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Hong Kong – Day 6

Our final day was spent wandering about the local malls looking for last minute shopping bargains, a few trinkets and some presents for (some of) the family... We were all in Disney Hangover mode, too much pink, too much happy and too much humidity. It was all we could do to step out of one air conditioned store to another without risking a total meltdown.
We luncheoned at Pizza Hut, not very Chinese - no, but it was nice and it beat the crap out of the Pizza Hut's in the UK and Sweden...

The airport was as awesome as ever, but we encountered a problem in bringing back duty free booze. Apparently if you are travelling to a European city and your flight includes a transfer, then you can't purchase any booze. I think they're missing a trick here, as with just a bit of security tape you could bypass the '100ml' problem ... whilst it's their loss, it's ours too - no boozy bargains... Unfortunately we only found this out after Janne perused the store for an hour choosing his liquids and got to the till where he was told ... "Can't do that!"
We got to the gate a little late because of this and boarded a little later than we would have liked. This wasn't a major deal but storing our bags became a bit of a task as the overhead lockers were already chocker by the time we arrived out a designated seating. I think I managed to piss off the French Dude in front of me who had put his 3 bags beside each other instead of stacking them, which I did for him so I could get my 2 ruck sacks in. He moaned to his wife for a bit, using sign language that suggested I had manhandled his baggage (!) but he calmed down after a while and about 2 hours into the flight he was out like a light and all was forgotten.

I can't sleep in economy class... the last time I travelled long haul was to Denver a good few years ago, that was business class on BA and I had my own little cubicle thingy with a bed - that was easy to sleep in. An economy seat, three rows from the back of the plane, no legroom, fat Chinaman beside you with (I assume) the biggest testes on the planet (he sat with his legs open the whole flight, invading both mine and the the person on his left personal space) and the twat in the seat behind playing with the remote control for the TV and the tray table all bloody flight meant that from waking up at 7am going through the night, arriving in Paris, waiting for 4 hours, flying to London getting home and attempting to stay awake for as long as possible was hellish. I made it until about 4pm (I think) then I stirred at some point to find that I was still dressed and it was dark out, I got into bed and then woke again at 5:30am.

I think next time I fly to the Far East I'll try and splash for either a business class seat or at least get a place on a plane where you don't have to be 3 foot nothing to be able to fit in the seat.

I lay in bed for about half an hour, the realisation hitting me that I was no longer in Hong Kong. A little depressed, I got out my camera and skimmed through the photo's thinking it would cheer me up a little - it did to begin with....

Hong Kong – Day 5

Hong Kong Disneyland

We'd pre-arranged a place on the shuttle bus last night for the 10 o'clock run to Yang Tsi station - the start point for our run to Sunny Bay and the transfer to the Disneyland train.

There's something special about Disney, you feel it start to build up inside until your inner child has no choice but to take over...
The train we're waiting for pulls into Sunny Bay station and it's the design that kicks off my own particular inner child... The windows are shaped like the Mickey Mouse symbol, the interior of the train is kitted out like a comfort wagon - blue velour seats that curve to the shape of the train, hand rails with Mickey design holders and glass cases with bronze statues of Disney characters. The ride is a short one but long enough for all three of our maturity levels to plummet considerably.

Being the smallest Disney Theme Park meant that we envisaged completing all the attractions and getting back to the hotel early... not so. In fact whilst we were there for almost 9 hours, there were still some smaller rides that we didn't get a chance to visit. However, we made sure that the important ones were done early enough so that we could mooch around the shops for trinkets before leaving.

Having been to 3 other Disney Parks the comparisons were difficult to avoid, but the great thing about them is that you already know that they're pretty much all the same. Apart from the size of this particular venue, the only thing that I could pick out that was different was the language.

The sun decided to pay a visit today, and as it hadn't shown it's face for the last week I didn't think about bringing any sun block with me ... wouldn't you know it - the sun was out pretty much all day and it was bloody hot. I have a sneaking suspicion that I may be a tad burned as I'm writing this with the lights out and using the glow from my face to see what I'm doing...

Janne and Maan had a wonderful time, I think that they will be looking to visit a Disney again very soon, especially if she has something to do with it... she takes being excited to a whole other level...

At the end of the day we head back to the hotel but stop off at the local mall to see if any of the food court stalls are open. They're not, but on checking the prices of the restaurants on the upper level we discover that they're pretty much identical. So we have a sit down meal in a pretty nice place that serves up a great bowl of hot and sour noodle soup and some steamed buns with glutinous rice and Chinese ham, all washed down with a Tsing Tao ... all for under a tenner, bargain...

Apologies for the Flickr stream not being updated, I'm still getting to grips with permissions on this bloody Linux machine. I suspect that a lot of my problems are being caused by the internet connection being behind a proxy. I may test the WiFi tomorrow at the airport ... sniff ... I'm coming home... sniff...

