We arrived in Hong Kong on the last day of 2016, early morning. Everything was so easy: we bought the octopus card for the public transportation, hopped on the airport express and MTR to get to Hong Kong Island. We had booked a really cool flat through Airbnb in Sai Ying Pun district. The location was great, very central and the flat was not ridiculously expensive. Well, compared to Hong Kong at least ;)
Somehow I was really excited to be in Hong Kong! It was the first time for the both of us. I just really love the huge skyscrapers, bustling streets and the variety of restaurants and other shops. One really doesn’t have to do anything but walk and people watch to get the best out of the city.
Our flat was on the 33rd floor and had amazing views to the river and over to Kowloon side. It was tiny though (like all the flats in HK) but perfectly enough for us.
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| View from our window in Hong Kong |
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| Small but perfectly plentiful bedroom |
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| Also the bedroom had a pretty crazy view :D |
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| OMG the trams were cute! |
After arriving and settling in we went to walk around the central district. We had a great dim sum lunch after which we found our way to the GoNature climbing gym where we had a date with our dear friend Louie. Louie was climbing Mera Peak with us in Nepal and he was the main reason why we decided to visit HK! It was so great to see him again :)
It was also great to climb again! We had a good but highly exhausting session trying our best on all the possible problems on the wall. Gosh, I just love climbing. I had missed it greatly.
There's also nothing more rewarding than eating well after a hard training session. Lovely Louie had booked us a table in one of the best restaurants I've ever been to. We were already impressed when we got in and checked the menu but actually looking at the food and tasting it blew our minds. It was delicious in flavors and visually too. Just check the (poor) pictures!
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| Decorations for the New Year |
For New Year's eve we bought a bottle of sparkling and then headed out to the river where Louie dropped us off. He had promised to spend the evening with his girlfriend, understandably ;) The whole riverside was packed full with people, all the skyscrapers were decorated with lights and blinking animations and the Christmas carnival was still luring in visitors with its delicacies and joyrides. We had a pretty good view to the fireworks, since we stood almost next to the fence on the side of the river. The weather was surprisingly cold for standing around but the fireworks were worth the wait! The year changed with much happiness and love in the air. (And probably a lot of trash from the fireworks too, but that's not so romantic).
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| Carnival spirit in the air |
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| Even the skyscrapers were all smiles |
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| CELEBRATE |
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| Christmas deco was still all there |
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| Few minutes before midnight |
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| And then the fireworks started! |
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| Afterwards it got quite quickly quiet |
Next day we tried to go to the Peak, which is a must see viewing spot of HK, but the queue to the tram was crazy. This tram is of course not the only way to make it to the top of the peak but it was supposed to be very scenic so we thought we should do it. But we still had days, so instead of the peak, we decided to leave the queuing for the other suckers and go climbing instead.
We had checked out another gym on the other side of HK island but when we got there, it was closed. No notifications anywhere, nothing. Annoying. Well, the other gym would be open but since getting there would take a bit of time, we went to have a fantastic lunch at Din Tai Fung first. In 2010, Din Tai Fung’s Hong Kong branch was awarded one Michelin Star. I don't think it has one anymore this year but hey whatta heck, this will probably the closest we get to Michelin star restaurant ever so might as well try it ;) And yes, not a bad choice: it was still exceptionally good and also not very expensive. So in case you make it to Hong Kong, I do highly recommend to go there :)
We probably had the world's suckiest climbs ever at GoNature. The skin in my fingers and toes was hurting so much from the day before that I could hardly hold on or even put on the shoes. Muscles were tired and I felt weak. It was the first day of 2017 and I decided it would also be the worst climbs of this year. It would only get better from now on :D
It was already dark when we got out of the gym. The insane markets of Temple street in Kowloon were well lit up so we walked around looking at these masses of stalls selling so many things but still all the same products :) We had a very late dinner but then it was way too late to take the famous Star ferry across back to HK island, nor would the MTR go anymore so we opted for a taxi instead.
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| Instead of the peak we found a bird park! |
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| And some fishes |
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| And former Michelin star food! |
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| And more food! |
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| And even more :) |
Next morning we of course had and early start since we decided to head out to Macau, this strange land of old Portuguese style buildings and signs and the most pompous looking casinos and hotels, one crazier than the other. The ferry was comfy and quick, our little walking tour around the old town very nice, our lunch delicious and later we even found our way to a massive casino/hotel/shopping mall complex called Galaxy. It was just ridiculous. Completely "golden" and shiny, very kitsch and tacky but at the same time filled with fancy shops and people who looked like they think of themselves as very important. We walked around the casino and I really wanted to try out one of those games or slot machines but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how they worked. It was all in Chinese. Whatever, keep your dirty money! We took the free shuttle back to the port and found our way back to Hong Kong. We were tired but happy.
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| Oh them diamonds! |
In the evening we met Cherry, who was hiking with us in Burma and together we had great Japanese dinner! It was very nice to see her again and hear about her adventures in Burma. Afterwards we went to visit Louie in the cutest and most hidden little whiskey bar. We had a blast but yet again we had to say goodbye and farewell :( Next day we left in the morning to India via Kuala Lumpur.
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| Beautiful Cherry and our beautiful dinner! |
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| Whiskey bar with Louie! |
We were pretty timid but still excited to go to India. The stopover in Kuala Lumpur went nicely and we made it to Bangalore with no problems. It was very late in the night when we arrived to the bus station in the center, figured out our way to the hotel around the smelly streets of Bangalore and fell asleep immediately when putting down our heads on those soft pillows.
The next day we purely tried to recover from the long way. We really needed to buy those train tickets for the next night train to Hospet but first finding an ATM that would give us money proved to be a hassle. Then buying the tickets, cheez, it is not easy in India. Gladly there's this strange thing called an "emergency ticket" meant for foreigners and other silly people that didn't buy their tickets in advance. After confusing conversations, filling out puzzling papers and queuing and then skipping queues we finally got the tickets! Not for the fast Hampi express but for a 13-14 hour sleeper train in the cheapest sleeper class. We didn't care, we were gonna go to Hampi!!!
For late breakfast/early lunch we found amazing food, vegetarian of course as it mostly is here, and afterwards just slept and watched telly since were allowed to stay in our hostel the whole day. Perfect! I think we really needed that rest.
In the evening we packed our backs, headed out to the Bangalore train station to try and find our train. Luckily we bumped into two Israelis who pointed out that the train with a strange number, the one we were looking at was actually our train. Or kind of, it was two trains combined and at some point the train would split ways so we wanted to make sure we are in the right wagon. After much confusion (again), we found our spot and our beds and tried to make the long way as comfy as possible.
I slept surprisingly okay despite the ascetic beds and lively night life at the wagon. Around seven o'clock in the morning we were looking out of the window and saw just a vast field of boulders! What, are we already in Hampi!? Nope, it was still some four hours to go :D Crazy! But indeed, the hours went past quick and there we were, in Hospet and soon at the beautiful boulders of Hampi :)
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| We found our beds and our neighbors |
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| Bangalore station |
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| Not much space for the luggage so we improvised a little rack between my bed and some funny Indian dudes bed. |
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| Morning views |
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| Chris still asleep but soon in Hampi |
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