Sept. 12- In the dictionary, the definition of the word "tout" is "1. To solicit customers, votes, or patronage, especially in a brazen way. " KEYWORD BRAZEN. And next to this definition is a photo of a man on Nathan Rd. in Hong Kong, trying to rent you a room for the night.
We arrived in Hong Kong around 3.30pm, and immediately took a bus to the Kowloon District to find a room. The ride into town was beautiful. The Hong Kong area is very lush, green, and hilly, with beautiful buildings popping out of the landscape. We had done our LP Guide review and had chosen our top 3 hostel/hotels. However, we literally couldn't get to them before the touts got to us first! They hang out on the street in front of the buildings, almost psychic knowing your destination before you do. Hong Kong is not exactly the easiest place in the world to rent a room on the fly, primarily because the buildings are all 15+ stories tall and house all types of businesses, hostels/hotels, and the ground floor is all shops....BUSY shops. So just to get to the hostel, you must make your way thru the crowds into buildings with horrible or no signage- not exactly the same as strolling thru a Greek island town asking the folks on each patio if they have a room for rent. Add to the mayhem J3 X 2 chest colds = not good.
After an excruciating hour or two to finding a place, we settle on a nice, quaint, small, unremodeled place which we thought was worth it to save a few HK$. Maybe we should have taken the chest colds more seriously. The small, window AC unit had dust from decades ago, and it blew right on us when we laid in bed. And the building (like every other building we saw with hostels) was an old, concrete, dirty mess with an interior courtyard w/trash, etc in the bottom. Marvin Zindler would have a field day, and so would the fire inspector, if he/she ever showed up, which we doubt. In fact, Lonely Planet recommends bringing your own smoke alarm to HK for the simple fact that all the economical housing is unsafe. And the fact that there's a hostel next to a laundry next to a restaurant next to a textile shop leads one to be a little...um...shall we say...ill-at-ease.
We slept awhile and headed out to check out the town. We stopped & had some so-so Thai food, & a beer @ Ned Kelly's Last Stand, a bar named after the Aussie version of our Jesse James (or maybe Jesse is the US version of Ned?). The chinese jazz band was interesting, but after a while we were excited to get home for more rest & meds.
Sept. 13- We proceeded to sleep until the middle of the afternoon the next day! We set up our Chinese visa with the hostel during one waking moment in the AM. Dumplings & soup for dinner, soothing to the chest alright. Next we were off to Delaney's, an Irish pub known for great food too....J3 agrees. Played a little trivia with the other patrons, & off to bed <cough cough>.
Sept. 14- Up & out by noon, and proud of it! We took the famous HK Star Ferry to the island- where all the cool buildings are that you see in the famous photos. We discovered the Bank of America Tower...where we withdrew money for no fees!!!!! This made our week since the typical fees are $5 charge from the bank who owns the machine, $1.50 non-BOA fee from BOA, and 1% from BOA...the "foreign currency charge" we think. You do the math. We walked around, had some lunch at a crowded, loud, fast food type Chinese restaurant. Did we mention it was LOUD?!? We continued on walking crazy streets of cars, pedestrians, shops of all price ranges and types, and seafood/fruit/meat/veggie markets. The crazy thing is that although the tourist mayhem is insane, business is very much king here, so more than half of the streetgoers are in suits & heels (mostly women regarding the latter).
We visited the Manmo Temple, one of the oldest on HK island dedicated to the Buddhist gods of literature and war. There are cats wandering around, and hanging thoughout the small place are huge coils of incence hanging from the ceiling. Jason left with the ashes in his hair to prove it! We then rode the "world's longest escalator" on Graham St., an outdoor escalator that runs up the island to nearly the top. J's arch/engineer side pondered the types of materials needed to make an outdoor escalator with incredibly intricate machinery in such a rainy, humid part of the world...but then the Peter Griffin/Homer Simpson in him started to wonder if Hong Kong has a Crispy Creme...
We then took the peak tram to Victoria Peak. We walked up to the top, had some mini-donuts at sunset (see?...found the donuts!), and gazed at the beautiful harbor at night- one of the most famous views in the world. We ferried back to the mainland and had dinner again @ Delaney's- lobster bisque & steak sandwich- and we were feeling healthier by this point, the mold-infested AC notwithstanding.
Sept. 15- Up late, found a restaurant that was open (it was really late, like 2pm!). This place was a little pricey but we were tired of wandering, so we had some soop to soothe our bodies and did some internet for 3hrs. Back to dinner at- you guessed it- Delaney's, for beef dip & beef salad.....MMMMM.....BEEEEEF.... Strolled the streets for a while and called it a night.
Sept. 16- Off to the airport early morning. We're sad to say that we were happy to leave HK. But we know it was mainly due to our illnesses and a little tourist burnout, so hopefully we will return someday and really enjoy it to it's fullest.
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