Day 48 5/11/2014

We were keen to see more of the island and took the local double decker bus to Aberdeen on the south side.  The bus was diverted due to road closures as a result of the current political demonstrations.  We saw lots of tents but no evidence of any trouble which we'd read about in the news a few weeks early.  Looks like the authorities are just trying to wait them out.  At Aberdeen we walked along the front through the fish market which looked like the days catches had just been brought in, an eclectic range of sea creatures.  The area has apparently been cleaned up recently with the house boats cleared.  The tourist sampan's still operate and we took a trip around the harbour for 30 minutes which we really enjoyed.  We decided to head to Stanley and it took a bit of time to find the local minibus to take us there (in the end we followed one on foot to see where it stopped).  The coast road is lovely and passes numerous sandy beaches including Repulse Bay.  The Bay is named after a British war ship that went there in the 19th century to rid it of the longstanding pirates.  It was good to have something interesting to look out of the window at as the driving was crazy.  There were signs saying that year to date 38,000 people had been injured on the roads.  No surprise there.  We had lunch on the seafront at Stanley, a small port where they have relocated the colonial Murray House and the original roof of Bake Pier from Victoria Harbour.  We took the double decker back, felt like a safer option than the minibus!  The public transport is very cheap and HK appears to be very well served by buses.  In the evening we met up with Gayble at the White Stag, a very British pub in Wan Chai.  We were joined by two of her friends, Kim a local school teacher and Spiro an ex airlines executive.  After a few drinks (Tetley's bitter for Simon) we headed through the red light district to a local Thai restaurant.  We shared a lovely meal and chatted about our common interest - travelling around the world.  We were very interested to hear about Kim's trip to Siberia and her trip with Gayble to Iran.  Both were definitely very different and their experiences where certainly out with our day to day comfort zone.  After saying our goodbyes Kim and Spiro we went back to Gayble's flat to drop off our old bags (Gayble had kindly agreed to take these from us).  The flat is on the 33rd floor and whilst compact is very homely.  It's a top floor and has roof top terrace.  The pavement is a very long way down although looking across to the mid levels disguises the height.  The views are amazing, although the harbour view has now been restricted by a new build, and we felt privileged to experience it.  In typhoon season the furniture has to be securely fastened down to avoid loosing it, as Gayble had experienced with the lid of her shed box.  We headed off back to our hotel accompanied by Gayble who was meeting Marcel.  We didn't need too much persuading to meet Marcel at a local Cantonese bar, the Big Dragon Phoenix, and enjoyed a couple of San Miguel's before finally heading back to our hotel.  It was 1.30am and despite being tired and having a bit too much to drink we'd had a great night.  It was lovely to see Gayble again, meet her friends and getting a brief insight into what living in HK is like.

Day 47 4/11/2014

With no repercussions from dinner we headed out for breakfast and then down to Central to get the tram up to Victoria Peak.  The weather was still overcast but the forecast looked much the same for the rest of the week.  The peak tram was apparently the first funicular in Asia and rises steeply above the sky scrappers to Victoria Peak at 552m.  There's an audio tour at the Sky Terrace at the top which was very interesting and a great way to learn a little bit about HK.  We walked along the Peak scenic trail enjoying the views and peace and quiet away from the hoards of tourists.  After heading back down on the tram we visited the HSBC building, the worlds most expensive when it was completed in 1985.  We took advantage of the mid level escalators and travelled the 800m up through Soho which looks like a really vibrant area full of bars and restaurants.  From here we dropped down into the Sheung Wan district and walked around the area which apparently most resembles HK of the past.  On route we passed the Man Mo Temple which was brimming with cylindrical joss sticks (to the point where you could hardly breath and Simon had to make a hasty exist to avoid intense sneezing).  One of the temples is basically a cemetary with hundreds of small boxes full of ashes, each with a picture of the deceased on the outside (reflective of the cost of land and lack of space for cemeteries).   We dropped down towards the harbour and passed the numerous shops selling all forms of sea creatures and then got the tram back through crazily busy traffic - it would have been quicker to walk but we enjoyed the views from the top deck.  Why people drive in HK is a mystery.  Simon popped into a local barbers.  Luckily the guy spoke English and he came out with a very nice short back and sides!  Fortuitously Simon phoned Hong Kong airlines to check on our flight to Hanoi on the 6th to be told it had been cancelled.  Not sure when they were going to let us know.  With little option we rebooked for Friday giving us an extra day in HK.  The hotel provides free phone calls to the UK and we took advantage of this to call our parents.  It was lovely to speak to them and hear that they were all OK.  In the evening we treated ourselves to dinner at a lovely Italian/American restaurant back in Soho called Posto Pubblico - it's good to blow the budget every now and again!  The bottle of Italian red was very welcome (we certainly wouldn't recommend Chinese Great Wall red wine) and Simon thoroughly enjoyed the steak he'd been craving for over the last few weeks.

