Hong Kong Phooey

"Is it Penry, The Mild Mannared Janitor ? Could be !!! " A great cartoon hero....

First time in Hong Kong for me. Stu and Perry have now gone back to Guangzhou for their flight, Phil has also gone back to Guangzhou for a couple of days of Cantonese culture, I will catch up with him a day or two, I am staying in Hong Kong as my Chinese visa has expired. I want to stay longer in China so a trip to HK is the easiest option, I'm already in the area, visas are easy to get and I fancied seeing it sometime anyway. So boat from Macau, across the South China Sea and into the Macau Ferry Port in the North of Hong Kong Island. Found accomodation in the Causeway area (Eastern Hong Kong Island) and off we wnt to the infamous Lan Kwai Fong, the heart of Hong Kong's drinking culture nightlife. Well it was Saturday and therefore live football again. It's quite a weird experience going there after three months in China and a previous four months in Central Asia to find somewhere that feels just like you are out in London! After the football was over we found another club with a great live band, well the band was great, especially the guitarist, but the singer was not my favourite, they however played some great cover tracks such as Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Green Day, Killers etc which kept the dance floor packed and it made it a great fun night out in HK.


Left: Hong Kong Island skyline from Kowloon in the day.
Right: And at night.

As well as the nightlife part, I always want to experience some of the more traditional local cultures of course, so trying to ignore the British bars, the now odd sight of British people around me and sandwiches in shops, I jumped on the famous star ferry across to Kowloon, a place I have heard and read about in books and wondered what it must be like. On the Chinese mainland, Kowloon was ceded to the British in 1860 and was developed uncomprimisingly to create one of the most densely popualted areas on the planet. On arrival I was greeted by hordes of mainly Indian or Middle Eastern men selling fake watches, they don't give up these boys !! Walking through the centre of Kowloon, through the bustling streets, packed with shoppers, through streets almost covered overhead with advertising hoardings and banners, with shops, markets, hotels, the infamous Chungking Mansions crammed full of cheap guesthouses and looks like it could do with a bit of work, you can reach the surprisingly quiet Kowloon Park with a few people sitting around the fountains, playing cards, mah jong, chinese chess or performing taiji.

Further north again I headed out to find Hong Kong's most thriving Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian temple (Wong Tai Sing Temple) packed with Chinese making their offerings, shuffling around with bunches of incense, filling the air with a dense aromatic smoke due to the huge number of people. There were also some worshippers kneeling in front of temples offering traditional gifts of food, which is usually some fruit, oranges, bananas etc. but here I even saw two ladies with a roast chicken each!

Looking back at Hong Kong Island from Kowloon is a spectacular view (if you like the skyscraper kind of thing, I'm half taken but not completely), non-stop skyscrapers from one end to the other across the island, which in the evening (I went back again that evening) are colourfully illuminated with bright neon glowing outlines and signs.


Left: Wong Tai Sing Temple, possibly the busiest temple I have ever been to.
Right: Chinese chess players in Kowloon park.

Back on Hong Kong Island, the Sunday afternoon crowds were out shopping and it was even worse than Fratton Park at 14:59 on a Saturday, when everyone rushes in last minute from the pubs. There was an onslaught of people from all directions, waves and waves of shoppers, workers, tourists, whatever they all were, all seemingly heading around the same area of town as me. The mixture of faces there was also huge, as well as Chinese and British faces, there were clearly many from parts of SE Asia, such as Phillipinos, Malays and Indonesians, as well as Indians and maybe even some Middle Eastern people, as well as of course various other Europeans, Americans and Australians/New Zealanders. It's a real melting pot of people Hong Kong, more so than I could possibly have imagined.

My next target was to get up to the top of the large hill in the centre of Hong Kong Island which they have imagintively called 'The Peak' (it must have taken hours to come up with that). There is a fenicular railway going up there which I decided to take as it was the quickest and simplest way and from the top you have great vies of Hong Kong's skyline, Kowloon and the outlying islands. All very nice on a nice clear day. A bonus was the EA store on the way up to the viewing platform where you could tryout EA games as long as you wanted, so I spent a good few hours testing out the new release of FIFA 07 while I was there, great !!


Left: Hong Kong From the top of 'The Peak'.
Centre: Lady at Wong Tai Sing Si, gives offerings that include a roast chicken.
Right: One of Hong Kong's strange narrow trams.