Day 225: Hit The Ground Running

Ailish and I woke up at 7am and got to the airport just after 8. Good thing we arrived early cause the airport was an absolute madhouse! What a stark contrast from the time we spent there last night! We checked in, went through security and immigration, and then it was time to board.

We were flying on a 777-300 on Cathay Pacific and it was an absolutely gorgeous flight. Beautiful airplane, great service, fantastic food, and every passenger had their own little TV screen with a huge choice of movies, TV shows, and other programs. Way cool! I tuned into The Stepford Wives, chowed down on my chicken and pasta, and tried hard to sit still. My original plan was to catch some extra ZZZ's on the flight down but I was way too hyper for that. Just over three hours later we were landing at Hong Kong! WOW!

Hong Kong International Airport is an amazing, brilliant, enormous, state-of-the-art MASSIVE airport. It was actually named one of the Top Ten Engineering Projects of the 20th Century and I believe it. It opened in 1999 and at just over a kilometer in length, its terminal is the longest building in the world. Ailo was meeting up with her Mom and sister who had flown in from Ireland the day before but they were nowhere to be seen. Ailo told me to leave without her since we were staying in different parts of town anyway.

I hopped on the Airport Express train, which docks right in the terminal, and was whisked into Hong Kong in no time at all! Travelling at 135 km/hr, the airport train only takes 20 minutes to get from the airport into the city. I wasn't able to see much from the train but my first impressions were of lush green hills, enormous high-rise apartments, and very, very smoggy air. I got off at Kowloon Station - right across the harbor from Hong Kong Central - and decided to take the free shuttle bus to the area where I'd be staying. I was planning to stay in the infamous backpacker's ghetto known as Chungking Mansions to save some cash and although I tried to prepare myself for what I was about to jump into, it still came as a shock to the system.

I got off the shuttle bus and was *THROWN* into the chaos and madness and pure energy that is Hong Kong. People everywhere - thick humidity - waves of foreign smells - enormous highrises - five-star hotels located right next to slum buildings - CROWDS - pushy vendors - lights and neon - and did I mention that there's like a billion people in Hong Kong?? It was overwhelming and exhilirating and a little stressful - and simply wonderful. As soon as you step into Hong Kong you can feel the pulse, the vibe, the energy that defines this city. Hong Kong has this pace of life that just grabs you by the neck, throws you face-first in, and all you can do is just run and go with it. It was amazing and I loved it immediately!

I was actually planning on staying in Mirador Mansions, which is right next to Chungking, as my Lonely Planet had listed quite a few cheap guesthouses/hostels in there that were supposed to be half-decent. I walked up Nathan Road and in just 20 steps or so had a half-dozen or more Indian guys throw flyers for tailors at me asking me if I wanted a suit made. Ummm...no thanks.... I hadn't even made it to Mirador yet when this Indian guy asked me if I was looking for a place to stay. I paused and hesitantly replied....'uhhh yeah...' and before I knew was whisked off the street into Mirador.

Mirador, just like its twin Chungking, is the slum of all slums. Its a towering 17-story block of apartment flats that look as if they're on the verge of collapse. They're disgustingly dirty and gross and are crumbling apart and are known for having a particularly aggressive species of giant flying cockroach that lives in the stairwells but are the cheapest place to stay in Hong Kong. I was skeptical and cautious about this over-eager salesman but thought that having a quick peek wouldn't hurt. I can always just say 'no', right?

He led me up the elevator (aka: steel coffin of death) to the 8th floor and into my room. My room was incredibly tiny and was literally no bigger than my bed. The room consisted of a double bed, a really really miniscule bathroom with shower, sink, and toilet, a TV, and a window that looked into an air-duct in the building. It was a bit of a shock to see how tiny it was, but it was clean, cozy, and in a pretty secure part of the building. Buddy wanted to charge me $350 HK a night ($70CDN a night!) and wanted to know how many nights I was planning on staying and told me I had to pay for all the nights up front.

