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We arrived at Shenzhen, at the China / Hong Kong border at around 1pm, Roy went through one channel and we all took another, through Chinese border control and then on to the Hong Kong border control where we were all (UK residents) issued 180 day visas and Roy had to purchase a maximum of 7 days visa for around £30 as he was a Chinese citizen which doesn't seem very fair as Hog Kong is officially part of China.
We all met on the Hong Kong side at Starbuck’s and I paid well over £11 for a sausage roll and a hot chocolate!!! We all moaned as we have been used to paying Chinese prices and now we are paying similar to UK prices for things.
We got on the Hong Kong MTR and headed over to Kowloon where the hotel was and Tripadvisor was right, it does look like there are prostitutes standing on the street corner just outside the hotel entrance.
After checking in and having a really nice shower we all headed out for some lunch with Roy and another whirlwind tour of the local area. We had had enough of these by now so most of us politely headed back to the hotel and arrange to meet up for dinner later.
As tonight is officially my last day of the "Roam China" trip, Roy did a little recap of our whole trip reminding people of the many great things we had seen and done and he had bought us all a present. It was a bag of green tea which was only found in the area of his home town and had some special chemical in it which he couldn’t tell us what it was in English, so when we try it we might all be as high as a kite, lol. Emma & Jane had also gone out and bought a card (which did say Happy New Year inside, but it’s the thought that counts) that we all signed and put in a tip for Roy, so we gave it to him in return for our tea.
After dinner we headed down to the river/sea front at the Kowloon side to watch the nightly light show that is put on over at the Hong Kong side at 8pm every night. It was quite cool to see the different buildings light up and fire lasers in to the sky in time to the music played over this side. I managed to get a few pictures and we got a final group one in front of the Hong Kong skyline.
After the 15 minute light show we took the local ferry across to the Central pier on the other side and we were going to head up to Victoria Peak on the train to see the city from up there all lit up but as Craig’s camera battery had died. The group decided to split up and go their separate ways.
I went with Roy, Emma & Jane, and Claire and we headed off for a drink. Which at this point Roy admitted to drinking a litre of rice liquor that we had bought him the day before for the train journey and after a couple of glasses of wine he was a little tipsy! In this bar I found some Bulmers, not quite Strongbow but close and as it was still happy hour it only cost £5 and not the normal price of £8 a bottle.
We headed off to another bar where the girls all got free drinks as it was happy hour. Then off to another bar where we found live music and a dance floor. Hurrah! I have finally found somewhere selling Strongbow and I don’t have to drink the local beer any more. It was £6 for a 300ml bottle but well worth it.
Tonight turned out to be quite a session, and for once it wasn’t me making a fool out of myself. Claire and Roy left at around 01:30 and Emma, Jane and I stayed out a little longer. We met a German guy called Michael who bought 3 jelly shots for £50, he had one and Emma and I had the other two. After hanging around for a while trying his luck with Emma and / or Jane he disappeared, probably thinking what a waste of £50!!!
Jane was a little worse for wear by the end of the night and was talking a load of rubbish, including “why do we always go on waltzers?” A little random, but I assume it was because her head was spinning, a lot. Before getting in the cab, Emma got Jane a big black bag, just in case she needed to be sick, luckily she wasn’t.
Although this was our last night Craig & Jess and Claire were all starting another Intrepid trip lead by Roy down to Hanoi in Vietnam and this trip included 1 night in Hong Kong at the beginning. Tom & Sarah were meeting up with a friend who lived in Hong Kong to spend a couple of extra night with them. Emma & Jane had booked a couple of extra nights in a 4 star hotel in Hong Kong before going on alone to Vietnam and upon taking Roy’s advice I booked in to a local hotel for 3 extra night in Hong Kong. The hotel was close to the other hotel so still had prostitutes hanging around and looked a bit dodgy. Once up the lift and on the 10th floor the rooms were clean and tidy and had air conditioning, so I couldn’t complain for £28 per night. It would have cost me £60 a night to stay in the same hotel.
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