With regards to my post about my first week in Australia, I forgot to say that I had a new mobile phone number, if anyone wishes to contact me my mobile, then email me and I'll email you back my Aussie number. It works out a lot cheaper to have an Aussie phone, and just to leave my other phone turned off until I need to phone home.
My second week started off with me getting up far too early to go to a four day Surfcamp. And after a 2hr drive we arrived, got settled in our cabins and it was off for my first ever surf. My first time into the water was pretty pitiful, they teach you the basics and even they aren't very easy to pick up. I have never been the best at any sport I have tried, ever, and this was no exception, and so frustration did start to set in. During the second session I fared much better and managed to lie on the board in the waves without falling off - well most of the time anyway. To cut a long, mostly boring, story short, by my final, third day of surfing, I could pretty much stand up and ride the smaller white-waves. We were taught the techniques of turning and riding green waves (the unbroken waves) but i didn't quite manage those.
'Hold up', the more observant of you say, 'by your final, third day, I thought you went for a four day Surfcamp.' Well, my response will seem a little wimpish, it was too bloody cold. The weather for the past three days was really cold, even by British standards, the Surfcamp owner said that it had been the coldest front in New South Wales since 1941 (i think I have brought the weather with me) and so getting into a wet suit was not appealing on any of those days either. Being in the water was fine it was the 30-45 minutes either side of the surf time that was bad. It was that cold on the third day we all needed to run around for 5-10minutes to warm up, exercises weren't enough. Also we were getting up for a 6.30am surf and when I woke up I felt too cold, it was like being back at Scouts, waking up at 8am, being too cold to get out of the sleeping bags, I didn't want to do that again, and so I didn't. The second surf of the day was at 12.00 and despite being up for a few hours, my body hadn't warmed up and so again I opted out, and I wasn't the only one, out of 25 or so people, only 5 or 6 decided to go to the second surf of the day.
Despite the weather, surfing was great fun, hard work and rewarding. For those climbers reading, standing up for the first time and riding a wave to it's completion is like when you get to the top of a really difficult climb, just better. Personally, I think surfing is better than climbing, possibly the best sport I have attempted, I would recommend anyone to try, just not in Britain as it'll be too cold haha. What was also really good about the camp, were the instructors, all twentysomething Aussies, on very little pay, doing something that they loved. They had all been surfing for at least 10 years, i think most had been surfing for around 15, and they were really good at explaining the techniques of surfing, right down to the basics when we had to draw a surfboard in the sand and practice 'climbing' on board, and later standing up.
Now I just need to find a cheap surfboard and I'll be a pro by the end of summer.
For those that haven't seen my photos, they are online at http://rhino-rob.bebo.com/
After Surfcamp I went to Manly for a couple of nights and met up with Brendan and Edward. I had a mostly relaxing weekend watching the Manly leg of a national beach volleyball tour. I also learnt beach volleyball is an Olympic Sport and people get paid to do it - I still can't figure out why - it's Volleyball!
So that was the end of my second week, I'm at the start of my fifth week now and living in a house. If you want my address for the next two months for Christmas cards, presents, random gifts, love letters - but only if you're attractive enough, and money - which doesn't matter how attractive you are; then just email me or ask on here.
As per usual I'm gonna finish a post with stuff still to write about, but you can read about The Exciting Adventures of Rob next time at... well until the BBC pick up my story to make into a serial you're just gonna have to come back here!
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Travelling Post No. 11 - Me, bloody, me
I'm gonna post later about other stuff, I don't have my camera to add photos for a big post, so all you're gonna get is me ranting, but not for long, about how pissed off with myself I am.
On Monday we went to view the house again, and show around our 10th housemate. Whilst there we discovered one of the current occupants was selling a surfboard for $100 (about 42 pounds.) The surfboard was almost perfect for me as a learner, tall at 7'6", but not too tall that it would be hard to develop my skills, and also in OK condition that i could sell it on in 2 months time if i wanted. Should I choose to buy a new surfboard i would pay $510 (212pounds) at the cheapest and if i wanted to buy a second hand one from a shop it'd be around $200+ (84 pounds+).
