We arrived in Hong Kong after a two hour train journey from Guangzhou easing through immigration (the official was very interested in my surname having never seen and O with an apostrophe before). From Nam Chook we called Sherman on a payphone (having initially tried to get in contact via Skype during the first of one of our numerous visits to McDonalds in Hong Kong) and he came and met us in Starbucks five minutes after the call.
From there he helped us purchase an Octopus card, HK’s high tech equivalent of an oyster (they can be used on all transport as well as most shops and restaurants) and we headed on the sleek MTR underground, one part of the cleanest and most efficient transport network I have ever been on, to his apartment, located on the ninth floor in one of several high rise buildings. The majority of Hong Kong’s 7million inhabitants live in high rise apartments (I don’t think I saw a single storey building throughout my time there) though strangely 80% of the territory is actually green land. Once at his place, Rob and I spent the afternoon just relaxing as Sherman and his girlfriend Jenny had to go out for a few hours. That evening the four of us headed out to Sherman’s local shopping district, a pleasant well light area with no tourists where we browsed round a shopping centre and filled our stomachs, spending £4 each on all you can eat sushi.
We then grabbed the Metro down to the harbour area where we saw a statue of a three armed man outside Hotel 1881, one of the grandiose European looking hotels that line Salisbury Road. After milling about we walked to the end of the fairly quiet street, until, near the end of the road, Sherman took us round the corner where Rob and I literally gasped at one of the best skylines, if not the best skyline we have seen on this trip to date. It was unreal, on the other side of Victoria Harbour, on Hong Kong island stood the largest collection of skyscrapers I had ever seen, stretching as far as the eye could see, with Victoria peak providing a fantastic backdrop. Naturally the tripods and cameras came out, and Rob and I spent a good half hour just taking photos. I actually wish I’d just sat and stared for a while so as to take it all in, to enjoy the moment, rather than instinctively grabbing my camera. The photos really don’t do the view justice. After the spectacle we then went to a dessert place nearby, a locals favorite which served some tasty, if not slightly pricey sorbets and ice cream.
On our second day Sherman took us on the MTR to Lantau Island, Hong Kong’s largest island where there was an impressive giant Buddha on top of a hill(with a museum in). The top provided excellent views of the mountains and sea in the distance. For lunch we ate the same food as the monks at the monastery, a variety of vegetarian dishes, with some meat substitutes used which actually tasted pretty decent. It began raining as we took the half hour return coach journey to the station, at which we briefly compared prices of brands in the outlet centre, before boarding the MTR and heading round to Hong Kong’s second island.
This Island, the home of the spectacular skyline seen yesterday contains mount Victoria, Hong Kong’s famous peak. We took the historic tram, built by the British in the 19th century, up Mount Victoria from which we got yet more stunning views of the city, unfortunately the strong winds made getting a decent photo tough.
We returned to Shermans via the cross harbour ferry, offering yet more great views of Victoria Harbour.
Sherman and Jennifer returned to England early the next morning so the next two days were spent looking round the touristy regions, mainly consisting of giant shopping centers, which like Singapore are everywhere. The weather in Hong Kong was fantastic, the cool breezy sea air meaning that, unlike south east asia, you didn’t work up a sweat every time you lifted a finger. I have realized while traveling that weather in Britain is actually really good, far better than the whole of South East Asia.
Hong Kong was also great, as being as wealthy, developed and diverse as the west(confirmed by the high end clothing and generally good appearance of the locals) you weren’t hassled or treated differently being white, it was just like walking around back at home. The lack of harassment as you walked about and the fixed prices on everything meant you never felt you were getting ripped off, and lack of harassment made it easy to just relax and enjoy it all. It was defiantly one of my favourite parts of Asia.
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| Sherman's Place |
On our final day we were due to head to Macau for the day, but decided against it as we had a coach booked for the evening and the our ferry trip there would have only left us with two hours on the island, instead we returned to Sherman’s and spent the day resting, feeling a sense of sadness at leaving for our reentry into China that night.
