Long Hong Kong Weekend Part 1 - Blood, drinks and ducks!

I'm currently sitting having a beer as I type in a somewhat quieter bar located in a somewhat quieter Lan Kwai Fong...and I've still passed drunken dancing in the street.  I do love Hong Kong, though I did pay roughly £4.50 for the beer.  I do get free peanuts though!  So, I'm in Hong Kong for my Long Hong Kong Weekend (thank you Michael for that) or LHKW for short and so far, it has been pretty amazing, if exhausting but I'll go back to the beginning and catch you up.

After a delayed and a perhaps not the most relaxing of flights, I arrived in Hong Kong with two hours sleep to find it...raining!  Now, being Scottish, I thought to myself 'this isn't bad rain, it won't bother me'.  Oh, how wrong I would be but I didn't know that yet, so I shouldered my bag (or wheeled it, but that doesn't sound as cool), jumped in a taxi and headed to the hotel so I could drop my bags off (I wasn't able to check in until 2pm).  As it was 7am, I decided to have a coffee from the nearby Pacific Coffee store and headed off for some breakfast, eventually finding an open place in one of the skyscrapers basement and had a rather delicious pineapple bun to fuel up for the day.  Conveniently, I ended up near Hong Kong Park which was my first stop, so off I went ignoring the rain.  I've wrote about Hong Kong Park before but I'm still in awe of how beautiful and peaceful it is to walk around, so I really enjoyed wandering through the different areas and taking in the sights.  Basically, Hong Kong Park is a remodelled park located in the CBD of Hong Kong: acres of wild growth, winding paths and waterfalls are framed by skyscrapers.  Situated in the park, besides the parklife itself, are two aviaries, a plant conservatory, a tea-house/museum and a plethora of other sites that will keep you entertained for hours.

After wandering aroiund various areas, I had realised that it had stop raining.  Then it happened...it rained and it rained hard.  Now, I've seen heavy rain before but this was something new altogether and it caught me out on the open, as I had been exploring the open-air aviary.  In a panic, I ran to the end of the walkway and sheltered in the small building there.  As I waited for about 20 minutes, it occured to me that it wouldn't let up and I made a bold decision...I would just run from building to building, remaining generally dry with the exception of my shoes as the paths had flooded.  So, I dashed off and happened upon some stairs I needed to go down that had an edge along them that could be walked on.  Looking back, it was a somehwta dumb decision but, in the moment, I needed to save my shoes as much as possible and I made the decision: I would walk down the SMOOTH edge as opposed to the steps cum river.  As you will be expecting, I slipped and in doing so, tore my hand open on the dirty stone.  Don't worry though, there was plenty of muddy rain water cascading down the steps to wash it out.  Plus I ended up with both my shoes and jeans wet.  Rain 2, Robbie 0.

With a bleeding hand, I ran into into the nearest toilet and washed my hand before continuing my journey.  On the discovery of a group of survivors, I decided to band together with them and wait for a while underneath a bypass, until it lightened up.  This led to my second error of the day: entering into one of Central's shopping malls (I was looking for cheap shoes that could get wet if it continued raining).  I'm a little ashamed to say this but holy hell, I got majorly lost.  Seriously, they've connected at least 4 different shopping malls together and added in several other buildings: all with differents floors and walkways crisscrossing in every imaginable direction.  It was hell and I came across every possible shop I could have thought of, except a cheap shoe shop.  Finally escaping from this prison, I breathed a sigh of released and headed to get some Dim Sum at one of the many restaurants I found (Sticky Rice Roll with BBQ Pork = delicious) and then, it was time to head to the hotel.

For the hotel, I had decided to choose the Mini Hotel, in Central as it was cheap but decent quality.  Why was it cheap?  It's in the name: the rooms are tiny.  You basically get a bed and a small shower/toilet at the back.  The room has som A/C, a small kettle and a comfortable bed, which is what I was looking for, as I wasn't planning on spending much time in my room.  The one thing that did catch my attention about the room was that it has a transparent glass door and window for the toilet/shower and now I need to know: do double rooms also have this?  Taking no secrets to a whole new level methinks. 

