Hong Kong

Hong Kong apparently still counts as a different country - Qimin had to come in the Foreigners queue with us! She needs a visa to enter, where as we wouldn't have done if we had just been visiting without going to the rest of China. It was China's national day - a public holiday,
customs at the train station was as in an airport, it took a little while but then we were on the nice clean, fast, a/c KCR into Hong Kong.

Our hotel was in Kowloon - not so different in feel to mainland China as we had expected Hong Kong to feel. Chris & I decided to go for a shop. Ali had been using a cool Polaroid camera all holiday and it had made me want one (Chris has our camera on him most of the time - so it will be nice to have my own photos).
We encountered a huge demonstration - apparently there has been organ harvesting going on in concentration stlye camps. It was interesting talking to Qimin later on about it - she giggled and didn't believe it was true until we questioned her and she had to think about it. China's censorship is scary - but Qimin thinks that the country wouldn't work without it as there are so many people.

We were all looking forward to our final meal together and got a bit dressed up for the occasion (as much as people living out of backpacks can get dressed up for anything!). Qimin took us to the dodgiest looking place yet! There weren't really any walls just strips of plastic and the tables looked like they hadn't been cleaned all day. We sat down sceptically. The food was tasty and cheap - we really should have learnt to trust Qimin by now, but it was hard sometimes as she took us places with little consultation. I think we all would have happily paid a bit more for our dinner since it was the final night - but didn't need to.

As it was National Day there were fireworks to watch at the harbour. Unfortunately half of Hong Kong had been waiting since lunch time and no more people were allowed through by the time we got there. We could just about see from where we were - it was an extravagant display! There were almost 1/2 million people around the harbour watching them for free!
Qimin had met up with her local friend and we asked to be taken to an inexpensive bar. We were taken to a sports bar called Friar Tucks and bought a beer each for 50 HKD - about the same as we were paying in the posh places in Shanghai. Most of the group don't go to places like that at home and we weren't best pleased so drank up and went back to the street near to where we'd had dinner - it all looked pretty cheap!
All of us except Graham & Patrick sat and had some beers at a restaurant table outside, where we could watch the world go by and only pay 10 HKD. It was sad to think that it was our last night together. Chris & I feel as though we've made some good friends and it was a shame to say good bye.

Whilst we were sad to say good-bye the next day was one of our best. We were free to do things at our own pace, not having to be back at any particular time. We left the hotel at 10am and didn't get back until around 10pm!
We rode the star ferry across to Hong Kong island and then got the funicular tram up to 'the peak' of Victoria Peak. Great views across the harbour of all the skyscrapers.
We treated ourselves to a seafood lunch (thanks to Chris' Mum). It was delicious - shrimp, Mahi Mahi and lobster. Yum Yum Yum!
We decided to go to the Zoological & Botanical gardens and were really pleased with our decision. It was completely free and there were lots of animals to see - in particular some big orangutans.
We had a bit of a look around some shops - we really noticed the difference between Hong Kong and mainland China here. Lots of designer shops, huge adverts for things we can't afford!
Feeling a bit tired we found another park to sit in and played some cards.

We had picked up a leaflet about a lantern festival and so made sure that we stayed on the island until it got dark. We finally found me a polaroid camera on the way to Victoria Park. I love my new toy!
The lanterns were beautiful and slightly strange in places. The red sphere lanterns that you see in Chinese restaurants looked amazing all hanging together. There was also a set of tall 'dancing' lanterns which moved up and down to music - kinda cool. Again, it was all free!

We wanted to get back across to Kowloon for the light show so took the clean a/c underground. Very swift. This time we could get to the harbour edge and had a brilliant view of the lights on the skyscrapers and the bonus fireworks that they set off because it was the national holiday.
We got ourselves some relatively cheap Chinese food for dinner and then went home to bed!

Our trip to the airport was easy - caught a bus from down the road which took us all the way to departures for a mere 100 HKD for 2(6.50 ish). We then enjoyed the very western nature of the airport.
Don't tell anyone, but we had Burger King and cookies form Millies!!

Cathay Pacific were great to fly with - no queues and good food.