Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Thursday 8th October - 15th October
Arrived at Hong Kong airport, got on the A21 bus to Nathan Road, Kowloon. To where we departed the bus and found Chunking Mansion AKA Chucky Mansion where we got bombarded by Indians trying to haggle us into their hostels...we had already been warned beforehand about all the street hustlers....but didn't prepare ourselves!!! Walking into chucky mansions was a little like walking into India....full of little booths selling all different stuff...copy Rolex.....copy handbag.....tailor!!!! It took us a good 15 mins to work out where block D was and to find the right lift up to our hostel....Paris Guesthouse. Finally found the hostel Level 7. The room is the size of most people's bathrooms...if not smaller, all tiled with white tiles. Two very small rock hard beds with a TV and mini fridge. The toilet was even better, a shower over the toilet!!!!! No cubicle, just what we would call a wet room. If you were clever and really wanted too you could sit on the loo and shower at the same time hehe! But it will do us for the week, at the end of the day it’s just to sleep. Good thing is we are only 2 min walk to the harbor....with the most amazing stunning views over Victoria Harbor. So many pretty lights its breath taking, we go there every day. You could never get board of it, we have found a lovely little bar where we sit and chill out with a beer munching on free monkey nuts. What more do you need!!!! The harbor is more amazing at night time, all the buildings have changing colour lights that reflect of the water.
Since we have been here we have seen so much. If you don't know much about Hong Kong, then you would think it is all one place. However it is made up of about 150 islands. We are staying in Kowloon, the Island of New Territories, where Victoria Harbor is. The main island is Hong Kong Island; this is where all the skyscrapers are. We have also explored the outlying island of Lantau (where Disneyland is) here we visited Cheung Sha beach, a 2 mile long beautiful white sand beach. Also we went on the Cable carts up to see the Tiantan Buddha, the most famous site in Hong Kong. It is the world's tallest seated bronze statue of a Buddha. Even though we took the cable carts, you still have to walk up 268 steps. But it’s all worth it. The cable carts were awesome, I hate heights and weren’t sure about going on them, but glad I did.
Hong Kong Island is a busy place, the main financial district, with lots to see. We started off with the Peak Tram, this takes you up to a viewing platform way up in the hills. With an amazing breath taking view over Hong Kong. From here we travelled back down the tram too find Hong Kong Park. Was amazed to find a massive aviary with beautiful exotic birds, lovely lakes full of turtles and Koi Carp fish. Flying around were stunning butterflies and pretty flowers. It was a pretty big park, there was also a big green house full of exotic flowers (Doris you would love the flowers here) lots of cactus (mum you would love these). All of these attractions were completely free, which on our budget is just what we want!
Hong Kong loves its escalators they are everywhere ranging from little 2 meter escalators to unbelievable 800 meter long!!!! The longest one takes you right through the middle of Soho…full of swanky bars and restaurants (somewhere we cannot afford to dine) below Soho is Hollywood Road, where we visited a very nice Temple. Here they had lots of incense burning, including spiral burners which take 3 weeks to burn out! These represent people’s wishes, a very common tradition to Hong Kong locals. Hollywood Road is also known for its antiques, Aunty Pat and John would love it, and you would be in your element!!! Also near here was Hong Kong’s Zoological and botanical gardens, here they had lots of cheeky monkeys, again all free! Also the biggest python snake we have ever seen (must have been about 18ft long).
Another place we have visited is Sha Tin, within the New Territories. Here we visited the site of the Man Fat Tze, also known as the Monastery of 10,000 Buddha’s. This is set on a very big hill side above the burgeoning town. We started our trek up the steps to the Monastery (a total of 412 steps) the steps are lined with statues of Buddha’s all coated in Gold. Finally we reached the top of the steps to find the most amazing and interesting Monastery. The Monastery was founded in 1957 by the monk Yuet Kai and his body lies to rest inside the Monastery. All around the walls are statues of little Buddha’s, as well as bigger statues outside within the grounds, every statue being different.
The weather has been consistently 30 degrees however some days have been cloudy and the occasional downpour. Hopefully we are going to have some nicer sunny days in the next couple of days where we plan on visiting more of the white sandy beaches. Our next stop is Vietnam we fly on Thursday 15th, so keep your eyes open for the next blog entry!!!!
I’m writing this blog in Kowloon Park, within the Chinese gardens! Sitting opposite a flamingo lake, with a random McDonalds drink café (size of a garden shed)!!! Both of us sipping our San Miguel beers, all the parks have free Wi-Fi…bonus!!
- comments