Hong Kong SAR, China - 26th October 2008

On Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island
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We got a bus back to Guilin and then the train to Shenzhen in China on the border with Hong Kong. We walked over the border (our first overland border crossing) and then got the metro to Kowloon. In the afternoon we walked around the Jade Market and a bizarre little temple which has huge incense coils hanging from the ceiling which burn for 10 days. Once it was dark we went to the South of Kowloon to watch the lights show on Hong Kong Island. This is when the skyscrapers all light up and shine out green lasers in time to music. The following day the Intrepid Tour ended so we went to the four bed room we’d booked with Emily and Jonny (another couple on the tour). The building that the hostel is in (Called Mirador Mansions) is a bit dodgy looking. There are shops on the bottom 3 floors selling alsorts then there are about 10 floors of hostels. They are all really small, only a few rooms each and it’s cheap. The corridors are dirty and a bit smelly and it takes ages to get upstairs as there aren’t many lifts, ,but the rooms are pleasant enough. Later in the morning we met up with Vanessa and Naomi also from the tour and caught the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island. We walked around for a bit and then got the tram up to Victoria Peak. The tram is great. The peak is so steep that it starts climbing at about a 30 degree angle which increases to 45 degrees further up. We didn’t get a seat on the way back and had to stand up, that was a strange experience. At the top of the Peak we stood on the Sky Terrace on the roof and watched the sun set.

The cable car to the seated budda on Lantau island
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The day after we went to Lantau Island by tube to see the huge budda at Ngong Ping. It’s the biggest seated bronze Budda in the world and is truly massive. We got the cable car up the mountain to see it as it’s really high up the mountain. On Wednesday museums in Hong Kong are free so we spent today at the History Museum and the Science Museum. The Science museum was the best as it was all hands on and we spent a few hours there.