(Sent: Thu, December 4, 2003 4:50 am)

One day in Hong Kong is all I got. One day and two nights.

Accomodation Dilemma

On arriving in Hong Kong I go to the booking counter and find myself a bed for the night. Shamrock Hotel. Because it is so busy, they upgraded me to an Executive suite room. Nice. All I had to do was get the train to Kowloon, and a taxi from there to the hotel. Thirty Hong Kong dollars sounds very expensive for a taxi ride until it converts to about $6 Australian. That felt much better.

Walking into my hotel room I notice it is controlled by an electronic card. There are two double beds, which seems overkill for one person, and the TV reveals some local and some American shows, none of which are interesting. There is a safe however, so I store my essentials there, hoping that it is genuine. The feel of a hotel room is the same the world over - sterile. My view shows the base of surrounding highrises sporting unnattractive bamboo poles protruding from each window, loaded with clothes.

Night Stroll

Once settled into my room, I decide to go for a stroll down Nathan Road to see the harbour, only I made one mistake. I turned the wrong way on Nathan Road. The place looked similar down every single block, even into the New Territories. By the time I reached the end of Nathan Road it was midnight, so I took the MRT train subway back to my station and started to walk the right way this time.

By this time of night all of the shops were closed and seedy joints had opened. I didn't realise why there were so many girls on the streets either until later. As I was walking a girl approached me in a manner I took to be asking for directions. It wasn't. After a brief introduction I was asked, "massaju?" which when translated means, "Massage you?" There were other such encounters also, some of which took more persusion than others to shake off.

The first thing that struck me when I reached the harbour was the stench of sewage coming from it. I noticed later that it is not present during the day, so perhaps it is effluent released in the evenings. The next thing that struck me was the amazing sight of Hong Kong. All of these highrise buildings jammed up against each other until there is no room for anything else. Lights everywhere making the sky so bright that you can only see the moon. And people. Always people somewhere doing something. This was Hong Kong.

Day Time Visits

Having read a guide book, my first stop was to climb Victoria Peak to see the sights of Hong Kong. This is one of the highest locations and provides a panaramic view of the main business districts. It is truly an astounding sight, even more so than from the harbour.

In travelling around the place today, I determined that I would take a different form of transport as much as possible. I ended up on trains, trams, busses, taxis, boats, and walking. It made for an interesting day. My newly acquired Octopus card provided me with a painless way of paying for each journey. It is used by all forms of transport and only needs to be waved over the billing station to work.

Wandering past a 7-11 store, I stopped in and purchased a mobile phone SIM card that allows me to roam the world and receive txt messages wherever I am. So if you want to call me then you can. Just remember the time differences! My number is +852 9252 8534. You have to call Hong Kong, so I expect to receive more txt messages than calls. :-)

Somewhere during the day I realised that I had been travelling around illegally, so I returned to my hotel and grabbed my passport, then headed for the Internet Cafe to comment my pictures of Singapore. They are on the Internet now at www.GroovyGuppy.com if you want to check them out.

As I walked around Hong Kong Island during the late afternoon there were many interesting sights that caught my eye including Police, beggars, stalls, shops, people, boats, parks, kids, and technology.

My Last Night

After it turned dark, I remembered that as part of Hong Kong's Christmas celebrations, there was a huge Christmas tree that I should check out. Being lost after my wander, I asked the local police who were very helpful in guiding me to it.

There in all it's splendour stood an 11 storey high Christmas tree. All around it was a fairy land made up of smaller Christmas trees, fountains  and many lights and other decorations. The place was filled with people milling around and taking snapshots. The tree itself was at the end of a coordinated light and music show which added a festive feeling to the area, but then so did almost 60 Santa Claus'.

A quick taxi ride took me back up Victoria Peak to see the night lights. What a pretty sight that was too. I then headed to Kowloon marina for some more photos of Hong Kong Island and the amazing festive light shows that adorned some of their largest highrises. Here I stayed for a while to just soak up the sights.

On my way home I stopped into a place that reminded me of home. The Ned Kelly Bar was a tiny joint but it had live Jazz. That kept me there for a while. I could have stayed there for ages but time was running out on my last day in Hong Kong so I kept it brief, heading back home through Kowloon Park. And that was my day in Hong Kong.

Tomorrow I take the slow boat to China.