Hong Kong

I'm now finally in Hong Kong after staying in a hotel in Wu Yi Shan for a few days due to infrequent flights here. Though the flight on the way over here was only about an hour and a half it was without a doubt the worst flight I have ever had. For starters the flight was delayed for two hours due to Typhoon Neoguri in nearby Hainan. For some reason the staff started handing out Chinese pot noodles, trying to appease the passengers I suppose. During the flight the plane experienced a lot of turbulence. It didn't help that during the strong turbulence when the plane would suddenly drop or raise dramatically everybody on the plane had to sound it out. The first time it tried to land it had to abort, pull up and circle round again due to the winds being too strong. This manoeuver caused many people to throw up, so I went from being stuck in a cramped, noisy plane to being stuck in a cramped, noisy and smelly plane. Second time round it did land thankfully and I was glad to be off the plane. Hong Kong International Airport is probably the most confusing airport I've been to so far, but I got rewarded for being patient with the flight as my luggage was the first one off the carousel.

Next up was a taxi ride from the aiport across the Tsing Ma Bridge to Kowloon where I'm staying. The differences between mainland China and Hong Kong were immediately apparent, even in the wet and windy taxi ride. You can still see the British influence over here, from the road signs to older currency still in circulation bearing Queen Elizabeth's head on it. The towering skyscrapers loom over the neon-lit streets below. I seem to be drawn to neon like a moth to light, I love the masses of neon lights in asia. It's a shame they've not taken off in Europe.

Unfortunately my first full day in Hong Kong was a Sunday so many places were closed but I still managed to go exploring and I've found that much like China, you will never starve in Hong Kong. In mainland China almost literally ever other shop sold food of some sort and the streets come alive with street vendors selling all sorts of food to eat. One small car park I had walked past during the day even transformed into a makeshift restaurant at night with garden chairs and tables laid out. Hong Kong is much the same, except instead of stalls they have proper shops and a lot of places are brand names instead of run by individuals. The problem is all of it tastes so good it's really easy to overeat here and you have to reign yourself in a lot.

One type of food I have managed to escape on my journey so far is fast food. Though I took a picture of McDonald's in Moscow, I never went in. McDonald's does not exist in Mongolia and where I went in China it was too rural to have a McDonald's. There is one thing worse than fast food back home, though, and that's Chinese fast food. There is a Chinese fast food chain called dico's that only serves chicken but is more like McDonald's than KFC. The food there is absolutely awful and I don't reccomend it over the abundant better tasting street food. The mayonnaisse tastes funky and they use the worst reconstructed chicken possible. I did give in in Hong Kong though and had a McDonald's for lunch on the first day. There's not really any difference between in and English McD's except you can get asian style seasonings for your chips, such as seaweed. After sitting down to eat my McDonald's some Chinese person sat down opposite at the table next to me and began shouting off in the distance about something or other in Cantonese. He didn't bother trying to talk to me since it was obvious I didn't understand him and nobody was looking at him either, but that didn't seem to deter him, he kept ranting on and on about something. It seems the place to incite revolution in Hong Kong is fast food restaurants. He was still mouthing off after I finished up and left.

Hong Kong has easily become one of my favourite places in the world so far and I've chosen to extend my stay here so I can see more of it. Where I go next from here I don't know, yet, but I shall have to decide soon.