Hong Kong

So, we've been here in Hong Kong for 4 days, and its not really what I expected. We're staying in Kowloon on Man Fuk Road (haha!) and its so busy. We landed at about 08:05 on Monday 4th Feb and came through customs pretty quickly. Then it all daunted on me - we were in Hong Kong and our gap year had started, and we had no clue what to do to get to the hostel. We managed to find a customer service desk and asked the lady who told us to go to the certain platform and just change once, which wasn't too bad. We got to the hostel at about 10:00 and realised that we weren't allowed to check in until 14:00, but they let us anyway.
We went out to explore Kowloon, and the market areas, which were interesting to say the least. Some of the smells coming from the stands and shops are overpowering! We walked about 2 miles down to the harbourside, which was kind of a mistake, due to our severe jet lag - we regretted it on the way back! We got back to the hostel, and just collapsed with exhaustion and all of us fell asleep. We got up at around 22:00 and went out, expecting it to be dead (it was a Monday night!) but it was far from it. So many people were wandering the streets going into all the restaurants and shops.
On Tuesday (5th February) we went to explore Hong Kong island, which was so cool! We went to a place called Wanchai and walked round all the markets (not Redhill style, but with live animals being killed there and then for you!). We managed to use the tram system which they have, so that took us to and from Wanchai and Central (the central part of HK) We had no idea where to go so we asked a local, and they suggested the Escalator. Its the longest one in the world, so we gave that a go. Its not really what it made out to be. I thought it would be one continuous one, but its actually made up of loads of different ones, but still a good experience anyway. We stopped off at a bar on the way down and had a Guinness, which was much desired. We then had a wonder around the CBD area of HK, where there are the massive skyscrapers, including the IFC 2, which is maaasssiiivvve!!!
Yesterday (6th Feb) we got up quite late and just went to Hong Kong to meet up with Paul (someone that used to live in the same road as me at home). He took us to Lan Kwai Fong and to a bar called Dublin Jack's, which obviously sold Guinness, so we were obliged in drinking a couple of pints there! The same happened at another bar, then we headed for a Moroccan restaurant just a few minutes away from Lan Kwai Fong. We had loads of food (and more drinks!) and then went to a bar/club called Fenwicks. This place was such a contrast to all of the English bars! They had a live band that played classic rock, then a DJ played D&B during the breaks they had. After a few more beers, Paul left and we were alone again. It was a blur getting into the taxi, because of how tired I was (ahem). We all fell alseep straight away, and didn't get up until 16:00! What a waste of a day? It was worth it. We got some food from the local supermarket and took it back to the room to eat. Stu bought eggs for some reason, but we had no way to cook them, but we also had a kettle... Get where i'm going? They were pretty good actually. After the egg sandwhiches we went down to the main road that the parade was going to be on, to find thousands and thousands of people already there. We just wondered around aimlessly until we thought we had found a good spot. After standing there for about 20 mins, we asked a policeman if the parade actually came by, and he said no! Here we were standing on a road that was about 50metres away from the parade roads. WTF!? In the end we just found an entrance to the MTR, which took us right next to the main road, so we just stayed there. It wasn't the best spot, but we could still see all of the floats. We've just been out for a meal and I had some weird chicken and mushroom thing, which wasn't really that special, but only cost 3quid.
Anyway, its 00:30 now and we're about to go wandering the streets again. Tomorrow (actually today) there is going to be the massive fireworks display, so keep looking out for photos and more posts!

Chris