always to the east...
alright... so... hongkong... well I didnt see much of hongkong.
I got involved with a girl I met online a few months back, we met and she was going to show me around - I let her know how dodgy my hostel was (it was really dodgy, and expensive, hongkong is pretty much the same as perth when it comes to cost of living; yeah, that expensive). so after the first night in the hostel she offered her couch, we both assumed nothing would happen as she lives with her parents in a small apartment and we were pretty much getting along well as friends, I would apply for a visa and head to vietnam...
well... it didnt turn out as expected, I never ended up sleeping on the couch, nor did I see much of hongkong... bar her room :| it was a rather relaxing, pleasurable week; a nice break in the middle of my holiday.
From what I did see of hongkong, it is pretty much a western city, but totally massive on a tiny bit of land - it seems like hongkong hasnt changed since the poms gave it back to china - it runs independently of china to the point where it has its own currency (which almost completely matches US$'s movements on the exchange due to the close ties with exports, US$ can be used in certain shops) and still seems to have commonwealth style visa rules, I didnt require a visa and could stay in hongkong for 90days with just a free passport stamp. I believe china wants to keep it this way due to the amount of money it makes unchanged.
one thing that was way awesome about hongkong was the octopus smartcard, originally it was just for public transport, not unlike the smartrider in perth; however it has now evolved to a city-wide smartcard which can be used at nearly every store - so handy.
The city also never sleeps, probably similar to newyork. there seems to be two peak hrs, a minor one at 5pm and the main one at 10pm. The people work 10hr days on average, for 6 days in the week.
once again this time of year is meant to be nice for hongkong, and once again it rained for 3 days... (the same as guilin) curse you global warming - the bad weather seems to follow me.
Well... I did plan on getting a vietnam visa then fly to hanoi.. but as it turns out I got a new china visa which lasts for 30days... so I decided to head north, to shanghai; which is where I am now. From here I will head inland to some scenic mountainous areas and the shaolin temple, pretty sure it's around here anyway.
I'm off for now, Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for Christmas.
I got involved with a girl I met online a few months back, we met and she was going to show me around - I let her know how dodgy my hostel was (it was really dodgy, and expensive, hongkong is pretty much the same as perth when it comes to cost of living; yeah, that expensive). so after the first night in the hostel she offered her couch, we both assumed nothing would happen as she lives with her parents in a small apartment and we were pretty much getting along well as friends, I would apply for a visa and head to vietnam...
well... it didnt turn out as expected, I never ended up sleeping on the couch, nor did I see much of hongkong... bar her room :| it was a rather relaxing, pleasurable week; a nice break in the middle of my holiday.
From what I did see of hongkong, it is pretty much a western city, but totally massive on a tiny bit of land - it seems like hongkong hasnt changed since the poms gave it back to china - it runs independently of china to the point where it has its own currency (which almost completely matches US$'s movements on the exchange due to the close ties with exports, US$ can be used in certain shops) and still seems to have commonwealth style visa rules, I didnt require a visa and could stay in hongkong for 90days with just a free passport stamp. I believe china wants to keep it this way due to the amount of money it makes unchanged.
one thing that was way awesome about hongkong was the octopus smartcard, originally it was just for public transport, not unlike the smartrider in perth; however it has now evolved to a city-wide smartcard which can be used at nearly every store - so handy.
The city also never sleeps, probably similar to newyork. there seems to be two peak hrs, a minor one at 5pm and the main one at 10pm. The people work 10hr days on average, for 6 days in the week.
once again this time of year is meant to be nice for hongkong, and once again it rained for 3 days... (the same as guilin) curse you global warming - the bad weather seems to follow me.
Well... I did plan on getting a vietnam visa then fly to hanoi.. but as it turns out I got a new china visa which lasts for 30days... so I decided to head north, to shanghai; which is where I am now. From here I will head inland to some scenic mountainous areas and the shaolin temple, pretty sure it's around here anyway.
I'm off for now, Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for Christmas.