Hong Kong.

Day 23


I arrive in Hong Kong at 7am after a 4 and a half hour flight, perhaps 2 hours of uncomfortable sleep and too much food. I ate a large dinner because I expected the airline to screw up my meal request. (I will eat vegetarian or fish. Something in the airlines computer systems causes my meal requests to disappear. The airline staff blame me for this naturally.) Because the flight was delayed, the airline provided us with free food in the executive lounge. On the flight, there was a choice of a fish meal so I took it.

I am glad my plane was delayed 2 hours because things are open when I arrive. The last time I passed through Hong Kong as a transit passenger I was stuck in an empty waiting area for over an hour before I could get my boarding pass and find out which door I could go through to get some breakfast.

If the local currency is yen or rupees or wooden nickles then prices don't mean anything until you do a conversion. But Hong Kong uses dollars so I always have a bit of a shock with the prices before I remember I have to divide by 5 to convert to Australian dollars. 1 HKD is roughly 0.20 AUD. So you can also enjoy this experience I am going to quote all prices in Hong Kong Dollars.

I find an ATM, withdraw $1000, buy an Octopus transport card for $150, find my bus and I am on my way. Easy. The whole process takes less than an hour.

Hollywood Guest House sounded like a decent affordable place to stay on wotif.com at $250 per night. The address is in Chung King mansion, Nathan Road, Kowloon. After paying I read the wikitravel description of Chunk King mansion. It recommend to avoid if possible. I think about cutting my losses and booking somewhere else but I take the path of least resistance and go with the flow.

It isn't half as bad as people say but I guess I am just lucky not to have a bad experience. I am not swamped by Indian's trying to take me to their restaurants. I don't have to wait 20 minutes for the elevator. I have no run-ins with the Triads. Yes, the place is full of poorer Indians, Nepalese and Africans, but so are India, Nepal and Africa. People out the front ask "Copy watch?", "Tailored Suit?", "Massage?" but you get that all over Kowloon.

My room isn't ready so I leave my luggage and go exploring. I go to Kowloon park and see pink flamingos, sculptures, trees, etc.

I cross a bridge over a busy highway and head to the waterfront.
"Thumpity dumpity thump ta dump dump" and "crash clash" echoes from up ahead somewhere. I come across a performance with two Chinese dragons dancing in front of a flash hotel. Wee-hoo. Yay Hong Kong. I see the Harbour. Nice, but I will see it better later on.

Tired and wandering like a zombie I get back to Chung King mansion and find a little Indian restaurant where I have tomato soup and roti for $32.
After 1pm, I check into my room which is about 4' x 10' plus en suite.

I borrow a network cable and make ultra cheap phone calls back to Australia from my Laptop. I learn about the heatwave in Melbourne. Temperatures in the forties, canceled trains, power blackouts. My front window at home which had a crack in the glass breaks in the heat. My friends will fix it for me. I imagine the corn I had planted in front of the window shrivelling up and popping on the cobs.

My sister has been to Hong Kong twice and she recommends different islands. We discuss flamingos and such and I tell her I plan to visit the space museum that afternoon.

I lie down for a nap and wake about 5pm and think about getting up. Too late for the space museum. I rest a bit longer but suddenly its 8pm and I am woken abruptly by knocking on the door. Not my door. I know I should get up but I am too tired so I compromise and watch an episode of Dr. Katz.

I'm more alert now. I spend 5 minutes looking for my trousers wondering how I could lose them in such a small room. Finally I realise I am wearing them. Okay, so I'm not that alert.

I hit the streets and wander around under a cavalcade of neon lights. I have some noodle soup at a small restaurant and get a tuna bun and a prawn roll at a bakery. Enough for one day.

Day 22

In the morning I catch a 15 minute ferry to Central - the main ferry port on the main island. I wander along crowded high rise foot paths isolated from the crowded streets below.

I ride a series of outdoor covered escalators that wind their way up the hill, through the Soho district, past cafes, small streets and an ornate mosque. Skyscrapers under construction are surrounded by bamboo scaffolding. I trust the building frames are made of sturdier stuff.


At the top is an ordinary road, a map and a signpost to the zoo. Hong Kong is easy to get around. They have lots of signs everywhere. The downside is sometimes it is a little difficult figuring out which direction the signs are pointing. Maybe there is some sort of local interpretation of how to read the arrows.

I know when I am close to the zoo because I hear the loud hoots of primate. The calls come from weird gibbons with huge throats that expand like a bullfrogs.

It's a small zoo. The reptile house contains 2 small crocodiles and a large python. The aviary contains many large birds including red flamingos.

Past the zoo is a tram line that runs to "The Peak". I stop under a bridge and try to find it on the map. I realise I am standing under the tram line. I descend to the start of the line but there are hundreds of people waiting. I decide to give it a miss. I want to go to an island.

I head back down to Central.

I decide on Lammu island partly because of my sisters advice and partly because of wikitravel.
I have to wait 30 minutes for the ferry and it is a 40 minute ride.

Lammu is delightful. I step of the ferry onto a pier filled with parked bicycles. Yung Shue Wan is a seaside fishing town catering for tourists local and foreign. I wish I was staying here.

