Rocky Start...

But it's a start nonetheless! I've landed safe and well and managed to get in to the hostel I wanted which is good, considering a slight mix up on the booking...

Not so good was the bad news at Heathrow that they've stopped issuing visas for China in the UK apparently unless you have an 'invite'. There's loads of visa places over here though, so I'm not so fussed. The result of this was that I had to buy a GBP1200 (!) one way HK-LHR ticket when I checked in yesterday as they couldn't let me go to HK without an onwards ticket - which I intend to buy tomorrow, and then promptly refund the former.

I had two seats on the plane all to myself and did that crazy - sleep ten minutes, with ur legs in some mad position, wake up with a crick neck, move again, repeat the whole process again etc.

It's 2315 over here, still 25'c and a muggy 85% humidity. The view over the water to Hong Kong island is awesome at night - just a sea of high rise office buildings, all with different logos in huge, bright neon lights on top. It looks kinda cool in a sci-fi sort of way, and then it hit me - this was the spot where the Japs invaded! Some of them even swam the couple of hundred metres to get there - I bet it looked so different then...
dinner cost me $110 dollars, that's about GBP7.33! Unlimited Green tea, chicken fried rice with cabbage and shredded beef with broccoli - yum! Massive dishes though and should've just ordered one - that would've been more than enough.
So, what's it like? Takes a bit of getting used to, but not so different. It's mega efficient and organised as you'd expect, really nice and clean, no graff, litter, gum etc, but there's a haze from the pollution which obscures the view a little. Oh, and they drive on the left.
I took a walk along the promenade tonight - Chakie Chan's handprints are in concrete and they've got a life size bronze of Bruce Lee which I took a cheesey photo next to.
As I mentioned before, it's skyrise central which is quite different from London. There are not only shops on street level, but there are obscure doorways that lead you into the heart of the building, along winding passages and down shady stairwells and then it will open out into a rather nice hotel/restaurant/cybercafe area which is always a nice surprise.
So, lots for me to do tomorrow - ie organise my train back, China visa etc otherwise I'm going to have a very expensive and not massively productive trip over here...