Day 442: New blog created

For those of you looking here for my Japan trip... follow this link:

http://rolfinjapan.blogspot.co.uk

Day 92: Home

Mood: I got a strange overwhelming feeling of happiness once I'd got off the plane.
Music: Bat for lashes - Two suns

Well... That's it, I'm all done and safely back home.

The flight last night seemed to go remarkably quickly. I was sat in between a two fair sized men and our shoulders touched if we all sat upright. My knees were touching the seat in front the whole way too. Even so I sat back and watched Potter 7i and the back of of the film Red again. I managed about.4 hours sleep too which is pretty good given I've got to drive home today.

This morning we landed almost on the dot of the expected time and I was picked up by my parents about 40 minutes later as I left the airport.

Yes, well. I think that's it. Thank you for reading those who did, I hope I've kept you mildly entertained on my travels.

The End.

Day 91: Homeward Bound!

Mood: Strangely unexcited
Music: Simon & Garfunkle, Bon Iver, King of Convenience & The Lemonheads

As indicated last night, I had very little planned today but I had a steely determination to get my chopsticks and a desire to get up to the peak to have a look around. The peak idea came from Steve Maxwell's suggestion of Cafe Deco (I just ate in their Airport cafe... nice food but crap service) and also some of the photos I'd seen last night when talking to some Brits I met on the water front.

I also had to pick up my suit at 1pm, which kind of got in the middle of everything. Anyway... I packed my stuff up and was out by about 10:30am and set out in seach of the Chinese arts and crafts centre in Wan Chai. I took the MTR and spent a few minutes trying to gather my bearings once I surfaced again into the concrete jungle of overhead walkways that make up the area. I was there a few minutes later, only to find nothing remotely chopstick like on sale. 'Rubbish' I thought.

I decided to wonder over to Times Square again, for lack of a better plan and had a wonder around the shopping centre that spans the first 7 or 8 floors of of the towers. It was then I realised I could nip up to the peak before having to go get my suit back and so hopped into a taxi and sped onwards up the hill.

About three quarters of the way up the weather foiled my cunning plan and the cloud descended to a level well below the summit. Not long after driving into the cloud I asked the taxi driver to turn around and head back to the view point we'd seen on the way up, just so I could get a few pics looking down over the city. He waited for me (meter running obviously) as I legged it out and snapped a little of the city sat below the clouds and then took my back down the hill to Admiralty MTR station so I could go and get my suit back.

It was 1:30pm by the time I'd tried on the suit and got it back to the hotel to put it into my luggage. At this point I decided to go for broke for the afternoon. With no plans, and no idea of any place to get my chopsticks, other than a shop on Ngong Ping Village, about as far away as you can get in Hong Kong, I decided to go for it.

About an hour of traveling later I arrived to the MTR station at the foot of the cable car that takes most visitors up to the viewpoint. I wondered over to the entrance, to find the place shut due to the proximity of a thunderstorm. Grudgingly I boarded the bus service that would take me 45minutes around the winding roads to the top of the island. It passes a couple of nice bays, but as we climbed higher we entered the cloud. At that point it started raining, just a little at first, but this grew to an almighty downpour by the time we arrived. At first no-one wanted to leave the bus, as the prospect of getting soaked in the first few meters looking for cover wasn't very inviting. I decided to go for it however, I'd not come this far to let a little bit of water slow me down!

Diving from cover to cover I dragged my ever increasingly soaked self to the shopping area and eventually found the chopstick shop I'd come all that way for... only to spend the first minute or so stood dripping in the doorway. After much perusing, I bought the set that caught my eye and headed back for the bus. There are some attractions in the area, including a large sitting Buddha, but I knew that the thick clouds and by now only drizzling rain would spoil most of what makes the area so special.

I found myself in the queue for the bus stood next to a Frenchman with whom I struck up a conversation that took us all of the way back to the MTR train station in seemingly next to no time. He was a fund manager in Hong Kong on business for a few days and had decided to take the weekend here too before returning to Paris this evening. We talked about the market and I got to use some of my new found knowledge (based on the book concerning the collapse of Bear Stearns that I've just finished) and other outlooks, including what we'd done at ScriptSwitch and the lack of impact of the "financial downturn" on our business.

