Hong Kong

Hong Kong
Capital none
Historically, the capital of Hong Kong territory was Victoria City; government headquarters are located in the Central and Western District.
22°17′N 114°08′E
Official languages · Chinese (Cantonese de facto)
· English
Government
- Chief Executive Donald Tsang
Establishment
- Occupied by the UK January 25, 1841
- Crown colony of the UK August 29, 1842
- Occupied by Japan December 25, 1941
- Crown colony of the UK August 30, 1945
- SAR of the PRC July 1, 1997
Area
- Total 1,104 km² (not ranked)
426.4 sq mi
- Water (%) 4.6
Population
- 2005 estimate 7,041,000 (99th)
- Density 6,294.65/km² (3rd)
16,469.6/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2005 estimate
- Total $254.2 billion (40th)
- Per capita $37,400 (2006)
Currency Hong Kong dollar (HKD)

The ferry from Macau was good, one of those quickcats, did a few nice jumps over waves, we were cruising at over 20 knots. Only took 50 mins to get to Kowloon in HK. walked from the ferry term to the mighty Mirador Mansion, a big apartment complex from the 70s or 80s, fairly ghetto. Loads of hostels and guesthouses, most backpackers either stay here or at the Chung King mansions. Stayed in one place, was pretty average and im not that fussy, rats the size of cats running around, non helpfull staff etc, then changed to another, Cosmic Guesthouse, which is cheaper, cleaner and more friendly.

Hong Kongs skyline is the thing that blew me away the most, never seen that many high rises/ skyscrapers before, the gold coast in Aussie has a few but in HK its like 20 times that. The view of the harbour from Victoria Peak and the tram up are easily the highlight of HK. Stunning night daytime views and the night time ones are even better.

Did a couple of days of city wandering and a couple of days of hiking. The city is crazy, loads of good public transport though, subways, light rail, buses, funicular railway and ferry's. I used them all during my stay including the original star ferry's. Back to the crazy, especially Friday night, seems like every man and his dog is out shopping, jam packed footpaths and all the public transport was packed, never seen anything like it and that includes Auckland at its busiest, London, Singapore, Hanoi, Saigon, Bangkok. During a normal day its bad enough, mostly because, its an ex British colony so everything is rigged up for people to walk on the left, escalators etc, but most people here are Chinese and they all walk on the right so it ends up as dodgems. Everyone drives on the left and that seems to work, some nice cars about in town especially up near the peak. In one apartment carpark, I saw 3 5 series mercs, a couple of 7 series BMWs, a 911 porshe, a Lexus, a Bentley and a Jag. All top of the line. Money, money, money.

I did a day hike from Victoria peak along the Hong Kong trail on HK island, was a nice walk, wandered around a few roads as well, lots of flash cars, houses and security. Also did a big day hike on Lantau island, 25km or so, caught a ferry over then hiked along a trail that went over a couple of 900m hills, so was pretty knackered by the end, which was at the biggest sitting bronze budda in the world. From there caught a bus to the nearest subway station and then back into town.

Brought a couple of things from the temple street night market which is much like other night markets I've been to in Asia, lots of cheap copied clothes, trinkets and touristy type stuff, DVDs, Cd's. Hong Kong's a place where you could turn up with just your wallet and be set to travel.

Got a bit sick during my stay another dose of gardia. Was not fun, but knew what drugs to take since id had it before so sorted it in a couple of days.

Watched a couple of movies while I was there, Casino Royal the latest James Bond flick, which was ok and a Chinese film Curse of the Golden Flower, which is similar to Hero and House of the flying daggers.

Hong Kong airport was good, checked into my flight to London, with no worries.