Hong Kong

Dear readers,

It's been a while that I haven't written anything. It's a bit hard for me, as I feel this blog reached its apotheosis with the last messages about Chile. I can't imagine to experience crazier stuff than what I did back there... But hey, I'm in Japan now, so EVERYTHING is possible, and count on me to get myself in as much trouble as possible...  

This message is still not about Japan. Still have to report my Hong Kong 5 hours stop, between Los Angeles and Osaka! Have to warn you though, nothing stressful happened. So no need to prepare an adrenaline shot before reading this message.  

 

On the 7th of April, the last thing I did before leaving the Americas was kissing my libido goodbye, then boarded the plane to Asia. The flight to Hong Kong lasted 14h30. I would describe it as... a huge, massive pain in the ass. Literally. Cathay Pacific Airways rocks, the food was great (no Easter special roasted duck to my great joy), lots of different films or series or songs to hear or watch, the guy next to me was funny - though he said I looked like Steffi Graf... But at some point, exactly after the 8th hour, you're like... Oh, what, another 4h30 to go??? I'll never survive that long! Then it's even worse when you realise you're crap and made a mistake, and that you still have 6h30 to go. Maths were never my strength.

At that point you'll  loose faith in humanity - if you still had some. Because there is nothing left to do: your eyes are melting because you've been sitting 40 cm away from a screen since 8h; your ears are begging you to deactivate the repeat mode you set on 'London Calling', your leg muscles stopped responding to the synapses after the first film and you're just a thrombosis away from falling in the toilet hole, if you manage to pull yourself together and pound your fat to the bathroom to refresh yourself.

The worst part is that you know you can't sleep. I boarded on Saturday at 1pm, hence I wasn't tired, and knew I would be arriving in Hong Kong at 6:30pm. No, I didn't spend 29h30 in a plane, people: don't you listen? I couldn't sleep when I should have and couldn't when I wanted (great example of the different meanings of the word 'I could'). So after watching Twilight, the beginning of Carnage and some SATC, I got bored. I wrote the second and last posts about Chile. Then got bored again, besides my eyes were starting to bleed due to an overdosis of screens. So I started meditating. But then they served us dinner. So I decided to get pissed and ordered their best wine, then a second glass, then a third. Then... a fourth? Things got dizzy at that point. But the wine was ok. 

And then, finally! I understand the feeling that sailors must have had when somebody on the ship first saw a piece of land, after neverending weeks or months of hard labour on shipboard. Hong Kong, at last! After 14h30 of bedsores, boredom, drunkenness. Asia! The new world! Well, the second new world. Well this wasn't enough to rouse me from my torpor, it wasn't until I got this passport stamped that I could understand where I was. 

The schedule of my next flight could enable me to spend 5 hours on the spot. So I took the train from the Airport to Victoria, AKA Hong Kong Island. Here's a map. Needless to say which program I used? 

20 minutes and the equivalent of 10€ less later, I arrived in Victoria. Time was limited so I hurried my ass around the city and headed straight to the famous escalators: the longuest outdoor escalator system of the world, built in 1993. They cover a distance of about 800 meters and an elevation of 130 meters, and run down from 6 till 10 am, then up until midnight. It's actually a bunch of about 10 to 15 escalators, it's not just one. And best of all: it's for free!

Going up

I stopped at about Hollywood Road and looked for the Man Mo temple, which is famous for... closing too early??? This sucker was closed as I arrived, so nothing much to say about it. Why do temples have to close on Sunday evenings before 10pm? Seriously. That's bad for tourism. 

Man Mo, I'll be back.

After this desaster I took a few pictures of here and there:

This and that

And then the earthquake created by my rumbling stomach drove my feet to a small cheap restaurant where good food and E.coli could be served.

I wanted to order good old vegetarian food. But all I got was an oil soup with a few noodles and tofu swimming inside. But tasted good. After a while I realised that I had to keep going if I wanted to catch that other flight. So I left, took a tramway to the ferry dock and enjoyed the ride. 

Spot the odd one out! Isn't there something unsual in this picture? Come on... You can't see? No clue? Damn, you really have to learn to read carefully. I said I arrived on the evening, and this picture was taken during daytime. Besides, I could never take such a well-composed picture. I admit it: google provided me with this picture.

After a nice fun ferry ride, I arrived on the other side, in Kowloon (stupid name, if you want my advice).

Who's she waving at?

Decency prevents me from giving a nickname to this tower

Sorry about the wobbly pictures, people. But if I may remind you, it's night. So back off and get a subscription at National Geographic if you want to see nice pictures. 

Victoria downtown

I walked a bit around, managed not to get lost nor mugged, did a bit of window-shopping 

Hong Kong, where J.Lo and her crew go shopping

I got myself a kiwi-pear juice from a street seller, and after paying, realised they also make (in different bowls of course...) soup out of shark fin. I gave my money to the devil !!! Damn Chinese people, may you all rot in hell. 

I was short on time so headed back to the airport. And saw the line of Japanese people waiting for my flight to Osaka. Saw their outfits, their looks, saw them talk and laugh, and realised, those 5 months in Japan will definitely be remembered.

Thanks for reading! 

Claire