I go on a one and a half hour walk across the island. The shops quickly disappear and I am walking past trees, grasses, hills and rocks. The vegetation is tropical. It reminds me of Cairns. The path is cement and stone. It is crowded with other tourists and sometimes I get a little frustrated when I get stuck in a traffic jam.

On the other side of the island is another town, So Kwu Wan. I order a set menu with 5 dishes for $100 - prawns, calamari, green vegetable, rice and a shell fish served with rice vermicelli.

The waiter serves me a complimentary beer. It's only about the third beer I have had in my life. I try it. Nope. I still haven't acquired a taste for beer or the inclination to develop one.

The meal is rather ordinary. I am disappointed. I have had plenty of cheap food in Hong Kong but I haven't had any good food yet.

I catch the ferry back to Central and talk with a Canadian. Hong Kong is lit up beautifully at night. I catch the ferry back to Kowloon and find the Avenue of Stars. This is a good place to watch the nightly light show. At 8pm every night the city buildings across the bay light up in synchronised patterns in time with music. Everybody I have spoken to describes it as 'amazing'. I find it entertaining.

When I return to my hotel I have been moved to a larger room with a window from which I can see down the street and across the bay. I go to sleep still feeling the sway of the ferry.

Day 23

The next day I go to Cheung Chau island. It is a smaller island more heavily populated. Before I leave I go to a Starbuck's and pay $87 for an Irish creme flavoured mocha and a green tea pastry. It is the first decent coffee I have had since I started my trip and I thoroughly enjoy it.

Where ever you are in Hong Kong there is always a MacDonald's within eye sight. I imagine a game where you have to cross Hong Kong by moving from MacDonald's to MacDonald's all within line of sight. I don't want to play.

Also within sight is at least one of: 7-11, Starbucks, Pasta House or Cafe Coral - the local Asian fast food chain. They don't stand out the way those golden arches do.

On Cheung Chau island I try another seafood restaurant.
I know I should order the whole fish but I am intrigued by the deep fried squilla. I have never heard of squilla before. I order it and a plate of fried rice. A two litre plastic jug of hot tea is placed on my table. A plate of about 20 squilla soon follows. They are the size and colour of prawns but they are shaped more like thick short centipedes with heads sort of like grasshoppers. They seem to be more shell then meat and I experiment with a few trying to find the best way to eat them. Trying to peel them like prawns doesn't seem to work. I attack them from underneath. The deep fried central legs are soft enough to eat. This exposes the meat at the belly.
The delicate taste is hidden under oil, soy and chilly. It tasle like ... well, squilla.

I am half way through the plate when a huge plate of fried rice arrives. A man at an adjacent table washes his hands with tea. Good thinking. Its not like I am going to drink it all. I do the same. I finish all but three squilla. I have eaten half the rice and pick out the larger portions of egg.

A good meal - not great. Afterwards my stomach is unhappy with the amount of oil.

I walk up and around the island. The flat road along the shore line is full of people on hired bicycles. When the path ascends steeply up a hill the cyclists turn around and go back. I head on.

Trees, grass, hills, views. The path goes up to a pagoda lookout. Near the top I take another path. When I realise I have missed the pagoda and I am heading back down to town I start to back track.

In a small saddle I am distracted by a small dirt trail off the side of the main path. It meanders for about fifty metres through the trees and stops abruptly past a large rock. There is a tired thick knotted rope draped over the rock, tied to a nearby tree. I use it to climb the rock. From the top is a magnificent view overlooking the island.

I return to the main path and to the intersection where I took the wrong path. The pagoda is a short walk beyond. There is a similar view to what I saw on the rock but with less spirit of adventure and discovery. The view extends 360 degrees over the whole island as well as views of other islands back to Hong Kong.

There is a path down to rocks by the shore but I suddenly realise I am missing my jacket. A deep dread quickly settles to a mild panic as soon as I ascertain that I still have my passport, cash and octopus card. I return to the rock and find my jacket. I start to return to the pagoda to explore the paths beyond but I decide it is getting too late.

I descend the path through the township, past small neat houses with excellent views. Many of them have their front doors open, welcoming, offering a glimpse into private lives. At the bottom of the hill, a temple overlooks a sports yard full of youths of all ages playing basketball and other games.

The temple is beautiful and ornate. Inside is a sign saying "Strictly no unauthorised photographs." On a wall there is a beautiful relief mosaic of a dragon complete with wire whiskers. Plenty of joss incense throughout. About twenty spirals of incense hang down from the roof looking like mosquito coil lampshades.

In front of the main alter, a man sized statue of a green demon dressed in red is in a fierce face-off with a red demon dressed in green. What religion is this? Are horns on demons a western tradition or something we have inherited from the east?

I take lots of photos outside the temple. Out of respect I take no photographs inside. Out of spite I leave no donations.

And now I must leave. As the ferry departs I take photographs of the sun setting over the island, people watching the sunset, people photographing the sunset. Lately I like taking a lot of photos of other people taking photos. I think they are sort of empathetic self portraits.

In the fading light the shutter speed slows down. I take sunset photos with the white wake of the ferry blurring creamily in the foreground.

Luggage, bus, airport. I try a final meal of pasta with mushroom. It is too bland. I think I have just had bad luck with my food in Hong Kong. On the plane I have my first good meal in days.