So, I know I promised I'd get round to this, and so it is on a blustery Friday night, I come to tell you all the story of Hong Kong. It's a long but wonderful story of warmth, hot showers, friendship and a small taste of the Western World I didn't think I really missed!
The trip really started on Friday night when I hopped on a bus at 8pm from Younghae to Pohang. From there I had to wait until 11:30pm for my next bus up to Incheon airport. It was a long bus ride and didn't get much sleep, but we arrived at around 4:30am. I met a really lovely girl at Pohang so we chatted the hours away, before I headed to check in and try and stay away (all I can say is Thank God for coffee!) So here, the Hong Kong Story truely begins...
Saturday
Arriving in a busy but neat airport I gather my belongings and head for arrivals. Since I landed Chris and I have been texting, telling each other we'd arrived and arranging where we were to meet. I got flutters in my stomach at the thought of seeing an old friend. Someone who knew me. Someone who spoke English. Someone who most of the time knew what I was thinking (poor fella). Making my way through arrivals I frantically search for Chris, knowing he's around somewhere. Always slightly out of the way, never causing a scene. So, I make my way round the throngs of impatient people waiting for their loved ones, work colleagues and friends (I expect some weren't all that excited by the arrivals too, but for this story lets just pretend they were all early awaiting someone special!). I walk as quickly as I can, hauling a gigantic purple suitcase, and a couple of duty free bags. It's been a while since I've shopped and I couldn't help but start early.
I see Chris by some greenery, and I feel like running and hugging my wonderful friend who's just flown a long way to meet up with me in Hong Kong, but my bag prevents me. We greet each other and then he kindly suggests Starbucks! You see, he can read my mind! We settle down to eat our cakes and drink our drinks, feeling satisfied to have made it this far. Catching up on the last 3 months of our lives and discussing what the week ahead holds for us. I feel another flutter of excitement bubble to the surface as I contemplate all that we can do. I love exploring new places.
We finish up and find our hotel pick up. Both desperately wanting to shower off the long haul travel that brought us here, and relax for the evening. Soon enough, we are on our way into the neon dream that is night time Hong Kong. We pass boats with lights, building with lights, bridges, streams, chairs, everything seems to be covered in multicoloured neon lights. I'm used to this in Korea, but this seemed different. It was happier. I noted that we drove on the left, the British road signs, and the more relaxed manner of driving. It was almost like being back home.
I loved it straight away!
Saturday night passed with grabbing some KFC, which included Chicken-a-la-king, going for a short walk around our hotel area, which was higher than down town Kowloon, but lower than the New Territories. It was buzzing. Crashing out on our return to the hotel was nice.
Sunday
Sunday was reserved for Chris' jet-lag and a general day of rest. Instead we woke up late and wondered around Hong Kong Island. It was pretty relaxed. We walked for hours, finding a Cathedral, some back alley shops, Statue Square and all sorts. We also decide to take the Tram up the Peak. Waiting in queue for what seemed like ages we walked past snippets of the Trams history. It passed the time in the crowded line, although the wai was a little painful! Eventually we made it onto the Tram. Hurray! It was over crowded, but everyone was so excited to be heading up to see the views of Hong Kong. Chris and I were excited too, if not starting to get a wee bit tired at this point. Luckily a small group of people squished on their little bench and offered me a seat. Something I was very grateful for when we started our accent. At some points the Tram must have been going up at a 45 degree angle. Imagine standing up on that without support! The views going up were pretty cool though.
At the top we we wondered round and looked at the various views. It was nice to see the Hong Kong that we would be visiting over the next week. Chris took lots of pictures of all different angles and because my camera was broken, I just looked out in the various directions. I had to laugh at a couple who had brought their tripod with them and spent a good 5 minutes assessing the perfect angle to take a picture of themselves. First, she made her boyfriend stand very still at the edge of the balcony while she adjusted and readjusted the camera, tell him to move every so often. Then when she thought it was about right, the boyfriend checked and then changed the angle again, before standing in front of the camera while she then rearranged it. Finally they stood together. Her with a sullen pout and him with a frozen expression. They checked their image before starting all over again. I knew I had to leave before I started giggling at them too much :)
We headed back down to warm up, look around the shops and find some food, before heading up again once it was dark out. The view was incredible. Seriously. The beautiful greenery had disappeared and was replaced with a postcard picture of Hong Kong at night. We could see for miles. The HSBC building, Cannon's red neon light, Samsung, AIA, the harbour with it's boats. The lights cutting through the already retreating daytime fog. Wow.
After standing in a freezing cold line to get the Tram back down the mountain we made our way back to the subway station. Standing in the glow of it all. The trees only adding to the Industrial playground. The fountains were lit up, the building ablaze with light. It was comforting, even if it is such a waste of our resources. I apologise for anyone who thinks this is a waste. I do too, but I can't pass on it's beauty. I think that unlit buildings have a very eerie feel, and so this was nice!