Hong Kong Day 4

I either slept through my alarm or it didn't work this morning, I'd rather go with the latter. Janne called me to say he was heading down for breakfast as it was 9am and I quickly showered and got dressed in record time... for me...
En route to Mongkok by shuttle bus, Janne came over ill and at one point wasn't sure he was going to make it without throwing up. From that point on his day got progressively worse as his knee started to inflame and his gout began to play up more than usual. Luckily we were dropped off at a large shopping mall that of course held a Starbucks. We sat down and had a drink then I popped off to have a mooch about the amazing place that we happened upon.
Langham Place is a 15 storey complex designed by architects from the world renowned (apparently) Jerde Partnership. The exterior is covered with a marble-like rock edifice that makes it stand out from the rest of Mongkok. And if the outside is impressive then the inside is truly something else. The Starbucks was located on the 4th floor atrium which rose 200m into the tip of the building. To service the 15 floors you could either use the lifts escalators or The Xpresscalators. These things were cool and I would have been blown away were it not for my over indulgence of escalators yesterday. These Xpresscalators are in two parts covering 83m. You can get to the top floor in two journeys ... not for the height wary, I can tell you!
On my mooching session I came across a music/DVD store and to my delight finally found a copy of Evangelion 1:01 You Are Not Alone which made my day.
The rest of the day was taken up by wandering around Mongkok and taking in the sights, sounds and chaotic congestion that is the worlds most densely populated area.

Hong Kong – Day 3 cont.

The afternoon's entertainment consisted of escalators. So many, in fact, that if I see another one it'll be too soon. If you didn't already know, HK Island is a big old hill jutting out of the water, and to get to the top of said hill there's a trolley system. However, to get to the trolley system you can either drive, take public transport, walk (no way!) or take the escalator system.
I didn't count how many escalators we travelled on to reach the mid-levels, but it was quite a few. The covered system runs up the hill past shops, massage parlours, the whole of SoHo and takes a very long time to do so. When we finally reach the top (and feeling rather let down with the experience) we check the guide book and see that The Peak Tram is nearby so we decide to do it today instead of Wednesday. It starts out a nice but humid night and we start our walk in the direction the map suggests. The path starts to go downhill and before long we all get the suspicion that we might have wasted some time on the escalators. Every now and then a sign post shows us which way to go, so instead of following the map we follow the signs ... and end up in the Botanical Gardens ... which is eerily empty of other human life. A woman in uniform stops us and says that the park is closed but when we explain that the signs told us to go this way for the Tram so kindly let us follow the path to the other side ... where the gates were locked....
After some mild panic and visions of sleeping under the stars with the birds and monkeys we were suddenly approached by a security guard. On trying to explain to him that we had been told to come this way by one of his colleagues he waved us off and frog marched us to the exit.
Then it started to rain ... the humidity rose and we all felt awful. Standing under an overhang from the US Visa Control building we watched the traffic go by and wondered what turning we made that was wrong. As the rain let up we walked across the road to find that we'd been standing opposite The Peak Tram building all along...
I've seen plenty of pictures, programmes and movies with The Tram featured but I wasn't prepared for how weird a sensation it was. You start off and then the tram feels as though it's lifting off. You're forced back into your seat due to the steep incline and you sit there overlooking the spectacular HK skyline from a very unique angle.
The Peak Observation Deck is awesome. We had a pretty clear night and could see Kowloon with no problem. There was a spattering of cloud but not enough to take away he awesome spectacle of the neon city glowing away. I attempted to take some night shots with the EOS but I'm not sure of there worth just yet. Whilst the Net Book is brilliant it only has a 10" display, so quality checking the photos is a little difficult. Also I'll add that for the hour before writing this post I attempted to update a few things on the ubunto OS and it reminded me why I never go into Linux ... If I get time tomorrow I'll try again and upload if they're any good.
We had a look at some of the restaurants in and around The Peak Enclave but after seeing a steak dinner for one priced at HK$1080 we went to Burger King...

Hong Kong – Day 3

The itinerary has changed a little from the original posting back on the 29th of June. Things are being added and some taken off depending on how we are feeling at the time. Some things happen by accident ... like today. As I write this post, I cannot for the life of me remember what we planned to do today, but I do know that we didn't need to keep to my original plan as we accomplished that yesterday.

We have our breakfast and head off to the station. Our aim is to head for the Star Ferry and get to Hong Kong Island by boat. On stepping into the street from the air conditioned MTR we start to melt. I honestly don't think I've perspired as much in my life ... however, once on the boat it was a different story as the cool breeze from the water helped ease the discomfort. Due to a miscalculation on my part, we end up at the wrong drop off point. This results in us trekking a few miles in blistering heat and humidity until we find a shopping mall that stocks Net Books. Good for me, not sure how good it was for my companions... After a few wrong turns we eventually find the promised land - The Windsor Mall.
A sign promising a Net Book for HK$1988 is advertised as we exit the lift on the technology level of the 11 or so storey complex. After a short while I find said Net Book and even though it's the cheapest one in the store, and the cheapest one I've seen since being away and searching, I actually like the little blighter. I get the deal there and then and I'm very pleased with the purchase. I did have some concerns as it comes with a pre-installed version of Ubunto Linux and whilst I like the OS a lot, I've never had the patience to sit down and figure the ins and outs of it.
No choice now!
So this is the first post using my SLNB100 Net Book ... official naming ceremony coming soon...

For now I'm singing off, it's 1:15am and I've got another early start tomorrow ... I'll update the rest of today's events later ...