All good you think, why is Rob saying he will rant, well i decided, as i didn't have the money on me at the time, and couldn't guarantee getting hours at work to pay for the board, that I would ring today if I discovered I could afford it. Today I was offered more work, and so I went around to the house to but the board but someone has already put a $20 deposit on the board. It's not totally bad, this guy who put down the deposit could not meet the surfboard owner tomorrow, and then it's mine - but how likely is that?
Why am I not impulsive enough or a big enough risk taker, it's such a frikkin pain, I should have said yes, I'll have it, there and then, but no I had to play it safe. Hopefully something else is gonna turn up but that is also not very likely, but I pretty much know for sure I can't afford $510 even if i can off load it at the end of the season, i can't guarantee I won't break the board and i can't guarantee how much I'll get for it at the end. Oh wait there I again....
On Monday we went to view the house again, and show around our 10th housemate. Whilst there we discovered one of the current occupants was selling a surfboard for $100 (about 42 pounds.) The surfboard was almost perfect for me as a learner, tall at 7'6", but not too tall that it would be hard to develop my skills, and also in OK condition that i could sell it on in 2 months time if i wanted. Should I choose to buy a new surfboard i would pay $510 (212pounds) at the cheapest and if i wanted to buy a second hand one from a shop it'd be around $200+ (84 pounds+).
All good you think, why is Rob saying he will rant, well i decided, as i didn't have the money on me at the time, and couldn't guarantee getting hours at work to pay for the board, that I would ring today if I discovered I could afford it. Today I was offered more work, and so I went around to the house to but the board but someone has already put a $20 deposit on the board. It's not totally bad, this guy who put down the deposit could not meet the surfboard owner tomorrow, and then it's mine - but how likely is that?
Why am I not impulsive enough or a big enough risk taker, it's such a frikkin pain, I should have said yes, I'll have it, there and then, but no I had to play it safe. Hopefully something else is gonna turn up but that is also not very likely, but I pretty much know for sure I can't afford $510 even if i can off load it at the end of the season, i can't guarantee I won't break the board and i can't guarantee how much I'll get for it at the end. Oh wait there I again....
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Travelling Post No. 10 - A post which has now ended up just being about the first week but started of as Australia so far.
Tomorrow it will be 3 weeks since I landed in Australia, and after a conversation with Dad, I realised I hadn't posted very much on what I had been doing here so this may be a long post, but I'll try not waffle (no promises though.)
So we arrived at the airport on the morning of Monday 6th November, after a baggage handler's strike in the morning, which meant there was a huge backlog of planes in the to off load their cargo. 45 minutes after sitting in the already landed plane we were off, a further 30minutes later we were through customs on the bus to our first hostel, Sydney Central YHA, (clean but not the best atmosphere, as all YHA's are.) Our first night in Australia started at the YHA's roof top BBQ where I tried Kangaroo, surprise surprise here, but i didn't like it. From there we moved downstairs to the YHA's very own nightclub Scubar. It was crab racing night (the crab I sponsored didn't win) and the place was packed. It had a student vibe and with $7.50 jugs it wasn't too expensive; a jug is 2 pints.
Despite a late night and a somewhat large intake of alcohol I awoke early for the IEP introduction (IEP is BUNAC's sister company in Australia) without a sore head. After the 2-3hr introduction many of my anxieties were reduced. IEP offer lots of support and help with finding accommodation, advice on where to travel, help with jobs etc. etc. and they also offer free Internet (although I'm paying for it at this very moment, free Internet is fine but when you have to pay to get the bus to just to use the Internet - it's pointless, plus it's Sunday and they aren't open.) Since I have arrived I have been in IEP for one thing or another once every two or three days. The introduction also has gotten rid, mostly, of my fears about spiders and snakes. We also got a talk on beach safety from a Surfcamp Australia rep, which wasn't as pointless as I expected, the guy also gave a pitch on the Surfcamp Australia, which I bought into and went surfing a week later.
Wednesday was job hunting day, demoralising at first, as expected, but we did view the two houses I have previously posted. We decided upon the cheaper option of $160 a week, its still only 5 minutes away from the beach though :-). All we have to do now is decide upon a housemate, we have 1 bed to fill, in this 10 bed house, and after hearing nothing for ages I have had three emails today from 2 girls and a bloke. I don't think I can make this decision on my own, picking the prettiest, single girl may not make others happy.
