15th August 2009
HONG KONG: JOI GIN (goodbye)
This morning, we met a young Aussie guy in the lift of building. He asked us if our hostel was as crap as his. Standard ice breaker. Uninvited, he decided to tag along with us for the day. First stop: breakfast. We found a little random café which looked like an American diner. I ordered a ‘European Special’ and got what appeared to be bacon, fried eggs, a bun and some mash potato. Not sure why the entirety of China thinks we eat mash potato for breakfast? There must be some kind of communication breakdown somewhere. When I cut into the fried egg, it was raw. The white just poured out! It was cooked on the outside but liquid underneath. Even in Hong Kong you cannot escape China’s consistent ability to disappoint or attempt to poison you.
Lochlan (as the boy in the lift was called) joined us on our day out. Lizzie and I really wanted to go and visit the Yuen Po Street Bird Market. Classed as a charming Chinese-style garden is the favoured gathering place of Hong Kong’s songbird owners, who carry their beloved pets around in intricately carved cages. The customers are said to be mostly old men, who bring their own caged birds and walk them up and down, showing them off to friends and other birds. We walked all the place, following the map in the guide book, but we couldn’t find it, so sadly we missed out.
Instead, we embarked on a trip to Kowloon park, where we meandered around the winding paths getting repeatedly lost. The aviary, which houses a colourful collection of rare birds included some fancy red headed pigeons. The park boasted a flamingo lake, work of local artists, a gorgeous clean swimming pool and a fitness course positioned around the park which people can use for free.
Lizzie and I read Lochy the list we had created throughout our time in China, entitled ‘Observations of the Chinese’. He was particularly troubled by the vegetable flavoured ice lollies and replied deadpan: “but ice lollies are meant to be an escape from vegetables”. It is a shame we could not bring Lochy along with us for the rest of the trip but he was flying out to Denmark to study for a year.
For the rest of the day we wandered around the streets of Kowloon taking in the sights and sounds. I stood next to a really hairy man in a short sleeved shirt, who’s arms were so hairy I thought he was wearing a long sleeved shirt. We finished up back on the harbour looking out over Hong Kong’s skyline for the last time. We were back to the hostel by 4pm to catch a bus to the airport. Next stop Bangkok!!
Stayed: Cosmic Guesthouse, 12/F, BLOCK F , Mirador Mansion,
54-64 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong .
danilovescats - travels 