Hong Kong

I arrived in Hong Kong about 5 days ago and since then have been taking in the atmosphere of this incredible city. Here is totally different to mainland China, it's kind of like a Chinese London except with more high buildings, one of which I'm currently staying on the 17th floor of, for the foreseeable future until I can obtain a new visa for Vietnam to continue my travels for perhaps another month or so. I'm now staying inside of a rather legendary backpackers haunt, inside a large building complex, but inside is somewhat anarchaic. Inside is a disorganised mixture of budget shops, budget hotels and budget restaurants, stretching up over 20 floors with no real organisation. It's a fascinating place to stay, but the first I've stayed in, in some time that's made me nervous. I have the luxury of a window in my room but under no circumstances will I open it again. I made this mistake once and was overpowered by the stench of exhaust fumes from a restaurant exhaust fan being sucked up a few floors below here. It's also totally dark outside the window, despite being so high up, and the view accross from me is a broken airconditioning fan and a grimy window. The good point is it's only 8 pounds a night and I need to tighten my belt a bit for this next month in order to stretch out the money. The sooner I can get back to vietnam the cheaper and better things will be. As long as I can actually find my way out of this building, which seems to follow no logical patterns on the inside. Anyone interested in further information check out this website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chungking_Mansions

My travelling partner is working for the next few days but we've arranged to meet up in Ho Chi Minh City in about 12 days. I even managed to find cheap flights from the neighbouring territory of macau, so that should be a bit of an adventure. hopefully we'll be able to work are way north using the famous reunification express, and stop by the ancient capital of Hue, although that one may be a tad difficult.

Hong Kong as a City is a fantastic place which has really caught my imagination, especially as the culture swings strongly from Cantonese-Chinese to being scarily similar to the UK in many places. I really want to write more but i'm a bit hungry and so now am going to explore the rest of this building looking for food.

Hope everyone at home is well :)