So anyway, that's a decision i have to make after writing this post, back to what I have been up to. On my birthday, Friday 10th (cheers for the happy birthday's for those who sent them) I paid for Surfcamp and then all 10 of us went to the Aquarium at Darling Harbour. It was a great Aquarium, you can see some of the creatures we saw below, but the damn fish wouldn't pose for pictures so it wasn't easy to take them. The Aquarium was made all the better by the fact we had free passes from IEP.
A Saltwater Croc
Jellyfish
Shark, don't know what type though
All the sharks would lie on top of the ceiling at the tunnels entrance as it was at that point where warm water was pushed into their tank. I am amazed that in this tank there were all sorts of fish and the sharks weren't eating them. Which would have been great to see.
Dory, she kept on swimming so I couldn't get a very good picture.
Some Coral
After the Aquarium we wandered to The Rocks, an area near Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House to get some fish and chips and we sat at Circular Quay Harbour with one the best views for fish and chips ever. The Fish and Chips were really nice, although they weren't greasy enough and the chips were really fries, but that is just me nit-picking. This was also, possibly, the last time all 10 of us would be together, we haven't been since and Brendan is leaving for Melbourne soon, in the house it will just be the 9 of us, and barring Christmas day can't see us doing much if anything all together. That isn't a bad thing, it is actually pretty amazing that 9 of us manage to stay together in a house and after a week all 10 of us were still doing things together.
The view from Sydney Opera House on my birthday. During the day it looks like it needs cleaning but at night it looks pretty darn spectacular.
I realise at this point I haven't mentioned the weather, which is very un-English of me. It has been pretty dismal, no real hot weather for the first week up until the first Saturday, which was when I went to Bondi Beach. It's a good beach but overrated, it is just a beach after all. Manly is much nicer which I visited a few days early when on the hunt for a house.
Sunday I didn't really do anything and that is the end of my first week. I will post on the other two weeks another day, I wanted to do them now but this has taken me too long to write.
So we arrived at the airport on the morning of Monday 6th November, after a baggage handler's strike in the morning, which meant there was a huge backlog of planes in the to off load their cargo. 45 minutes after sitting in the already landed plane we were off, a further 30minutes later we were through customs on the bus to our first hostel, Sydney Central YHA, (clean but not the best atmosphere, as all YHA's are.) Our first night in Australia started at the YHA's roof top BBQ where I tried Kangaroo, surprise surprise here, but i didn't like it. From there we moved downstairs to the YHA's very own nightclub Scubar. It was crab racing night (the crab I sponsored didn't win) and the place was packed. It had a student vibe and with $7.50 jugs it wasn't too expensive; a jug is 2 pints.
Despite a late night and a somewhat large intake of alcohol I awoke early for the IEP introduction (IEP is BUNAC's sister company in Australia) without a sore head. After the 2-3hr introduction many of my anxieties were reduced. IEP offer lots of support and help with finding accommodation, advice on where to travel, help with jobs etc. etc. and they also offer free Internet (although I'm paying for it at this very moment, free Internet is fine but when you have to pay to get the bus to just to use the Internet - it's pointless, plus it's Sunday and they aren't open.) Since I have arrived I have been in IEP for one thing or another once every two or three days. The introduction also has gotten rid, mostly, of my fears about spiders and snakes. We also got a talk on beach safety from a Surfcamp Australia rep, which wasn't as pointless as I expected, the guy also gave a pitch on the Surfcamp Australia, which I bought into and went surfing a week later.
Wednesday was job hunting day, demoralising at first, as expected, but we did view the two houses I have previously posted. We decided upon the cheaper option of $160 a week, its still only 5 minutes away from the beach though :-). All we have to do now is decide upon a housemate, we have 1 bed to fill, in this 10 bed house, and after hearing nothing for ages I have had three emails today from 2 girls and a bloke. I don't think I can make this decision on my own, picking the prettiest, single girl may not make others happy.