Uh-uh! No way! Out came 'hard-as-stone' Scotty who not only made him agree that I only could pay night-to-night (in case I felt like moving elsewhere) but I got the price down to my budget range - $250 HK a night. Still fifty bucks a night but I won't find much cheaper in HK for my own room so I decided to go for it. And there it was - I had my own place to stay already. Wow! Time to hit the town!

I changed and jumped back into the chaos of the streets. I wandered around my neighbourhood for a while just getting my bearings. Again I was struck at all the contrasts - luxury hotels located across the street from ghetto slums - luxury cars and rickshaws sharing the streets - high-end shopping and a million fake Rolexes to be bought. Wow! I had a late lunch and then decided to take Star Ferry across to Central Hong Kong (downtown) located on Hong Kong Island. The ferry ride is only a few minutes long as the harbour is not much wider than a large river. But the view is absolutely breahtaking - the giant skyscrapers of Hong Kong are incredible!!! The buildings here are sooooo tall!

I headed straight for the Peak Tram so I could go up The Peak mountain to watch the sun go down. The tram is an old special train that climbes *steeply* up the sides of the mountain - at nearly 30 degrees in some places! The view from the top is one of the most beautiful sights you'll ever see in your life. There the sea of high rises stretches out before you - enormous skyscrapers squeezed inbetween the mountain and the water - with roads and buildings everywhere. Wow! The sun went down and the lights came up and I was absolutley mesmerized. A few of the key landmark towers in HK have spectacular lights coating the entire buildings that make the skyline look like a forest of brilliant illuminated technicolour torches rising high into the sky. Some of the buildings' lights even flashed or changed colours. It was so amazing it's hard to describe in words.

I hung out up top for a while and then took the Tram back down. I headed back to Tsim Sha Tsui (TST - my neighborhood where I was staying) to do a little night shopping. I walked on down to the Temple Street Night Market which is a famous sprawling market famous for cheap goods that's open late into the night. The market was one L-O-N-G row of stalls and shops selling all kinds of stuff - clothing and music and jewelery and knock-off everything and cheap kitchen ware and electronics and gadgets and all other kinds of goodies. I was especially excited over the stacks and stacks of cheap CD's! They had tons of fake compilation albums and imitation greatest hits albums and were dirt cheap - I was like a kid in a candy store! I bought like 4 or 5 before finishing the rest of the market. It was really crowded and cramped there but I really liked it.

I headed back to my room to then clean-up and head out to party for the night. I was feeling pretty tired but this was my only real 'weekend' night in town and I wanted to maximize it! I changed and cleaned up and then took the MTR (Hong Kong's subway) back into Central. I got off the train and walked up to Lan Kwai Fong - a vibrant and exciting nightlife district. It was a pedestrian-only street full of bars! There must've been like two dozen bars all squeezed into one little block! There were tons of people everywhere, music was blaring out of every bar, and people were hanging out in the street with their drinks chatting each other up. Man, this is awesome!! I cruised around the bars for a while checking out the scene before ordering a drink at one of the pubs. I just about cried when the bartender told me how much my drink cost me - $63 HK!!! That's like $12-13 CDN!!! OUCH!!! HK is sooooo expensive!

I sipped my Tom Collins *very slowly* and then decided to go and check out a popular club up the street called Propaganda. I had to shell out a fortune for cover to get in (equivalent to the annual GNP of most African nations) but it was a pretty cool place I must admit. Big dance floor, lots of places to sit and check out the sights, and really funky decor. I stayed until around 3:30am or so and by that point I just couldn't stay awake anymore. I cabbed it back to TST and crashed into bed. Wow, what an amazing, incredible, exhilirating day! I've seen and done so much already - definitley one of the longest, busiest days of my life ever - and it's only Day 1!

I can't even imagine what the rest of the trip is going to be like! ;-)