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Very British...
Spare parts have been the reason to come to this place. A Colleague of my brother brought a suitcase full of thrilling things with him and i could pick it up in one of the most expensive hotels in town...

So at one morning i went south to cross the border to Hongkong. I left my bike in the apartment of a friend in Shenzhen and took the metro. Technically Hongkong is a part of China but they run it as a special economic zone and so you leave China when you go there. To come back you need a new visa or like me(smart guy) a double entry Visa that i applied for in Pnom Penh.

Crossing the Border is smooth, you feel that thousands of People commuting here everyday. Stamp, Scan and out of China... Stamp, Scan and into Hongkong. A little delay was included but then i entered the former colony. A `Welcome`Sign is surrounded by 15 (!) Cameras. Big brother is really big in china and so it is here.

When i thought about Hongkong i had skyscraper canyons in my mind. So i was surprised to travel through green hills for half an hour before i reached the city. There everything is very compact. You can use Metro, Bus or to cross the Victoria Bay even a ferry but in Kowloon the part where i stayed everything is in walking distance. So i picked up my things and went to Chungking Mansion. The building in the Heart of the district is under control of indian/pakistani people. A dozen guys at the entrance have the cheapest room for you and this every time you come back (even carrying the smallest backpack). In the Ground floor you can buy everything and there are a lot of little restaurants in between serving tasty indian food. Just fort hat ambience it worthed the trip down here. The Hostel is three in one, didn´t really know in which of them i was really staying but it doesn´t matter at all. The rooms are tiny, the Bathroom was a cupboard and the prices under 10 US$ per Night affordable. The Territory has it´s own currency the Hongkong Dollar. Probably the only currency that is issued by a private Bank (HSBC).

I walk around a little bit to get an impression of my surrounding. The Building in this part oft he City are not that high, around 15 storeys and partly really old. I pass a mosque and several churches. Every third building is a Shopping Mall, it is sparkles everywhere and the wealth oft he city is obvious. As soon you leave the main roads the real Hongkong appears. Narrow, and lively...

In the evening i went up to Victoria peak. From there you have a superb view over the bay and the Skyline.
The view from there (even it was raining from a storm rising from the sea) is as breathtaking as the long wait in front of the tram that brings you up there. So i had some fun waiting with hordes of Chinese People for about an hour before entering the Cablecar. I skipped waiting for the ride down and walked. The city is sticked tot he steep hills and also are the roads. Good to be without my bike.
The next day i realized that i can reached the Peak also with a bus. So i could have saved the hefty fare, cause i really took enough cablecar rides in Davos where i used to live (and the current one is also from Switzerland)...
I stayed two more days in the city, i brought my computer tot he service and got the news that at the end the coffee in chengdu damaged some parts of the motherboard that couldn´t be repaired. So i have to buy a new one in the near future.
I met Rita, a mexican girl in the hostel and decide to follow her to macau. The former portuguese colony on the other side oft he bay is just an hour boatride away.
Here the same conditions than in Hongkong are applied. But while in Hongkong you bet on the money it´s the bet itself that makes the people rich in Macau.
The old town makes you feel you are in Portugal. It is surrounded by gigantic casinos. Macau is the only place in China where gambling is allowed. It is glimmering like in the pictures you know from Las Vegas. The City is booming and the number and the size oft he high buildings is rising. Stark contrast but unaffordable for us. 40€ per night in the cheapest hotel (you can pay in the local currency Pataca) is too much and so we leave the next evening. Rita is on her way to kunming and i crossed the bay again back to Shenzhen where i easily entered china again.

Hongkong is a fascinating Experience. The Mix of chinese Culture and the old British peculiarities (most notably the driving on the left) is unique. Even after they gave the Territory back to China the Citizens kept their own mentality and some special conditions. But China is pushing in. Peking claims more right to say, they build more and more Houses and the immigration from the mainland is rising. The Majority of Hongkong People are refugees fled from china after the communists took over. At the beginning they lived in tents but over thirty years they build houses to accommodate all this people. So the major part of affordable living space is build by the government, who would have thought it!?
Hongkong is one of the most dense populated areas i the world, in the urban areas 16000 People live in a squarekilometer...

The frenzy of regulation is incredible. Signs everywhere full of (partly unbelievable) do´s and don´ts... and it is expensive here. The prices in the food-shops are double compared to china, a longer stay is really painful. Except the Electronics that are cheaper than elsewhere cause oft he lower VAT.
After my stay in the ultramodern Shenzhen (more oft hat the next time) it was not that big change coming to Hongkong. But the overstimulation and the almost unbelievable decadence they show in the street is incredible. Down here there is one of the capitalistic hearts oft he world beating. So at the end i was happy that i could leave again. The Variety everywhere, People of all colors and religions walking around, musicians playing at every corner, the youth is meeting down at the bay in the night and celebrating life...and the Skyline puts a unique frame around that. Thats what you expect of a metropolis. Nice that i have been here but now looking forward to cycle the rural china...

But this is a different story that will be told soon...