Hong Kong

Typical Hong Kong island street
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With the challenge of China ahead and after the whirlwind of Japan Hong Kong was destined to be a bit of a rest for us. Also the weather wasn't great, very foggy, not ideal for sightseeing.

First we must mention our hostel in the Mirador "Mansions". Mansions could not have been further from the truth, a fifteen storey high rise which should have been condemned decades ago. Our room was a shoe box although we did get our own minuscule bathroom. The fact is this is typical of budget accommodation in the centre of Kowloon as Michelle stayed in the similarly misnamed Chungking Mansions previously.

The kodak moment
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The Hong Kong island skyline was very impressive. We liked it viewed from the Kowloon waterfront at night. We went up to Victoria Peak and as well as a quick glance at the view we spent over an hour playing the games in the EA Sports zone (add that one to the list of things to do for free in HK).

Apart from spending hours finally updating the blog we rode the star ferry and strolled around the island and took a train over to Lantau Island to see the giant Buddha. Sadly giant or not we couldn't see him even from close up as a thick fog had descended.

Stumbled upon an M&S on the island. Rude not to pop in and buy some Percy Pigs!
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Overall it could well have been us but we found Hong kong a bit hard to get our heads round. We found the mix of tourists, expats and people from all corners of the globe come to find their fortunes not very friendly. It also felt a bit odd seeing the British influences on the place, including police uniforms, road signs and buses. Like a London street scene with an all Chinese cast.