So anyway, that's a decision i have to make after writing this post, back to what I have been up to. On my birthday, Friday 10th (cheers for the happy birthday's for those who sent them) I paid for Surfcamp and then all 10 of us went to the Aquarium at Darling Harbour. It was a great Aquarium, you can see some of the creatures we saw below, but the damn fish wouldn't pose for pictures so it wasn't easy to take them. The Aquarium was made all the better by the fact we had free passes from IEP.
A Saltwater Croc
Jellyfish
Shark, don't know what type though
All the sharks would lie on top of the ceiling at the tunnels entrance as it was at that point where warm water was pushed into their tank. I am amazed that in this tank there were all sorts of fish and the sharks weren't eating them. Which would have been great to see.
Dory, she kept on swimming so I couldn't get a very good picture.
Some Coral
After the Aquarium we wandered to The Rocks, an area near Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House to get some fish and chips and we sat at Circular Quay Harbour with one the best views for fish and chips ever. The Fish and Chips were really nice, although they weren't greasy enough and the chips were really fries, but that is just me nit-picking. This was also, possibly, the last time all 10 of us would be together, we haven't been since and Brendan is leaving for Melbourne soon, in the house it will just be the 9 of us, and barring Christmas day can't see us doing much if anything all together. That isn't a bad thing, it is actually pretty amazing that 9 of us manage to stay together in a house and after a week all 10 of us were still doing things together.
The view from Sydney Opera House on my birthday. During the day it looks like it needs cleaning but at night it looks pretty darn spectacular.
I realise at this point I haven't mentioned the weather, which is very un-English of me. It has been pretty dismal, no real hot weather for the first week up until the first Saturday, which was when I went to Bondi Beach. It's a good beach but overrated, it is just a beach after all. Manly is much nicer which I visited a few days early when on the hunt for a house.
Sunday I didn't really do anything and that is the end of my first week. I will post on the other two weeks another day, I wanted to do them now but this has taken me too long to write.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Travelling Post No. 9 - The rest of Hong Kong
Day 2 of Hong Kong started and i felt really rough (not because of too much drinking,) I could barely speak and swallowing food was difficult, so morning was a further tour around the area near the hotel in search of a chemist.
The chemist was great, i told him my symptoms and he gave me three lots of pills, one of them was Amoxycillin, which I am sure you can only get on prescription in Britain. Anyway, it is such a better system than at home, one it is quicker, and two no Doctor to sit their and judge you for being ill or for waiting to long to come and see them.
A further search around what i think was the North East of HK island still did not reveal my imagined image of HK, I saw glimpses of it but still I wanted my metropolis.
The afternoon was time spent on a tour, with Lyona, the eccentric tour guide from yesterday. We visited, Victoria Peak, Aberdeen Fishing Port, Repulse Bay, Stanley Market and ended up at one of the buildings with a rotating restaurants for tea. Although we didn't go in the rotating restaurant, which was disappointing. In fact so was the meal, but I am getting ahead of myself, back to the start of the tour.
A final view of Hong Kong, all 10 of us eating tea at Spaghetti House in HK Airport.
To add, nothing to do with HK, but pictures of my Surf Camp experience are now up on my bebo site. http://rhino-rob.bebo.com
The chemist was great, i told him my symptoms and he gave me three lots of pills, one of them was Amoxycillin, which I am sure you can only get on prescription in Britain. Anyway, it is such a better system than at home, one it is quicker, and two no Doctor to sit their and judge you for being ill or for waiting to long to come and see them.
A further search around what i think was the North East of HK island still did not reveal my imagined image of HK, I saw glimpses of it but still I wanted my metropolis.
The afternoon was time spent on a tour, with Lyona, the eccentric tour guide from yesterday. We visited, Victoria Peak, Aberdeen Fishing Port, Repulse Bay, Stanley Market and ended up at one of the buildings with a rotating restaurants for tea. Although we didn't go in the rotating restaurant, which was disappointing. In fact so was the meal, but I am getting ahead of myself, back to the start of the tour.