We also talked about the notable lack of highlights of Hong Kong and how they are mostly coverable in the space of an evening. Also about the difficulties of life on the road. He travels a lot, in the three months leading up to Christmas, he said he's been away more than home. I know just how that feels, both on these travels, and on the road with work. You arrive in a place in time to find you hotel, do your work then spend a few hours looking for somewhere nice to eat, by that time you go back to your hotel room. It's lonely but people who don't do it think you get to have a whale of a time as you are always in interesting places (they don't factor in that you are on your own and interesting places are fine during the day, but most places are the same at night when all you want is a nice meal and a good bed).

On the MTR I was sat down and a young north Italian lady took the only seat remaining next to me. I traveled all the way back to the station next to my hotel as she was near living there for the time being. She had moved out a week previous for a year with work and was still finding it rather overbearing. She had been living in Innsbruck for a long while and works for the b2b section of Swarovski Crystal. We laughed and joked about the push and shove nature of life in the city and also the strange propensity of everyone to walk at a pace that would make a snail seem like a rocket ship. They also seem to stop in the middle of pavements at random, forcing the unaware to walk into (or in my case over!) them! She was fairly short but on the trek across Hong Kong station while switching trains, demonstrated the quite rapid walking pace of someone who, like I, walks to get places.

We parted at Tin Hai station and I went back to my hotel to put the things I'd bought into my baggage. At that point I decided I best just make my way to the airport. I had about 6 hours before my flight but nothing much to do.

It's here that I sit. I guess this is my last entry. I might put something up in the morning, who knows. It's my aim to get a photo of Rolf with the air hostesses/stewardesses for the flight home but I'm not sure how well that's going to work! We'll see.

Bye for now.

Day 90: The last full day

Mood: Sad it's coming to an end
Music: KT Tunstall, Suede and others.

I set out today with a single task... Find myself a nice set of chopsticks to bring home. I'd seen some nice things in Shanghai and again in Guilin but I'd no space at the time to carry anything more. For the return flight home I'm allowed 2 bags checked in and as such I planned to just buy these things once I got here.

Having located one such shop not too far from where I'm staying, and confirmed this by finding it on Google Streetview. When I got that far, however, I found that the shop had been replaced by something else. This led to some rather protracted wondering around back streets and markets as I worked my way across Hong Kong Island towards the Admiralty area.

Eventually I gave up and hopped into a MTR station and whisked myself to where I'd been the previous day for my second suit fitting. This went fairly well but there were several tweaks that were most definitely required.

On leaving the fitting session I decided I had two options for what to do next. The first was to go to the boat in Whampoa that I had said to Phil the previous day I'd get a photo of Rolf at... the second was to visit the huge new building on Kowloon, at the top of which sits the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. This had been opened 2 weeks ago as the highest hotel on the planet, resting between the 103rd and 118th floors in the building.

I went with the latter and walked through the Kowloon park, tiptoeing past a group practicing tai chi in the hot and humid early afternoon sun. On the way out of the part I saw a building with lots of bamboo scaffolding surrounding it. I looked at this for a while, considering just how safe the duct tape joined structure was... then decided I best move on, if only so I wasn't stood under it anymore!

Following a walk around the building at street level, then a wonder into it's underground service area, I eventually found a way in via the MTR station that sits under the complex and walked myself up to the hotel lobby. Here I found a queue and promptly joined it, without any idea what I was joining! It transpired that a large number of people had come to have afternoon tea at the two all day restaurants up top, and the rest of the people were waiting for tables at this.

I stood in line patiently for about 90 minutes before being told that they had run out of the tea sets but could I could choose from the a la carte menu once a table became free. Thankfully this was only a few minutes before the bar opened, which was my intended target the whole time.

With beer in hand and a sushi & sashimi meal in front of me (sea urchin sashimi might not be one to have again) I sat and ate and eventually the sun went down. I decided to try to make it to the viewing platform for the nightly light and laser show (frickin' laser beams on buildings!). As it happened I didn't quite appreciate that I had to go back to hong kong island and leg it to a different station to get back to the viewing platform. This still would have been quicker than trying to run to the platform but I only just made it to the front to see the last few seconds of the show. Tomorrow I'll be heading to the airport during the 8pm show.

As I was on the waterfront I decided to wonder down the promenade for a while, until I came across the Hong Kong star walk. Rolf is pictured on Jackie Chan's star, but there were a number I recognised (Sammo & Bruce Lee among others).

