Touch down in Hong Kong

My first proper entry! Hurrah!

After literally years of deciding I wanted to go to Australia, and months of planning with Sam, and weeks of disappointment after our trip to Thailand was cruelly postponed indefinitely, we have finally landed in Hong Kong.

Leaving mum was more than a tad emotional, and due to all the flight changing etc, dad wasn't around to drop me at the aiport, which is probably for the best as I suddenly decided the time to cry my eyes out about the whole going-away-thing was 2 days before I left, and I pretty much hadn't stopped. Oops.

Met Sam at the airport and was gutted to find my luggage was 3kg over but just about got away with it. This time. And quickly scooted through customs. As a long-time fan of Nothing To Declare, it was cool to see all the bag searching and swabbing in action - until not one but BOTH my bags set off the wailing alarm and I had the embarasment of going through all my bags, having to explain my Instax camera (as it had set off the scanner) and the dummy mistake of leaving small scissors in my first aid kit. Doh. Hopefully by our flight home, I'll have this aiport malarky sorted out.

Our flight was the quickest boarding ever. It literally went onscreen and 5 minutes later, they were calling last boarders. Just made it (great start to the trip!) and found our seats, 73 J and K, at the back of the plane. Its been a while since I flew and so I couldn't remember if I liked or hated it. I have learnt something about myself this trip and that is I hate the taking off and landing of the plane. When it's in the air and I can only see clouds - that I can deal with.

The flight was a bit late taking off but made up the time in the air. Eleven. Hours. Y'all. Thankfully, Quantas seats are quite comfy (specially our twosie at the back with a bit of legroom and plenty of recliner space) and they fed us up well. I say fed us up well - food was provided but it was at odd times, in keeping with the time change. My lunchtime pork goulash had barely digested when I was being served crunchy fruit salad and museli for breakfast at 10pm BST. Urgh.

Although the flight at the time seemed long, I couldn't believe 11 hours had flown ('arf 'arf) by when we touched down in Hong Kong. After watching a couple of movies (Dear John - quite good. Channing Tatum = yum. And The Blind Side - loved this! will watch again), Sam and I busied ourselves star-spotting on the plane. We were sat across from a guy whom we have dubbed Justin 'Bloody Mary' Bobby from the Hills as he was asking for one every hour. Clearly, Sam and I weren't taking the full advantage of the food and drink that Quantas had to offer! 7 Bloody Marys later and they finally said they wouldn't be serving him one WITH HIS BREAKFAST. Obv. Other star favourites were an air stewardess who looked like an even more low budget Paris Hilton, goofy Harrisson Ford and greasy Taylor Hanson. Jam packed. Love it.

Their airport is the cleanest and quietest I've ever seen. No real problems goings through customs this end. Just one man looked at my passport and scanned it and passed it to his supervisor who, after a quick glance (and presumeably realising I'd aged 5 years since my pic and was now a full time specs wearer) let me through. I get a feeling I am going to be the pain-in-the-ass during this trip. Why is it always me?!

We took an 'Urban taxi' from the aiport into Wan Chai to our hotel. The taxi was great, the drivers customise them with all their lucky stuff etc and she could close our back passenger doors with click of a button, had a voice over telling us to do up our seatbelts etc. Very funny. We got to our hotel a mere six hours before checkin. Frustrating but can't be helped as thems the hotel rules. So we dumped our bags and went for a walk. A very. Long. Walk.

I knew that Hong Kong was going to be the place that worried me most, just because of the language etc, and how last minute it was/how little I know about it, but the culture shock was made that much more harsh by the fact we were now 24hours without sleep, my feet were, typically, blistering into oblivion in my new - very cute and Pochohantas inspired - sandals and poor Sam's epic head cold. We walked for AGES and although it's not hot, it's extremely muggy. So the sweat was coming on in buckets pretty early on.

In Wan Chai, its not very touristy. And there is only so much sightseeing around the immediate area you can do before you've seen all the noodles and meat stalls before you're over it. The smell of all the stalls and especially the meat selling places, is intensfied 10fold by the heat, so this is another big thing we are struggling to contend with today, although I'm sure by the end of our stay, it wont bother us nearly as much.

After chilling in a park for a while, we spent an extraordinary 40 minutes nibbling chips in a Macdonalds (yes, yes, caved already - but we cant read anything on restaurant shop fronts and it was 12pm) before heading back to the hotel to wait for our room. Where I promptly fell asleep over a map.

But now we're in our room, with our internet, parents contacted, bodies washed and drinks from next door's 7-11 purchased and getting ready to wind down for the evening. The rooms a good size and the bed is just... weird! I've never slept on such a hard bed but so far its quite comfy! The bathroom is ALL glass with two blinds (one works, one doesn't) so its interesting trying to use it. I feel like an animal at the zoo!

Tomorrow - making the trip over the water to Kowloon, which we think is going to be much better suited to us and our visit. Wish us luck! :P








(views of the buildings from our room)



(Sam, blogging)



(best iced tea I've ever had <3)