Repetitive anecdotes abound came from Lyona, much to everyone's dismay. Some of it was quite interesting information, she explained on why Cantonese is the first language of HK and not Mandarin, which is the first language of the rest of China, how Maggie Thatcher had an important role in shaping the HK of today, why HK has it's own currency. All interesting enough but coming from Lyona, repeating herself over and over again, it was almost too much to bare.
Our first stop on this whirlwind tour of the South of HK island was Victoria Peak. Although we got about 10-15 minutes to look around and didn't go to the very peak. Some nice views of HK were to be had but it was all too brief a view.
Our first stop on this whirlwind tour of the South of HK island was Victoria Peak. Although we got about 10-15 minutes to look around and didn't go to the very peak. Some nice views of HK were to be had but it was all too brief a view.
There looked to be a visitor centre but we did not have time to explore. After photo time there was a stop on the path down to buy a keyring and postcards (I have written only two a week later and i have decided i don't like writing postcards) and then onto stop 2 Aberdeen Fishing Port.
At the port we got on a boat and had a relaxing 30 minute tour and took a few photos. Below is just one, this is of a floating restaurant.
At the port we got on a boat and had a relaxing 30 minute tour and took a few photos. Below is just one, this is of a floating restaurant.
Many thought this to be the best stop of the day, mostly because it got us away from Lyona for half an hour. I enjoyed the relaxing time but I think I preferred the hustle and bustle of our last stop Stanley Market. In between Aberdeen and Stanley though we visited Repulse Bay Beach, apparently the best beach in HK, it was nice but a rather pointless visit as we got off the coach, took some photos and then got back on. I did find out that it wasn't always called Repulse bay, but was renamed in honour of HMS Repulse, the British ship which defended the bay from the Japanese.
From left to right, Eleanor, Alison, Sam W, Sam K, Ed, Brendan and Paul, some of those on the Work Australia trip with me. Missing from the photo are Stacey and Emma.
And then (a favourite phrase of the dear tour guide) it was off to our final stop before tea, Stanley Market. Here i bought a stamp with my name in Chinese engraved on so now if you get stamps on your postcards you'll know why. Stanley Market was very busy with people offering deals and 'Rolexes' to you as you watched buy. Part of the market was like any other market in Britain, offering clothes etc. but much of it was geared up for the tourists. We had an all too brief half an hour to look in and around the market before it was tea time. Given longer time there, i think i may have enjoyed it so much more, just to relax and take it all in, much like the boat trip at Aberdeen Fishing Village.
Oh the tea, it was, well.. an experience. Lets just say i am recovering from trying new Chinese foods, and may be recovering for a long time to come. I don't think a person enjoyed it and then the desert turned up - Sweet Green Bean/Pea Soup.
And then (a favourite phrase of the dear tour guide) it was off to our final stop before tea, Stanley Market. Here i bought a stamp with my name in Chinese engraved on so now if you get stamps on your postcards you'll know why. Stanley Market was very busy with people offering deals and 'Rolexes' to you as you watched buy. Part of the market was like any other market in Britain, offering clothes etc. but much of it was geared up for the tourists. We had an all too brief half an hour to look in and around the market before it was tea time. Given longer time there, i think i may have enjoyed it so much more, just to relax and take it all in, much like the boat trip at Aberdeen Fishing Village.
Oh the tea, it was, well.. an experience. Lets just say i am recovering from trying new Chinese foods, and may be recovering for a long time to come. I don't think a person enjoyed it and then the desert turned up - Sweet Green Bean/Pea Soup.
Doesn't it look delicious
I was told it was good for your throat and so i tried my hardest but I couldn't finish it even after holding my nose to numb the taste buds. You can see what i got at the bottom.
At this point I couldn't continue
If you thought that was some sort of icing on the cake you were wrong, after eating half of it Lyona said 'Well aren't you brave.' and the point of coming here and eating it was...
And so it was the end of day 2 after having an enjoyable day ending with an awful meal i had two drinks in the hotel bar and was in bed by 8.30pm, suffering with a cold or man-flu as those females like to call it.
And so it was the end of day 2 after having an enjoyable day ending with an awful meal i had two drinks in the hotel bar and was in bed by 8.30pm, suffering with a cold or man-flu as those females like to call it.
