Tuesday, January 30, 2007

In Hong Kong

I left Cebu yesterday afternoon after a franting dash to the airport. I said goodbye to my Uncle and cousins. My time in the Philippines was fun and went to a bunch of places. There's lots more to see though, I only scratched the surface. I'll have to make it back there in a couple of years or so.

Hong Kong is a nice city. Well organized and very tourist friendly. It's pretty safe too...there doesn't seem to be a run down neighbourhood here. I arrived at the hotel in Kowloon past midnight last night so I went straight to bed.

The hotel package I purchased from the travel agent in Cebu included a half-day Hong Kong Island bus tour. I decided to go on it...it was already paid for, might as well use it. It was the typical cheesy tourist bus type thing spending 15-20 minutes at three different spots and then ending up at a jewelry store for some shopping. The tour was good enough to see some sights around Hong Kong island, saved me the trip to see them.

We went to Repulse Bay, one of the beaches around Hong Kong; the Aberdeen fishing village that has a floating restaurant and a village of house boats; and a look out point half way up the Peak.

I spent the rest of the day walking around Kowloon and checking out electronic stores and some street bazaars. I made a semi-impulse buy on a portable multi-media player. The prices of electronics are cheap here when you consider there's no tax applied on the price tags. I keep looking at digital SLRs and small laptops and calculating the price conversions. It's hard...so many potential toys !

I have pictures, but I'm mooching internet off of a coffee place here so I can't spend too much time trying to upload them.

Tomorrow I'll be doing more of the same...walking around and checking different sights around the city. The train system here is really good and at a very decent price per ride.

I think this will probably be my last post until I arrive at home in Canada in a couple of days. Internet spots are hard to find here if you can believe it. I also still have photos from the Philippines to upload...

Anyways, I'm looking forward to heading home...although I think I'm in for a shock in terms of the weather.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Ramzi,

Have a safe trip home!!

Jennifer

Anonymous said...

Hey Ramzi,

This is Karrie from your Rajasthan trip. Seems like you'd really enjoyed the Phillipines, and we are glad to know that you've made it to HK! Enjoy it, and if you need info on where to shop, let me know! Hopefully we'll see you in Toronto.

karrie

Anonymous said...

It's me again, forgot to mention, if you need internet, go to Seattle's Coffee, which you can find along Nathan Road--there's one near Kowloon park (I don't know where you are staying, otherwise I could be more specific). Internet there's free.