Kowloon – TravelBBoNanza – Bob & Natasha around the world

The travel blues have slightly kicked in. Many of you will think, what are these people complaining about? But it is quite common that, after about five months, you will get a bit tired of living out of a bag, boarding planes and haggling for everything all day :). The additional fact that Singapore was not a great experience for us, didn’t help to get a bit homesick as well. Luckily Hong Kong was there to save the day!

Some interesting facts about Singapore

You can find the national anthem of Singapore in microtext on the back of the $1000 note.

Sang Nila Utama, a Srivijayan Prince from Palembang saw a creature he thought was a lion and named the island Singapura which means Lion City in Sanskrit. But truth be told, there were no lions ever in Singapore. It is more likely that the Prince saw a tiger.

The first ‘Hug Me’ Coca-Cola is in Singapore. The machine dispenses a bottle of Coke when a person wraps his or her arms around the machine!

According to a research by the British Council, Singaporeans have the fastest walking speed. On average, they walk a distance of 18 metres in 10.55 seconds. That’s approximately 6.15km in an hour!

We got used to people staring at us in Asia and we were absolutely fine with that. But if you smile at someone in Indonesia or Vietnam you get a big smile back. In Singapore we only got grumpy looks and smiles were nowhere to be seen. Rude people in restaurants, on the streets and everywhere else, I just don’t want to write too much about it. Our worst experience was when we left Singapore. When arriving at the airport we got our bags and wanted to disembark the train. A middle-aged guy barged into me and then he drove with his suitcase over Natasha’s bag and into her leg. Natasha kicked his bag, but no response. Probably not the first time he did that…

Singapore does have a very nice zoo, which we truly enjoyed. See below for Natasha’s pictures:

Other than the zoo, the only nice things were a lovely beach we found for some sunbathing and the views of the city.

I truly hope our experiences in Singapore were just stand-alone, but unfortunately we have heard from many other travellers that this is not their favourite destination. Let’s quickly move on to Hong Kong!

Exactly one year ago at the end of October, I was in Hong Kong for work. I was organising the biggest event of my career life and had an unforgettable time here. Now I was back with Natasha and we had another great experience. Even though we were staying in the tiniest room you can think of, it was still fantastic :). The room was as big as a small bathroom in London! Unfortunately it was too small to take a decent photo.

A little bit of history on Hong Kong

After defeating China in the Opium Wars, The United Kingdom was given control over Hong Kong in 1842. Under British control, Hong Kong grew into an important trade, banking and finance center for all of Asia. The Chinese government regained control over Hong Kong in 1997, awarding Hong Kong status as a Special Administrative Region. Hong Kong has many expats but the Chinese definitely have the final say here. The protests from last year for more democracy seem to have cooled off and not much has changed politically.

So Hong Kong is officially part of China, but it has an amazing international feel to it. Neon lights are everywhere which gives it a very Asian character. Most people speak at least basic English and you can find food from every cuisine you can think of.

It is shopping heaven in Hong Kong and as usual we couldn’t control ourselves so we decided to buy a beautiful MacBook Pro. Just to make sure we spend all the money we have :). Hong Kong is a city with a really nice buzz and there is so much to do. Beautiful views of the city are everywhere. One of the main attractions is the star ferry which costs less than one dollar/pound/euro. However, this time we did not have to take it as we were staying in Kowloon across the water from Hong Kong island where we had similar views from the shore.

One of the main attractions is ‘The Peak’ where you can go by an easy bus ride from central Hong Kong island. It takes you up a hill which gives you amazing views of the city. We chose to go at night, so we could see the whole city light up. As you may know I like photography, so I played around a bit with the settings, no photoshop applied…

Some interesting facts about Hong Kong

Hong Kong consists of approximately 200 islands of which Hong Kong island is the main one.

Hong Kong has the most skyscrapers in the world by far. Over 8,000 buildings top fourteen floors, which practically doubles up New York City.

We may think of Hong Kong as a city of skyscrapers and human congestion but three-fourths of the land mass is relatively wild including some twenty-four nature parks and four marine.

Where mainland Chinese love to eat dog for dinner, people in Hong Kong like their dogs better as pets.

Everything is illuminated. Forget Las Vegas. Hong Kong takes the cake when it comes to ambient light.

Some cities you just have to go to and experience what it is like. Like London I felt at home here and it is easy to move around. See below for some more pictures.