Travel09 Oct 2010 09:58 am
Went to Hong Kong for a few days to get away from the usual Golden week crowds on the mainland. Had a fantastic time.
Started off by exploring Hong Kong Island and admiring the humongous fire work display that was put on for National day. Then did the obligatory electronics shopping in Kowloon before heading up to Victoria Peek to watch the sun set over a truly unique city. It’s a bit like old Shanghai with a touch of Little Britain … M&S and pubs on ever street corner, driving on the left, all street signs are in English … and to my absolute amazement: someone accidentally ran into me, turned around and said:’Oh, I’m so sorry’!!! Can you believe it!? AMAZING!
Then, day three, did some serious sightseeing with a very old friend of mine who lives in HK. Started off by going to Kowloon again to visit an old buddhist temple, sat straight in between a plethora of skyscrapers. Then headed for Dim Sum on the gazillionth floor of another high rise with a view over HK island. After lunch we took the tube to Lantau island, initially to go up the peek, but then decided to split from the rather large tourist crowds and go to a local fishing village on the other side of the island instead. Part of the village is made up of houses on stilts and locals sell various dried fish (including shark fins, which I was extremely disconcerted about) and these amazingly tasty waffles, made of normal waffle dough and a splash of coconut milk … yum!
With the night falling and hungry from all the walking, we returned to HK island and went to Soho for dinner and drinks. Soho features not only numerous bars and restaurants (and what seems like most of HK’s expat community), but also the worlds longest escalator … It’s one big escalator after the other taking you up the hillside ever deeper into Hong Kong’s nightlife. Well it goes up in the evening and down in the mornings for all the commuters descending from the hills into town to go to work. My final day in HK featured a trip to the night markets in Mong Kok, which are very much like the fake markets in Shanghai, and generally chilling … after all that walking and 5 days of exploring the many wonders of HK I felt a bit like this little guy:
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