Hong Kong...At last...

So we're finally here, and have managed to get hold of a net connection for a while, although Hong Kong is nearly over and as July 1st was our first day away from blighty, we'll start there...

Day 1 - Not really too much to report, other than from what we can remember, we spent most of the day flying (and sleeping). The plane was very cool (we flew Virgin) and there were lots of boys toys to keep the big kid happy - it was like a giant sky plus, but Keef still managed to miss the last ten minutes of his film as we started to land ( he had had ELEVEN HOURS to watch it though!). Hong Kong airport is very flash, much nicer than Heathrow, but that is hardly difficult, sort of like Bluewater, even when it is busy, its not quite as bad as Chatham high street on a Saturday morning. We then had to get our way from the airport, to our hotel, which involved trains and taxis, and was very exciting considering the jet lag was just starting to set in. Nice! Oh, and there was a very helpful lady at the airport (who took a shine to old Keefy boy :-)) who taught us (well him) how to say "thank you" in Cantonese, without offending anyone. We did do some investigation, but this was mainly of our room, (dumping our stuff and falling asleep) which turned out to be a suite for less money than a premier travel inn back home!

Day 2 - Well, we finally woke up about 4pm Hong Kong time (Keef woke up about 2pm, but I needed that extra beauty sleep :-)) and after getting ourselves up and vaguely alive, we decided that it would be fun to go investigating. So as the door from the lovely, air conditioned lobby opened, the beautiful...local stench and full impact of 40 degree heat hit us. There is no other way to describe this heat as close and intense, and absolutely smothering. This is not just us being moany Brits, it is just ridiculous, and hard to describe unless you've experienced it for yourself. We wandered for a good few miles, and after Keef's excellent map reading skills, we handed ourselves over to the Brewins radar/instinct. Lo and behold, mere minutes later, we found ourselves standing under the Golden arches (For those of you not so familiar with this family trait, it is impossible for a Brewins family trip/holiday not to involve finding a Mc Donalds, in some unexpected place and at a ridiculous hour of the night. 'Tis a gift!).

Day 3 - Didnt get off to the best of starts, seeing as we managed to have a whole three hours sleep due to the damn jet lag. We had to get up and be ready for a morning harbour cruise that our friends Avril and John had bought as a present for us, and were supposed to be picked up at 10:15 am from our hotel. By about 10:45am, when we were getting odd looks from the hotel concierge for loitering in the lobby, Keef phoned the local tour operator who told us that they had no record of us needing to be picked up, and that 10:15 was in fact when the boat left the harbour. That wasn't what it said on our booking we had, so City Discovery are going to get a blasting! It also doesn't help that the local operator was so nice and friendly, so its hard to stay mad about it, although we're gutted we missed it. So, after faffing about with that and what we were going to do, we finally decided to walk to Soho, the main shopping district of Hong Kong Island, and have a mooch in the shops - it has to be done, not for purchasing anything, but because its so bloody hot outside, that you have to cool down inside as all the shops have air con (which does then drip on you when you get back outside!).

Bearing in mind that it was about 100 degrees today, we then thought it would be a good idea to trek all the way over to the middle of Hong Kong Island to the Victoria Peak. But I'm not complaining - it was amazing. You can see from the photos on flickr that the views were amazing. And you can understand why the more affluent live up here, as it is cooler than downtown, and less humid. However, all the money in the world wouldn't make me live up there. One reason. You have to get a tram up the steepest incline I have ever seen in my life. There are steps most of the way up the Peak for the locals, but even they stop at this incline. And to top it all, you come down BACKWARDS. Enough said.

As we missed our cruise :-( we thought we'd do the next best thing and take the Star Ferry over to Kowloon (the mainland of Hong Kong). It took about ten minutes and was enough boat action for me, although Keef loved it, doing his photographer bit out of the window! Kowloon was okay, lots of shops and men (although none of them Chinese) trying to sell you fake watches and entice you into their computer shops or tailors. We also saw the token British louts, outside Starbucks with their shirts off and beers in hand. Makes you miss home even less! One good thing that did come out of it was a more charming reminder of home - of all the places in the Empire they could've chosen to name a road after, why this one?

So, that's about it for Hong Kong. Kowloon gave us the opportunity to appreciate the Hong Kong island sky line, and it was fab. The Peak was amazing, if not a bit scarey to get to. And just so you know, the big building in most our photos (that Keef was obsessed with) is the Two International finance Centre, which is the largest sky scraper in Hong Kong, and the 4th largest in the world, at 88 storeys high. Seeing the sky scrapers with the Peak behind them kind of sums up Hong Kong,. Its so strange how you don't get bugged in the street, just because you're a tourist, they let you go about your business in a very British kind of way, but unlike the British they are very friendly. The strangest thing was at about 1pm in Soho, when it was lunchtime, and the throng of people was incredible. You can see in the pictures the sheer volume of people, and that is never ending.

Would we recommend Hong Kong? Yes. Would we come again? No. Its probably the best place to spend just 48 hours in, you don't need anymore or anyless.

Roll on Kuala Lumpur....