She greeted me at the bus stop and took me home to introduce me to her family.
In the morning the first thing on my 'to do' list was to apply for my Chinese visa. I knew there would be a huge queue so i went early and still found myself at number 116 in the queue. After the application was complete it was time for a bit of sightseeing. I set off to walk to The Peak:
It was really humid and all the different plants made it feel almost tropical. The temperature made it feel hard work but the view wasn't too bad:
After walking back into the city I had a look around but I couldn't believe how there could be so much diversity in one small space. The were brand new buildings with very wealthy business men and new technology boxed in right next to old and broken buildings where people were living in almost poverty but know one seemed to notice. It felt like chaos with everything that was going on.
I escaped to a temple where I found one of the few traditional aspects of Hong Kong:
Later I got to meet up with Kiki after her day at work. Kiki and her friends introduced me to some traditional Cantonese food then to me on the ferry...
...to see the Hong Kong harbour at night...
...and see where they hold the film festival:
We enjoyed some drinks by the water's edge before heading home.
The next day Kiki took me for some traditional breakfast: Congee (rice porridge) with a fried dough stick. To be honest it didn't taste of much and I just wanted to add sugar or honey to the Congee so that it tasted of something, but it wasn't bad tasting I guess. I made my way back to the Chinese visa centre with my fingers crossed hoping that my visa had been granted. Luckily it was! Yay!
With a whole lot of weight off my shoulders I went to visit Lantau Island and the largest outdoor bronze sitting Buddah!
It was pretty big when you got to the top:
Afterwards I took a walk along the Wisdom Path:
I didn't feel any wiser after but you never know....
My next stop on the island was Tai O fishing village. It was a bit of a shock going from a developed tourist area to twenty minutes down the road where people had nothing. The houses were like tin sheds on stilts in the water but amazingly every house kept its only little make-shift shrine.
Then I went back to the mainland to see Mong Kok with Kiki and her friend. We went to the Ladies market:
...had dinner in one of the 'best' local restaurants:
...and took a walk down Temple Street with all it's fortune tellers:
Once I had spent a couple of days in Hong Kong I knew I definitely wasn't in Japan anymore. It was busy, crowded, people were definitely not polite and the restaurant staff had never heard of customer service. It was a real Chinese experience. The best restaurants, are not the cleanest or the ones with the friendliest staff, they are the ones people have gone to for years, that serve traditional Cantonese food and that people queue up outside for. You sit at any table you are shown to that has enough seats for your group - you share your table with whoever you get put next to - you clean your chop sticks and crockery in Chinese tea before using it and you do as your told by the staff!!!! Its best not to think about the kitchen hygiene or the hygiene of the other customers for that matter, but just trust that your friend knows best and enjoy the food they order.
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