Now I know the dates are wrong but it has taken me awhile to gain access to the internet.
26/08/2006
Today has been a very long day. The flight was fairly pleasant. I flew with Qantas who were fairly good. The food however was very dodgy. Also I was not prepared for the behaviour of the Chinese people. They are extremely loud, yelling from one end of the cabin to the other. Unfortunately me and Ruimin (another girl from UQ) could not sit together but we were not too far apart. She is quite a cool chick actually, easy to talk to. I hope I can catch up with her and the other Queenslanders soon.
Landing in Hong Kong was a total surprise. I knew it would be humid but the humidity level is just unbelievable. I was a little concerned at the beginning as I could not find my buddy Agnes. However I did find her cousin and eventually her and took a bus to the hall where I am staying.
The hall. Now that was a shock in itself. I don’t know how to describe it…it’s a bit like a prison cell. Very basic. I guess I just have to make the most of it. Agnes took me to buy an international phone card and some dinner at the hospital across the road. She is coming back on Monday to make sure I get all my registration in order. However I don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow. I feel trapped in my cell. I don’t speak the language, don’t really know where I am or who to ask for help. I can’t even get the phone card to work. I tried talking to the lady downstairs about it but she speaks no English. Oh why oh why did the British leave? I will have to find a payphone tomorrow.
Anyway I will try and get some sleep if it is possible in this humidity. Tomorrow should be interesting.
27/08/06
Hooray! I finally managed to get on to my parents. That was after I squandered almost $5 trying to get the payphone to work. After finding an English language newspaper (still no internet) and catching up on the world, I decided to explore this new city. I managed to use a bus and it got me nearly to where I wanted to go. I wanted to go to the ferry terminal but I got off at Hong Kong station because everyone else was. I think the bus would have gone further.
Suffering in the humidity I made a beeline for the nearest air-con. I ended up in a shopping mall which was frightening. Every brand you could think of was there. Prada, Calvin Kline, Louie Veton, everything. As you would expect I did not stay there long. I then made my way to the Middle levels in search of the Catholic cathedral but ended exploring Sheung Wan. This area was quite overpowering. It was sort of the old Hong Kong/Shanghai you see in black and white photos. The streets were narrow, the shops full of trinkets and antiques and the buildings looking run down and discrepant. I eventually came across the Man Mo temple which was charming although I almost choked on the incense. It was unfortunately full of about two busloads of Poms so was lacking a little in atmosphere.
I then continued my elusive search for the Catholic cathedral when I came across this bizarre outside escalator which wound itself around the increasingly steep hills. I did finally find it after wondering around for about an hour in the sunshine and humidity by crossing six lanes of traffic and leaping over a traffic barrier.
Having found a source of spiritual salvation I headed back to Central and caught one the famous Star ferries to Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon for the hell of it. Unfortunately this day of prolonged exposure to chaos was starting to take its toll as I headed up Nathan Road in what was supposedly one of the main tourist areas of Hong Kong. Not only did I not see one white person, in the space of five minutes I had been approached more then twenty times by a number of Indians and long-bearded Muslims offering me tailored suits, watches and other things. This combined with the massive waves of people that continued to push me down the street was enough to send me running to the nearest subway station and back to the (by comparison) serenity of Hong Kong island.
All that was left was finding a bus that would take me back to the hall. This was major challenge as I was so disorientated that I didn’t even know which side of the street I should be heading for. It took me about an hour of walking in circles (back amongst the horror of Calvin Klein and Gucci) before I found a suitable bus and stumbled back home.
Today I was invited by a few of the others from UQ and some other internationals (2 Americans, a German and a Pom) to climb the Peak.
