As
a rule, I'd advise never looking in a window of a butchers in Hong
Kong or mainland China. That shit will stay with you forever. This
isn't one of the worst I've seen, but it ain't the best either. I'm
not entirely sure what the stuff on the left is, but I've narrowed it
down to goose neck or a snake of some sort. It looks a bit unhappy
either way.
I
feel I should say a little bit more about my hotel in Hong Kong,
because it's generally pretty pricey to get hotels out here and this
one is a bit of a gem.
Someone
else at work books my travel and accommodation (and she always gets a
little nervous, as do I, that she's stuck me in a dump – Like the
time in San Francisco last year when there was a man shouting at the
bin outside the lobby 24/7). However, she came up trumps this time –
The Mini Hotel, Causeway Bay, HongKong, is now highly recommended. They upgraded me to a balcony
room (I'm definitely on a roll with this upgrade thing at the moment)
and it's been really nice being able to swing on the hammock chair
and work from the balcony – Hot though, it's still pushing 30
degrees at night most days, but it's been raining on and off which
helps with the humidity.
Causeway
Bay is generally a great area to stay in. There's a lot of ex-pats
there, so you don't get the usual stares (although I don't mind that
so much as it's always amusing when people try to secretly take
photos of you on the MTR/Underground – See below):
It's
closeby to a 10+ floor shopping centre called Times Square, which
also has Causeway Bay MTR under it so you can easily get around. It
also is a short walk to Victoria Park and Happy Valley, which are
both nice to go to if you just want to see some (very small) open
space for a bit. The transport in Hong Kong is very cheap and puts
the UK to shame. It's like they took all the good stuff about the UK
and made it better. The subway system is so easy to navigate (as is
the London Underground by the way, but theirs has LEDs of course)...
… and
a 20 minute journey in a taxi would cost you about £7 GBP, including
toll fares. It costs more than that to get the mile from Hove to
Brighton where I'm from. My 20 minute bus ride to Stanley set me back
£0.89p. Again, that'd be pushing £4 - £5 in Brighton (despite us
being the only council in the UK that has the Green Party).
Other
things I've seen whilst I've been here (around working, I promise you
I've still been doing plenty of that) and can recommend is Aqua Bar
on Kowloon side. You get a Star Ferry (for 80p) to TST (Tsim Sha Tsui) and can watch the light show from there.
Downstairs is a restaurant that does Northern Chinese cuisine and is
absolutely beautiful. We had 8 hour-cooked chicken, which was
promised to be the best chicken in the world and definitely was.
Unless you want to sit in a restaurant for 8 hours, you'll need to
order it in the morning before you go. The chef even comes out and
lets you hit it with a wooden mallet, I'm still not entirely sure
what that was about, but I took a big swing anyway.
And
in true “social media” style, here's another picture of food:
The
view of Hong Kong from Kowloon side is absolutely breathtaking and if
you're there at night, it's worth watching the light show from TST
which takes place at 8pm every night and is a very good indicator of
where our global warming problems come from. No matter how often I
see the night skyline though, it actually always catches my breath.
This visit I also went up to Victoria Peak – Take the tram (if
you're brave enough, it's pretty steep) and on a clear day, when they
happen, you'll get the most amazing view of the whole of Honkers and
surrounding islands. The air is also a little cleaner up there too so
it's a nice break from the usual pollution of which there is plenty.
I've
never been up there at night, but I imagine it's ridiculous. One for
my list next time.
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