Ok, after another day and it's back to writing...and this time I've seen a drunk, Asian Elvis walk past and a man in terrifying clown paint is trying to sell the people in the bar flashing items, all to the strain of Tubthumper - Chumbawumba.  Where the hell am I drinking???  I should note this is actually still day 1: I know, right?!?  After a shower, I then returned once again to face the rain and headed to Lian Tan Nunnery and Gardens, which is oddly situated right next to a main road but you barely notice it.  To the sounds of the discorded plucking of a chinese instrument (no idea which one), you wander round a Chinese style garden, full of shaped trees and 'cloud stones' (native to China it appears), beautiful coloured rocks in cloud-like formations (hence the name).  For me at least, I found I could lose myself quite well here, despite the roads, as the gardens and music complemented each other well.  The nunnery itself was a little bit of a let down, just a hall and a small garden: nothing special.

After finding and devouring my first egg tart (fresh out the oven...I burnt my mouth but regret nothing), it was then a mildly paced rush to the Star Ferry port, to pick up my ticket for the Symphony of Light Boat tour.  Now, I had a little bit of time to kill before the Lights tour and decided to wander around the area.  That's when I saw it, perhaps the most awesome thing I have ever seen, made even better by the fact that I had forgotton all about it.  THE GIANT RUBBER DUCK.  It was as glorious and absurd as I imagined it.  I'm not ashamed to admit I spent considerable time trying to get a photo off it (I am, however, ashamed to admit just how much time I spent), so here it is.

I'll give you a minute to take it all in and recover your senses.  So, after a coffee to recover from the hard ducking that I received, it was nightfall and time for criminals to fear the night the Symphony of Lights tour.  You may not know this but Hong Kong is a guiness book of records holder.  Indeed, it holds the record for the largest light show in the world and the tour I was on takes you right out into the middle of the harbour to watch this record breaking light spectacle.  Set to several musical pieces, around fifteen different buildings participate at 8pm, flashing a variety of lights to tell some sort of story (I missed what the story was annoyingly).  It was enjoyable enough but hugely impressive by how big the event was, though ruined slightly by how cloudy it was.  Once the  show was over, we then had a proper tour of the harbour itself, in which some of the key buildings were highlighted and some of Hong Kong's history revealed.

pictures

Making landfall once more, I headed back to my hotel to recuperate a little and headed for dinner, accidently having a Japanese dinner instead of Cantonese.  In my defence, I couldn't remember the name of the place I was recommended and thought that the Japanese place was it...and then I ended up asking for a menu and sat down.  I can't leave after that! 

Ok, I hate to interrupt but there are two girls sitting next to me in the bar (they came in together) and they have actually done nothing but play with their mobile phones for about 30 mins...sometimes they clink classes, then go back to their phones.  At least they're being sociable. 

After some mediocre tempura, I then headed to the 'infamous' Lan Kwai Fong, the main drinking area for ex-pats and locals alike (located near my hotel).  'I'll have a quick beer' I said.  'Early night for me' I said.  Well, after several drinks with my new American friend, I eventually departed back to my hotel, shaking hands with one of the old men who were having a dance-off in the street as I passed. 

So, with 2 hours sleep and having been up since 6:30am the previous day, I went to bed after about 16 hours of wandering Hong Kong.  Day one was over.


Pick of the Week 

The Giant Rubber Duck - It is all knowing and merciful.  All it asks for is complete submission.  Join it.


Song of the Week

Hmm, I'm going to go with a band I was recommended last week by Michael.  And by band, I actually mean singer.  Caro Emerald - Liquid Lunch.  Brilliant and upbeat.

And that's that! Don't worry, I don't think I'll be doing a day by day account of Hong Kong: probably a couple of days at a time.  It just happened that this time was a long day!  See you then.