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24th September 2009 - 26th September 2009:
We set off from Shanghai to Hong Kong on an overnight sleeper train but on this occasion the estimated journey time was almost 24 hours. We once again had the soft sleeper cabin and have taken some pictures for you to see what we now determine as 'absolute luxury' - how we have changed!! This time however we did not have anyone else booked into our cabin which was a welcome surprise and gave us plenty of space to spread out.
You will be amazed at how quickly you can get bored cooped up in a small cabin and finding ways to entertain oneself can be somewhat limited….. so thank god for the Chinese version of sour skittles, which have an extra coating of sugar on the outside and means that they are MUCH more sour than the ones you can buy at home.
Having both struggled to eat more than one at a time Sean challenged Liza to eat the last five, plus all of the remaining sugar at the bottom of the packet, in one go. I am glad to confirm that Liza stepped up to the plate and gamely accepted the challenge, resulting in some very funny pictures - see separate 'Skittles' album for a good laugh. Given some of the faces she pulled we are now thinking of entering her into the next world Gurning Championships!!!
We had read many reviews about hostels in Hong Kong, mainly about their size, but nothing could prepare us for what seemed like the smallest room ever. To say that you would struggle to swing a cat would be a massive understatement - it would have been bumping off every single wall in between screeching meows!!!
Legal Disclaimer: We wish to confirm that no actual cats were harmed during the writing of this Blog.
The room must have been 8ft x 10ft (at best!!) and scarily this included the "ensuite", which basically consisted of a toilet, sink and shower hose. It was so tiny that there was no cubicle and meant you basically had to shower whilst sitting on the toilet - a very interesting experience to say the least!!
On the Saturday, we decided to hit Disneyland - ok not your traditional backpacker stop but it had to be done. The excitement began when the Disneyland Line train arrived and the windows were in the shape of Mickey Mouse, of course this was another Kodak moment for Liza who quickly jumped in for a photo.
As with both Euro Disney and Disneyland Florida we started off by heading straight for the main store where Liza purchased her now customary pair of Mini Mouse ears (which she proceeded to wear for the WHOLE day!!) and this was quickly followed by Sean's now customary response of "you must be flippng joking" to Liza's suggestion that he buy matching Mickey Mouse ones!!
We went on most of the rides (the Haunted House scaring the life out of both of us!!) and finished the day off by watching the Disney Parade - it was really funny seeing Chinese people dressed up as the characters from High School musical whilst miming to "Wild Cats here we go!!"
That evening we caught the famous Symphony of Light show which takes place each night on the riverfront where the skyscrapers perform a light show to music, which just further highlighted the magnificent skyline and was very cool.
We took the tram up to Victoria Peak on Wednesday which was an unbelievably steep journey, at one point it felt like we were almost going vertical, however the view from the top was astounding and we were very lucky to get such a clear sunny day. Whilst up on the peak, we took in some lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co where we shared a bucket of fresh fish and Sean enjoyed his best chocolate desert (a big statement given he has had so many to choose from) of the entire trip so far!!
The following day was spent trying to find train tickets for our trip to Vietnam but given the Chinese holiday (which seems to entail about a billion people travelling around the country all at the same time) we had no luck so decided to come back to Hong Kong after Macau and had the choice of either buying plane tickets for £250 each or a sleeper coach/bus for £18 - no prizes for guessing which one we went for!!!
We therefore finished off the first part of our stay in Hong Kong with some shopping, of which there was plenty to do, but unfortunately we were unable to partake in too much given our limited budget and lack of space in our backpacks - boohoo!!.
29th September 2009 - 1st October 2009:
We arrived back in Hong Kong to surprising clear weather and headed to a coffee shop to find internet access and book another hostel. After searching for a while we eventually found one within budget and headed over to Kowloon to check in - well if we thought the last room in Hong Kong was small this one was taking the biscuit!!
We are certain it was designed with Chinese dwarfs in mind as the room was around 8ft x 6ft and just about fitted a bed in sideways with the tiniest of bathrooms and not a single window in sight.
N.B. If our accommodation plight is hitting any heart strings and making our parents or friends feel sad then we are more than grateful for any donations and will gladly accept cash, postal orders or cheques made payable to "Liza and Sean's TOAL"
We decided to head out of the hostel before we started getting too claustrophobic and were half way down the street when the previous clear weather was replaced with the heaviest rain shower we have ever seen in our life - it was literally raining cats, dogs, hamsters and every other weird pet that Chinese people choose to eat for dinner!!!
During the downpour we stumbled across a travel store and found these cool rain jackets that literally folded away into a little package the size of a coke can and weighed less than 25 grams!!! Possibly a little bit of an impulse buy but we quickly bought two and wore them for the rest of the evening which was spent indoors at TGI Fridays eating nachos and burgers.
We then got back to Dwarf Mansions and prepared to pack for the morning when we leave by coach for Nanning which is part of our two day trip to Vietnam.
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