Hong Kong

Hong Kong
It was a exhausting night at the airport but my flight was the only one leaving on time. As soon as I entered the plain I fell asleep and woke up an hour before landing. I took the subway to my hostel (Tai An Guest House) in the the Yau Ma Tei district. I got in a elevator that looked very old and could brake down any second. I met the owner of the hostel that could not speak English except for the words "You pay now". The place looked a bit dodgy but since I had booked upfront I had no choice... I went out for a walk and looked at the beautiful Hong Kong skyline. Once I got back to the hostel I met my roommates: Tony, Sergi, a guy from South Korea and a Chinese junkie... Sergi warned me straight away to be careful with my belongings and to put it in a locker. When I walked by my room later that night he was sitting on his bed and using a needle to insert the drugs... This is gonna be an interesting stay :).

The next morning I walked through the Mong Kok area were the protest were going on. There were a lot of tents, police and protesters. Although they were standing face to face everything was very peaceful and there were no fights. I bought a Sprite bottle and went to the Nan Lian Garden. I set my first steps in the area and all of a sudden a employee of the park stormed towards me. The woman said: "Sir you are not allowed to take a soft drink bottle inside of the park. A water bottle however is allowed, this is because of the environment". Feeling a bit confused of her statement I enjoyed my time in the park without my soft drink. After the park I brought a short visit to the Hong Kong museum and went to see Jochem, a friend from the Netherlands.

I arrived at his apartment building but he was not there yet because of his work. I wanted to sit and wait for him in the lobby but the guard gave me a spare key of his room. I thought Jochem must have told the guy that I was coming... After a while the door of the living room opened and in came Jochem. He was surprised to see me and his first words were "how did you get in the room?". The guard had just given me the room key without the approval of the owners :). While walking and drinking a beer Jochem showed me the Soho district and we ended up eating at a Dim Sum restaurant. After some good food we said goodbye and we would meet up later during the week.

The next morning and afternoon I went walking through the Hong Kong area between all the tall buildings. When the sun started to drop I hiked all the way to the Peak were you have the best view over the city. At the top I saw the sun going down and all the lights going on, very cool scenery. I hiked back down again and dropped by the IFC mall to get some very tasty local food. I ended up eating my dinner in the hostel and chatted with some Chinese people and Sergi.

In the morning I grabbed a metro all the way to the last station of the Hong Kong island. I planned to hike the famous Dragons Back trail but I was not absolutely sure how to get there. I looked at my offline map and saw a hiking route going up through a cemetery. I was walking for 20 minutes when I heard some sounds in the bushes... I could not see what kind of creature it was, so I thought it must be something small and harmless. Two minutes later and just in front of my feet, a big snake came crawling by and scared the heck out of me. Wondering if it would be smart to continue on this trail I decided to take it slow and be very carful. 10 minutes later the trail just stopped all of a sudden and I was now walking through thick vegetation and high grass. At this point Bear Grills would have grabbed his machete and started to cut things up. Unfortunately I didn't had one with me... Instead of turning back around I started to almost run through the bushes for about 30 minutes before running into the Dragons Back trail. Taking this path and continuing after seeing a snake wasn't one of my best decision so far :). The trail itself was very beautiful, it had some nice lookouts and I really enjoyed it.

Back in my hostel I started chatting with Tony and went out with him to eat some local foot at a street restaurant. Although the cook was walking around almost naked the food tasted delicious. I met up with Sergi at the Soho district were we drank a beer and walked around for sometime. We grabbed the last subway to the Yau Ma Tei district and went to the backpackers area. Things were a bit tense over there since there just had been a fight in a bar. Apparently one guy hit another guy with a bottle on his head and he head a huge head wound. Not the right time and place to be at so we went back to the hostel.

The last couple of day's the peaceful protest in Mong Kok area turned for the worst since the police beat up one of the protest leaders. I saw some awful images on the local morning news, from last night, and decided to see what was going on with my own eyes. The police had broken down all the tents and got rid of the first barricades. The protesters placed new and stronger once instead and one of the leaders was speaking to his fellow protesters. The police was all over the place and they were ready for action at any time. I took some pictures and went away from there as soon as possible. I walked for sometime and saw the sun setting down behind the Hong Kong skyline.

In the evening Sergi and I went to Jochem his place to pick him up and go out for some drinks. A couple of coworkers and clients from Jochem also joined in for the party which was great. We drank some drinks at a pub and went to a nightclub. In the end of the night the group did a Houdini and they were all gone all of a sudden. I finished my beer and went to Jochem his apartment, hoping he would be there since I was sleeping there. I called his place and the reception via the intercom but nobody would answer... I took matters in my own hands and climbed over a wall and went to the reception. Again the man from the reception gave me the keys from his apartment. Only this time there was a problem: I tried opening the sliding door (an extra door before the real door) with the key but it just would not open. And to make things worse: The key broke off inside of the lock.... Luckily the receptionist was an excellent lock picker and he managed to get the broken key out. I ended up waiting for Jochem at the lobby for an hour or so. When he came in he showed me how to open the door: there was a hidden switch on the back of the door to open it...

I slept very comfortable on the couch, said goodbye to Jochem and went back to my hostel in the morning. I packed my bags and went out for a coffee with Sergi. Before I knew it I was at the airport and in the plain flying to Hanoi, Vietnam. Hong Kong was another cool place to be at and it was also good to see a familiar face again after 1,5 months!