Whatever though, over the last month, it's been 5 minutes here, and 5 minutes there, and the result is the cornucopia of information that's soon to be unleashed on your awaiting eyes. And, of course, by the time you read this it will have been ejaculated out for all to see. I'm gonna right this next bit quick, as I need to nip back to my hostel to get some kip - it's the first day of the Grand Prix tomorrow.
its about that time to settle down for a day (or, as it turns out, numerous slots over 3 weeks) and write this. Probably because its gonna take three days to upload 2 months of pictures. And probably because over the last couple of weeks I've spunked a shed load of cash on trips to Uluru, the Great Barrier Reef, bought Grandstand GP tickets (what can I say - when you've got the readies, you spend them) and am feeling less than flush. Its a hard life being a tourist on a 1 year holiday sometimes.
All of which must mean I've reached Australia - yes, that part of the world from which Kylie 'It's all good' Minogue hails from. I think a photographic recap of one of her finest hours is in order, especially considering I was on the Neighbours tour today and had Libby Kennedy all over me:
But before I talk about my time here, we've got to regress about, oooh 3 months ... settle down, grab yourself a large dose of your favourite vice and read on....
Hong Kong
Hot shit - old guy, a common theme found around Hong Kong I found. He wasn't alone. This chap tickled the strings like John Squire.
After so many years of staring at a globe every day at work I though that my understanding of geographical distances had reached a god-like level. So it came as quite a suprise that Tokyo to Hong Kong was a full on 5 hours. Thanks then for the joys of Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell and Steve Carell providing me with a blissful few hours of Miami Vice and The Office, and to Cathay Pacific's fabulous meals for settling my stomach with a Heston Blumenthalesque feast.
Once off the plane, and out into the steam room of the Hong Kong afternoon in December, I check the details of my hostel, buy the appropriate bus ticket and wait in line. I chat away to a Chinese guy, making small talk about the dilapidating conditions, when I spot two enormous rucsacs supporting a couple of girls in the queue. Stealthily, but with deadly speed, I perform an internal appraisal of the situation. The STA travel tie on the loop of one rucsac, the less-than-tanned skin and the aura of early twenties wide eyed naiviety surround them. One is 'Average hot 22 year old at V Festival' - low cut singlet, decent jeans, immaculately washed as opposed to the more, well, effortlessly dirty chicks you get at Glastonbury, whom naturally, hold a much greater appeal to me. Her friend though obviously has a voracious appetite, a thing I can highly sympathise with. A perfect time to try a little experiment. I start talking to the one who appreciates a good meal.
And lo and behold - hot V chick is fawning within thirty seconds, clammering for attention and giving me a deliberate eyeful. And actually, as it turns out she is the nicer of the two in all ways. We talk, she flirts, life is good. Unfortunately, as the bus nears my stop, my confidence has risen to such a high that rather than getting a more concrete rendezvous sorted I inexplicably decide to let fate take its course - "Well - its a small place, we'll probably bump into each other later."
It's this sort of misguided thinking that is the story of my life, and I can only explain this misplaced ideal by the fact that I kept bumping into the same guys from my dorm in Kyoto whilst in Tokyo. They were not, however, a pair of hot women (to be fair, nor were these, but that's kinda irrelevant). Needless to say, I never saw these girls again. No matter - my mind turns to the other delights on offer pretty quickly anyway - there's nerdy gadgetry everywhere.
So after checking into my windowless hostel, owned by a spritely 100 year old giggling Chinese guy and dumping my stuff, I decide to go out on a technological reconnaisance mission.
Now, as I've previously stated, I'm trying to get away from it all. But abandoning my instatiable thirst for gadgetry is as hard for me as coming of smack is for good ol' Petie Doherty. Just walking down the street my hostel was on, I couldn't help but nearly wet myself at was on offer here for prices that would undoubtedly give a T3/Stuff reader at least a semi. Take one of those Oasis flights, take absolutely nothing with you and laugh your head off as you save yourself thousands of pounds in a weekend. Me, I had to satisfy myself with a couple of 2gb SD cards and a 4gb Memory Stick pro duo and a tiny card reader - all for about 80 quid. The best advice to any wannabe traveller would be to not bother buying anything before you leave and make this place your first stop. Then buy everything, rucsac, all the other shit you think you need. You'll save a fortune.
Enough about that though - time for the sights, sounds and culinary pleasures of Hong Kong to get a descriptive airing.
1) Its a busy old place. Slick moves and a small frame allow me to slip through though in a ninja esque manner.
2) There's also some excellent shops for the stylish lady:
3) I'm a sucker for skylines. I thought Tokyo was pretty shit hot, but Hong Kong has an *incredible* skyline. You can go and appraise this best from the Peak Tram. I loved it so much I went up it four times. Here's a sunset shot:
4) Lantau Island Skyrail - utter class. Went up here and ended up hanging round for a couple of days with a Norwegian lass who wanted to run a self sufficient hippy commune/farm and an english guy who it turned out was a model and a deep thinker who I met in the cable car.
So recommendations; although I was only here for 4 days, I reckon that's not a bad amount of time to spend here provided you're not in one of those phases of your trip where you just want to lie around reading for a few days. You can see quite a lot of the major and explore a bit more yourself in that time providing you haul ass all day. Which, at that point in time, I was quite happy to do.
You want more info? Ok, well - ask and i'll modify this post. Come on - it's been 3 months. I couldn't hold it in any longer. Thailand, Malaysia/Singapore and Australia Pt 1 to follow soon.
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