Hong Kong Phooey

Hello,

An update.

So Since I last spoke to you I was in Chengdu, from where I shall continue.

Day 19 - Well I got up late, I was kept up by next door having their TV on very loud until the early hours, so I didn't manage to get up for a but to go to LeShan to see the Grand Buddha. So, as I was informed of Wales's game against England was kicking off on Saturday I thought I'll sort out going somewhere to go and watch it. I got my plane ticket to Guangzhou where I assumed would have a place to watch the rugby with some fellow brits. After sorting my ticket and a bit of a walk, it was time for a spot of lunch/dinner at about 3pm. I went for an Indian, and very nice it was too. I stumbled across it while trying to find an Irish pub, that doesn't exist anymore. I ten went for some further walks to some temple's which weren't as good as ones I had seen previously.

Day 20 - Checked out and got on my plane. Had some kind of meat with some rice again, very nice. Went straight to my hotel. The weather in Guangzhou was totally different to what I had everywhere else in China. It was warm and very humid. My room in the hotel had no windows, but this was irrelevant as it was very cheap. Dropped my bags off and went in search of a place to watch the rugby. Everywhere I went was showing live premiership football instead. Other TV stations were then showing every other kind of sport apart from rugby. Gutted, I went back to my room and watched some football and went to sleep.

Day 21 - Went to go on the internet to see the progress with my mobile phone problem, still no update. Rhooney (cheers mate) sent me a text during the night telling me that wales had one, not believing him, I checked. Come on, awesome, still haven't seen any of it, but I can picture the scenes of joy in the capitol. After that, time for lunch. Then a walk around the city, as there wasn't really that much else to do here (lots of shops, but I don't want anything). I promptly got lost. Walked for about 5-6 hours, got my locality sorted eventually and made my way back to the hotel. As I walked through the main square, all the decorations were up ready for the New Year celebrations. Police all over the place, even armed guards with M16s were patrolling. I walked past some nightclubs that were jumping to the beats of some House music, a restaurant which you could almost get anything you wanted to eat. BBQ'd pigs head etc., and the seafood section, you could pick whatever you wanted. Snake, crab, lobster, anything. On the way back, miffed that I had missed the Wales game, I decided that I'd go to Hong Kong to see the new year and watch the next wales game. So, train to Hong Kong.

Day 22 - Checked out of my hotel and made my way to GuangZhou east train station to get the express train to Hong Kong. As soon as I got in the station I was ushered through all the way to the train, no hassle at all. Paid for the ticket, and got on. There was a black dude sitting opposite me singing in a mumbling voice some gibberish that he was reading in a book (probably a holy book), so time to get the walkman out and relax to some tunes for the 2 or so hours it was going to take to get to Hong Kong. I made my way to a street called Nathan Road which was where all the cheap accommodation is in Hong Kong. I went to a place called Mirrador Mansions, sounds grand, well it aint. As I was waiting for the lift, a lady asked me if I needed to stay in a guesthouse, single bedroom, to which I said yes. So I followed her the the 13th floor. A basic, functional, and extremely tiny room was what I got. Very, very cheap (about 7 quid a night), but I wasn't going to be here much. I dumped my bags, had a wash and went out for a beer or two in the Irish bar just down the road. Lots of brits were drinking there, I was getting served by a scot, chatting with another scot and his mate from togo, spoke to some Australian girls and a theatre director from England. Had a good time and made my way back to my room after going to another watering hole called Ned Kelly's Last Stand. This place had some decent Jazz music going on, Nice. Was pissed when I got back and accidently walked in to the wrong room, gave the people in there a bit of a fright. Classy!!

Day 23 - Woke up with a bit of a hangover, walked around the city having a look to clear my head. Go my pics put on to CD then I walked down to the river to have a look at the legendary cityscape, which was all a bit fuzzy because of the humidity, bit impressive all the same. Walked down a tourist friendly bit called "Avenue of the stars", which is for Hong Kong movie stars handprints. The Bruce Lee one just said his name, no hand prints (because he was dead when it was created, 1982). There was one for Jackie Chan, Sammo etc., but no Van Damme or Seagal. Who I think deserve an honorary square due to their first class performances in quality martial arts films like Kickboxer and Nico respectively. I then wandered over to the science museum to kill a few hours. It was quite good, I had a go in a flight simulator. I chuckled to myself as I flew my Jumbo jet straight in to Hong Kong island's main buildings. After this, I made my way back to the hotel and met 2 welsh guys in the lift. They were from Cardiff and we had a chat and stuff. May meet up with them later as it goes. I then went back to my room for food followed by going back down to the port to see the lightshow, called "the symphony of lights", for it was New Years eve. Due to the rain, there was no lightshow. Did anyone get told, no. All the spectators stayed, hoped, but nothing. Back to the hotel.

And that brings me up to today, which will be my last in this part of Hong Kong called Kowloon. I don't know what I'm going to do, may try and catch a parade or 2, and maybe even chance seeing the lightshow tonight. There is a firework display over the harbor tomorrow, so that's a definite. Until then. Bye!!