In Hong Kong

It's now Sunday evening, and I'm in Hong Kong - woot!

Had an uneventful trip here earlier today. A taxi picked me up at 6 am and spirited me away from the wonderful Ha An Hotel (but not before they gave me a packed breakfast, to take with me). At Da Nang Airport, I was surrounded in the departure lounge by a large gaggle of middle-aged French tourists, who glanced enviously at me as I sat there eating a delicious and very fragrant whole mango before boarding my flight.

After a tedious connection in Hanoi, during which I had to collect my luggage, pay excess baggage charges, and check in again for the flight to Hong Kong (I don't know why they wouldn't check me through), I was on my way. My arrival in Hong Kong was super-smooth, as usual, and before I knew it I was on the Airport Hotelink coach and heading into the city.

I'm booked in again at my old haunt, the Salisbury YMCA Hotel in Kowloon, and it's as comfortable as ever. The only unpleasant surprise came when I discovered that they've increased their internet access charges - 24 hours of in-room wireless access now costs about $16. Ridiculous! Granted, it probably earns the Y extra money, but still - these days, free wireless should be a given in hotels everywhere. Luckily, there are public alternatives around town, and at the moment, I'm in a Starbucks just over the road from the hotel, taking advantage of their free wifi.

The climate here has been a bit of a shock. I've gone from hot and humid +30 degree temperatures in Vietnam, to about 20 degrees here. Still very pleasant, mind you, but I had to put on warmer clothes when I arrived!

I had a fun afternoon here, heading out just as soon as I unpacked my bag. Today I travelled the subway system here for the first time. Unsurprisingly, it's fantastic - very clean, efficient and ultra-modern. I headed across (under?) the harbour to the neighbourhood of Central on Hong Kong Island, and spent a few hours strolling the streets there and eyeballing the fab(ulously expensive) shops. Had myself a good dinner before returning to the waterfront and hopping onto the Star Ferry, which I love. We had a great night-time view of the harbour lights as we headed back across to Kowloon.

So now I'm thinking about what I will do these next two days here. I reckon tomorrow morning, I'll go north to Prince Edward and Fa Yuen Street for what is apparently some excellent bargain shopping up there. In the afternoon, I will try to have afternoon tea at the Peninsula Hotel (right next to where I'm staying at the Y). I say "try" because apparently teatime there can be a bit overrun by tourists now - and I'm not going to waste precious time by standing for ages in a queue. We'll see.

On Tuesday, I think I'm going to take a day trip to the former Portuguese colony of Macau. It's apparently only an hour by ferry from Hong Kong, and seems to have quite a different atmosphere. Plus, it'll make for another cool stamp in my passport. ;-)

More again tomorrow....