6pm Sat 17th Feb (Hong Kong, -2hrs Aus time) -
4pm Sun 18th Feb (London, -9hrs Aus time)

My 15hr stopover in HK starts in the plane, circling down for a landing. It's still light & the city & islands I see through my plane window are shrouded in fog &/or pollution. I'm beginning to realise that I'm maybe not cut out for the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of travel. I'm feeling a bit panicky knowing that my only plan is to put my bags in storage and head out to the city for the evening. Where? Who knows. How? Well...I'm sure there'll be signs (but in english!?). Ahhh! Suddenly, I tune into the conversation of the 2 people in front of me (and anybody who knows me knows this is not an unusual pastime for me). Wow, perfect! The lady is a long-term HK resident giving advice to a young traveller like myself headed through to China. Should I, could I, butt in on their conversation? Hell yeah! "Um, excuse me, but it's my 1st time in Hong Kong and you don't have any idea what I could do, do you?" And just like that she gave me details on how to get to the city (on a different island than the airport), where to go + a map, and even gave me hjer mobile number and some small change to give her a call if I got stuck. So, with my bags safely stored, I headed boldly out into foreign HK in search of dinner and a new experience.

Some of the experiences I must mention from HK include the toilet experience: disposable seat covers in every cubical and self-flushing toilets (can I tell you how weird it feels to leave a toilet without flushing it? Especially when there's a queue); also the diminutive woman who accosted me not once, not twice, but three times within a few seconds on a street corner! She was trying to sell me a massage and seemed to think that my "No, thanks" really meant "try again in a sec", because she kept fading into the crowd and then popping up in front of me. Then there was the strange phenomenon of seeing large masses of people clustered aound shop windows, blocking the footpath, and sometimes even the road. These people were entranced by the antics of a singer/dancer they were watching perform in a widescreen tv through the shop window (the shops were all closed)!

The biggest experience was of course just wandering through the streets and soaking in the atmosphere. I had the good fortune to arrive on the last day of the Chinese old year, and so got to see the city all geared up in preparation for the festivities on the morrow. Crossing the harbour on a lovely old ferry is the best sightseeing activity I think a 1st-time visitor to HK can do. It's cheap (only HK1.70 each way) and you get a brilliant view of all the buildings lit up like Christmas trees. I'm talking the whole side of a normal 25-50 storey (estimate only) office/appartment building lit up with bright, flashing pictures and slogans.

Walking down Nathan Rd, the main road of the happening district Tsim Sha Tsui (TST), means walking down a brightly-lit and colourful sidewalk with double-decker buses and funny old-fashioned-looking taxis ruling the street, passing the gleaming bright lights of cheap Sony shops on every street corner, dodging the insistent salesmen and women shoving glossy brochures under your nose, navigating the subways (for crossing the busy streets), and keeping a beady eye on your bag in the crowds.

For anybody feeling nervous about travelling in such a foreign place (in terms of language and customs), don't be. Everybody was unfailingly polite and almost all the signs are in both chinese and english. For dinner, I went off the main street into a quieter sidestreet with mainly Chinese people and all the signs were in Chinese. The restaurant I chose had only Chinese people, but still the menu had English subtitles and it was easy to order. Also, on money matters, don't judge prices based on the airport. I changed far too much money based on the fact that the price of a return ticket into town cost HK100, as did storing 1 bag at the airport. In contrast, as I've already mentioned, the ferry cost nothing, and a largish dinner with drinks only about HK50.
I finished my HK experience with a horrible night in the airport. I decided that one of the baby change rooms would be a good place to crash: private, lockable door with sink, soundproof, and a lightswitch. But it was sooooo cold, you wouldn't believe! I gave up around 3am and re-packed my bags for London instead. The London flight was absolutely jampacked, meaning not much room to stretch out at all - I could have done with the space I'd had on the 1st flight! Coming into London, I 'borrowed' a pillow and blanket so hopefully I'd get some sleep during my sorjorn in Stansted airport.