Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Back in Bristol
Well folks, I'm back in the UK.
Sydney was fantastic, such a beautiful city, with fantastic beaches really close to the city centre. No mad Christmas rush anywhere, no manic rush-hours to get to the shops first, and gorgeous weather. Yup, I could happily live there.
And then, then there was Hong Kong.
Oh my God. I hated the place. Hated it.
I hated the people.
No one walks, everyone shuffles. People of all ages would crawl along the pavements, and think nothing of turning and walking straight into you. On Day 1, I was nice and polite, and let them barge past, apologising to them in the typical English way.
By Day 2, it was just getting annoying, and if anyone tried to walk into me, I was rugby-shouldering them out of my way.
On top of this, being a Westerner, every few steps, I'd get guys pulling at me going "Hey boss, you want a suit..? You want a suit...? Suit..? You want a suit, boss...?" Once again, by Day 2, I was snapping at them. They just made going anywhere really frustrating.
I hated the food.
Nearly all of the restaurants had two standard dishes of "slimey meat thing" and "slimey fish thing". Both were usually uncooked, smelt awful, and served in a bowl of gooey water, with rice. And, of course, there were no English translations to what these things were. I make no apology.. whilst I was in Hong Kong, I lived on McDonalds for almost every meal. It was a relief to find a place selling sandwiches on the second day !
I hated the city.
At night, it's a neon-filled spectacular. During the day, it's dirty, gray, and full of impressive skyscrapers and tall buildings covered in air-conditioning units sticking out of each window. The place is a mess. And since the weather was crap, it wasn't worth trying to escape to the nearby beaches.
I didn't meet anyone.
The hostel was full of Chinese people, the city was full of Chinese people... there were barely any Westerners to meet at all. This kinda makes the city even more depressing.
And so, after paying for 5 nights accommodation, by the end of the first day in Hong Kong, I was busy making arrangements to cut my losses and come home. A day later, I was on a flight back to London, with a relieved smile on my face.
It's a shame to finish the blog in this way, but frankly, I've had such an incredible past few weeks, I'm glad I left Hong Kong when I did.
And yes, I'm also glad Hong Kong was my last stop, rather than my first one, otherwise I might've thought the entire trip was going to be that bad !!
Now, I'm back in Bristol, and can happily spend an hour or so going through the photos, and remembering the fantastic fun and stories behind each one. Ahhh, I have some tales to tell, most of which are unprintable here.
Thanks for all of your emails and news whilst I've been away.
Have a good Christmas, you lovely lot.
Travelling Mike
Sydney was fantastic, such a beautiful city, with fantastic beaches really close to the city centre. No mad Christmas rush anywhere, no manic rush-hours to get to the shops first, and gorgeous weather. Yup, I could happily live there.
And then, then there was Hong Kong.
Oh my God. I hated the place. Hated it.
I hated the people.
No one walks, everyone shuffles. People of all ages would crawl along the pavements, and think nothing of turning and walking straight into you. On Day 1, I was nice and polite, and let them barge past, apologising to them in the typical English way.
By Day 2, it was just getting annoying, and if anyone tried to walk into me, I was rugby-shouldering them out of my way.
On top of this, being a Westerner, every few steps, I'd get guys pulling at me going "Hey boss, you want a suit..? You want a suit...? Suit..? You want a suit, boss...?" Once again, by Day 2, I was snapping at them. They just made going anywhere really frustrating.
I hated the food.
Nearly all of the restaurants had two standard dishes of "slimey meat thing" and "slimey fish thing". Both were usually uncooked, smelt awful, and served in a bowl of gooey water, with rice. And, of course, there were no English translations to what these things were. I make no apology.. whilst I was in Hong Kong, I lived on McDonalds for almost every meal. It was a relief to find a place selling sandwiches on the second day !
I hated the city.
At night, it's a neon-filled spectacular. During the day, it's dirty, gray, and full of impressive skyscrapers and tall buildings covered in air-conditioning units sticking out of each window. The place is a mess. And since the weather was crap, it wasn't worth trying to escape to the nearby beaches.
I didn't meet anyone.
The hostel was full of Chinese people, the city was full of Chinese people... there were barely any Westerners to meet at all. This kinda makes the city even more depressing.
And so, after paying for 5 nights accommodation, by the end of the first day in Hong Kong, I was busy making arrangements to cut my losses and come home. A day later, I was on a flight back to London, with a relieved smile on my face.
It's a shame to finish the blog in this way, but frankly, I've had such an incredible past few weeks, I'm glad I left Hong Kong when I did.
And yes, I'm also glad Hong Kong was my last stop, rather than my first one, otherwise I might've thought the entire trip was going to be that bad !!
Now, I'm back in Bristol, and can happily spend an hour or so going through the photos, and remembering the fantastic fun and stories behind each one. Ahhh, I have some tales to tell, most of which are unprintable here.
Thanks for all of your emails and news whilst I've been away.
Have a good Christmas, you lovely lot.
Travelling Mike
# posted by MikeGledhill @ 3:37 pm 
