Hong Kong - somewhere between Asia, Europe and America :)

a short update about Hong Kong....(We are a bit behind, sorry!)

It was our first and only nightbus in China. For whatever reason we were allowed to enter last, with only two places left: all the way at the back, on the "family bed" in between a Chinese man and a woman. However, the 4 person place was somewhat small: two little children were hidden on the side! Might be OK when you are of Chinese format, but our German edition of the human race was a little wide for this space :). But at least we could streth out our legs, a new thing compared to the night trains and relatively comfortable! 07:30 in the morning we were dropped of in Luo Hu, the north side of the border in Shenzen. We walked a few steps, got our stamp at the border and then we were out! Out of China without being arrested, ill or anything similar:).

The half hour subway ride takes you to a different world. It's cleaner, more quiet (well very busy, but less screaming, spitting and shouting people :)) and much more Western looking. We stayed on the Kowloon side, and booked a last minute room in the (in)famous Chungking Mansions. It took a while to find the place, as it is a maze of hundreds of guesthouses therein the building. And I guess we were lucky, no cockroaches but a clean hostel instead! Run by many Indians, the Chungking Mansions are known for tiny rooms (5-6 m2) that are often dirty, with tons of salesmen trying to sell hundreds of (the same) phones on the first floor, and elevators that are incredibly slow and take only 5 people. But it is budget accommodation for HongKong, meaning 3-4x as much as expensive as on the other side of the border and right in the center!! That is, with the last minute discount we had!

We didn't do too much in Hong Kong the first day. Slept a bit, took the peak tram to Victoria's peak, went on the Star ferry across the harbour and almost died of the heat. An incredible difference with the relatively nice cool breeze in Yangshuo! On the second day we went to Repulse Bay: the only thing we coul think of in that weather was beach!!!! So we enjoyed the cool ocean, were paparazzied by hundreds of Chinese (not that we mind in general, but it is not like we really enjoy having ourself thát much photographed in bikini/swimshorts!!). We collected our stuff at the hostel, dropped off some stuff (the first full diary!) at another hostel for our Dutch friends to take it home safely (thanks so much once more :)) And made our way to the airport.

That marking the end of a more than three months journey via land (and sea) we crossed half the world by train, ferry, bus and car and LOVED it!! being able to discover and experience at a slower pace, enabled us to make contact and feel each place separately and in its own.... :) Hope we can continue like this