After this I hopped in a taxi and showed him the map on my phone displaying the road name where the boat is in Whampoa. He had no idea what I was asking and I went and found another taxi who did.

The boat is a  facade for the front of a small shopping centre. There is also a connected entertainment complex and cinema next door. I didn't see much to do here so I hopped in another taxi to be taken to the Temple street market. This is a street market that runs at night along small back streets. Almost everything can be purchased here, from clothing to FOakleys, Folexs, other assorted nick nacks and some electronics. I was in search of some chopsticks and in the end bought some cheap ones just in case I can't find anything better tomorrow.

After much more internet searching I've found one place that has a full shop, but that is far too far away to do anything else during the day, and also a possible place in the arts and crafts centre not too far away from where I started looking today.

I'll see how I go.

I will try to post something tomorrow but I'm not sure what opportunity I'll have. Therefore this may be my last entry until I'm back on home soil.

Take care, and have fun all, it's been great.

Day 89: Gone Shoppin'

Mood: Happy
Music: Various

My first experience of Hong Kong today was one of disorientation and slight confusion... As the map I had picked up at the airport had the hotel I was staying in on the opposite side of the road from where it actually is, I made a wrong turning at the first possible moment, as I stepped outside the front doors this morning.

From here I was a little confused why the road appeared to be turning in the wrong direction, but as I had no idea of the scale I was sure I would be fine. The swathes of huge high rise buildings leave you with nothing on which to get a baring either. In the end I ended up back on the main road I was looking for and hopped on one of the old trams that was heading down towards the main area of the island. After a while I got bored of this and so hopped off when I saw an MRT (tube) station that might get me there quicker.

I headed to central station and bought myself a 3 day travel card (with 1 airport train trip) to last me until I go. I was a little hesitant about doing so, as you have to use the MRT a large number of times (short journeys cost about 35p) to make it worthwhile. In the end I thought it better as I meant I wouldn't end up with piles of shrapnel from buying a million single tickets over the period.

From here I decided to head onto Kowloon and have a look around for a tailors place that I'd seen advertised in one of the magasines left in the hotel room. After a large amount of wondering in circles I nipped into several camera shops and inquired about the price of the lens I have been looking to get for a while. In the end I bought it for about 10% less then the lowest price in the UK.

From here I allowed myself to get hijacked into one of the tailors shops I'd eyed up earlier and was measured up for another cheap suit. One of the few things I had left to do was buy a suit carrier, which would make up my second allowed item of checked luggage on the trip back to the UK. I was pointed towards the Harbour City shopping centre at the end of the road. It was here I spent the next few hours wondering around the maze like structure looking for a shop that might sell me what I was looking for. In the end I gave up and went to sit outside by the ferry terminal reading my book. For a good 15 minutes I also got to watch an eagle circling over the harbour and occasionally circling in a spiral down to the water in an attempt to catch a fish. I only wish I'd taken my camera bag out with me for the day, as then I'd have photos to show for it.

Later I went back to the tailors for the first fitting of the suit, this was just the outline pieces cut and stitched, ready for a tailor to pin down to my fitting. I have a second fitting tomorrow afternoon too. On leaving the building I went out in the other direction and virtually fell into a luggage store that had the kind of bag I'd been searching for, right in front of me. I negotiated a little discount and walked out with it in about 2 minutes, after spending several hours earlier trying to find one!

Following that I went back to the viewing platform looking out over the harbour and watched the sun set and the buildings light up. At this point I remembered that Phil (who I used to work with) has told me there was something I had to go and see in Hong Kong, but for the life of me I couldn't remember what it was. A quick call back to the UK later I now have to go and see the boat that is parked on Kowloon! I'm also thinking of trying to go to the highest bar in the world, atop the highest hotel in the world recently opened here...

Day 88: Tites fall down

Mood: A little flat
Music: My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade

Today started late again, I wasn't being picked up until after midday and as such I spent some of the morning in bed reading and a little while wondering around looking for somewhere to buy some drinks and munchies for the rest of the day.

The first stop, after the 90 minute drive back to Guilin, was the Reed Flute cave. The was so named due to the mass of reeds outside the entrance when the cave was discovered. As the area is awash with limestone hills, the existence of impressive limestone caves is hardly surprising.

