My World Walk Blog/ China Part Two #41
Please read from #34 up which was the first in this latest series of blog updates.
This morning I planned to leave but I left packing my bags too late.
Shag it! I think I will leave on Tuesday instead of today......it's another day when you are walking around the world 
Life is for Livin' and not Rehearsin' Time waits for nobody. So throw away the watch and go and clock out from crap
Yesterday
was a busy albeit a pleasant day being a gentleman! For I had not just
one but two dates with beautiful blonde women! Hahaha no I didn't pick
them up they are my loyal followers, so I guess I got stalked and picked
up by them.. As I said I was a gentleman, except for my eyes, lol! Ah!
Never stop dreaming Tony
A brunch date at the Hong Kong Football Club with the sexy drop dead
lady called Maria and also a coffee date at Pacific Coffee with the
equally delightful Amber! Ah it doesn't rain but it pours
When
I leave Hong Kong for the China mainland, I will leave with a with a
tear in my eye. Thanks to a multitude of people for great chats, help
and lots of madness.
Last Thursday after the great time I had at the Irish
Consul Generals party I went along and also had a super-duper evening in
Hong Kongs McSorley's Irish pub in downtown Soho. And yes I still had
my bag of laundry under my arm that I had taken out to the Irish Consul
Generals party in his posh oceanside penthouse pad
Reason being that I hadn't been back to my backpacker's hostel. Anyone
that doesn't know what I'm talking about missed a great laugh, click
below to read
That night in McSorley's it was the monthly meeting of the
St Patricks Irish Club who meet there for music and fun on the first
Thursday of each month. Timing is everything. Thanks to everyone there,
especially to the managers Emma, Paul and also to Kevin and Sasha.
Next morning after getting up early I made my way to the
Irish Consulate for their monthly continental breakfast and social chat
with some of the Irish community. I'm told there are 5,000 Irish
citizens living in Hong Kong, Luckily not all were present, only a
hardcore of about twenty Irish which included a handful of 'proud of
their Irish heritage' people. I continue to hand our my world walk cards
with the message encouraging people to be screened early for cancer, as
early cancer screening saves lives.
Once again I met up with the Consul General David Costello and also the Vice Consul, Rory Lawlor. They are minding Karma for me during my stay in the city. I'm grateful for this, as it was not realistic for me to take my cart to my accommodation as just about every living space in Hong Kong, is tiny. My own hostel is up on the eleventh floor of a high rise building and only has two chairs in the common area. That was a bit of pain as I enjoy talking to other backpackers so much. It seemed we had to socialise in shifts! With so much cramped conditions one notices a lot of sliding doors to consolidate precious space.
When I'm stopping in a city for a prolonged period I prefer to stay in such a place. If it's just a day or two, I enjoy my own company in a cheap hotel. In this crowded and cramped city which is home to 7 and a half million people, Hong Kong as mentioned before is an autonomous territory and a former British colony in southeastern China. It is situated on the eastern side of the Pearl River estuary. It's also a vibrant, densely populated urban centre which is a major port and global financial hub. With a skyscraper-studded skyline, it has more skyscrapers than anywhere else on earth. Squaring up at 1,104-square-kilometres Hong Kong is the world's fourth-most-densely-populated region.
I have noticed that Google Maps doesn't work well here, it seems to be a bit out of sync and often when I'm following in the GPS mode that I have already passed a junction when my navigation aid tells me to take a turn. I'm not sure if this is because of so many skyscrapers blocking the signal or the fact that Google Maps is blocked in neighbouring mainland China and this is bordering it. Perhaps a combination of both.
With so many active people walking about and to make my way through any street is like walking up Dublin's Grafton Street on Christmas week. This is obviously a challenge for the cities planners and engineers. These people have come up with some novel ideas for chocker-block zones including overhead walking ramps which are effectively streets on stilts above streets. Some of these are about a kilometre long and they take people off the streets down below. One way not to get knocked over or to find yourself inadvertently doing a pedestrian dance is to just step on a moving escalator belt. One man told me the worlds longest such belt is here and measures a kilometre.
