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Description
No photographs again today so this is from another day in Hong Kong, of one of the Star Ferry fleet crossing Victoria Harbour from Central to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Day 6 - Friday 31 January

Kowloon

I was amazed to find that it was eight o’clock when I woke up. I had slept through my alarm and the normal morning clamour. I must have been more tired than I thought and I just hoped that I didn’t do the same tomorrow. Not being in much of a rush to go anywhere or see anything today I didn’t get up until after nine o’clock, and it was ten o’clock before I left the hostel.

I spent a very pleasant morning in Kowloon Park, a most agreeable expanse of pools, fountains, waterfalls, sports facilities, a Chinese garden and an aviary. It was easily the hottest day to date and I sat down on a bench in the blazing sunshine, overlooking the aviary lake filled with flamingos and various species of exotic ducks and swans, and read my novel, anxious to finish it before departing for China in the morning.

Lunch was taken at one of the restaurants in the park, the Italian Garden. Contrary to what the name implied there was no Italian food on offer, and the menus were in Chinese only. The waiter was helpful, however, and I had a delicious meal of tenderloin beef and onions, green vegetables and rice, accompanied by copious draughts of Chinese tea. The portions were of sufficient size to be unable to finish it all.

Unfortunately, as I left the restaurant, I felt a dripping on my leg. I discovered that the bottle of Sprite in my day pack had been leaking. Luckily I only had my waterproof clothing in the bag and not much liquid had escaped, but the bottom of the pack was sopping wet and everything was very sticky. I returned to the hostel and emptied out the pack. My waterproof trousers were in the worst state and I had to rinse them out in the sink, and then sponged down everything else with a wet flannel. Before leaving I cranked all the fans up to maximum and left all my wet things hanging up in the room. I then returned to the park to sit in the sunshine once more.

I finished the novel at four-forty and strolled across to Phoenix Travel to collect my passport with the China visa stamped in it. It was only when I was back in my room and I examined the visa closely that I noticed that it said Duration of Each Stay 30 Days. Terrific! I returned to Phoenix Travel and informed them of my discovery. The girl who I had dealt with appeared to be somewhat perplexed and made a phone call. Apparently this was now the Chinese policy for multiple entry visas and Phoenix Travel had known nothing about this until now, or so she said. I told her that I had already made a booking for the Macau ferry for tomorrow and that I didn’t suppose that she could get me the correct visa by half past seven in the morning! I even asked if there was anywhere in Macau where I would be able to get a new visa but she said that she didn’t know. She called one of her colleagues over, the boss I think, who expressed his confidence that I would be able to get extensions at the end of each thirty day period without any problem by pointing out that the visa was valid for six months in total. I could only hope that he was right, but I had a horrible feeling that I would have been better off getting a three-month visa and hoping for extensions to that. At least I would have been assured of half of my planned stay in China, always assuming that the authorities didn’t take umbrage at my plan to cycle though their country in the first place.
All this hassle with the visa meant that I had quite a rush to get to the New World Centre for six o’clock and the start of the free Chinese magic and acrobatic show that I wanted to see. In the end I just made it in time, but it turned out to be hardly worth the rush, especially given the Arctic conditions created by the air-conditioning. When the show was over I bought some snacks from a stall in the centre, but they were truly awful and I threw about half of them away. I returned to the hostel once more to pack my bags and load the bike ready for the morning. This took a lot longer than I had anticipated and it was after eleven o’clock before I finally got to bed.

Description
No photographs again today so this is from another day in Hong Kong, of one of the Star Ferry fleet crossing Victoria Harbour from Central to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Day 6 - Friday 31 January

Kowloon

I was amazed to find that it was eight o’clock when I woke up. I had slept through my alarm and the normal morning clamour. I must have been more tired than I thought and I just hoped that I didn’t do the same tomorrow. Not being in much of a rush to go anywhere or see anything today I didn’t get up until after nine o’clock, and it was ten o’clock before I left the hostel.

I spent a very pleasant morning in Kowloon Park, a most agreeable expanse of pools, fountains, waterfalls, sports facilities, a Chinese garden and an aviary. It was easily the hottest day to date and I sat down on a bench in the blazing sunshine, overlooking the aviary lake filled with flamingos and various species of exotic ducks and swans, and read my novel, anxious to finish it before departing for China in the morning.

Lunch was taken at one of the restaurants in the park, the Italian Garden. Contrary to what the name implied there was no Italian food on offer, and the menus were in Chinese only. The waiter was helpful, however, and I had a delicious meal of tenderloin beef and onions, green vegetables and rice, accompanied by copious draughts of Chinese tea. The portions were of sufficient size to be unable to finish it all.

Unfortunately, as I left the restaurant, I felt a dripping on my leg. I discovered that the bottle of Sprite in my day pack had been leaking. Luckily I only had my waterproof clothing in the bag and not much liquid had escaped, but the bottom of the pack was sopping wet and everything was very sticky. I returned to the hostel and emptied out the pack. My waterproof trousers were in the worst state and I had to rinse them out in the sink, and then sponged down everything else with a wet flannel. Before leaving I cranked all the fans up to maximum and left all my wet things hanging up in the room. I then returned to the park to sit in the sunshine once more.

I finished the novel at four-forty and strolled across to Phoenix Travel to collect my passport with the China visa stamped in it. It was only when I was back in my room and I examined the visa closely that I noticed that it said Duration of Each Stay 30 Days. Terrific! I returned to Phoenix Travel and informed them of my discovery. The girl who I had dealt with appeared to be somewhat perplexed and made a phone call. Apparently this was now the Chinese policy for multiple entry visas and Phoenix Travel had known nothing about this until now, or so she said. I told her that I had already made a booking for the Macau ferry for tomorrow and that I didn’t suppose that she could get me the correct visa by half past seven in the morning! I even asked if there was anywhere in Macau where I would be able to get a new visa but she said that she didn’t know. She called one of her colleagues over, the boss I think, who expressed his confidence that I would be able to get extensions at the end of each thirty day period without any problem by pointing out that the visa was valid for six months in total. I could only hope that he was right, but I had a horrible feeling that I would have been better off getting a three-month visa and hoping for extensions to that. At least I would have been assured of half of my planned stay in China, always assuming that the authorities didn’t take umbrage at my plan to cycle though their country in the first place.
All this hassle with the visa meant that I had quite a rush to get to the New World Centre for six o’clock and the start of the free Chinese magic and acrobatic show that I wanted to see. In the end I just made it in time, but it turned out to be hardly worth the rush, especially given the Arctic conditions created by the air-conditioning. When the show was over I bought some snacks from a stall in the centre, but they were truly awful and I threw about half of them away. I returned to the hostel once more to pack my bags and load the bike ready for the morning. This took a lot longer than I had anticipated and it was after eleven o’clock before I finally got to bed.