Off To The Islands

"Oh he's blogging again, must be another bloody holiday".
Yes, exactly. Another bloody holiday. Or actually now I come to I think of it the first this year. Or actually the first since I got back from the UK in February so for normal people that's not a huge gap between off-shore galavants but seeing as the only reason I really go to work is so I can go on holiday, for me, it's a long time.
So I'm in Hong Kong. That's Islands, just not the tropical, beachy sort. I got here yesterday after another ridiculous red eye flight from Perth at 1am. Why I keep booking these is beyond me. Especially when I can't afford to travel in the pointy end of the 'plane. Take it from me, a 1am flight in economy is a very different proposition to a 1am flight in business. I know that makes me sound like a dick but it was hell. I felt I'd been taken hostage in a badly decorated, rattling, 1990's motorway service station. Why do Boeing insist on having beige for everything? It's not calming when you're crammed in with 250 people in varying states of excitement and misery. I'm not sure why but there always seems to be a weird mix of passengers on the red-eye flights too. This flight was mostly full of overseas students going back to Asia for their uni-break, a large contingency of Tom Price SHS students heading to Nepal (to get away from a third world experience) and an Indonesian chap dressed head to toe in Fremantle Dockers purple. I suspect he was nearer the misery end of the spectrum.
I had a stop in the Worlds Favourite Airport™ on the way. If there is a single defining difference between Perth International and Changi it's the toilets. In as much as the ones at Changi are clean and working and not disgusting and filthy and overflowing and wet on the floor. Vile. Mind you no one washes their hands at either place so that's pretty much a constant as far as I can tell. All those who mock my little bottle of hand cleaner can just think about that for a moment. (#pooponeverythingeverywhere). I had chance to ponder yet again (that is "get very annoyed with") the airport security weirdness. If I had a sweatshirt on I'd leave it on, but if I've got a sweat shirt on that has a zip I have to take it off? Are zippers putting $300,000,000 airliners in jeopardy now? And shoes, some people have to take them off, some don't. Now I know for sure that my boots are metal free but I had to take them off. Apparently it's the "thickness of the soles". But my sneakers also have thick soles and I've never been asked to take them off? All in all it's theatre worthy of a Tony.
Arrival in Honkers (as us old colonials know it) was very easy, luckily I wasn't carrying any powdered milk or infant formula or have a high temperature as that would have kept me out. It appears that every time there is a situation like toxic milk or SARS the communist government in China introduces a new rule then nobody bothers repealing them again. It's going to get very Byzantine in a few more years I suspect. The hotel is nice, just a cheapo Ibis, but that's the view from my window up there, which is pretty good for A$130 really. The only problem is it's located in the Wing Lok Street area, otherwise known as Dried Fish Street. And as soon as you leave the MTR station you know why. Dried squid and huge bags of fish do not go well with heat and humidity. But at least I can find my way back when Apple Maps sends me in the wrong direction by following my nose.
Yesterday was Sunday and the day all the maids get a day off. I have never seen so many Phillipino women covering every surface of every park eating take away food. KFC seems to be the grease of choice but I suspect I'd need a good feed after tending house for a pittance all week. It also seem to keep the churches in business as you couldn't get near them.




Honk Kong is amazing and I can just about remember my way around from last time but it's amazing how dependent I've become on having a permanent data source for my phone. The first time I fired up Google maps and it wouldn't tell me where to go was stupidly surprising. I'm actually having to go and find a paper map as the walking tour app I've got needs a data connection. It's not helping that free wifi seems to be getting more and more difficult to find all over the world. Once I'm out of range of the hotel I'm pretty much stuffed. It seems to be able to access the free InsertChainEatingEstablishment networks you need to have a local phone number now. I know, I know. First world problems. But here it really is a problem as it's such a three dimensional city. All built on hills and in layers. You can see the gigantic building you want but can't get to it as there are three valleys, two raised walkways and a freeway in between. I'm getting the hang of it but it's tricky. Although I must look reasonably competent as I've been asked direction three times by tourists. I suspect that once I don the bag for today's exploring that'll stop as nothing scream "tourist" more that a daypack in the city.
So that'll do for now. It's time to leave the Starbucks (I know, sorry) and the dog sitting under the table next to me (different standards here) and leave you with some pics of why this place is very different to home but with the odd jarring reminder of who used to make the decisions.