Hong Kong – Day 1

My plane landed in Hong Kong yesterday at around 1300. I grabbed my backpack and jumped on the airport city express train and sat with my nose pressed up against the glass watching the landscape change as we whizzed towards the mainland. I was greeted by one of my mates I am staying with “The Kiwi”. His cantonese is basic and hilarious especially when the taxi driver is correcting his accent.

I’ve arrived at the right time according to his wife and my friend ‘The School Teacher’ who is Chinese but born in Luton. You could not make this up. She is a no nonsense Brit but with a very cool SE Asian twist – a love for anything shiny and designer. They live in an up and coming area and have just bought a two bed apartment in Kennedy Town. There are some cool bars and funky little restaurants dotted along the seafront.

The rain stopped two weeks ago in HK and the temperature at the moment is cool enough to walk around without sweating buckets but also on the right side of warm that I was wearing summer clothes in November last night.

I am sharing their flat with Princess – their Pomeranian dog – with an apt name. You know you’ve arrived in SE Asia when you see house dogs that look like they were made by Hamley’s and should be battery powered. She loves two things: attention and food. We’ll get on famously!

After a nap we hit the town for some pre dinner drinks and a bite to eat. Travelling in we took the tram which is just 79p with the HK equivalent of the Oyster Card, called the Octopus.

The financial district is rammed with white male bankers all of them wearing archetypal black suits and crisp white shirts. They hang out in bars waiting to pick up cute Asian girls desperate for a sugar daddy.

It’s been 16 since I was last in HK and it is a very cool city. It’s somewhere I could definitely live in. There are so many different neighbourhoods you can decide how much commercialism you want or go completely local. There are food markets everywhere and fishmongers open until the wee hours. Everyone speaks English and you can eat the best Asian food in the world here at any price scale!

After an Aperol Spritzer we headed to Sushi Kuu where we quaffed cold Sake, fantastic sushi: spicy salmon rolls, fried prawn rolls and I also tried Sea Urchin which was delish!

By the time we got home it was still early, only 10pm but i was squiffy and jet-lagged. I passed out on the couch with Princess laying on my feet. The School Teacher gave me a nudge and I crashed into the spare bed in the study and passed out. I’m now wide awake and it’s 0345. Going to try to squeeze in another few hours if possible as I am taking the ferry to Macau later for a day trip. Can’t wait to have a nosey.