Monday
Waking up early the next morning I decided to leave Chris to sleep and headed into the hub of Kowloon. The sun was shining and t was warm. I stumbled upon a Starbucks 1st, so I just popped in to get my morning caffeine fix before heading to the harbour. The water was blue! And the sun shone off it beautifully. Everyone was happy and busy and moving at a rate of knots. I lingered around the harbour watching the world go by, getting my Hong Kong bearings. I made my way to the shopping mall. IT was huge and very inviting. I relaxed there for a short while, looking at designer brands and finding few things I might like to buy. Considering Chris might be up and dressed I headed back to the hotel.
We decided to go back to the Kowloon area and check it out for the day. Now I had kind of found my bearings I was feeling confident enough to at least know when to get off the subway (although with about 10 exits at each I never quite knew which one to take!). We got some food and headed back to the harbour. fog was light, and only enhanced the magical atmosphere. We relaxed as we sat on some railings and looked out to Hong Kong Island. Working boats and ferries were making their way through the harbour. It all all very picturesque.
I decided to get the last Star ferry, that evening, taking 2 hours and allowing us to watch the famous daily light show. So we had a few hours to go before we could get aboard. We walked through a neat concrete park, with a Big Ben style clock, wispy trees and some small fountains. Some workmen were erecting a bizarre iron statue of a giant man with just one air plane type wing. Past the bamboo scaffolding, and into the Art Museum.
Now I am most definitely not an art enthusiast, but there wasn't much else we wanted to do, so Chris suggested a quick visit to see what was there. Wondering round for an hour or so in the very quiet but mildly interesting museum wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe it's because I amused myself with imprinting, accidentally falling into a huge statue and laughing my way through a few of the exhibits. All in all I wasn't as unimpressed as I thought I would be. Phew! Before heading to back to the harbour to catch our ferry we decided to eat (at Outback!) and head to the Avenue of Stars, hoping to see one or two names we recognised. Wondering up and down the avenue we spotted Jackie Chan and a couple of other names we knew.
As dusk approached we made our way back to the harbour. With the sun behind the mountains the lights came on. The blue neon lights piercingly bright across the water. The ferry approached and we boarded, happily! Finding good seats at the front of the ferry we settled in for the trip. It was intoxicating. The bright lights and the sea breeze were enough to make us giddy! When the light show started I was excited, but that quickly passed when I realised it wouldn't involve any fireworks!
In an effort to keep the great day going we headed to a market on our way home. To this day I'm still not sure which market we found, but it was the best one we went to all week! Finding knick-knacks I bartered with the old men and woman in their booths and got them to reduce their prices nicely. Everything was such a bargain. I truly love market shopping like this. After I'd dragged Chris around for far to long we went to make our way back to the hotel when we stumbled across a film set. Me being me, wanted to know what was going on. So I weaselled my way into the crowd hoping to get a glance of the action. Chris was growing tired and I told him that we wouldn't stay long. In actual fact we stay for well over an hour. Once it got interesting neither Chris nor I wanted to shift. They were filming a scene where the hero of the movie had to jump through a door of glass. It sounds more exciting than it actually was, but it was nice to watch how things worked on the film set.
Tuesday
Again, I woke up early and decide to leave Chris to sleep in. Today was my shopping day. I first headed to Starbucks to grab coffee and then made my way around, buying things I needed. I came back laden with bags and feeling a little tired. Chris just laughed at me. Knowing I'd gone a little overboard I hoped that I could a) fit it all in my suitcase and b)manage to get it through check in without paying a weight fine!
In the afternoon we headed to Lantau Island, to the West of Hong Kong Island. It was another very bright, sunny, hot day. We took the cable car to the Big Buddha, which took about 20 minutes, but it was very peaceful and we saw some wonderful views. To our left as he headed up was a mountain, nothing out of the ordinary. But the mountain was covered in a bright white fluffy cloud, which was literally spilling over the mountain. I wished I could have caught it on camera, but it never quite looked right. We went over a couple of mountains and then in the distance we saw the Buddha. Small at first, so we could still focus on the small hiking path below us and the airport to our right, and the abundance of green growing on the mountains all around us, but soon we were transfixed on the ever growing Buddha. The clouds spilling over the mountains but not covering the Buddha for a moment. And the contrast between the dark and light only aided the scene.
We found the entrance and started up the 300 odd stair to check out this site that was a must see. I have to admit that the detail was pretty impressive and it was kept in pristine condition, but the views away from Buddha were much more breath-taking. I would suggest someone go up there to look out over Lantau. wow!
Heading down we wondered around a little before heading back to Kowloon and to another market. Only, we couldn't find the awesome market we had found the night before. So deciding to have a wonder round instead taking pictures of the neon lights that lit up the whole of Hong Kong and wondering aimlessly, chatting away, before heading back to the hotel.
Part Two to follow I think...
OK, so this post is a few days later than the actual Mother's Day Celebration, but is important non the less.
