Still feeling adventurous despite the weekend disasters, I headed to Causeway Bay on the actual island of hong kong. The hostel i checked into was pretty sweet, even if hard to get to. The owner knew very good at english but couldnt speak it very well, and as soon as i said i was Australian, he started hopping around saying "kanyaru, kanyaru". This guy was 5ft and 75 years old, so it was a sight to behold. For some reason i had an in-depth conversation with him about Kevin Rudd speaking mandarin, the differences of hong kong and Australia - such as social security - , the price of land, the current status of china's population in contrast to hong kong due to the price of land and the lowered birth rate. The conversation went on for a good long time, him contributing most as i couldnt really understand enough to comment. When i did say something i got the feeling it was completely unrelated. I told him i was overseas the whole year, he burst out "You marst be feekin rich!" then said something in chinese to his friend, who said "feekin rich". Tried to explain about working making it cheap, but gave up and left the hostel to do some sight seeing.
I caught a mini-bus around to the other side of the island, hoping to see some villages and markets that i'd heard about. Turns out that these villages are just clusters of 30 storey buildings and a rich suburb with heaps of hotels. Still the views from the bus trip were the best, particularly as it was the first morning id had without fog. The driver was crazy, going up to 70km/h (there was a speed display) around the mountain bends.
I checked out some markets, then went to Ocean Park (theme park) wanting to catch a lift across the bay on the suspended tram. It was about 35 aussie dollars to do so as you had to enter the theme park. I had 30 dollars and no atm in sight. bugger, but it was ok as i now had thirty dollars of beer money. Plus i had seen some good views on the bus around.
Checked out some floating villages/restaurants then headed back to the main city. well tried to, as i had no idea which bus to catch. Waited at the terminal for 20 minutes but the dozen buses that went past all had south horizons or Fu Wak Chei as their destination and i had no idea where that was. Finally, a mini bus came past that had Central on it. I jumped on with just enough coins to pay the fare. after about 10 minutes, i was the only one left on the bus. Then, in the middle of some village (city cluster) the driver turned around and said "you off. off now. end of bus". craptastic. With no idea where i was and no tourism (everything was in chinese) i wandered around helplessly until finally i came across a bus terminal and after a few more mishaps, made it back to the city.
Now late afternoon, i headed up to the peak for a second time to view the light show. A sunset would have been nice, but with the hong kong fog (i should just say pollution) there was no chance. Spotting a walking trail, I followed it around hoping it would lead to the top of the mountain - saving me paying to enter the towertop at the plateau. Halfway round the trail, there was a small path that deviated up the mountain which noone else was taking. Desperate to save the 3 dollars, i clambered up the trail. After 10 minutes i was stuffed, making me worry about how i was to survive trekking the himalayas. Nearing the top, i reached a gate with razor wire saying "no enter, radio only". So whilst i didnt make the top, or save my three dollars, i did see some more good views of the other side of hong kong island. Satisfied, i headed back and bought a pint atop the tower to watch the lights go nuts.
The view made me think of earth hour in Sydney - 60 minutes of no lights in that tiny city to ultimately save the environment is the stupidest thing i have ever heard. Hong kong drains the power grid every night of the year, powered by coal as well. You want to know what happens to all the excess christmas lights after the festive season? The Chinese factories put them on all the buildings, trees and streets in Hong Kong.