Day 46 3/11/2014

Over 7 million people live in HK with most around the bay areas.  Over 70% of HK is mountainous and forested.  Despite the rather overcast weather it was clear to see how challenging extending the inhabited areas would be.  For the last few days we've been contemplating what to do with our bags.  They're only 75% full but despite this you can't press them down due to the metal frames.  Being on wheels is great and has been a big advantage to date but we are a bit concerned as to whether they'll fit on the trains and buses in South East Asia.  If there is a place to decide to replace them then it has to be HK with it's mass of shops.  So it was with mixed emotions that we headed out in search of new smaller bags.  We were successful in the second shop finding smaller bags with wheels and also rucksack straps if we do need to carry them.  We also popped to the local pharmacy to top up on medicines.  After lunch we had a walk through Wan Chai (the area where the British banker lives who has allegedly killed two women) and on to Admiralty, Central and Victoria Harbour before heading back to the  hotel via The Pawn for refreshments.  That evening we went out to a local Chinese restaurant for dinner.  It was the first time since being ill that we'd eaten Chinese food and were both a little apprehensive.

Hong Kong Day 45 2/11/2014

We arrived in Guangzhou central station just after 8am and headed off to find the metro to Guangzhou East station for our connection to Hong Kong.  The metro at the station was closed so we followed the crowds and ended up at the public toilets!  With the help of the tourist information we found the metro and had an easy journey over to the East station with time to spare for breakfast at Starbucks.  The waiting area for the 'fast' train to HK was much more civilised that previous experiences.  The train is none stop to HK and therefore despite being c100 miles from the boundary we passed through Chinese immigration before boarding.  We were hoping to spot the actual boundary and see cars going from driving on the right to the left but unfortunately didn't.  The landscape in the New Territories is very mountainous and green.  The train was supposed to be a fast train but was probably the slowest we've been on so far and arrived late into HK station.  After finding an ATM to get some HK dollars we got the metro over to HK island and had a short walk to our hotel, the Cosmopolitan which is just across the road from Happy Valley, HK's legendary race course.  The hotel is a typical western hotel.  Our room was quite small and after showers Simon decided to complain and we were moved to a bigger room.   We went out in search of food and ended up at The Pawn, a trendy recently refurbished bar which although didn't serve food did serve rather refreshing beer!  We headed back to our hotel to meet Gayble, a friend we'd met on our Peru trip last year and lived in HK.  Gayble was actually over the road from us at her sports club so we headed across to meet up there.  After a quick tour of the club (big, old colonial style) we settled down on the outside terrace amongst the skyscrapers and the race course and tucked into dinner.  Gayble's partner Marcel also joined us and he and Simon had an added treat of watching Man U v Man City!  It was a great evening and something we assume most non residents don't get the opportunity to do.

Day 44 1/11/2014

We'd booked the overnight train from Guilin to Hong Kong via Guangzhou.  After a late breakfast we had a walk along the Yulong River in the other direction to where we'd cycled the previous day.  The river is a mass of bamboo rafts touting for business and also local fisherman.  There were numerous graves along the track side and what looked like evidence of recent burials.  We even passed a number of bee hives.  We headed back and enjoyed our last meal at the Tea Cozy before catching a lift back to Guilin for our train.  This was the first time we'd been on the roads at night and decided the best strategy was to close our eyes!  The station was really busy but this time there were a number of westerners who'd no doubt been enjoying the delights of the area.  We eventually boarder the train and met our compartment companions, a young Russian couple who were also on route to Hong Kong.  There was something quite comforting about being back on a sleeper train.  Luckily we managed to squash our bags into the space above the corridor and settled down for the overnight journey.  We were in the last compartment in the carriage and spent most of the night being entertained to the noise of the carriages banging together with the only reprieve coming when we stopped at stations and it was replaced with the constant noise from the tannoy system!

Day 43 31/10/2014

Whether we'd become complacent or it was just bad luck we'll never know but both of us were ill the night before last and Diane spend the day in bed.  Luckily we were both feeling better today and after breakfast we hired bikes and cycled along the Yulong River to the Dragon Bridge and Fuli Bridge.  The scenery was stunning cycling passed rice paddies, farmers and water buffalo.  Simon fell off in a small ditch at one point but was luckily unscathed!  We headed back to the Tea Cozy for lunch and then out again cycling into Yangshou to the Li River and then back along the Yulong River.  After seeing Yangshou we were both really pleased that we were staying out of town at the Tea Cozy. Disappointed that we lost a day through illness, if you were going to be ill this was certainly a lovely place to recuperate.

Yangshuo Day 41 29/10/2014

Simon was really ill the night before last and we cancelled our trip and spent the day at hostel.  Diane headed to the chemist in an attempt to see if they had any medicine that would help settle his stomach but failed miserably and was slightly put out by the rat on the pavement.  We had planned to take a boat down the River Li to Yangshou but at 4 plus hours it was too much for Simon who was still feeling ill so we arranged for our hotel to collect us.  Over 300,000 people live in Yangshou and the town has become a tourist mecca, messy and full of tour groups.  Our hotel, the Tea Cozy was outside the town along the Yulong River and an oasis after the weeks of Chinese cities.  The landscape is dramatic littered with karst peaks amongst farming land.  We arrived early afternoon and after lunch had a short walk before heading back and chilling out on our balcony overlooking the amazing landscape.  We ate at the hotel that evening and were looking forward to getting out and about on bike and foot over the next two days.