Hong Kong

We arrived in Hong Kong last Sunday and have really enjoyed our week and a half here. There’s lots to see and do, but we must confess that we’ve spent most of the time in and around the shopping districts looking for clothes and camera equipment. Andre needed to get a new camera bag that would allow side access and enable him to carry books and water too, and he wanted to get a nice big wide-angle lens for the awesome landscape shots of China and Japan. Luckily, the prices of camera equipment are a little cheaper than the UK, and Singapore and Kuala Lumpur were a lot more expensive that we expected.

I ‘needed’ two pretty dresses, so I got one blue silk Zara dress and a teal cotton H&M dress. I also bought some linen trousers and a shirt from Marks and Spenser – “oh how exotic”, I here you cry 😛 Here’s me modeling dim sum in one.

We’re staying at a nice little guest-house in Golden Crown Plaza on Nathan Road. It’s a little higher up than the dodgy backpacker places and much nicer, near the park. The room is not that big, but is clean and tidy. The only problem is the lack of window, as we tend to lie in half the day with no visual cues and go to bed at 2am. We’re turning nocturnal!

Hong Kong is a great place for a city visit, there are plenty of museums, theater’s, parks and shopping. The restaurants are pretty cheap, but we’re obviously going to the cheap places like the local chains and food courts in the malls. We squeezed our sightseeing into two days at the end due to shopping and all the rain from typhoon Morakot that hit us for much of our stay.

Victoria Peak was pretty, taking the tram up was a bit uncomfortable though as you are nearly horizontal and the seats are wooden. We paid for the Sky Terrace too, but it’s not necessary as you can see it all from the shopping center. There was a lot of cloud and haze so we couldn’t see too far. We met a huge group of Indians from Jaipur there who practically filled the terrace for their group photo. We met Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee at the entrance to madame tussauds too.

We also took the lift up to the Bank of China building to see the haze, but at least it was free. Soho was too expensive for us, but great if you’re on holiday or fancy some home cooked or European food. We took the escalator all the way up and then walked down as it was just gearing up for the night. There’s also a good second-hand bookshop there – “flow” – that we spent ages in, getting ready for the lack of choice in Japan and China.

We took a cable car over to see the giant Buddha Tian Tan too; though the ride high over the water and wooded hills was more interesting than the Buddha itself, which was made in 1993 apparently. We also went to the Temple Street Night Market with all their fake watches and hand bags, and a fantastic wig shop that I’ll be going back to as I now think that green hair suits me 🙂 We just caught the end of Kung Fu Corner in Kawloon Park on Sunday too.