Sweat and the City

It's so hot here! So humid in fact that I've spent the last 3 days constantly sticky and dripping in sweat - grim!! Fingers crossed Vietnam is a little different otherwise I'm going to be in a bit of a pickle haha.

So what do I make of Hong Kong - honestly? I really can't make my mind up but I doubt I would rush to come back any time soon. Not sure what it is and I can't put my finger on it but the people here aren't particularly friendly and welcoming, it's crazy busy and expensive too. On the flip side, the transport links are great once you get used to them and know where you're going, there is wifi everywhere which helped immensely when I first arrived and I've felt very safe on my own which has been hugely important.

Another completely irrelevant point about HK - I haven't seen or heard a lot of British people when walking past westerners on the street; mainly Aussies and Americans. That being said, the British males that appear to be working here have been absolutely gorgeous. Note to all my single friends back home, if you're struggling for good looking suits at home, likelihood is they've all jumped ship and moved out here! Haha

Backtrack aside, it feels right to give you an overview of how my days panned out and things to do should you venture over here...

The flight to Hong Kong seemed to go on forever and wasn't comfortable at all! The guy sat next to me was a little bit strange but I left him to it apart from when he asked if he could get out to use the loo! This plane was smaller and older so the chairs were nowhere near as comfy or roomy as the flight to Abu Dhabi. Sadly the food was also below par as its usually really good with Etihad. There was a noodle salad to start, I chose a veggie orzo pasta for the main and a strange sort of rice pudding with a fruit compote, although it was small round balls rather than rice so no idea what it was! Films were a bit better on this flight and I watched Central Intelligence and No Reservations in between dozing and playing farm heroes on my iPad - it is far too addictive!

I felt apprehensive making my way through the airport to get to the baggage reclaim knowing that I would soon be out in the city trying to find my way to the hotel. Without even realising it, my good mate Neha saved the day when I connected to the wifi and she had messaged me when she couldn't sleep over in Florida. When you're in an unknown foreign place and are 7 hours ahead of home so no-one is up to talk to, a friendly reassuring message is all you need to put the panic at bay - thanks Nay!

Everything was really well signposted and it didn't take me long to locate the bus station although it wasn't necessarily straightforward. When I got there, I saw a girl had a map and she directed me back to the airport to get one (luckily they had them at the exit near the information desk!) I then made my way back for the bus, jumped on and was told I needed to go and buy a ticket as I didn't have the exact change. Rushing around anywhere isn't fun but when you're hot and sweaty in jeans, long sleeved top and some fetching long flight socks, it's even worse! I found the counter, paid for my ticket and dashed back to the bus where thankfully there were still people queuing.

The bus ride was fairly relaxed, had great views of the city and even had air con and wifi so you could get online!

I asked the girl sat behind me where the stop was that I needed as the instructions I had got online said it was the 3rd stop but the bus had about 16 or more. She got chatting to some other locals on the bus and sadly they clearly had even less idea than me as I ended up at Victoria Park, 7 stops and 2 miles away from where I needed to be! By this point I was even hotter, exhausted and lugging around all my bags in the 30 degree heat. Thankfully, there is loads of wifi around the city and I managed to get myself on Google maps to get some directions so I could start to head in the right place. A man saw me at a crossing and asked me where I needed to go, recommending that I jump in a taxi to get there. After 3 empty taxis couldn't take me and I'd walked a mile in the right direction, a taxi finally picked me up and dropped me off at the hotel - such a relief!

I got myself checked in, showered and dressed and had a 30 minute nap to recharge my batteries after only about 2 hours sleep. After messaging mum and the girls for a little pep talk where I'd become really anxious, I finally made it out to explore. The first step is always the hardest when you're in unfamiliar territory, particularly on your own, so I stayed close by in Central to wander up and down the roads to see what was about. There were little market stalls, an obscene amount of high end fashion stores and a taste of home - M&S, Topshop and McDonalds! Further up was also the mid-levels escalator which was 14 escalators going through the city, broken up by roads or restaurants and bars on the way up. Great way of viewing things and got to have a wander around parts of Soho too. The age old adage "what goes up, must come down" certainly came into force though as the escalators only go one way and it's a hell of a lot of stairs on the way back down!

I didn't want to leave it too late getting back in case I got lost in the dark so got back to the hotel for about 7, replied to messages people had sent me and watched The Switch - love that film! By Midnight I was tired, having a hot turn and not amused with the racket that was going on next door where there were people going in and out, slamming the doors and making loads of noise. I'd also managed to get myself into a bit of a stir where the room was so small and I was feeling a bit claustrophobic but luckily after a Skype with mum, I calmed down enough to get my head down for the night once the noise had gone down by about 2/3am.

