Hong Kong is bankrupting me. It's the most expensive city I've ever been to! To put it into perspective, my dinner tonight was £26 for main meal plus one drink. The bar I went to after charged £9 for a portion of chips, and today I paid £7 for an ice cream. I'm sure wages are higher here to balance it out, so it's all relative. But for foreigners visiting this city is bloody expensive!! That being said, I love this place. I could live here easily (don't worry Mum I'm not going to).
Today I walked around Hong Kong island. The weather was pleasant. Sun was shining but it's not that hot, maybe around 19/20, so basically scotland on one of its good summer days. I went to Hong Kong Park and the botanical zoo. I was surprised that it's free to enter and wander around, not that it's particularly big. This city is a proper workout. Everything is up a very steep hill.
I went for lunch at Lin Heung Tea House. Id read about it online but nothing prepared me for what I was about to experience. The place is insane! From the moment it opens until the moment it shuts, it is rammed. Tables are of 8 and you just have to find a spare seat somewhere. So there's people circling the tables waiting for people to leave. After a few laps I got lucky and sat down with two local women. All I can say is thank god they were there as I hadn't the faintest clue how the place operated! None of the staff speak any English for one, and there is no menu to order. Basically women come out of the kitchen with trolleys with different dim sum and you have to pounce on them to find out what they're serving. But you have to be quick as whatever she has is gone in minutes! People are all over servers like flies on shit. And obviously there is no social etiquette here, so I'm being pushed and pulled in every direction. I don't like to have to fight for my food. I ended up with some beef meatball type things and chicken bao. I really wanted the BBQ pork bao but I got to the point where I couldn't handle the whole situation and called it quits. Thank god for the women next to me though as without them I would have got up and left! They said it's a very traditional restaurant that tourists don't normally go to.
After lunch I went up Victoria Peak for views of the city. I planned to do it earlier in the day but when I saw the queue and the 2.5 hour wait sign I didn't have the patience. It was ever so slightly quieter the second time I went back, but I reckon I still queued
about 90 mins to get on the tram. To be fair the views at the top were worth it. Such a beautiful skyline. I wanted to go back and do it in the evening but I can't face the queues again.
With it being Sunday the two places I planned on eating tonight were closed. I was starving so ended up having Italian. It was good but the portion was measly and it cost me a small fortune. After that it was back to bar street for some happy hour wine. Then I went to a different salsa club nearby for some more dancing. What can I say, it keeps me out of trouble! A lot of the same faces as last night but a better venue and better music. I even got to practice my Spanish with a lovely chap called Nelson from the Dominican Republic. My next jaunt will definitely be South America...
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