---
Day 3 begins, feeling a little better after a good nights sleep, but still not being able to speak properly (already people were happy about this and I've only know them for three days... worrying isn't it!) After breakfast I looked on the map and decided to get the tram to a green part on the other side of HK and this was it, I found my Hong Kong, the Hong Kong on postcards and television the Hong Kong which is a powerhouse in world economics, the Hong Kong Kong where nearly every building is a wonderfully designed glass skyscraper.
Just one of the many skyscrapers we saw.
After walking around and looking for the green part that was on the map (HK Park) we came across St. John's Cathedral - I've seen more impressing churches and then it was onto HK Park - in a word or three, pretty damn amazing. The park was more impressive than anything i had seen in HK to date, and possibly the most impressive park I have ever been in. Why we didn't get told about this I don't know.
A view from the park.
Ed, Sam K, Sam W and Paul looking at fish in one of the ponds in the park.
We didn't really get much chance to look all around the park as we had to get back to the hotel for the final tour which, like yesterday was disappointing. I shan't go into as much detail as nothing really stands out from that tour, we visited a park that used to be a built up slum estate, interesting but not really spectacular, we went to a small Buddhist temple and then onto a jade market. Of the brief afternoon tour, the Jade Market was the most interesting, it was like a smaller version of Stanley Market and you could tell those who knew English got the tourism trade. We spent a whopping 40 minutes there , 15 would have sufficed, then it was off to the airport for a bang up tea at Spaghetti house then a long flight to Sydney, Australia on which I didn't sleep a wink oh well.
A final view of Hong Kong, all 10 of us eating tea at Spaghetti House in HK Airport.
To add, nothing to do with HK, but pictures of my Surf Camp experience are now up on my bebo site. http://rhino-rob.bebo.com
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Travelling Post No. 8 - Where do I live?
So today was flat hunting day (i'll fill in the rest of HK and getting to OZ in another soon.) And it was very demoralising to start with, as flat hunting always is, getting a place so that most of the group can stay together in either lots of 3 or 4 isn't that easy. 3 of the girls don't want to stay as a 10 (that many people all under one roof doesn't appeal to them so they are sorting themselves out) and Brendan wants to live under a pub for a month as he is off to Melbourne to visit family for Christmas. That still leaves 6 of us to find a place together and it doesn't look like it is going to be cheap. We thought it'd be about $150 (62.5pounds) as that is what we were informed is average but the realtor we saw today said it'd be $160 minimum as we are getting to the Summer and this leads me to the dilemma we nowface.
We visited Coogee (i love the names of these places) which is 20-25minutes away from Syndey centre by Bus, and had a look at a couple of houses one costing $167 per week (70 pounds) incl. bills. this house had 5 really large twin rooms and is in a great location. The disadvanatage being it is a little more money than we thought, we'd will have to find 4 people to live with us and we'd have to be qiuet after 10pm (cos I can see that happening)
The second place we saw would cost $207 (86pounds) per week which is not cheap but it has 2 jacuzzi's, a small swimming pool, 3 large twin, 1 single and 1 triple room plus a living room and a massive kitchen. This place is great and has everything we need. I would need to get a full time job to cover the cost of living and having fun or just work about 25hours to cover costs. This is a 10 week contract starting from 1st December and so would cost me around 860pounds in total and if i don't get a job will annialate my savings and leave me with v. little to travel Australia with, let alone the world. With a job i should be fine and have the best house i will probably ever live in. I can imagine spending Christmas afternoon having a bang up BBQ on the balcony by the pool and then heading to the beach, which is a stones throw away from the beach - and what a beach it is : -
Told you.
I am going to still look around for other places tommorrow but if i don't see anything do i go for the cheap option or do i splash out and take a risk, would it be worth it?
