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The next couple of days I ended up checking out all that Kowloon had to offer, with a walk around the touristy Tsim Sha Tsui and Hong Kong’s Avenue of the Stars along the boardwalk one morning. After strolling around looking at the various attractions, a quick train trip then took me out to Sha Tin where the Ten Thousand Buddha Monastery lies. The top of the peak holds an already impressive collection of tiny Buddhas, but your trek up the hill is just as entertaining with the entire path lined with an amazing collection of buddhas in various positions and incarnations.

I also managed to have a look at the many different types of markets that Kowloon is home to such as the famous Temple Street night markets, bustling with tourists and probably one of the only places you’re likely to get a bargain on things in Hong Kong. Other markets that I visited included the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden (despite all the avian flu going around), and the Tung Choi Street Market (also known as the Ladies market).

When I was planning for this holiday, I realised that Hong Kong is a busy city, and because in some ways I wanted to get away from what I can get back in London, I ended up booking a separate hotel for the second part of my stay in Hong Kong. So for the second part of my week in Hong Kong, I stayed at the Silvermine Beach Hotel on Lantau Island, one of the only hotels I could find on this particular Island on the Internet that wasn’t near the airport. Lantau is a beautiful and more pristine Island compared to Hong Kong Island and Kowloon and has many walking trails that I had planned on taking. Unfortunately the amazing humidity built up to the point where the sky burst open for almost literally a day and made it quite difficult to go on the trails since I had little wet weather gear. Instead I ended up taking the bus ride up to the Po Lin Monastery, home of the Tian Tan Buddha Statue that towers over the entire island. Amazingly lush green landscapes surround the bus on its trip there and it is a nice way to see a different side to Hong Kong.

I really enjoyed all the different aspects that Hong Kong has to offer, and the different types of Chinese food I consumed were simply delightful. It was a great week long trip but it was nice to finally arrive back in Brisbane. More pictures from my stay can be found here.

My third day in Hong Kong was actually spent in the close country of Macau, a country with an even stranger fusion of Portuguese and Chinese cultures. Macau is a very short turbo ferry trip out of Hong Kong though you need to go through immigration on both sides of the country. Catching a bus to the city centre is trivial from the ferry terminals and its short trip takes you past the mecca of casinos littering the country’s landscape.

The Portuguese influence is evident, from the wide roads given Portuguese names, to its brightly coloured buildings that surround the wavy Spanish style pavements. There are enough tourist destinations worth visiting for although I personally don’t think it’s enough for more than a day. The old façade of the Church of St Paul is worth visiting and the local Fortress that lies a staircase away. Macau Tower, a little bit further out is worth a little bit of a walk out for, though depending on the heat you may want to jump in a bus or a taxi.

There are several churches and cathedrals worth visiting to take a look around and the main streets containing all the market wares, Chinese dried meats and Portuguese Tarts are worth walking around for a while. The photos from the first three days can be found in the following gallery.

Hong Kong has a lot going for it but there are a large number of people on such a tiny set of islands. The MTR (Mass Transit Railway) is an efficient way of getting around town if you’re in a rush though the buses, ferries and trams let you see more of a scenic view. The next couple of days saw me completing a number of walking trails from the condensed Lonely Planet guide that would be my bible for the next couple of days. I saw various markets around Sheung Wun selling Chinese herbal remedies but making use of very exotic ingredients such as deer antlers, dried sea horses and even dinosaur teeth! Man Mo temple is also located in this temple, worth visiting and seeing all the large coiled rings of incense continually burning up.

Hong Kong was currently building up for the famous Bun Festival, held only once a year but a major attraction for both locals and tourists. Cheng Chau island is the focal point of this festival with a number of bamboo trees covered in buns and a contest to see a number of climbers scale the tall building sized trees to see who can pick the most out of it. My day trip out to the island allowed me to see a mountaineering society holding a pre-festival climbing race that was on the news later that evening and a major tourist draw card for the island. While on the island I also visited the Pak Tai temple and the Tung Wan beach that, although lovely for the hot and humid weather still doesn’t compare to the golden sands of back home.

Hong Kong wouldn’t be Hong Kong without a proper Dim Sum experience and so I sat down at the Leung Hing Restaurant. The experience seemed completely authentic, if not slightly uncomfortable. First you have to find a seat for yourself, where you may be sharing a table with up to seven other people. Waiters will quickly come and wipe down the table, almost throwing chopsticks, and various bowls and a pot of tea at you. As I learned from observing my new tableside buddies, you should first wash all your utensils with the tea, dispensing of the tea into the biggest bowl given. The slip of paper, the waiters soon give you sits underneath the table, on another shelf that you then take with you as you pick up dim sum from the various carts around the floor. Customers continually buzz from cart to cart, lifting lids and almost barking orders at the attendant so it takes a bit of effort attracting attention to you. Pointing at dishes, indicating numbers with fingers and pushing your paper in front of the crowd will give you the edge that you need in order to get food.

My two week adventure to Hong Kong and then Australia started an early Thursday evening two weeks ago. An 11pm flight out of Heathrow meant that I had to leave Poole early in the afternoon. Two and a half hours I’m in London, another hour on the tube, and another three hours and I was finally out of the country! I don’t have too many troubles flying in general (there is nothing that I can do to influence any of it after all), so time passed by relatively quickly and I soon arrived in Hong Kong.

I had read up so much on Hong Kong and I didn’t really have that many expectations. I heard that it used to be a shopping mecca, but was no longer cheap, especially compared to many neighbouring Asian countries. Food is heavily Chinese and although Western food is available, the streets stalls have a huge number of Chinese restaurants, making it relatively pointless eating the same foods you have access to back home.

By the time I got to my hotel and checked it, it was well past dinner time at around 9:30pm. I was staying around Happy Valley (the home of the only horse racing track in Hong Kong), I already had a number of places plotted to go and visit in the area. My first visit was to the Carianna Chiu Chow Restaurant for dinner.

Carianna is located on the second floor of a non-descript building, and the food they serve is Chiu Chow style. This means heavy use of vinegar, garlic, oil and pickles and you can apparently tell a restaurant serves this style if they have crabs hanging from the window. After reading this place from The Economist, I thought it best to try the sliced goose and the E-Fu noodles. The E-Fu noodles were extremely tasty on their own, though fairly greasy, but thankfully I had the six little cups of Bitter Iron Buddha tea that pack quite a punch. The goose was tasty, though I didn’t eat any skin as it was far too fatty to enjoy. It was made even tastier dipped in vinegar and a bit more of edge with a touch of the chilli oil that the restaurant provided. Carianna is a big restaurant and getting away with English was easy enough with the English menu and pointing technique.

After diner it was still too early to go to bed so I wandered along to the Peak Tram and got to see some of the cityscape on the journey up. The top was far too misty to be able to see anything but there were far more interesting things to see at Central, lying at the bottom of the tram ride. I ended up in Lan Kwai Fong (with what seemed like every ex-pat in town), an area packed with bars and pubs that is worth walking around in, if not for stopping in for just a little bit.

By the time that you read this post, I’ll be on my first trip home since first arriving in the UK. I’m stopping my Hong Kong since I’ve never been and I’m looking forward to the walking trails on Lantau Island, the great quality and exotic Dim Sum available and just absorbing the culture that this country has to offer.

Of course, I look forward to trying to catch up with you all when I finally do arrive in Australia, but I only have a week to do so. Let me know if you’d like to catch up otherwise!

See you soon!