Hong Kong to Scotland

Finally time for another update. I'm a little behind, due to, well, laziness mostly! The detour to Scotland should have meant plenty of time for writing this, but seemed to have the opposite effect... As it happens we're back in the city that was the next place we went from Shanghai - Guangzhou, stopping off point to and from Hong Kong.

We arrived in Guangzhou on another overnight train and eventually found our hostel. Amazingly, the sun was shining - a welcome change from the rainy days in Shangahi. Our main aim for Guangzhou was to do a little souvenir/present shopping before our stay in Scotland (which I'm now allowed to mention, it was a surprise visit). We stayed 2 days and managed to buy... Nothing. Not even a set of chopsticks. Had we wanted cheap fake clothing, we would have been sorted. But suddenly all the chopsticks, scrolls, kimonos, Buddhas and teasets that we had seen everywhere we went in the rest of China just didn't seem to exist! We did manage to find tiger feet and dried seahorses..but didn't think anyone would appreciate these alternative gifts. We had a nice day though in the sunshine wandering around the city, getting haircuts (why the hairdresser saw the need to blowdry kev's hair i don't know) and chilling out at our hostel in the evening with a couple of beers. It was time to head to Hong Kong.

The bus to Hong Kong aonly takes a couple of hours, but we had to add another hour or more to that for the time taken to go through passport control out of China and into Hong Kong. We finally arrived and were deposited in Kowloon on the (in)famous Nathan Road. Nathan Road is where the cheap accomodation in found in Hong Kong, and by cheap I mean probably the most expensive place we've stayed on our trip so far, for a room the size of a box with a 'massage' parlour on the floor below. Hong Kong, we discovered, is just not cheap! It was, however clean and secure, which apparently makes us very lucky. Nathan Rd and the surrounding streets of Kowloon are a bizarre mix of everything fromtop end designer shopping malls and men on corners perpetually offering 'copy watch, copy handbag, tailor suit...'. Our first evening we just wandered and soaked up the atmosphere.

The next day we made our way to Hong Kong island on the Star Ferry, and to Victoria Peak for classic views of Hong Kong. Very amusing watching Kev attempting to stand up on the ferry. The tram ride up to the peak is an attraction in itself, as you rise at an angle of (just looked it up on google, which told me it was an 'improbable angle', an 'incredibly steep angle', but wouldn't tell me what it was) ? degrees. Anyway, it gives some bizarre views of the buildings on the way up. Once we reached the top we were greeted by (surprise surprise), a shopping mall, which we had to make our way to the top of for panoramic views of the city. They were impressive, and we were lucky to have an almost perfectly clear day for it. Photos to follow. We decided that, instead of getting the tram back down we would walk. Turned out to be tricky in flipflops but we made it. It took a while though as we reached ground level somewhere totally different to where we caught the tram from. Afte some lunch, we decided it was time to get those souvenirs that had proved impossible in Guangzhou so went to Stanley Market and spent an enjoyable hour haggling (well, I haggled. Kev's rubbish at it!). We came out with everything we had wanted so it was a successful trip.

The next day was time for some relaxation, and we made our way to Lamma Island on the ferry (apparently I do get seasick!) for some sunbathing on the beach. We had intended to have a nice seafood lunch as well, until we realised this was a little outside our budget. It's amazing that such a quiet, peaceful island can be so close to the hustle and bustle of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island itself. We left the island in time for a quick curry (having withdrawal symptoms from India!) and the light show 'A Symphony of Lights' along the Avenue of Stars.

How to sum up our last day in Hong Kong? Well, I'm not going to string it out as we spent most of it wasting time before leaving for the airport to catch our flight to Scotland, and the remainder of it realising that we had, in fact, missed the flight which was the previous day. Hmm. I'm sure that anyone could have made the same mistake. One of those things that seems ALMOST funny looking back now. Almost. Even better, once we got to the airport, and once the Emirates help desk had finally opened, and once we discovered we could fly that night (to Manchester instead of Glasgow as planned) they informed us that our retun flight had been cancelled and we couldn't fly back until July 26th. 10 days later than planned. Still, at least we could still make it in time for Lynsey's wedding dance. And I think Keith forgave us for his wasted drive to Glasgow to get us...

So that takes us to Scotland, which will get an entry of it's own as we decided to see the area as tourists, to see castles, Highland games, pink sheep, highland cows... and ended up seeing the inside of A and E as well.