Hong Kong

Saturday 9 December 2006

We had a good flight, 9 hours in all, with an hour's stop in Cairns. It was good to stretch our legs and look at the views of the mountains in the distance. We got to Hong Kong at about 8.30pm caught the Airport Express, A$14, each to within two blocks of The Majestic Hotel, very upmarket, four star at least in the Southern part of Kowloon.

Kowloon Park

Ferry Kowloon to Hong Kong

Approaching Hong Kong

Views of Kowloon and Hong Kong from Victoria Peak

Hotel Room, Majestic, Kowloon

Hong Kong from Kowloon

Sunday 10 December 2006

Sandy was up at 7.00am for a quick recce of the area. We bought an all day rover on the MassTransport Rail (MTR) for HK$50 each (A$1=HK$5.60) and took the MTR to Central before catching the 15C Bus to the Peak Tram station. The trip up to the Tower on Victoria Peak, mostly at 45 degrees was memorable. The views from the top were spectacular and we splashed out on a very expensive beer at a bar overlooking Hong Kong. The only drawback is the haze caused by the incredible polution in the place. All signs are in Cantonese and English but there are a surprising number of people who do not speak English despite Hong Kong being a former British colony. We squeezed in quite a bit of walking soaking up the atmosphere. We got an overall picture of an incredibly disciplined society most of whom live in tiny little high rise apartments unpainted on the outside but with many "mod-cons" including an air-conditioning outlet on the wall outside each unit. Prices other than transport seem to equate to Australia in the heavily tourist areas and shopping centres but if one shops off the beaten track they drop considerably.

MTR Hong Kong

Bamboo Scaffolding

Kowloon Cricket Club

Downtown Kowloon

Monday 11 December 2006

Today we took a trip to one of the outlying islands, Cheung Chai (Long Island). Here we were transported back to China many years ago in a rural setting. Near the ferry terminal were hundreds of Sampans and Junks as well as more modern trawlers - the islands main sourge of income is fishing. Here prices were unbelievably low and at a waterside cafe we had a rice and seafood lunch sitting next to local fisherman who ate twice as much as we did. They had been out since early morning and with all the hard physical labour were obviously famished. We took a three hour walk from the Cheung Chai Village across the island to another tiny hamlet and then back along the coast before catching the ferry home, HK$11.30 each one way. The last couple hours of each day have been spent in our beautiful hotel room relaxing and watching CNN or BBC.

Cheong Chai Island

Tuesday 12th December 2006

We enjoyed a sleep in and a late check out at our nice hotel, leaving the Majestic at noon. We managed to find an internet cafe called Aromas where one could use the internet if one bought coffee! We made our way to Hong Kong History Museum only to find it closes on Tuesdays! Instead, we took a delightful Hong Kong Harbour tour cruise around Victoria Harbour before making our way to the airport. We could check our bags in the city which made things much easier. Enjoyed some Japanes Ashanti beers at the airport before a squashed but non-eventful flight to Delhi.