend my last night in Hong Kong and rounded off a fabulous few days perfectly!

So it was time to move on. Next stop Melbourne, Australia. I spent my last morning in Hong Kong by going of a walk through the park in Kowloon to some of the markets. I bought a 16GB San Disk pen drive for 17 quid, bargain! I then went the the airport and boarded the plane where I started writing this. I am now in Melbourne and am just about to go to bed after two great days here. I'll write about what I have been doing here soon but for now all you need to know is that its bloody freezing!

To sum it up, Hong Kong was Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Not sure where I got that from but it was! I will 'definitely' be going back!

I'm off to bed now! Great Ocean Road tomorrow!

Night x