We visited Coogee (i love the names of these places) which is 20-25minutes away from Syndey centre by Bus, and had a look at a couple of houses one costing $167 per week (70 pounds) incl. bills. this house had 5 really large twin rooms and is in a great location. The disadvanatage being it is a little more money than we thought, we'd will have to find 4 people to live with us and we'd have to be qiuet after 10pm (cos I can see that happening)
The second place we saw would cost $207 (86pounds) per week which is not cheap but it has 2 jacuzzi's, a small swimming pool, 3 large twin, 1 single and 1 triple room plus a living room and a massive kitchen. This place is great and has everything we need. I would need to get a full time job to cover the cost of living and having fun or just work about 25hours to cover costs. This is a 10 week contract starting from 1st December and so would cost me around 860pounds in total and if i don't get a job will annialate my savings and leave me with v. little to travel Australia with, let alone the world. With a job i should be fine and have the best house i will probably ever live in. I can imagine spending Christmas afternoon having a bang up BBQ on the balcony by the pool and then heading to the beach, which is a stones throw away from the beach - and what a beach it is : -
Told you.
I am going to still look around for other places tommorrow but if i don't see anything do i go for the cheap option or do i splash out and take a risk, would it be worth it?
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Travelling Post No. 7 - I went to Hong Kong... Hi-Five! (now reading a bit better)
After leaving home at around 3.10am I arrived at Hong Kong at midnight our time, 8 am there time. The flight was awful and dragged, i got very little sleep as the bloke in front decided to recline his seat, which was nice of him, and this gave me even less leg room than the ridiculous amount they give you normally. When we arrived in Hong Kong, all 27 of us (9 were continuing with me to Australia and the other 17 were heading out to New Zealand). It was a big relief, although the tour operator was late and we had to wait around 20 minutes until she arrived. Then we had a further 45min-1hr coach trip to the hotel.
The coach trip to the hotel was made worse by the tour operator, Lyona. She was quite informative (well about some things but not others, which i'll explain in a later post) but she repeated her self over and over again, but without explaining anything in a different way, she was annoying and her repetition made her boring and hard to listen to. The coach passed by the third largest cargo container storgage port in the world, that's right the third, not in Hong Kong, not in Asia but the world after Rotterdam, the first; San Fransico the second and Hong Kong, the third largest cargo container storage port in the world. Although it was very big i wouldn't be quite so proud of it as Lyona seemed to be. We also drove across the only bridge in Hong Kong, then passed by a couple more bridges, and two trees that were being preserved because they were so old -100years?!?! She was an interesting person just in the wrong way.
My first impression of Hong Kong was that it was different to what I was expecting, there seemed fewer modern Skyscrapers and the landscape was mostly filled with high rise flights, we weren't shown the rich city that is as strong a force in the world's economy as many countries.
The South Pacific Hotel, where we stayed was really nice, I was expecting something a little less modern and a little less.. well classier, but this was a decent 28 storey building with a really fast lift. I was sharing a room with Paul and so after being delayed until 11 before we got into the room (after arriving shortly after 10am) it was bed time. I orginally wanted to stay up and tour the city as we were only there for three days but i was too tired, ill and jet lagged, so much so that I had to be woken up around 3 or 4 times by Paul at 2pm when we getting up to go out.
And so now I eventually start writing about things I got up to, about 3 of the New Zealand group joined, I think, 8 of us Australian lot, and we wandered for about HK island for around three hours. The first thing we came to was a fish and vegatable market (below) just by the hotel, this was more bustling and a little more like what I thought areas of Hong Kong would be like. There were also live fish and fish heads that had been chopped off so recently that they still moved. A few people, but not I, were rather fascinated by this.
We then wandered to one of the many harbours which stunk so much that I was almost physically sick, admittedly I was already ill and my man-cold was only getting worse, but it felt as though you could catch an infection from breathing, it was putrid and i could taste the air. We wandered along the side of the port for a while before coming to Victoria Park. This was a really surprisng find as I didn't expect to find a park so big in amongst Hong Kong. It was well kept and very busy, there was an path solely for runners and a number of courts for football, tennis and other such sports of which most were being used. We then headed back to the hotel with me still wondering where i had got this idea that Hong Kong was a modern metropolis of glass skyscrapers.
