Diary 1 (or Delash's watch[4] goes travelling)30/6/2001
Hong Kong! WOW! That's about all I have to say actually (and 20 mins left to type it :-)Toby[1] and I made it to Hong Kong. The luggage didnt :-( After taking 25 minutes to find my way out of the tube station and discovering what 90% humidity & 30 degC feels like, I walked into Kowloon at 11pm and found a Guiness pub. What luck! Had a pint of icecold Fosters and booked into a guesthouse at Chungking Mansions, the seediest group of guest houses imaginable. The rooms are clean[2] though and I have my own shower - heaven! Spent Thursday looking at architecture and then went up Victoria Peak - great view but spoilt by all the Aussies and Americans. Then went for a wander round the peak and the two country parks. Did a lot of hilltops and a great walk down to the university. Today I went to Stanley market and then walked from the south side of Hong Kong island to the north side on Wilson's trail. Very steep and challenging, and a grade 1 typhoon struck whilst I was at 433m and with no cover. Hahahahaha! Just like climbing Snowdon years ago. The only people I met on 20km of trail were Brits - do we need to do this as a race or what?Had a shower and a slap-up Chinese meal tonight, and found this place 20 minutes before they were due to close-up. Amazing what you can write in 20 minutes :-)[1] Toby is the cuddly dog
[2] and small
Sorry that the note above is a bit quick, but I was rushed last night and have rather more time now. The hike was something else too, quite an explore across the islands. Included several 300+ metre climbs up steep steps which will hopefully serve as good training for Peru and Bolivia. The views were fantastic and at times I could see the sea on all sides of Hong Kong island at once. The skyscrapers seem awfully small when you are looking down on them :-) The typhoon yesterday was apparently the edge of weather system Darius (?) and grade 1 is v weak, though the winds were enough to make me unstable on my feet. It was probably just more impressive up on an isolated hill than it would have been down in the city ;-) There was a grade 3 warning today (I assume that's worse) and it dumped a shedload of rain on Hong Kong. I watched the weather forecast this morning and saw the warning. The umbrella I bought as soon as I left the hotel is the best 90p I ever spent!Changed hotels today to the Ramada Hotel in Kowloon. This is where I'm meeting the other peeps on the SW China tour tomorrow night and it's a bit posh! I now have too much luggage[3] and have spent the day shopping for more stuff :-) Bought a 75-300 lens for the camera and some odds and sods I forgot to get in the UK. Also got the photos developed from Thursday - can't wait to bore you all with them ;-) Its a pity that I didn't take the camera yesterday as the views were magnificent; but the weather was lousy so they wouldn't have come out anyway :-/Finished off today with a tour round the Hong Kong Space Centre. They had loads of interactive things to play on like a moon-gravity simulator that you could bounce around on, a hang glider simulator and an EVA chair that moved around! There was no-one else around, but the attendants still wouldn't let me have more than one go on each :-( Hehe!Off for some more nosh now, hopefully the new hotel has a quieter air-con so I'll sleep better tonight...[3] which arrived on Thursday evening by the way
[4] Delash lent me his watch, cause I didn't have one. Thanks mate!
Delash: Your watch has now seen 3 timezones, a typhoon, some dragon-flies and a 13" lizard. Not bad for 3 days :-)