Six nights in Hong Kong

It's a Buddha, and it's big.

I've had a busy start to the Asian half of my trip.

I'm staying with a good friend, Helen, who has been living here for 18 months and another good friend, Sue has flown out from the UK to join us. Sue and I will be spending 10 days in China from Tuesday and, after another week in Hong Kong, Helen and I will be off to Vietnam.

I'm already exhausted! We've all had a lot of catching up to do, and Helen is very keen for us to experience her lifestyle here in HK. That has, so far, consisted of three nights out until 1am, 3am and 5.30am respectively - along with a late night when I first arrived and bored Helen silly with my Aussie tales.

Inbetween socialising, we've somehow managed to fit in a few of the sights and travelled on every mode of transport available to us here (apart from the famous Star Ferry). I particularly enjoyed our trip to the Big Buddha on Lantau Island. In order to get to the top viewing gallery (a couple of levels of a mural inside the platform and a whole metre of space to stand on and look up at a very large foot), you are required to buy a meal ticket to be used at the local monastery. Despite the fact that the 'free' view from a couple of levels down was rather better (in terms of looking up at his-bronzeness), the meal ticket worked out at around five pounds - so it hardly broke the bank and I was intrigued to see what our vegetarian hosts would serve up. We had a very entertaining hour eating very healthy - but exceedingly bland - dishes. The most interesting of which was the soup, which looked and tasted like dishwater. Further entertainment was provided by watching the reaction of the other unsuspecting tourists around us as this soup was delivered to their tables first - and seemingly the sole course.

Rather than returning via the bus and ferry we'd used to get to Lantau - we walked down the road to Ngong Ping village to catch the new cable car over the hill to Tung Chung, where we took the MTR (Hong Kong's underground) back to Hong Kong Island. If Alton Towers had a Chinese section - then Ngong Ping village is exactly how they would do it! It's a new development consisting of restaurants, tea shops, a couple of 'experiences' (Monkey Theatre and 'walking with Buddha') and the 700th 7-11 store in Hong Kong! Of course (as seems to be the norm in most countries I've visited this year) - there's also a Starbucks (in tasteful Chinese Architecture).

We've also travelled by tram up to the Peak (the tallest point on Hong Kong Island), which offers stunning views of the surrounding areas - when the sky is clear. We could see Hong Kong Island and the shores of Kowloon across the bay, but not much more. We've also wandered around the Central district, where we were very amused to be filmed by an Asian tourist. He was really very brazen about it - but looked quite shocked when I waved at the camera. This seems to be the norm over here - despite a large number of westerners living in Hong Kong, when you wander into a more local Chinese district you do become a bit of a celebrity.

Last night was a huge night out for Halloween - hence the 5.30am bedtime. The Lan Kwai Fong district is a few streets filled with bars and restaurants (apparently all franchised from the same person). It has a similar atmosphere to holidaying in the Med in terms of cheesy music, crowded streets and lots of partying - but without the more ugly side of our tourism (lairy, hammered Brits, in particular). Not somewhere I could go every night but I let down my 'cool' veneer (!) and sang along to hits of the 80s with ghosts, 'Scream' phantoms, witches and red-devils (to name the more appropriate Halloween costumes on display).

Anyway - although internet access is free in public areas (an excellent idea) - this is the first and possibly last time I'll be on for a while. It's strange but very pleasant to suddenly find myself in the company of other people while I'm travelling about. I'm being terribly anti-social spending an hour online - and I know that Helen is keen to make sure we see as much as possible of the place while we're here. Which is absolutely right.

I hope all's well, wherever you are?

Another Day in Paradise*

It's my last day in Australia today.

As I had a bit of internet admin to do, I thought I'd post a couple of pics of my recent trip down the East coast while I'm online.

The first is Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday Island. Just one of a few islands we visited on my short sailing trip.


We had a paddle in the water down there - cooing at the baby tiger sharks which swam around our feet. They're not so cute when fully grown!

Apparently, the sailing trip which immediately preceded ours had gale-force winds and rain for the entire journey. We were far more fortunate - barely any wind (meaning our sailing experiences consisted of us helping to hoist sails - look up at them flapping about in a mild breeze for 15 minutes - and then lower the same sails again) - and lots of sunshine, which made snorkelling for a couple of hours at a time bearable. Oh, and I finally saw a stingray whilst snorkelling around Lamgford reef (that will be the last mention of them - I promise!)

I travelled overnight from Airlie Beach (3 hours after getting off the sailing boat) down to Hervey Bay, where I spent the next day whale-watching (mother and calf pods of Humpback whales) then travelled over to Fraser Island for a couple of days. It's the largest sand island in the world - a factor which couldn't be lost on us as we hiked up a 1km sandblow (effectively a sand dune - and one of the smaller ones!)


By the time we reached the top (in the midday heat) - this looked like a desert mirage:

The speck in the middle of that lake is me. Anyone seen Lake Placid?


And finally... anyone with a nervous disposition should turn away now.