After making plans to meet at 6 - myself, Paul, the two Sams (Aus lot) and Mark (NZ) went to the top floor bar to look at the view (i still didn't see my metropolis) and ended up staying for a drink. Safe to say we were still there at 6.30 and after having missed the meet with the others we decided to go to tea. The restaurant we went to was incredibly cheap, for five of us, a dish each and a drink it only cost around 28pound between us. Being in a different part of the world I decided to experiment upon my choice of food and went for the battered crab option. Although a bit salty it was very nice. After the restaurant it was off to the european thremed bar. Although it was themed like a British pub but there were some very subtle differences such as waiter service, no queueing at the bar and efficient staff. Next it was back to the hotel bar for a quick one before going back to sleep - which ended up being a few drinks and off to bed at half midnight after having a fun, long day and taking the below view of Hong Kong from the bar.
Gotta run now, times up, I will finish this post tommorow (after note - in a few days) and ensure it reads correctly - which i know it doesn't now (after note - it should now) but I wanted to give you all something for now. Safe to say I'm having fun though.
The coach trip to the hotel was made worse by the tour operator, Lyona. She was quite informative (well about some things but not others, which i'll explain in a later post) but she repeated her self over and over again, but without explaining anything in a different way, she was annoying and her repetition made her boring and hard to listen to. The coach passed by the third largest cargo container storgage port in the world, that's right the third, not in Hong Kong, not in Asia but the world after Rotterdam, the first; San Fransico the second and Hong Kong, the third largest cargo container storage port in the world. Although it was very big i wouldn't be quite so proud of it as Lyona seemed to be. We also drove across the only bridge in Hong Kong, then passed by a couple more bridges, and two trees that were being preserved because they were so old -100years?!?! She was an interesting person just in the wrong way.
My first impression of Hong Kong was that it was different to what I was expecting, there seemed fewer modern Skyscrapers and the landscape was mostly filled with high rise flights, we weren't shown the rich city that is as strong a force in the world's economy as many countries.
The South Pacific Hotel, where we stayed was really nice, I was expecting something a little less modern and a little less.. well classier, but this was a decent 28 storey building with a really fast lift. I was sharing a room with Paul and so after being delayed until 11 before we got into the room (after arriving shortly after 10am) it was bed time. I orginally wanted to stay up and tour the city as we were only there for three days but i was too tired, ill and jet lagged, so much so that I had to be woken up around 3 or 4 times by Paul at 2pm when we getting up to go out.
And so now I eventually start writing about things I got up to, about 3 of the New Zealand group joined, I think, 8 of us Australian lot, and we wandered for about HK island for around three hours. The first thing we came to was a fish and vegatable market (below) just by the hotel, this was more bustling and a little more like what I thought areas of Hong Kong would be like. There were also live fish and fish heads that had been chopped off so recently that they still moved. A few people, but not I, were rather fascinated by this.
We then wandered to one of the many harbours which stunk so much that I was almost physically sick, admittedly I was already ill and my man-cold was only getting worse, but it felt as though you could catch an infection from breathing, it was putrid and i could taste the air. We wandered along the side of the port for a while before coming to Victoria Park. This was a really surprisng find as I didn't expect to find a park so big in amongst Hong Kong. It was well kept and very busy, there was an path solely for runners and a number of courts for football, tennis and other such sports of which most were being used. We then headed back to the hotel with me still wondering where i had got this idea that Hong Kong was a modern metropolis of glass skyscrapers.
After making plans to meet at 6 - myself, Paul, the two Sams (Aus lot) and Mark (NZ) went to the top floor bar to look at the view (i still didn't see my metropolis) and ended up staying for a drink. Safe to say we were still there at 6.30 and after having missed the meet with the others we decided to go to tea. The restaurant we went to was incredibly cheap, for five of us, a dish each and a drink it only cost around 28pound between us. Being in a different part of the world I decided to experiment upon my choice of food and went for the battered crab option. Although a bit salty it was very nice. After the restaurant it was off to the european thremed bar. Although it was themed like a British pub but there were some very subtle differences such as waiter service, no queueing at the bar and efficient staff. Next it was back to the hotel bar for a quick one before going back to sleep - which ended up being a few drinks and off to bed at half midnight after having a fun, long day and taking the below view of Hong Kong from the bar.
Gotta run now, times up, I will finish this post tommorow (after note - in a few days) and ensure it reads correctly - which i know it doesn't now (after note - it should now) but I wanted to give you all something for now. Safe to say I'm having fun though.
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