The cave is filled with deposits of stalagmites and stalactites that stretch from the floor to the ceiling some 10-15m above in places. It is all lit up in deep blues and purples, these lights changing over time and increasing when people are in a given area. The first thing I really noted was the number of black smears on the rocks along the walkway. These are caused by the acid on the hands of the people walking past rubbing the rocks. It is very tempting to do but will obviously make the whole thing much less appealing for those generations to come. It seems distinctly a Chinese things to do at the moment, tourism is merely about getting bodies through the door today, it has yet to migrate to the conservation stage that most tourist attractions in the UK have as one of their primary concerns.

After this I was delivered to the airport in plenty of time for the last short haul flight of my trip, to Hong Kong. It seemed to take the guy at customs quite a while to stamp me out of China but I was one of the first through so I didn't overly care.

On landing I gathered my baggage from the belt (it was waiting after the long queue to get past HK immegration) and set out for the train to Kowloon. My instructions from Audley said I was staying in the Kowloon Metropark Hotel on Waterloo Road. As such I got off the airport train in Kowloon and hopped in a taxi to my hotel.

To my slight surprise, the hotel had no idea of my reservation and they checked the other Mertopark on Kowloon (Meng Kok) and I wasn't booked in there. This forced me to call Audley in the UK and find out what was going on.

A few minutes later I got a call back from them saying that they had made a mistake in my documentation as they had booked me into the Metropark on Hong Kong island, not on Kowloon. They told me to take a taxi and keep the receipt and they'd give me a refund. I therefore went back downstairs and asked for a taxi to the Hong Kong Metropark, and this was relayed to the taxi driver in Cantonese as I got in. Obviously when we arrived in Meng Kok I told him that I was trying to get to the Hong Kong Metropark and showed him a map of where it was... Eventually I got in, checked in and ordered room service so that I could get some food without having to go wondering the local streets with little in the way of local currency and no idea where to go!

Enough for now.

Day 87: All the world is a stage...

Mood: Erm... er... WOW!
Music: Mumford and sons

Today I had a nice lie in. I woke in plenty of time to potter around my room for a while, reading and listening to music, and then to wonder down to the riverside and photograph the waterfall on the river's edge before finishing off my present shopping and going to get some food.

I went back to the place I ate at last night but this time asked for it to be spicey! The dish I got was a sizzling beef platter with lots of chili, ginger and garlic. It was rather delicious!

This afternoon I went for a bike ride around a couple of the local villages. The paddy fields were being flooded but and everything was very green, but most fo the photo opportunities were spoiled by overhead powerlines cutting right through some really nice scenic views of the huge steep pillars of limstone rock jutting haphazardly out of the flat soil. Most of the journey was spend on little side roads but we were constantly being passed by huge coaches and the like.

On joining the mains roads again we got back into the chaos that I've become used to seeing. Layers of bikes, e-bikes, scooters and cars overtaking each other, ringing bells and honking horns on their way at anything they think might pull out to overtake something in front of them. It gets more complicated when people start to ride the wrong way up the cycle lanes that are on both sides of the road. Especially confusing to me was the woman on a tricycle taking a water buffalo the wrong way up the cycle path...

Once back in town we stopped and sat in a cafe for a while to have a cold drink. It was massively humid out and probably not far below 30C so a drink was most definitely required. I also had some vegetable spring rolls from the cafe. These turned out to be wrapped in a thin layer of omelet, which was interesting but worked quite well.

This evening I went to the Impressions show, by Sanje Lin. He was the guy who went on to arrange and direct the Olympic games opening ceremony. This show has been running since 2004 and is a major attraction of the area. The stands hold up to 3000 people per show and the show itself has a huge area of water as its stage, set on the backdrop of mountains lit up in the distance. There are over 600 people involved in the production, including large numbers of local farmers who paddle nearly 100 bamboo rafts around at various points in the show.

I can see how people could see and think... so what. There was no real story or theme that could be understood but it was, as far as I saw, an amazing spectacle of light and sound, set in one of the most magnificent backdrops the planet has to offer.

I decided against the little electric car back to town in favour of walking. This gave me a couple of opportunities to take some low light photos of the mountains lit up along the way.

Tomorrow I have another late start and an afternoon flight to Hong Kong, my last stop before I'm home.