well, about 12 hours after getting on my plane in London, i touched down in Hong Kong International Airport on Lantau Island. I hadn't slept much on the plane due to a combination of being sat between a kid that was airsick, a woman who wouldn't stop talking to me until she passed out from her combination of large amounts of wine and brandy and, on the upside, a great selection of movies. Despite this, i wasn't suffering from jet lag too badly and was just excited to have arrived in Hong Kong! I waited in the airport for a friend from college called James, who was arriving on the flight after mine and was working with me this summer. He spent 9 months of his gap year in Hong Kong and knows it like the back of his hand, so as we were both arriving a week before the program kicked off he accompanied me to my hostel. I was staying in Kowloon, on the mainland side of Hong Kong (as opposed to Hong Kong Island), in an area called Tsim Sha Tsui, and on Nathan Road, which is the central street, and is about as insane as Hong Kong gets. it's absolutely amazing. The neck-breakingly tall buildings and skyscrapers and low-hanging neon lights and advertisements are sensational and the energy of the city is contagious. I think the only city i can liken it to is New York, although perhaps slightly more on the touristy side and with slightly less attitude, but all the same, it is fantastic. Despite the dazzling lights which scream affluence, an upwards glance beyond the lights gives some insight as to the difficulties with housing this city's 7 million people, and this is not so pretty. I headed to the Mirador Mansions where i was to stay for the next 5 days. It's a huge building with cheap, touristy shops on the ground floor and lots of south-asian men trying to sell watches, handbags and suits, but the upper levels are mostly accomodation for local people, interspersed with hostels on different floors. My room was tiny, but had absolutely everything i needed (bed, airconditiong) and some that i didn't (tv), and was en suite, which meant that there was a toliet and a shower directly above it. so theoretically i could shower while on the toilet. but why would you do that. hehe.
I dumped my stuff and James and i headed out to get involved. First stop was food, and it was delicious. Next stop the MTR (mass transit railway) which is the underground train system. We bought Octopus cards which are AMAZING. they are like the ENglish Oyster card, allowing you touse the underground, but also lets you use ALL other transport in Hong Kong (even the ferries) and also buy your groceries and even MacDonalds if you so desire. Ready to go, we next journeyed to Mong Kok, which is a very exciting, urban, young area up until a certain point in the night, when apparently it becomes the crawling ground for mafia and gangs and the like (or so i'm told). Here we bought sim cards for our phones so that we can keep in contact, and after a brief stroll around, we went our eparate ways - James went to his friend's apartment where he is staying until Monday and i headed to my bed! I can already tell that i am going to love this summer.
