Hong Kong

The flight over was very uneventful - and flying business has its advantages - the food is decent and I slept for about 9 hours. Turns out I slept way too well and have very unusual jetlag since.

Andrej waited for us at the airport (very modern and beautiful) and we took a bus to the suburb where he lives. A 30 minute ride on the top of a double decker bus gave us a great preview of the HK sights.

Yesterday morning we started in Kowloon from which we took a ferry to HK Island. Everything is very clean and an interesting mixture of Chinatown with a very modern downtown. In fact, probably more of the latter. They build very tall buildings which allow them to keep lots of green spaces in between. It is very refreshing to see a lot of green so close to 60 story buildings.

We ate some very nice and authentic dim sum followed by coffee (different place obviously) and then walked to the funicular which took us up to the peak - a very steep mountain which towers above the City with breathtaking views. The haze had almost burnt off by then and everything was beautiful. We walked around the peak on a 2km long circular path and enjoyed every minute.

From China2009

From China2009

Back in the city we took a subway and met up with Andrej's girl friend Maggie. Had some tea, browsed a few markets, and then went for dinner to a very authentic seafood restaurant.

We were quite surprised to learn how separate HK is from China - they totally run their own affairs and in fact mainlanders need visas to visit HK! It's also much more expensive than China - electronics in particular seem to have prices not far off from those in the US.

Finally a bus back to Andrej's place - we both kept falling asleep there and a shower and bed were most welcome.

A few more hours in HK today (will probably go up to visit the large Buddha by the airport and off to Beijing!