Huw's China Challenge: Hong Kong Day 3 and 4

Good morning! Today is Wednesday 1st May so happy May Day!

Yesterday was another amazing day!

We aimed to get up at 8 but we soon found ourselves in bed at about 10... Not good! We eventually made it out and it was SUNNY! We headed down to the sea shore and the Avenue of Stars! This is like Hong Kong's answer to Hollywood Boulevard, there were lots of hand prints in the ground of famous Asian actors. Yes there was Jackie Chan!

Cecilia being interviewed by some primary school kids. They didn't know what Sweden was...

We were enjoying the view and the breeze as we strolled down the avenue. It was a hot day so we ended up in Starbucks to get a drink on their roof top terrace! It was really nice but far too expensive!

I was supposed to meet up with my friend Michelle from Camp America at 12 so Mike, Cecilia and I made our way to Hung Hom station! It had been about 2 years since I had last seen her so I was a bit nervous. However it quickly became apparent that she had not changed! We picked up where we left off and it was fun. Cecilia and Mike got on well with her too which made me happy!

We decided, as it was still a nice day, to head to the peak overlooking the city. Michelle acted as our guide through Hong Kong's metro system. She has family here so she was here for a couple of weeks to see them. We eventually made it to Hong Kong Island and joined the queue for the Peak Tram. The queue was long but moved relatively quickly, soon we found ourselves on the tram. Now this tram travels up the side of the mountain and at times climbs a 48% incline!! We missed out on a seat so we had to stand as it climbed the 1.4km to the top.

Once we reached the top we headed up to the observation deck. Sadly the weather had come in and we couldn't see much. All we could see was cloud...

There was this place you could write love messages so naturally Mike and I wrote silly things.

We headed back down and tried to decide on somewhere to eat. There was a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant themed all around Forest Gump but it was extortionately expensive, as were all the other places on the peak.

We decided to head down the mountain and to somewhere cheap. That is when the heavens opened. Now Mike had a raincoat and Michelle had an umbrella, Cecilia and I didn't expect it to rain. Luckily we managed to get inside the tram terminal before we got too wet.

After a wet journey back down the mountain (the tram leaked) we made it to the bottom. Then we had to work out how to get from the tram to the tube, a 10 minute walk with no shelter. In the end we just braved it, Mike had his coat, Cecilia and Michelle shared an umbrella and I just got soaked. This would be all well and good but the metro is air conditioned so now I was cold and wet!

We made it to Causeway Bay, a big shopping area and after about half an hour of walking around trying to get our bearings we found a food court. Michelle suggested that we try this hot plate place so I ordered Beef pepper rice. We were given a hot plate with some thinly cut raw beef and a pile of rice and sweetcorn, we had to cook the beef on the plate by moving it around with our chopsticks. There was also a sauce inside the rice that added flavour to the whole dish. It was DELICIOUS. We all devoured our dishes in no time at all.

After some shopping we all headed back to the room to meet up with Deena and Will and head out for dinner. We were going to go to this Indian restaurant but it seemed very expensive for what we got so instead we went for Thai food and cocktails. I got this seafood and rice dish served in a pineapple! We also got some cocktails, we then headed back to the room so Will and Mike could have a few drinks as they were going out.

Eventually we all walked Michelle back to the metro station, well Cecilia and I walked, Mike and Will stumbled. It was really great having Michelle there all day!

We then somehow lost Will and Mike so Cecilia and I headed back to the room and to sleep.

Well sleep until I was woken at 630am by a drunk Mike and Will. I opened the door and Mike came in and basically stripped and passed out on his bed. Will somehow had managed to lock himself out so he just kept wandering around and coming in and out of our room (knocking loudly each time), he then collapsed and tried to snuggle up to Cecilia, at which point I pulled him off her bed and put him in my bed as I was going for a shower.

Cecilia and I left the two sleeping beauties in our room to sleep it off, we headed to the Hong Kong heritage museum.

The museum was nice, filled with some beautiful art. There wasn't a lot to do but it was interesting to learn about the history of such an interesting place. I was so tired though!

How I'd look as a Maiden in Cantonese Opera

The Chinese TARDIS?

We headed back to where we had had lunch the day before (hot plate) and met up with Mike (who was still a not quite with it). We had some food and then headed out for a wander. We decided to head to the international supermarkets surrounding the hostel. I bought a few essentials for life in Xining (Chocolate, Cheese and Diet Coke); eventually we ended back at the hostel for a chill out.

Next stop (after a nap) was the Temple Street Night Market! The market was ok, lots of the same old stuff really! Cecilia bought some shoes and I got a notebook. Mike was meeting a friend for a house party so he left Will, Cecilia and I to go get some food. We decided we couldn't leave Hong Kong with out sampling the seafood! We decided to splash out and ordered 5 dishes between the 3 of us: Singapore friend noodles with shrimp and ham, seafood fried rice, salt and pepper fried fish, sweet and sour chicken and garlic and chilli fried prawns. The food was INCREDIBLE. The Sweet and Sour tasted like we were in England, the fish and seafood was all so fresh! The company was good and we all tucked in!