Another walk in vibrant Hong Kong

Despite the heat and the humidity, I ended up walking miles in Hong Kong, it was a real walking city. London is probably similar in terms of vibrancy, but the stupid thing is that since I live here, I never bother going to see it, instead I stay in the suburbs and take the train to the airport. I just can't get excited by it, but an asian metropolis, wow! Here are few more (a few too many more, to be sure) photos of another walk I took in HK, this time on the main island.

More markets I'm afraid, you couldn't drag me away. I actually bought very little, as apart from the food it's all basically tat. Interesting tat sometimes, but basically cheap fabricated goods from across the border in China. Apart from my kwality new watch of course. I bought the girls some dresses they could use for dressing up, and some PJs for the eldest, which he rather likes.

So after another dose of market, I made my way up towards what they call the mid-levels. Hong Kong is built on the side of a mountain, so after the initial bit of flat (and hugely extended) coastline it actually gets very steep, culminating in the Peak itself. Happily a long series of escalators take you all the way up, otherwise I'm not sure I would have made it. Along my travels were bars, mosques, beauty salons for ex-pats, and great views back down. And a shop that sold deer tail which would apparently treat the seminal emission and frequent urination. Honestly, they've thought of everything.

Another interesting thing about Hong Kong is that almost all the trees are numbered, and if you have a slope, you must register it. Any non-flat piece of land tends to have one of these on it. Admirable for keeping track of slopes, but can you imagine working in that department?

Via the zoo, I eventually found my way back down to the harbour front, and to shopping central. The amount of luxury shopping available is extraordinary, windows glisten with gold and diamonds, watches possibly marginally better than the one I bought, and all manner of handbags and fancy clothes. I bought four pairs of socks for a quid, and felt very pleased with myself. This is the last of my posts about wandering around, or I think so anyway. There might be one more from when I went to the west end of Lantau and hallucinated a pink aquatic mammal, but the next post might actually be about birds, as despite arriving off a twelve hour flight on Saturday afternoon and then going out late to dinner, I then got up at 4am on Sunday morning and went birding all day long. Woohoo!