31/08/03

It's Sunday night, the weekend's over. Has been a fairly packed day. Actually had a bit of a sleep in this morning. Figured is has been a while, so didn't hit the road till about 10-10.30. My plan was to hit up Stanley Market and the take things from there, Stanley was a small tourist town with basically a market full of souvenir type merchandise, and a bunch of cafes. I headed downstairs and said hello to my friendly yet financially motivated concierge, and asked him the best way to get to Stanley. 'Bus 973 from this stop' he said as he pointed at my trusty map. So I was off. Unfortunately after winding my way through a bunch of small streets and overpasses, I found that bus 973, if it even existed, didn't stop at this stop. So I figured bugger it, I'll head down to Central, all roads lead to (and away from) Central. After a quick stop for breakfast, a ferry ride, and a bit of a walk, I was on bus 6X to Stanley.

The ride to Stanley is really something, and highlights what an extraordinary place Hong Kong really is. On one side of the island itself, there is a metropolis of skyscrapers, reminiscent of New York. As soon as you make your way over or around the hills, you are almost in a totally different place. While there quite a few apartment buildings and condominiums, there is nothing close to what is found in the bustling hub. It is quite picturesque. For the most part there are mountains covered in greenery leading down to the sea. Unfortunately I was unable to get any photos, as despite my many requests, the bus driver refused to stop for my camera, I'm sure the other 50 people on board wouldn't have minded. Ah well.

On the way to Stanley we passed by two of the major beaches, Deep Water Bay, and Repulse Bay. Deep Water was a fair bit smaller, but equally as scenic. Repulse, the more well known of the two, was a huge expanse of beach, leading to the see, with apartment building build across the way. I figured I'd stop on the way back. So on to Stanley. After having been on the bus about 20 mins, I hopped off into the searing heat of what has come to be known by me as 'the place where foreigners come to empty their wallets on souvenirs which have transformed to much that any resemblance they have to the Chinese culture is bordering on corny (save for a few stores).'

But luckily there was a Delifrance, so I stopped for lunch. To be fair I guess for those who are desperate to satisfy the FINOS "(Friends in need of souvenirs) back home, Stanley was a pretty useful place. I wandered through the tunnels of market, as some points stopping by an air-conditioned store to try and prevent and more severe chaffing. After spending a while there, and checking out the expat cafes/restaurants, I jumped back on the bus back to Central, via Repulse Bay.

Repulse was everything it had seemed to be on the bus. Despite the many apartment buildings, it is quite nice the way the beach has been kept. I wandered out onto the sand to get a few snaps, noticing the temperature gauge was now reading 39 degrees. When you add the sand I now had in my shoes, and the soaking shirt on my back, I was really on a roll. Nevertheless I made my way out to the pier, got a few good shots, and headed back to the bus stop. On the way noticing the reasons I'd much rather be swimming in Lorne back home, mainly the permanent froth on top of the water lapping up against the pier, speckled with the odd coke can or plastic bag. All rather nice I guess if you're into disgusting things.

Back on the bus, on my way back to Central. I decided halfway there I'd check out the major shopping districts. Pacific Place was my first call, basically your Eaton Center in Hongkers, a little more up market but with slightly cheaper prices. I wandered round a bunch of stores, all rather dull I thought, so I jumped on the MTR for Times Square.

The MTR is basically the subway system here, and it is fantastic. The system is almost identical to the MRT in Singapore. After living through the faulty systems in Toronto and Melbourne, it is really a relief. I could gather from the people I talked to that these trains rarely were delayed, it was impossible to get on and off at a destination without having bought a ticket (so no ticket inspectors pushing people of trains), and it was really clean. No food or drink onboard is a great idea, you'd think they would have thought of that in other major cities by now.

So I jumped on the MTR and within a few minutes was at the main shopping district, known as Causeway Bay. I wandered around the streets for a bit, before deciding to head up to Times Square, which was marked as a 'place to see' on my tourist map, so I figured I might as well have a peek. This are resembles the Hong Kong that I remembered seeing in pictures as a kid, there were people everywhere, neon signs filling every inch of space between buildings over the street, it was really something. Times Square was a huge shopping mall, 7 floors, with everything you could ever want. I figured I'd make my way up to Fortress and Broadway way up the top, and see what I could see. After stomaching the height, I wandered in and had a look at all the gadgets. Found a great camera, only HK$1600, quite similar to mine. On closer inspection it was exactly the same as mine. Obviously cocky Sam should have listened to what turned out to be a fairly honest concierge yesterday. Ah well no crying over spilt milk, not to say I didn't feel like smashing the milk bottle over my own head.

The clock had hit six o' clock, so I figured I'd head back to the Hotel and try and sort a few things out for the flight early the next morning. So made my emotional final MTR ride, Ferry ride, and walk from Causeway Bay back to the Hotel. I'm back at the Hotel now, where I'm not-all-that enthusiastically about to shove all my crap in a case for tomorrow, when I'm not looking forward to waking up at 6.45am. I'm off to the local Irish pub for what could be my last western meal for a while.

- Sam