A bit lazy today, maybe heat and humidity taking it’s toll? Hope not, more to come over the next weeks I guess.
After some chineese guy woke everybody in the room by packing and unpacking starting at 7:30, I decided to eventually get up at around 8:30. Went for quick breakie with Ben (Kay – FB users might remember him from heavily censorable comments), than off to the south of HK island with rosi. She had been to Stanley in the past, but had time to kill before her university classes in the evening.
Nice small bus ride to Stanley, a far more quiet place when compared to HK. It’s on the same Island and only takes around 25 min. The busses tell you at what speed they are going and the beaches are not crowded at all – what more can you ask for.
On the way back we did a detour to Ladies Market up on Nathan Rd. – rosi buying a bag and me something else.
Back at the hostel I discovered that my headphones had quit on me- hadn’t used them in a while ;-(
Don’t really feel like going out to get some replacement – maybe in Cambodia …
Leaving for Phnom Phen tomorrow morning via Singapore – need to get up at 6 am.
Today almost everybody of this hostel is checking out. That means new people – good although had a really good time with the last bunch. That’s what I love about hostelling, new people, new destinations popping up from nowhere and even friends.
Marshal and me decided to find the famous Lin Heung Tea House – known for its excellent and traditional chineese food, all served in an unpretentious authentic setting. The clock showed 11 when we finally managed to leave the hostel after saying goodbye to georg+georg, the indian and the korean – both of whose names I (and nobody else) ever quite fathomed. Actually that fact was always a source for good fun and laughter – especially for them. Almost as good as the jokes about the french (not present), the english (not present), the americans (marshal) and the indians (the unknown). Nobody knew jokes about the germans. Maybe because there were too many of us? 😉
Anyway, we arrived at the tea house (restaurant) at around 11:30 and were greeted by a wall of noise and delicious smells.
Great stuff, you needed to chase the woman with their trollies (that’s where the food was on) around the restaurant, open all the pots on them and pick one dish. You never really knew what you got, since most dishes were in dumplings or thin dough. But the quality was excellent and I believe in the end we had tasted about 50%of their dishes. Amazing food!
Our second destination was the world’s longest escalator- going up the hill in Central, going past all sorts of bars and clubs. They reverse the direction of movement at certain hours of the day. Didn’t take a photo – more interesting during the night.
We tried to get into the Bank of China’s viewing plattform on the 43rd floor, but they didn’t allow me to enter since I had left the passport in the hostel ;-(
But we went up to the roof terrace of the Hennessy Bld – good views!
After that we headed back to the hostel since marshal needed to get ready for the airport as well. I decided to catch up on some sleep – but that didn’t really happen. As usual. In the end I went out with Rosi …
… to go up to Victoria Peak via that steep whatyoucallit uphill tram. Amazing views of the city’s skyline.
Did I mention already, that I love the HK weired little trams 😉
Picking up some beers on the way back to the hostel – you never know who will check in today …
Up at 9 and todays plan was to go to Macau, get to mainland china and see if the portugeese influence could still be seen.
Trip only takes an hour on the fast catamaran. Macau definately has a different feeling to it when compared to HK. Of course loads of casinos, but also colonial portugeese architecture. Totally different scale in some parts, more human+layed back.
… and some portugeese snacks, bifana and whatever these little tards are called …
Inbetween we came across an old mandarin house, very impressive architecture.
Walking down the streets towards the casinos and restaurants, I came across this peculiar tshirt
We checked out some of the casinos, small Las Vegas, actually not too kitsch though.
Back at the hostel, we were just in time for a small bday party – might get late yet again, what happened to my plan to get to bed early today …
Almost forgot, booked my plane to Cambodia for friday – seeing lutz, do some offroad biking and perhaps get some sleep?
Lazy breakfast around the corner around 10:00 helped to wake me up, warm and getting humid outside. Climate suits me fine, even the humidity is OK. Worst part is the aircon everybody is using and the favorite setting seems to be 16′.
Back in the Hostel five of us decided to pay Lamma island a visit and off we went to Central with the tube and then on via ferry boat.
Pretty little island, only 20 min or so off HK island. Small village by the docks and what seemed to be an established walking route starting from here.
Soon found a nice beach and went for a refreshing swim in the sea – is this the South Chineese Sea? No idea, need to look it up. They even had fresh water showers installed, so loved it.
We decided to find a temple which was meant to be a little more east from the beach and went on despite sun getting hot now. We saw a lot of BIG spiders- tried to take a picture, but with the iphone that meant holding it really close. Did the best I could – hair at the back of my head all up – the things were the size of my hand!
Just before we had to admit that we had gotten lost, I got startled by a really substanstial snake about 2m next to me – size if an average cobra, but black?
In the end we persuaded a fisher man to give us a ride on his boat around the island back to the port 😉
Had a good meal before catching the ferry back – sea food galore.
After a brief rest in the hostel, 7 of us went out to enjoy food on the night market again, don’t get tired of it – especially after russia’s borsch and variaties of goulash.
Slept OK, hostel nice but room mates a bit of the ‘hey mate, how many beers did you have’ type.
Checked out Central and parts of Wan Chai today – all west of hostel, on HK island. Culture shock after sibiria of course, just what I needed. Had good japaneese food twice, HK still cheaper than Berlin, even in decent places. Bought the Octopus card (local oyster card) – if you know london, public transport is not much of a problem. So from a tourist point of view: ‘Thank you England for language and public transport’ 😉
While walking I found my next residence 😉
They use these really peculiar double decker trams here, very funny
Went to see the Bank of China bld designed by Pei (with whom I worked on his berlin project Quartier 206 in Friedrichstr.), but the viewing plattform on the 43.floor was closed today.
Some random shots of the walk
Paging through the LP guide and getting info from the Hostel – all still a bit much to take in, let’s see what the evening holds in store.
Suggestions welcome 😉
Took the Star Ferry from HK island to the mainland …
… and watched the ‘lightshow’ of the skyscrapers on the island. Nice quick boat ride, light show pathetic, as I had been warned.
Walked up from Victoria Harbour to Yau Ma Tei – overkill! Shopping, markets and food. A lot more chineese – the way I imagined it anyway – than on HK island. But picked this hostel because it’s nice to get away from the action when you had enough 😉
Long (4,5h) and bumpy flight with Vladivostok Air – but glad customs went well. Had a good chat (actually all through flight) with marius, an american from SF.
Arrival in HK, greeted by 30′ at 22h00 local – 3h earlier than Vladivostok. Jumping around through all these timezones drives me crazy – this is the 10th one!
Anyway, what a change – english and modern, actually writting on airport bus to city 😉
Need to find hostel soon, prebooked 2 nights at Ceck Inn Hostel, getting tired since 2am in my mind and body.
Driving past mountain ranges made from appartment blocks.
The bloody busses here drive like londons- just faster even.
Arrived in hostel – a proper hostel, so glad for that. Minute toilet/shower though – didnt recognize the shower in it 😉
offwe_r 