I know I promised not to post a photo of the stinger suit, but this made me laugh(I think it's supposed to minimise the impact of a sting, not scare the lethal gelatinoids away)

Any comments referring to a gimp mask will be treated with the contempt deserved when ones mother reads ones blog

Next stop Hong Kong.


*Yes. My travelling earworms for SwissToni's blog will be truly awful

Shhh!

It's all gone quiet over here...

Internet access has been slightly restricted over the past week or so (they don't provide a terminal on sailing trips, yet).

All's well and I've had some amazing experiences - just no time to write about them at the moment. I've got to get back to my hostel room to unload the accumulation of sand which is taking my bag over the weight limit for my flight to Sydney tomorrow.

Uluru

I had planned on posting a set of photos to describe the last couple of weeks but the pc I've been allocated in this internet cafe won't read my photo dvd (lucky for you!). So - I'm reduced to a photo and video I uploaded last night, both are from my time in the red centre. The photo is Kata Tjuta (previously known as 'The Olgas') - and some idiot tourist wearing a very fetching flynet. A demonstration of how red the place appears when the sun is high in the sky (and normal people wouldn't be undertaking an uphill hike):



The video is a little slice of the experience to be had at Uluru (known for a while as Ayers Rock) when the sun decides to give way to a massive hailstorm at sunset (as I mentioned here):



I'm going sailing tomorrow on this little beauty. (I've packed my travel sickness pills - and apparently am obliged to wear a 'stinger suit' if I decide to go snorkelling. It's very early in the jellyfish season up here (I wasn't required to wear one up in Cairns)- and this delightful apparel protects swimmers from the (really very nasty and potentially lethal) sting of the box jellyfish. Dont worry - I won't be scaring anyone with photographic proof of that (the suit, I mean. I hope I don't get close enough to photograph a stinger!).

Cape Tribulation

Only time to share a photo from my trip to FNQ (far north Queensland) for now.
It's not an unusual observation for Australia, but they certainly like their creatures extra deadly over here.

Ulp!

Stingrays successfully avoided

In fact, no sign of any rays at all on my snorkelling trip at the Great Barrier Reef today. Saw a lot of strange & colourful fish, and a lot of coral but nothing on the long list of scary biting or stinging creatures which inhabit this island and the waters around it. I'm mildly disappointed - but it's easy to feel like that now. Now that I'm back on steady, solid ground. I suspect I'd have had some sort of snorkel/sea water swallowing disaster had I actually encountered any of those beasts.

I'm staying up in the Cairns area for a few days - a trip to Cape Tribulation tomorrow to see the rainforest etc. - before I start to make my way down the coast (a few very long coach journeys coming up - as I'm staying in hostels at the moment I thought I'd immerse myself in the backpacker experience!).

Uluru was fascinating. Red desert, red rocks and red hot heat. Apparently it was around 40 degrees when my tour group to Kata Tjuta (previously known as the Olgas) decided to go for a walk through the Valley of the Winds. Possibly one of the most uncomfortable experiences I've ever had - but I did it - and the sunset over those gravelly sandstone mounds was pretty spectacular.

Sunset over Uluru the following day was equally spectacular, but for different reasons. I was standing at the furthest point from the bus that I could be at that time (trying to get the great photos of both Uluru and Kata Tjuta that the viewpoint promised) when an almighty hailstorm let loose. I got soaked to the bone. To be fair - we had seen this storm making its way over the desert- it's just one of the most unlikely sights I've ever seen (especially the rainbow over Uluru) - and really didn't expect it to last for as long as it did! I have some video footage, and a few photos (of probably very dubious quality) but I won't be able to get them online for a few days.

Yulara was not so fascinating - it's the purpose built resort just outside the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, which anyone who doesn't want to stay at Alice Springs is pretty much forced to stay at. One company owns the whole resort and provides differing grades of accommodation and food establishments at slightly differing prices (expensive to ridiculously expensive). Once I'd seen the two major rock formations & spent some time at the very interesting Cultural Centre (run by - and about - the local Anangu people), I was pleased to be getting away . Cairns is incredibly cheap and cheerful (a little bit Blackpool-esque) - and exactly what my bank account needs at this stage of the trip!

Catch ya later, Sydney

It's not the best photo - but look - I was 'ere!

Sydney has been great - a gorgeous city and first impressions helped enormously by the fabulous weather (mid 20s with a sea breeze for most of the week). I didn't make it back to Manly for that walk, but did take in a pretty good substitute (I believe) in the coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee beach. It has been a holiday long weekend here and the beaches were pretty busy.


Whilst wandering around the rest of the city I've also walked across the harbour bridge (no - not via the bridge climb, my fear of heights was kicked into gear just by looking up at the nutters in their fancy climbing suits) ambled around the Rocks (where the first white settlers lived) and visited the aquarium with its underwater tunnels (stingrays get rather large don't they).

I'm flying to Uluru tomorrow morning to spend a couple of nights/mornings marvelling at some red rocks - and then it's up to Cairns to see those stingrays in their natural habitat (don't worry, Mum, I don't plan on getting as close as Aussie hero, Steve Irwin).