Victoria Travels - More Friends To Meet.

So from Shanghai I got the overnight train to Hong Kong. Ok, it was 26 hours or something. Luckily there was another guy (Irish!) getting the same train from the hostel I was staying in so we could share a taxi. Then when we were on the train a Japanese girl that he had met on the boat to Shanghai was staying in the same compartment as me! So we had some good craic. Actually this train was the best train I'd been on in China but then I guess it's more of an 'international' train. It just seemed cleaner and the staff spoke good english - not that that had been a problem for me or a huge concern, but just something I was now more likely to notice. 

Hong Kong was a shock to the system. Although there is no border between China and HK, and there isn't even the remains of a control post like outside Newry, you know when you've reached HK territory. The roadsigns are identical to the UK. Not even a variation on the signs like you might find in Europe, they were UK signs! And many signs had the english written first and then the chinese! On getting into the train station, I forgot that just about everyone will speak perfect english in HK and was still in my 'talk slowly with simple words' phase. Doh! It took me a good few days to talk normally again and to expect people to answer me in english, but I think even as I left HK I was still saying thank you in mandarin! Anyway,. I found HK to be still very British. I think maybe when you come direct from the UK you see the chinese side, but certainly for me coming from a month and a half in china, I saw the uk side. Not that I'm complaining! It was good to get some nice cadbury's chocolate and other uk food stuff. The downside to HK was that I found it so expensive. It is cheaper than home, but it was 3,4,5 times the amount I had been paying for the past few months! Ick.  I went and did some of the tourist sight's in HK, but I needed to wait on getting my Vietnam visa, and then to book a flight to Hanoi. I've been to HK before so I decided not to bother with some things. I did meet my friend a few nights and we went and had dinner. We reckoned we have known each other for about 20 years! More Ick.  I really enjoyed being in HK. It was so familiar in many ways that I was just ready for.