1st Day in Hongkers

After going to bed at midnight the previous night - I wake up at 6:30am - which wasn't all that much sleep - but probably enough to function OK today.

The TV in the hotel is pretty crappy - there are only 5 channels - 4 of which is an annoying "Pearl TV" channel - which seems to just have the world's crappiest programming. This morning - the excitement of "Bloomsberg TV News" and Microsoft buying out Yahoo.

I have breakfast included in the accommodation and I head down to the cafe fairly early for it. It was a pretty poor effort - a couple of edible cereals, a selection of cold-esque Chinese food and a non-functioning toaster. To make matters worse - they were playing this really terrible seagull music (eg: seagulls kept squawking in the background) and it was chinese pan pipe versions of such classics like the Gone with the Wind theme... I texted Ant saying my "urge to kill was rising".

After breakfast - I head down the famous Nathan Road stretch when it starts to rain. Not heavily - but enough to get your umbrella out. I head down to the bay - where there was a sort of a strange mix of fog and smog covering the Hong Kong Island. Near the whole "Art Museum / Cultural Centre complex" (just look for the ugly pink tiled 80s complex at the end of Kowloon - you can't miss it) were these big inflatable versions of those evil Beijing Olympic mascots. Although since our trip to China early in 07 - they seem to have multiplied from 5 to about 20. Perhaps someone was feeding it after midnight and they multiplied gremlins style.

I got harrassed by one of those pesky Indian talior guys - although this one was a little too strong with the pick up lines "You are a lucky man!".

I walk down past the Star Ferry Terminal where there were several Falun Dafa protests happening (I didn't realise that this stuff was allowed in HK after the reunification with China). Perhaps they wouldn't come across so "cult-like" if they hired a professional marketing firm to give their protests a bit of pizzazz and sex appeal.

It was only about 9ish - and I headed into the mecha Ocean Terminal complex - miles upon miles of shopping all in the one mammoth complex (makes the Canberra Centre expansions look like the Goulburn Marketplace). I was a little bit early though - as most shops open at 10 or 11am - so it was like walking through a ghost town. I thought about buying "Time Crisis 4" for the PS3 - but I thought I could have trouble bringing in a toy gun back into the country...

It was about 11ish - and I was feeling a bit peekish after the lucklustre breakfast so I headed down to my favourate noodle place in HK - the Happy Garden Noodle and Congee Kitchen on Canton Road (although the staFf aren't very happy and there is no garden in sight). I order a wonton noodle soup - but was a little disappointed. It was a bit smallish and wasn't the best tasting.

I head via the MRT to Sham Shui Po - which according to LP is the place to buy electronic stuff in Kowloon. I stumble across a computer complex called Golden Plaza Shopping Centre - which was a couple of levels of "dodgy computer fair"-esque sellers selling all sorts of PC crap and a few video games. I felt glad that I had made the effort getting out here because it sure as hell wasn't touristy and the prices were a lot cheaper than in the touristy Tsim Ma Tai district. I was a bit hesitant about trying to haggle the prices down - as most things had price tags on them. I popped my cherry and picked up a $20 PSP game - and then I attempted to buy 3 PS3 games from the one dealer whilst getting a discount. He seemed pretty offended that I was trying to haggle the price down - so I only bought one game off him (as I knew other places where the prices were lower). The games here (about $50-70AUD) are cheaper than Australia (where they retail in Oz for $110)but I think they are more expensive than in Singapore and Japan.

After spending too much money on games - I head back to the hotel and chill for a bit - before getting kicked out of the room as the lazy cleaner wanted to clean it at 3pm in the afternoon.

I make my way back to the Star Ferry terminal and catch a ferry to Hong Kong Island (for those not in the know - Kowloon is on the mainland - and Hong Kong is on an Island - duh!). The good old Star Ferry is probably the must do thing whilst in Hong Kong - and it still has those genuine 2002 prices (my copy of LP is that old) - HK$1.70 - which is about AUD 25 cents... My god - they must be genuine 1972 prices...

By the way - our dollar has gone from strength to strength - when I first came here - the Aussie $ bought about 4 HK $'s. Now it is about HK$7 per AUD$1. A reason why the Aussie dollar is performing well against the HK dollar - is that the HK dollar is pegged against the US$ - hence it is also going down the poop shoot.

Anyhows - it was really cold on the ferry crossing the harbour. China has been having those freakish snow storms which have been disrupting power supplies and transport. HK's weather (although much milder than Europes') - is pretty cold at the moment by their standards. 3 layer material today (and I brought my shorts along thinking it would be mild).

I headed over to HK Island on a bit of a mission to find the Macau ferry terminal. I was planning on doing a day trip there (because I've never been) and LP says it is only a 60km ferry trip there.

After about 20 minutes of walking around aimlessly - I finally found the TurboJet terminal (which was in the middle of a mall no less) - but I was a bit shocked when I read the timetable. It seemed to read that the trip would take about 6 hours - which would mean it couldn't be a daytrip. I reread LP and it assured me that it would only take 1 and a half hours or so (depending on what sort of ferry you catch). I go back to the Turbo Jet timetable - and I had just misread it (I had read the 0900 1300 to be the departure and arrival time - but the 1300 is another departure time..). Duh!

I head over to the shopping area of Central and stumble upon a cheap $10 shop - full of the most god awful things on the planet. I was almost thinking about buying Taeko a gnome there - but they only had them of the female variety.

Low and behold - I then stumble upon an H&M store - this time with male clothing... Yay... I have a bit of a browse - and notice that most of the sizes are either S or XS...!@ I finger my way thru the merch and find a cool bunch of T-shirts designed by musicians including Justice, Timbaland and the Sister Sisters. I was going to get a Justice shirt - but it was way too large for me (only large t in the shop probably). So I probably spend over an hour in the store and try on over a dozen things - I end up buying a t-shirt, a polo shirt, a jumper, another hoodie (can't have enuf) and a belt - so I didn't go too crazy and it was about $85AUD.

I make my way back to Kowloon - again via the Star Ferry - when I notice that they have finished the redevelopment of the terminal - which I thought made it a bit sterile looking. I much prefer the original derlict wharf - which had a bit of charm to it. Hopefully they won't do the same to the Kowloon wharf!

I head back to the hotel and blog. I'm making great progress after a relatively slow start and have finished the Selva / Skiing sections.

For dinner - I go to a nearby seafood restaurant with some crazy english name. The guy was a little strange in greeting me when I came in "You ARE welcome!" - so what - I'm not normally welcome?! I had a good view of their big screen TV - so it felt a bit like home and watching TV whilst eating dinner. There was some dodgy Chinese version of "X-Factor" - which had an 8 year old boy dancing around the stage dressed in a Matrix style rubber outfit (disturbing on so many levels) - and Chinese answer to Missy Elliot - a big fat Chinese girl rapping in baggy clothing. I order one of the most expensive dishes off the menu - a shrimp (aka prawns) dish with cashews. I was originally going to order the chilli version - but the guy warned me that it was really hot - so I went with this instead. Although the service was a little variable - the food was terrific and very flavoursome (probably due to the copius amounts of MSG).