Time is ticking on alright... has been a week in HK now, and I am very lucky as I could never have afforded it without the generosity of my host... you don't see backpackers and the like in HK... they just don't have them... let alone staying in a prime location near the centre of HK city itself.
The soiree the other night was an interesting affair, the restaurant was very nice indeed with a magnificent view over HK island, and the wine and food did indeed flow... kind of. The queues for the assorted gourmet nibbles were so long there was not much point in even trying, and the bar ran out of glasses as the place was so overpacked... not well run at all, but then I think they were a bit overwhelmed by the crowd. And what a crowd. The beautiful folk. I am quite sure that most of the guys in the place were wearing socks that cost more than my whole outfit, I felt somewhat underdressed in my button-up Illicit shirt, jeans and black jacket, but what can you do. HK is a high fashion town, so I just tried to make out like I was being unique and a rebel, rather than poor. Fortunately for us we found a spot outside on the deck and, my mate being who he is, the manager not of the restaurant but of the entire hotel came out before too long to say hello and ordered one of the frazzled looking waiters to find us four bottles of wine while the rest of the crowd continued to mob the bar trying to get a single glass.
So that was Tuesday night. Was it? I think so. No, it was Monday. Today is Wednesday. Except now for you it is Thursday... Anyway the next day I got up and wandered a bit and took a tram to Central then got on the subway and headed out to Lantau, which is the larger but vastly less populated island to the west, much of which is parkland and great hiking country. The rail ride was fairly long but as always efficient and easy enough, once you find your way around some of the massive stations. From the main town of Tung Chung I caught the cable car that weaves its way over the huge hills of the island for about 15-20 minutes of amazing views before ending up at Ngong Ping, near a large buddhist monastery set amongst the hills, and featuring the world's (or possibly just Asia's) largest seated buddha. Now I have seen a lot of buddha in the last five weeks, and this one certainly was large. And seated. There is even a museum inside him. I am not sure if this is a direct copy of the real buddha and whether he also had a museum inside him, or if this is just something they thought was a good idea at the time. Anyway after snapping lots of photos of him I caught a bus to Tai O, a little village on the very west side which is very much the opposite of Hong Kong and does not looked to have changed a great deal in the last 50 years. It was very nice and peaceful, with lots of old people pottering about and houses on stilts over the water and little fishing boats chugging in and out of the bay. I even managed to spot the old (English) Police Station hidden up on a hillside amongst some trees, and felt obliged to break into the grounds to get some photos. Well, it seemed a shame not to, it is just sitting there all neglected. In hindsight I am probably lucky I didn't end up providing the subject matter for some gory horror movie... lonely tourist ventures where he shouldn't... but then again that could have happened countless times in the last month and a bit. I wonder what really was in that "noodles with assorted meats" in Cambodia...
Lantau also features large shopping outlet malls, the huge Hong Kong Airport, and Hong Kong Disney resort. I didn't make it to any of these, although I will hopefully be making it to one of them fairly soon... Today was just a wander around various parts of HK and Kowloon (the "dark side" as HK people call it, though much of HK is on the mainland but still part of HK) including Jordan and Causeway Bay, the latter of which had many many shops I thought I would probably get declined entry to if I even tried. Tomorrow will be another day of just trying to get around things and see what I can see and then I think we are out tomorrow night and off to the north Friday, so blogs and emails may kind of run dry around then for a bit... We will see how we go.
Everything is exceptionally Christmas over here, shopping is like a national sport for the well off and everywhere you look there are trees and decorations and carols playing and the usual madness. Still not quite sinking in for me though, as far as I am concerned it is still early November... Funny thing is it is still 20 degrees and clear and sunny, and it is their winter. Think I definitely lucked out there, in the summer it gets into the 30's and is incredibly muggy and smoggy, but for now there is a nice breeze and it is just pleasant.
Oh well I may retire to the roof for a while with a beverage, my host is currently at some other event but will be returning soon to join me. Cheers for the emails as always, catch you soon.
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