On Thursday, I ended up oversleeping by hitting the off button on the alarm rather than snooze which thinking about it was probably related to the very disturbed nights sleep! Feeling a bit more confident now I had found my bearings a bit the day before, I showered and got ready, packed my bag and coated myself in the trusty factor 30 and took the first of my malaria tablets in preparation for Vietnam.

I navigated my way to the ferry pier and spoke to a lady at the Big Bus tour company about the different options for tickets and decided to go with the Deluxe tour - a two day tour for 3 alternative routes that included ferry rides to and from Kowloon on the other island, entry to the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, a sampan boat ride, a Star Ferry harbour tour and a return tram pass for the Peak at Victoria - all for 500 dollars which I thought was really reasonable. By the time I had finished, I was starving so grabbed a Subway which was the closest eatery and then went to have a look around the Maritime Museum which was interesting but also had fantastic views of Victoria Harbour as it was situated on the water front.

After finishing there, I hopped on the Big Bus, choosing the Red route which would take me around the city and central. For anyone visiting Hong Kong, I couldn't recommend these buses enough as you literally get to see everything! Having looked at the map, I decided the only place I really wanted to hop-off at was The Peak Station. As soon as I jumped off, a tour operator took my receipt and exchanged it for the tram pass and I made my way to the queue to wait for the tram to arrive. Now I don't know whether the other people queuing were locals but I was rather shocked at the amount of pushing and shoving as the queue moved forwards and even more ridiculously when I was practically shoved aside as I was stepping onto the tram itself - never again will I complain about people on the tube in London, this was next level!

It's a rickety old tram ride and you'll probably fear it won't withstand the weight of everyone and make it to the top but rest assured, it didn't take too long! My tram ticket included a pass up at the Sky Terrace 428 where I could see the spectacular view from the top and get to grips with my new GoPro!

After looking around the galleria when I'd finished, I watched the sunset and treated myself to a Hong Kong speciality Starbucks before getting the tram back down - hibiscus tea and pomegranate pearls, was absolutely delish!

It had started to pour down with rain when I reached the bottom and was waiting for the bus but I got chatting to some lovely American airline crew ladies when I asked them if they knew where the bus stop was for the last Big Bus back to Central. Knowing I would need some form of snack to take my malaria tablet with in the morning, I wandered around central looking for some food. Popping into the food hall at M&S to escape the rain proved how expensive some things are but I do think it's probably more to do with the export costs - 8 chocolate chip mini brioche rolls (more than perfect for a breakfast snack!) were over a fiver so that wasn't going to happen. I found a supermarket to buy myself some water and a banana for breakfast and continued looking for something fairly cheap to eat for dinner whilst dodging the rain. Suffice to say, I ended up in McDonalds eating their KC equivalent of a Zinger burger which was actually quite nice!

When I got back to the hotel, I had a classic moment of things not going right and working when you need them to. The safe wouldn't open for me to get my iPad out so I tried to call reception. The phone then wouldn't work and I ended up going down in the lift to speak to them and then they requested an engineer to come and sort it! Luckily, he didn't take long to arrive and I was sat sorting out some postcards when he set to work. Even though I was a lot more settled and comfortable, I was missing home so popped on First Daughter which although it made me feel a bit sad, always reminds me of being curled up on the sofa squished in the middle of Amanda and Rebecca :) when that finished, I packed my bag for the day ahead and watched the end of No Reservations as I hadn't finished it on the plane.

Unbelievably, I was down to my final day in Hong Kong! After another night of really disturbed sleep with people coming in late, banging doors and being able to hear conversations through the paper thin walls, I woke up and got ready to get the Big Bus from the ferry pier. Another story for you though and it certainly wasn't one I was expecting - when I got up for a wee, it started seeping through the grouting at the bottom of the toilet - why thank you Mini Hotel, what an absolute pleasure doing £82 a night business with you haha!

Back at the pier, I got on the green route to Stanley Market, walked around the Stanley Plaza and negotiated my way through all the different stalls after tracking down the actual market. I'm not sure what I was expecting but for some reason I thought the market would have been bigger. It was busy and a lot of the stalls all sold the same things - handbags, purses, phone cases, watches, pashmina scarves, prints/paintings and trivial bric-a-brac. Without trying to sound ungrateful or brattish, I can imagine that years ago before mass exporting came into play, this would have been amazing seeing all the different things but sadly, it was similar to lots of stuff I've seen before at Karama and Dragon Mart in Dubai and other tourist markets around the world.