While in Hong Kong I got my wonderful Keen walking sandals reheeled. Cost about twenty Euro. Yes, expensive I know but they needed to be done and are almost as good as a new pair. Let's hope the glue stays strong. I have gotten all the way from Bangkok in them, about 2,500 kilometres. There is still a lot of sole wear so I'm hoping to do this again at least a couple more times. Pretty soon the winter will be on the way and I won't be wearing them. Current temperatures are in the region of 26C. That's a drop of about six in the last month and it has made for ideal walking conditions. I have been on the lookout for affordable winter wear. Top of the list was a warm and waterproof jacket which cost about three hundred Euro here in an outdoors shop. So that was out of the question. Ten minutes later I was in what looked like a charity store but someone suggested it could have been a factory outlets shop selling new but slightly flawed goods at a knockdown price. I was delighted when I picked up a warm waterproof windbreaker coat which still had the tags attached for about thirty Euro. In addition, I picked up a warm fleece top which was also as cheap as chips.
Once again I met up with the Consul General David Costello and also the Vice Consul, Rory Lawlor. They are minding Karma for me during my stay in the city. I'm grateful for this, as it was not realistic for me to take my cart to my accommodation as just about every living space in Hong Kong, is tiny. My own hostel is up on the eleventh floor of a high rise building and only has two chairs in the common area. That was a bit of pain as I enjoy talking to other backpackers so much. It seemed we had to socialise in shifts! With so much cramped conditions one notices a lot of sliding doors to consolidate precious space.
When I'm stopping in a city for a prolonged period I prefer to stay in such a place. If it's just a day or two, I enjoy my own company in a cheap hotel. In this crowded and cramped city which is home to 7 and a half million people, Hong Kong as mentioned before is an autonomous territory and a former British colony in southeastern China. It is situated on the eastern side of the Pearl River estuary. It's also a vibrant, densely populated urban centre which is a major port and global financial hub. With a skyscraper-studded skyline, it has more skyscrapers than anywhere else on earth. Squaring up at 1,104-square-kilometres Hong Kong is the world's fourth-most-densely-populated region.
I have noticed that Google Maps doesn't work well here, it seems to be a bit out of sync and often when I'm following in the GPS mode that I have already passed a junction when my navigation aid tells me to take a turn. I'm not sure if this is because of so many skyscrapers blocking the signal or the fact that Google Maps is blocked in neighbouring mainland China and this is bordering it. Perhaps a combination of both.
With so many active people walking about and to make my way through any street is like walking up Dublin's Grafton Street on Christmas week. This is obviously a challenge for the cities planners and engineers. These people have come up with some novel ideas for chocker-block zones including overhead walking ramps which are effectively streets on stilts above streets. Some of these are about a kilometre long and they take people off the streets down below. One way not to get knocked over or to find yourself inadvertently doing a pedestrian dance is to just step on a moving escalator belt. One man told me the worlds longest such belt is here and measures a kilometre.
While in Hong Kong I got my wonderful Keen walking sandals reheeled. Cost about twenty Euro. Yes, expensive I know but they needed to be done and are almost as good as a new pair. Let's hope the glue stays strong. I have gotten all the way from Bangkok in them, about 2,500 kilometres. There is still a lot of sole wear so I'm hoping to do this again at least a couple more times. Pretty soon the winter will be on the way and I won't be wearing them. Current temperatures are in the region of 26C. That's a drop of about six in the last month and it has made for ideal walking conditions. I have been on the lookout for affordable winter wear. Top of the list was a warm and waterproof jacket which cost about three hundred Euro here in an outdoors shop. So that was out of the question. Ten minutes later I was in what looked like a charity store but someone suggested it could have been a factory outlets shop selling new but slightly flawed goods at a knockdown price. I was delighted when I picked up a warm waterproof windbreaker coat which still had the tags attached for about thirty Euro. In addition, I picked up a warm fleece top which was also as cheap as chips.
That evening I popped along to McSorleys Irish bar and once
again I was Guinnessed and dined for the whole night by the Irish
patrons. One of them an airline pilot called Stephen Clancy
generously made a donation to my world walk fund which effectively
covered my five nights in the backpacker's hostel I'm staying at! Thanks
a million, Stephen.
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