I am in Hong Kong!
... trip here was uneventful: Cathay Pacific are a reasonably comfortable airline (interestingly different style of seats such that when you "recline" your chair you don't crush the person behind you, and you can lean on the seats without wobbling them, useful for getting in and out without annoying your neighbours); I watched Twilight and found it, disappointingly, full neither of hot!RPattz action nor of Teh Lulz; and didn't really sleep very much.
My hostel has absolutely tiny rooms but they are clean, mine has a window (that opens) and it is relatively cheap, for a city where despite its being in Asia, prices for hotel rooms are comparable to the UK, indeed London; and it is located right on Cameron Rd in the heart of busy downtown Tsimshatsui. Hong Kong might just be my favourite Asian city so far: all the amenities (eg free, CLEAN public toilets), services (eg clear signposting of streets and landmarks) and (comparative) cleanliness of a moderately civilised European city, but all the life, excitement and vibrancy of a big Asian city -- and, unlike say Beijing or Bangkok, it is possible and even pleasant to walk around.
I arrived mid-afternoon and so far have:
* visited the Museum of Hong Kong History, just round the corner and well worth the £1 admission fee. For someone who is a complete history ignoramus like me, it was highly educational -- I learned lots about the dynastic history of China, the development of European trade, the Sino-British trade and political relations that led to the Opium Wars etc. Really interesting stuff; I had to rush through the last section a bit, as it closed at 6pm and I was, as usual, a museum slowpoke.
* walked down Nathan Rd (rather glad I decided against staying in the somewhat notorious Chungking or Mirador Mansions, after the number of seedy touts I encountered on the street trying to sell me a room in their guesthouse)
* taken the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour to Wan Chai, for the princely sum of £0.23 (but that was only one way. I had to pay another £0.23 to come back.)
* watched the Symphony of Lights from Golden Baudinia Plaza
* and discovered a great snack shop on my way home selling everything from skewered octopus tentacles to fried turnip cake to dumplings, so now I have takoyaki and what I thought was hot'n'sour soup but turned out not to be hot or sour (but savoury and laced with sesame) for night-time munchies :-9
Tomorrow I am going diving in Lobster Bay and then meeting James sometime in the afternoon. Hurrah!
Also, am I wrong about this? I thought a "fireman's lift" was a style of picking people up (physically, not metaphorically!) used for carrying people out of burning buildings etc. But the lift in my hostel building has a sign next to it saying "This fireman's lift serves floors G-9". (This is further complicated by the sign over the lift saying "Do not use in case of fire"...)
My hostel has absolutely tiny rooms but they are clean, mine has a window (that opens) and it is relatively cheap, for a city where despite its being in Asia, prices for hotel rooms are comparable to the UK, indeed London; and it is located right on Cameron Rd in the heart of busy downtown Tsimshatsui. Hong Kong might just be my favourite Asian city so far: all the amenities (eg free, CLEAN public toilets), services (eg clear signposting of streets and landmarks) and (comparative) cleanliness of a moderately civilised European city, but all the life, excitement and vibrancy of a big Asian city -- and, unlike say Beijing or Bangkok, it is possible and even pleasant to walk around.
I arrived mid-afternoon and so far have:
* visited the Museum of Hong Kong History, just round the corner and well worth the £1 admission fee. For someone who is a complete history ignoramus like me, it was highly educational -- I learned lots about the dynastic history of China, the development of European trade, the Sino-British trade and political relations that led to the Opium Wars etc. Really interesting stuff; I had to rush through the last section a bit, as it closed at 6pm and I was, as usual, a museum slowpoke.
* walked down Nathan Rd (rather glad I decided against staying in the somewhat notorious Chungking or Mirador Mansions, after the number of seedy touts I encountered on the street trying to sell me a room in their guesthouse)
* taken the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour to Wan Chai, for the princely sum of £0.23 (but that was only one way. I had to pay another £0.23 to come back.)
* watched the Symphony of Lights from Golden Baudinia Plaza
* and discovered a great snack shop on my way home selling everything from skewered octopus tentacles to fried turnip cake to dumplings, so now I have takoyaki and what I thought was hot'n'sour soup but turned out not to be hot or sour (but savoury and laced with sesame) for night-time munchies :-9
Tomorrow I am going diving in Lobster Bay and then meeting James sometime in the afternoon. Hurrah!
Also, am I wrong about this? I thought a "fireman's lift" was a style of picking people up (physically, not metaphorically!) used for carrying people out of burning buildings etc. But the lift in my hostel building has a sign next to it saying "This fireman's lift serves floors G-9". (This is further complicated by the sign over the lift saying "Do not use in case of fire"...)