As mentioned at the start of the last New Zealand post we flew from Auckland to Hong Kong (via a changeover in Sydney) on the 15th Aug. After, waking at about 5am to check in we finally arrived about 17 hours later, at around 6pm Hong Kong time. It was a pretty uneventful days travelling which we spent watching as many recent-release films as possible and generally being bored and cramped. On entering Hong Kong the first things we noticed were the heat and the humidity which immediately started sapping what little energy we had left! Still we braved following a friends recommendation (thanks Ian) and took a stuffy bus (rather than the air conditioned train) from the airport on Chek Lap Kok Island across to Kowloon, the area of Hong Kong on the mainland in which we were staying. Through the bus windows we could see a beautiful sunset sky behind steep forested hills in the distance and reflected off the water and the shiny new buildings a the waters edge. We passed across impressively long bridges linking the small islands to the mainland and witnessed the enormous scale of the city and it's industrial bays. It was a lovely introduction to the city and although it took a little longer, was both cheaper and more relaxing than the MTR, mass transit railway, and left us feeling like we'd seen something already so could justify going straight to bed after dinner!
Lucky for us everything in central Hong Kong seems to be signed in both English and (Cantonese) Chinese and most shop assistants etc were bilingual so getting around as tourists was very easy. On our first full day we decided to get the ferry from the mainland across to Hong Kong island to have a look around and to get one of the old trams up Hong Kong Island's highest mountain to 'the peak' tower. From here there are spectacular views back across the island and Kowloon over the water. We went up the observation deck for some photos, had a wander around and grabbed some lunch to avoid a heavy shower but as the wind picked up decided we'd best start heading back before getting caught in a proper downpour. A notice at the tramway going back down informed us that Typhoon warning signal 3 was now hoisted which perturbed us slightly as we had no idea how high the scale went but people seemed to be continuing with life so we decided to make our way back to the ferry port on foot taking in the botanical gardens and making use of free aviary entry as we went. Unfortunately the walk was longer than it had looked on the map and we did get a little wet on our way but it was nice not to arrive back at the hotel too early!
Back at the hotel we discovered that signal 3 meant strong winds, from here it has the potential to jump to level 8 storm/gale force winds, 9 increasing storm/gale force winds and on to 10 Hurricane. We figured we were safe for now though a little concerned that if the low moving in continued and the signal increased our flight could be grounded.
We braved heavy rain to grab pizza for dinner and headed back to the dry hotel for the evening. Unfortunately we really weren't very adventurous with food whilst in Hong Kong, not for a lack of places selling it but due to not being entirely sure what was in it and not wanting to spend our whistle-stop tour or flight home feeling nauseous! As a result we guiltily ate more fast food than we'd done in the last few months over the course of 3 days!
Next morning we were relieved to find that the Typhoon signal still hadn't increased so went ahead with our plan to get the MTR out to Lantau island to get the Ngong Ping 360 cablecar over to the Po Lin Monastery and to see the 26m giant bronze buddha statue. We got as far as alighting at Tung Chung train station before discovering that due to the high winds the cablecar wasn't running, and it was raining. Momentarily abashed, we rallied ourselves and went on anyway joining plenty of other tourists in getting the local bus instead.
The cablecar definitely would have been awesome and we were disappointed not to do it but it was definitely still worth the much longer bus journey in order to see the temple and buddha. After enjoying ourselves there we decided to make the most of the improving weather and head on to Tai O, a traditional Chinese fishing village with features like old boats and stilt-houses. It was very quaint though actually very small and had an overpowering smell thanks to the presence of lots of little shops selling dried, salted fish. Despite me suggesting staying for a cold drink somewhere Mat was rather keen to get back on the odourless bus and so we started our journey back and had another evening walking the neon, bustling, streets of Kowloon looking for western food!
On our third and final day we were relieved to find that the Typhoon signals had been taken down so our flight that evening was all go. After checking out of the hotel and leaving our luggage in their care we took a wander up the main high street of Kowloon just trying to kill time knowing we had 10 hours before we needed to be at the airport. Finding most of the shops weren't open yet (we surmised that as they seem to be open late into the evening they don't bother with early mornings) we decided to go and check out a few of the local markets. It took a long time to walk up this street and it was well into the 30s so we were getting extremely hot and lethargic along the way, to avoid this we decided to just wander into the malls every now and then, not that we were even looking at the shops, just for the sake of the air-con! We also made a point of finding a coffee shop for a nice iced coffee. First we found the Goldfish Market, where I'd assumed this was just named after the street or something it turns out pretty much every shop down the road was an aquarium of sorts selling not only goldfish but all sorts of tropical fish too in little plastic bags of water like you get at fairgrounds. The shopfronts were adorned with these and tanks of miniature turtles in a way which would definitely be illegal here!
After our slightly unethical fascination at the fish we proceeded on to find the flower market. Here street after street there were shops selling live shrubs, trees, cacti, ferns, flowering plants and stall after stall selling flowers both cut and false by the bucketful. It was a beautiful place to walk around and mad me a little wistful that nothing was likely to survive a 13hour flight back to the UK or get past border control even if it did! From flowers we went to the ladies market, thankfully not named as literally as the previous two. Rather than ladies it actually sells everything from clothes, bags, umbrellas, to fake watches and sunglasses and things specifically for tourists though I'm not sure where the skimpy undies and nipple-tassles were meant to fit into all of that! I had a go at bartering, got scared off the first stall but made a slightly more successful attempt later on and bought a fan which was starting to feel like a necessity in the heat!
We got the MTR back towards the hotel and managed to kill a couple of hours in a starbucks before heading off to the airport. On the journey home we failed to sleep properly and had an unexpected detour via Novosibirsk in Russia for a couple of hours in order to get a sick passenger medical attention which meant we were late arriving home, but despite the lengthy flight the overriding feeling was one of being glad to be heading home. We both thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and would recommend it but after being away for over 9 months the fatigue and possibly a little home-sickness was starting to hit us and I think flying in towards London early in the morning of the 19th was probably the most fondness I'll ever feel towards it in my life!
So anyway, it's been an amazing trip, it's had it's ups and it's downs, and of course we missed all of you lovely people a lot of the time, but was certainly the adventure that we hoped it would be. Thank you for sharing in it with us and if we haven't seen you already we hope to soon :)
Over and Out,
Mat and Leah for The Fat Wombat xxx
P.s. Wombat says goodbye too...
