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Well I spent a bit longer here than I'd hoped, but there's been the usual problems you could expect when travelling I spose, not being able to communicate effectively for example...
I arrived in a foggy sunrise, and managed to get around the island on the bus network, to see the old fishing village, which suprisingly wasn't very touristy. Then I headed up to the big buddha on the cable car. This place was super touristy, but atleast you get some food with your ticket to the museum inside the budda's belly! The Lamasery only the other hand was relatively peaceful and nice, I guess 'cos it only sells vegetarian food.
By the time I figured out that I had made it to the sort of city area of Hong Kong, I just wanted to head straight to the nearest hostel. But as soon as I'd dropped off my bag, I was out in the street again, this time having studied my Lonely Planet a bit more. It was all pretty reminiscent of Tokyo, lot's of shopping! But there's lots of people on the street, mostly Indians for some reason, trying to sell you a tailored suit or a fashionable watch.
As you can imagine, there's a huge variety of food, and I tried to have a bit of everything. Except for the expensive Shakey's Pizza, even though I do love a custard and banana pizza! I went down to fancy pants bar area one night where apparently all the foreigners hang out. I managed to myself a pretty good & healthy Chinese feast; no MSG, minimal oil, etc. And only about AU$15. The electronic gadgets weren't that cheap, ebay prices without the postage. Clothing is cheap, but I resited the urge to buy for the sake of a bargain.
Since the LP highly reccomends going up to Victoria Peak on the tram, I had to do it, even though it was covered in low cloud. I think there were some homeless people homes hidden in the bushes up there, not a bad place to live. The HK Zoological & Botenical Gardens were by far the highlight of HK for me though. It's free, and a short walk from the city up the mountainside for starters. And there were so many birds! Haha, a collection of the most colourful ones, and then a bunch of primates! As for the botenical side, the bush in the hills is incredibly similar to coastal QLD. At first I saw paperbarks lining the roadside, then cycads in the shrubs; some of those skinny, patchy bark, shiny leaved rainforest trees (sorry dad I know you've told me, Syzygiums maybe?), ferns... It was really weird, I felt confused at first, then I got upset because my idea of Australia being unique was being ruined!
There were some good, free performances down by the river at night, but the symphony of lights wasn't really anything impressive. Just lots of light. There wasn't much point in doing the harbour cruise, but I did go up to a free observatory. Then while I was at my second residence, I walked around peeking into doorways to see lots of other guesthouses (there's lots of Thai women around, and some African men too, as well as some other young white backpackers), and little sweatshops where people were either making clothes, or playing mah-jong.
My last 24hrs in HK was a bit stressful, the warning in the Lonely Planet proved true and I couldn't get a seat or bed on a train to Yunnan all week! Had to fly.
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