Next stop was in Aberdeen to see the jumbo floating restaurant and go on my free sampan boat tour which was really quaint!

After that, I hopped on the bus again (they come every 30 mins) and continued to the pier to get the Star Ferry across and explore what Kowloon and the Blue Big Bus route had to offer.

Time was not particularly on my side, especially where there are only buses every half hour, and I only had limited time before the last bus. For some reason, the first bus stop on the route was ages away from the ferry and had no signposting so was a bit of a feat to get to. Typically, I reached it having just missed the bus by a couple of minutes so had to wait for half an hour which ate into my time for exploring even more! Luckily the Garden of Stars was right by the bus stop so I got to enjoy that whilst waiting. Only thing was, where I had such limited time to see both places and be able to get the last bus back to the pier at 18.30, I had to decide between the Ladies Market stop or the Jade Market and Night Market stop. This prompted some internal reasoning where I figured the Ladies Market could well be similar to the Stanley Market and Night Market and the Jade Market would be something more traditional and unusually worthwhile seeing. Decision made and a good one it was! Although some of the stall holders followed me around and kept grabbing me to buy their wares, the Jade Market was unlike any other I've seen and was literally just Jade - figurines, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and other gimmicks.

The Night Market was just what I expected, stalls lining the roads with endless supplies and goods, bustling vibes and plenty of restaurants close by. If I'd had longer, I would have liked to explore more around here in more depth but was of course on a tighter timeframe than I'd hoped. On the plus side, I finally found myself a new watch for 30 dollars so I can keep a track of time and a novelty phone case to protect my iPhone a bit better now the screen has been fixed!

After making my way back to the pier where I was now ravenous, I looked around to find a suitable spot to perch and grab some food. Not sure if it was because it was a tourist spot but there were an array of eateries which were all quite costly (bowl of spaghetti at one restaurant was about 16 quid and even the one more traditional cuisine restaurant was too expensive for the Pritchard budget tour). There was only one thing left: McDonalds. Don't judge me!! If I could have found something Chinese at the pier for that price, I would have chosen that but it wasn't to be. I did however enjoy my Pacific Sunshine burger which had chopped apple in it - interesting mix but I wasn't complaining! I headed back to the ferry and made my way across to Central, taking a detour to ensure my route for the bus to the airport was the correct one and then hit the hotel. After showering, packing and face-timing mum and Amanda, I settled myself in for a film and went to sleep making sure the alarm was set so I couldn't oversleep again and miss my plane!

(View from the Star Ferry heading back to Central)

This leads us right back to today, Saturday - my next stop of adventures on the way to Vietnam! I checked out of the hotel and made my way to the bus stop. Bad news - no wifi on this one as it wouldn't connect and even more bad news - it stopped at two terminals and all the details from Jetstar Pacific on my STA pack and when I checked in just said Hong Kong Airport - heeeeeeeeeelp!!

Naturally I had a bit of a panic trying to work out where I would need to go thinking in my head that 1 would probably be the best bet. I asked the woman behind me with her daughter if she knew and luckily she told me Jetstar Pacific would mean getting off at T1 - phew!

Turns out it was actually terminal 2 and it was all a bit confusing really as there were lots of shops and food places near the check-in desks and when I asked the lady if I had to go straight through to departures, she said yes. This part was really straightforward and didn't take too long although you have to get a train to the gate. At this point, I was thinking oh god, the woman has sent me here and I don't need to be at the gate for another hour and a half, what will I do and will there be food, drink and currency exchange there!? Thanking my lucky stars, there were a few shops including a currency exchange counter and a couple of restaurants. I went for a chicken teriyaki with rice and miso soup which was actually quite nice and exchanged my HK dollars for Vietnamese Dong.

So here I am, sat in the departure gate all ready to head to Hanoi and I'm actually excited, albeit a bit nervous but nowhere near as much as I was coming to HK! If you're still reading this, I commend you as I've realised how long this post is haha!!

Will stick this on when I land and get a Vietnam post up for you soon!

Over and out, so I'll wrap this up on one of my favourite Alice in Wonderland quotes "You're mad. Bonkers. Off your head...but I'll tell you a secret...all of the best people are" :)

Lots of love xxx