Hong Kong

Last day in Shanghai, we were going to ride the Maglev train from Shanghai to the airport. Why is this interesting? It is a 450km/h flying train. Well, no wings involved, but the beginning of the trip is on wheels, where at some point the wheels are retracted and the train will now hover in the air on top of some really strong magnets. The high speed train we went on the other day looked a little meaner, being shaped like a bullet, but this train didn't look much, at the most a little futuristic. The ride is super short and for the price I guess it reminds me the most of a roller coaster ride.

We boarded the plane, had a little nap and landed in Hong Kong. Now belonging to China, I expected things to be much more "Chinese", but it is very civilized, no honking, traffic is predictable and almost not dangerous. We took a taxi to get to the hotel and Lijun was about to jump in the front seat. She was standing there looking confused for a second as the steering wheel was on the right side of the car. Yes, they have left side traffic, which is a little weird to get used to when the car makes a turn and ends up in the "wrong" side of the street. The hotel was not bad at all, but the Shanghai hotel had set the standard for this trip I am afraid.

Hong Kong is actually a lot bigger than I thought it would be. It is not only a small city on an island outside mainland China. The place we lived in was Kowloon city, which is located on the land side. If I was place in either of the two places, I probably could not tell which one it was.
Both places are very densely populated places, with one high rise next to the other reaching far up in the sky. Down on the streets, there are numerous small shops selling almost everything you can think of. If hungry it becomes quite a challenge to find a spot, as many restaurants are located on the 2-3 floors.
Looking for a metro or subway in Hong Kong? We were at some point and thought we were lucky having one just outside out hotel. Well, subway is what it is, a way under another way. A pedestrian path from a busy side of a street to the other, actually quite convenient when they have put fences on both sides of the street and in the middle as well.

To get a good view of Hong Kong, we took the tram up a small mountain on the island of Hong Kong, called Victoria's Peak. The tram probably went up in a 45 degrees angle, that was pretty cool, but the disappointment was quite big when we arrived at the top, just to be in a shopping mall. The mall had a terrace at the top, but a shopping mall? We went here to get away from the shopping. The weather was not too clear today, so the view not as good as normally, but we did get an impression of both the cities from above. It was pretty high up, that I have to admit, but interestingly enough, many of the high rises were not much lower that where we were taking pictures from. They also called it the highest viewpoint in Hong Kong, well please explain to me then about the 30 other buildings built much closer to the top of the mountain than this shopping mall?

Hong Kong also has a Avenue of Star, for Asian movie stars who have been recognized for their movies and more. In fact a little more impressive surroundings than the one in Hollywood. It attracted a lot of people, especially those few I ever heard about, Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Jackie Chan.

In the evening Lijun had organized a couple of tickets for a bay cruise. That may actually sound exciting, but that was not the most pleasant experience. At least a 1000 people lining up to get on the same boat and we ended up getting probably the best spot on the ship, that was pretty good. But the boat just went out and made small circles on the bay so we got a chance to take pictures from a rocking boat at night... Yeah right, my pocket camera is not equipped for that. Finally I got my moment of stardom in China - I was standing looking at the harbor when these two Chinese girls came up to me and just stood there and looked, giggled and then went back to their little group of friends. I immediately looked at my zipper, thinking it was open, but nope. They then came back and one of the girls introduced herself and asked me if they could get a picture with me. That's usually Klaus's department, but now I know why he wants to go back to Beijing, haha

To experience the real Hong Kong by night, an expert was needed so a Danish guy living in Hong Kong was brought in, Flemming. We went out for a beer at a couple of bars and ended up in a night club with plenty of foreign people. The male individuals of the bar seemed to consist of mostly pale faced business men, who needed some female company for the night. 

On the way out we bumped into one of the girls on the street, who was really interested in some company. We ended up chatting with her for around 20min or so, quite entertaining lady. She might have been a girl working on the street, but she surely did have a healthy perspective on life in general.

Hong Kong is mainly a shopping paradise for Chinese people, they offer all the world's expensive brands which are not available in mainland-China. The interesting thing though is that Chinese people needs a visa to go to Hong Kong, while the two Danes did not. Jewelry, expensive suits, more jewelry, clothes and the list goes on. I was not in Hong Kong to do any shopping and didn't - can't afford anymore weight in my luggage, already now I plan to throw some stuff away, too heavy and easily replaceable.