Departure..

Well, the journey has begun..

Wednesday night in Melbourne and my sister Fleur was picking Dad up from the airport so I went out with her a little bit early and said farewell to Dad too.

It was kindof good checking in early, except I got a bit of a lecture from the Qantas check-in lady about not having any visa's or return tickets.  After starting to get anxious waiting around for so long to board, I forgave her as I was up the back of the plane where the economy seat rows reduce to just 2 (from 3) and there was no one sitting next to me.  

There was a bit of turbulance during the flight but I did manage to lie down in my seating arrangement and get a few hours sleep after watching the Scorcese movie about the Rolling Stones called 'Shine a Light' (which I thought was a great title to start my trip with).

After landing around 6am I was into central HK by 8am and I met up with my mate and host Steve.  I put my backback in his car and headed for the day out to explore.  (this was my second day in HK after being here 5 years ago)

HK is pretty crazy.  Walking the streets is like no where else because you're not really walking the streets.  I first headed up into an area called Soho where there is a permanent escalator (kilometers of it) built into the hillside to help people get around.  The only problem was the escalator was coming into town for people coming to work, and I was going the other way.  (A good workout after sitting in the plane.)  

I then headed for Steve's travel agent and it was really easy for him to organise my Chinese visa and I booked a flight to Bejing next Thursday. 

I had a look around the Sheung Wan area and I thought looking at the food markets might be nice but they weren't really, so I headed out to check out the piers and learn about the different island you can visit.  Thats the plan for next week.

I then decided I should cross the harbour and have lunch in Kowloon.  It was a really long walk to Kowloon Ferry and again walking the streets was pretty different.  If you walk at street level you quite often get stuck as the roads twist and turn around.  There is an elevated walkway that snakes across town at around the second floor level and you walk through a large range of shopping malls and office buildings - in and out of the heat.  The outside sections tend to have quite a few smokers on them too.  Eventually I made it over the Ferry terminal and realised how easy it would have been to just catch the (underground) train, but not as interesting I'm sure. 

Some pictures of Hong Kong

Once I hit Kowloon I was after noodles, and the place I went to had a big line out the front so I kept walking and was feeling pretty tired.  I was thinking how sore my feet were (and have been for a week or so) when I looked up and saw a foot massage/reflexology sign so in I went.  It was quite painful but well worth it.  My feet are still recovering the next day, but they have loosened up a lot and another session in a week or so and I recon they'll be great.

After wanding around Kowloon gardens and visiting more unromantic food markets I got a seat at the noodle shop and had some great noodles and spring rolls.

I then wandered around Kowloon for a bit longer and got the Ferry back over the HK Island.  

I wandered through Wan Chai just to remember what it was like last time I was here and got physically dragged into a Lady Bar very briefly..  I wasn't really interested in a drink at that time and after little sleep last nightit would have been very danagerous!  I slowly wandered back into Central before meeting Steve after his work day and heading back to his house and the family.

Steve lives out at Clearwater Bay in the New Territories.  It was and interesting drive out and there are not many houses nested in amongst the forrest/park which is a nice change from busy Hong Kong.  We had a yummy dinner and I slept very well.

Today I'm just relaxing - sitting looking over the bay and getting prepeared for full time holiday/travel mode.  Steve and Lou and I will spend the weekend with the kids, Charlie and Thomas, probably do some walking in the local parkland before a Typhoon is due to hit Sunday!  It will be nice to see some real rain again as it's been a ling time between drinks back in Melbourne.