Sadly for me (but good for her) my mate in HK has secured a job in mainland china which meant I didnt have the luxury of her company during the weekday. It became quite evident how spoilt I had been having her here to show me around previously as HK can be quite a big lonely city if you are on your own methinks.
That said, I hooked up with a work colleague and friend from the UK who is over here visiting an old Uni buddy of hers (lets call her DTG (Dodgy Tour Guide) - see below) which was really cool as we chilled out together during the day whilst her mate was at work. I showed her around the usual touristy spots the first day (the peak with some fantastic views of HK and the South China Sea, Times Square, star ferry to kowloon to see the night view across the harbour. It was good for me too as when I did it on my arrival to HK back in early October you may recall a Typhoon was on its way so the whether wasnt that good really but this time it was superb.
HK lit up a night is quite something. The elecy bill must be high! We had a nice day rambling around and ended up having dinner at a local place very near mine
Next day we decided to catch a ferry to Macau and we agreed that as I had been the tour guide the previous day DTG could be the guide for Macau - big mistake. We arrived over at Macau around midday and after heading along a busy main road for a while and passing loads of gaudy Casinos we found ourselves in the back streets of Macau. Admittedly it did look quite European (until recently Macau was a Portugese Colony) and there were lots of blocks of flats (run down) with balconies etc but all I could see was grubby buildings around me with washing hanging to dry and no other tourists. We soon headed to a local Cemetry and I was surprised to see pictures of the dead on their head stones (which DTG said is quite normal in some parts of Europe)- it was all a bit eery.
After a while I began to wonder what exactly was the big deal about Macau? It all looked a bit run down to me. We headed up a hill to check out an old fortress and from it we could see the facade of an old church (the rest having been destroyed in a fire).I then took it upon myself to suggest we go there as I had read somewhere that the church features heavily in many tourist postcards. As we were approaching I had just commented on the fact that I supposed at least one good thing about Macau was that it hadnt been spoilt by tourism (what a surpise if all there is to see is grubby buildings!)and no sooner had I uttered this when we turned a corner and saw swarms of tourists and we had clearly now arrived at the main tourist hub of Macau - things were looking up and I was ready to ditch DTG thinking I could do a better job myself! (just kidding).
In all seriousness, we actually had a lovely day in Macau and it was nice to get away from the Hub of HK. I think next time it would probably be worth stopping over rather than returning to HK the same day.
Next day we headed over to south of HK island to a place called Aberdeen which is renound for its Sampans, junk boats and fishing. We checked out a local fish market and saw fish being gutted/cut alive (nice - not!).The Guide book did warn that there are loads of old aggressive grannies who hassle tourists to ride their junks and soon enough we were getting approached from all ends. After a little stroll we ventured into Aberdeen to grab some food and I am very proud to announce we managed to order some Dim Sum (which is no mean feat!) and it was so so tasty!
After a short bus journey we headed to Stanley Beach which was lovely as the sound of the sea reminded me of home which bought a smile to my face. Stanley Market was as I expected - very crowded and over priced selling tourist souvenirs. The bars along the sea front were full of western tourists and ex pats. We headed to a pier along the sea front and I was captured by a local woman fly fishing - it looked so easy as she was catching fish within seconds of dropping the line but DTG told me that there is quite a lot of skill involved (so she understands).
It was getting late and we headed to DTG mates place were DTG made a lovely pasta supper. As it was late and a cab back to mine would have been quite pricey DTG's mate very kindly put me up and I have to say ...it was SOOOOOOO nice being a proper home with a proper bed and duvet toilet and oh so very clean. She even had some english breakfast tea !! How I miss my english breakfast tea with Jamaica ginger cake and custard....Yum Yum
Thankfully (read sadly) had to say goodbye to DTG this morning as she is off to Cambodia today. I have to say (dont tell her tho) its been really nice seeing a friendly face from home and I will miss her. It may be that we hook up again in Cambodia as I fly to Bangkok myself tomorrow and am hoping to get into Cambodia more or less without stopping in Bangkok if I can as I hope to return to Bangkok from Northern Thailand after I have done a loop around Cambodia Vietnam and Laos.
Have bought a camera and so hope to upload some pictures just as soon as. Also bought a laptop and was hoping to play around with it today (I am writing from a coffee shop that has internet access) but it seems I need a voucher to use the Wi fi here which can only be bought from a convenience store!! Argh!
Well thats it from me for a while. I probably wont be in touch for a few days but hope to confirm my safe arrival in Cambodia just as soon as.x
