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We arrived in Hong Kong mid afternoon and before leaving we were approached by a lady with a street map of HK telling us to head down to the front tonight as it was chinese new year celebrations and there would be a big firework display - how lucky we were turning up on the best celebrations in HK! Excellent!
We headed through the airport to the metro stop to get to Kowloon and already the difference from being in India was obvious - Hong Kong being alot sleeker, cleaner and modern - the metro was only 2 stops we then headed for the taxi rank - the taxi queues were very organised - a guy at the front directing people to the next cab it was quite bizarre but convenient.
We arrived at our hotel in no time and the journey was my first view of HK - there are tall buildings everywhere at least 20 floors high! The roads are entwined with the buildings and tend to be on the same level as the 2nd/3rd floors rather than ground level. We were staying just off Nathan Road (the main shopping street in Kowloon) right next to an underground station - we found it really convenient! The hotel was great, we were on the 14th floor and I think it had 21 floors in total - in the time we were there we didnt find the pool !?!
The first night, although we were shattered from our long wait in Mumbai and then no sleep travelling, we headed to the front to see these fireworks - we walked straight down Nathan Road and it led you to the waterfront - it was freezing! Well probably not that cold but we'd been used to hot, humid India for the last 4 weeks! Thank god we'd brought our hoodys! It was rammed towards the bottom of Nathan road and we just followed the crowd through the subway under the main road and came out at the front - there were thousands of people milling around trying to get to the front to get a good view - we were a good 7 metres from the edge of the water it was so busy!
We stood for prob a half an hour shivering but just soaking up the atmosphere as we had good views of the buildings all lit up across the water on Hong Kong Island. The fireworks went on for around 30-45 minutes, synchronised to the music - the crowds loved every minute! We grabbed some food and headed back afterwards to plan the next day! Hong Kong Island here we come!
Saturday morning we got up early and got the ferry across to HK Island, the weather was slightly warmer but a little misty over the water - we were heading up the peak today so hoped itd clear. Once we moored we decided to hop on a double decker tram - it went back and forth through the main streets of HK Island and so we thought we'd get to see quite alot. The buildings are so built up - its actualy what I imagine New York to be like - all sky scrapers and nothing else! I have to say though there were alot of parks and well kept green areas for people to escape the fast pace. All the top brand shops were around - Lucias eyes were popping out of her head - I promised we could visit French Connection on our way back that night - haha!
We found our way to the peak tram stop and waited in queues for about 40 minutes - no-one had warned us chinese new year is equivalent to bank holiday so mega busy everywhere! Doh! Well....the tram ride up was an event in itself -we had been the last few people let through the gates so therefore the last to get on the back door so basically the ones looking down the very steep peak as we trundled up on this rickety old tram - I can honestly say it was pretty damn scary actually - Ive found that myself and heights are not best of friends!
The top of the peak is just amazing how they have it organised and the way they have built it....on the way up we had seen amazing blocks of apartments built into the side of the peak - apparantly these are some of the most expensive and sought out places to live in HK. When you get off the tram it brings you into what I can only describe as like a shopping mall, you only go one way up and one way down so the flow of people is well controlled. We were starving so sat in a window seat in a japenese restaurant - the view was fantastic and we could see the mist had begun to clear and the sun was shining through - I couldnt wait to get up to the top to the sky plaza to get photos! It was awesome, just amazing - the views were wicked and it was really quite clear, better than we were expecting - the photos are some of the best Ive got I reckon! After clicking away from every angle and doing the usual tourist pics with the views behind you - we wandered and shopped and then decided to get in the queue to go back down - about an hour later we boarded he tram down! Never visit HK on bank holiday weekends!
Lucia got her wish and French Connection made a bit of cash out of us both and then we headed home to change and go out for the evening - we'd heard about a place for restaurants and bars only a 2 stops away it was called Knutsford Terrace(hmmm never found out where the name came from!). It was a really cute little street lined wth bars/restaurants - Italians, Aussie, Japanese, Chinese, Sports bar - the list continues....lets just say we ate well and got a wee bit drunk!
Sunday we'd planned to go to Ocean World on the other side of HK Island - after the met and the bus we arrived around midday - we were excited coz we'd heard there were pandas here and that was our main reason for visiting! Its a great adventure park with loads of rides, animals and food stalls. All on different levels as its bulit into the side of a small mountain - they had cable cars to take you from the top half to the bottom half with excellent views of the surrounding bays and islands - this is when I knew for sure myself and heights did not have an amazing friendship - oh my god we were soooo high up and creaking and rocking in this tiny little pod making our way along the cliff edges then down into the bottom half of the park - I think I actually shut my eyes a one point! The worse thing was halfway there and all I heard from Lucia was 'Oh Oh' - yes we had stopped!!!!! The other line was continuing but we had stopped! To be fair it lasted all of a minute but seriously I think it was the longest minute ever! Us swaying over nice big cliff rocks that led down into the sea - hmmm nice!
Anyway I survived.....next stop was the Pandas the highlight of my trip to HK!!! They are such beautiful, gorgeous, cuddly big bears! So cute and playful - there were 2 younger ones in the same enclosure and they were rolling around wrestling each other - they are so gentle though! I just wanted to take one home! I got some wicked photos although we were all stood behind glass. It was so cool to see these big animals up close - they are so graceful but then at the same time quite clumsy - haha how can that be!
We had also visited a huge aquarium - there was one massive big tank with hundreds of different species of marine life - you walked around the top - it lead you to the sides of the tanks then into the tunnel underneath - they had large sea turtles - so cute! Also one of my favourite creatures! It was a huge place and really well laid out - again one way in and one way out - HK has it so right - everywhere is so organised!
We made our way back to Kowloon to watch the light show on the front that happens apparantly every night at 8pm - basically alot of the buildings on the waterfront have lights and lasers coming off them and they have organised a light show in time to music - is the biggest light show in the world so we were told! It went on for around half an hour - it was amazing to watch but my camera didnt want to pick up on it - I got a small video clip but it didnt come out too well! We were stood along the avenue of stars to watch it - this is HK's equivalent to Hollywood's Walk Of Fame - Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and other we had never heard of!
Monday we had saved for the island of Lantau to see the Big Buddha pictured above - Ngong Ping - we were very, very disappointed! We travelled by underground there changing lines to get to Lantau(45mins) , queued in freezing cold weather for the cable car(close to 2 hours!), by the time we got to the front of the queue to even get up the escalators to join the actual queue to get on, it was so foggy you would not have been able to see a thing and it would have been freezing up there......so.....we opted for the bus ride there - close to an hour later, up and down winding cliff paths we were dropped off at what seemed to be a bus station - we couldnt really see it though it was too damn foggy! We got off, it was wet, cold and windy and we were like 'where the hell is this big buddha!?!?'. Well guys after all that effort to get there plus nearly killing ourselves walking up about 300 steps to get to the Buddha itself - all I could make out were his bloody knees!!!! Absolute waste of time!!! Gutted!
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