12/09/18 Today I am leaving China main land to join Hong Kong. A bus took me to Guilin north train station, then the train to Shenzhen north where I took a metro to the Hong Kong border. There weren’t many travelers at the time I was there, around 8pm so the security and identity check was quick. Then another metro took me to Hung Nom where I could catch a bus to my hostel. A long travel day and it was drizzling in Hong Kong, but luckily the hostel was very close to the bus stop. I was welcomed by a cute Canadian guy from Montreal.
13/09/18 The hostel is awesome, very clean, modern and cool. The theme is ‘find your mojo’ and they have music everywhere, a bar, a place to get breakfast, a common area with good kitchen facilities, power outlets everywhere and it feels great to be here.
I decided to explore the Ladies Market, popular among the travelers then explored Kowloon city, less fancy area but more authentic. This also the area where you see all the pet shops selling poor fish kept in mini plastic bags, kitties and puppies behind hot windows crying for attention. It is still legal in Belgium too, but I think it is regulated at least. The day where pets are no longer sold in the street has not arrived yet for sure. So many just in Hong Kong. I wish I could have taken all of those cute faces with me.
Then I took a bus to Victoria park which was a bit disappointing so I went to Victoria Peak with a tram who took me to the top of the mountain for a nice view of the city. I thought I could record the video for Flo’s bday but it was too windy for my selfie stick to stay steady so I went down hoping to find a good spot for sunset. I ended up close to central pier where the ferry’s wheel is located but again too much wind. My phone dropped on the floor when the tripod lost balance and I hope I didn’t break anything inside.
Back at the hostel I bought some shrimp dumplings and rice in a restaurant next door and met Sam and Pauline in the hostel’s kitchen, a couple from Hong Kong who had to leave their apartment for a few days while some renovation work is done at their place.
Later, I met Sophie, my room mate, a nice 24 Chinese girl working in Hong Kong. She told me how unhappy she was as she feels she doesn’t fit in here, as she is victim of racist behaviour from Hong Kong native people. Apparently some old school people don’t like the Chinese from the main land, as they believe they are the reason for everything that goes wrong in Hong Kong. I guess ignorance and racism don’t have any barriers or colour. We talked for 3h and we had to stop when we realised it was 1 o’clock in the morning as she had to work the next day. Personality-wise we have a lot in common and I suggested her to move to Australia as she would like to have better life balance and find people with similar values.
14/09/18 I also met Chantal who is sharing the room with us, from Perth who married a French guy. She is on a business trip meeting a friend she hasn’t seen in a long time.
I did the free Hong Kong walking tour and really enjoyed how the guide shared his experience while telling us stories about Hong Kong. I understand better why people here are so different from the rest of China and why it is hard for locals. His dad crossed the water by swimming to avoid starving to death, a route that many took but only few made alive. He told us how China keeps control over Hong Kong and how it belonged to the British than got handed over back to China. The 2.5 months protests hoping to get everything that China promised but never gave. The Chinese military building in the heart of the city. The superstitious feng shui who shaped the HSBC tower and bank of China tower. The wedding culture and invitations called ‘the red bomb’ as you are expected to pay money if you accept it. Our group was very small, 2 guys from Czech Republic, 1 from Georgia, USA and 2 Australians, father and son from Newcastle.
As they announce a super typhoon called Mangkhut over the weekend, the hostel manager came to our room to double check the windows. In the city you could read warnings and many buildings had tape on their windows. It is scheduled to reach us on Sunday and I received an email from the airline recommending me to change my flight for free. But I have a stop over in L.A., booked a hotel and a car in Seattle so I would need to change many things if the first flight was delayed or cancelled. I hope that it will be over by Tuesday. I bought some groceries so I don’t have to leave the hostel during the storm and spent the evening in the common area where I met Elvira, a Russian lady in her 50’s and Colin a drunk French guy who offered us some home made drink named after the typhoon.
15/09/18 The hostel building is strong so we don’t hear much of the storm, however my room being on level 15 we can feel it moving because of the strong wind. I went down to level 2 for breakfast and talked to the Russian lady who didn’t seemed as scared as the day before even though we were in the middle of the storm. We all watched crazy cars and emergency vehicles still driving on flooded roads, and flying trees.
17/09/18 I did not get out yesterday as the wind and rain were still strong but today almost everything seems back to normal. Sophie came back from Beijing where she had an interview for a job at Singapore airlines, and we went out for dinner together at a local restaurant in Aberdeen. Her fried noodles had a taste of burnt food but my fried rice was good so we shared some of our plates. We stopped by a milk tea place and went back to the hostel. On the way, many trees were laying on the floor, as the result of the typhoon.
As we were checking the bus schedule for me to get to the airport the next day, the fire alarm started to ring in the hostel. We decided to go down to be safe and on the second level there was fire extinguisher powder everywhere. We made it outside where we met the other guests and after 1/2h we were told it was a false alarm, as someone used the fire extinguisher by mistake and this is what triggered the alarm.
