Sham Wan Tsuen

Our journey to Hong Kong was probably the longest and most exhausting experience I've ever had. It started at 9 am in Pokhara (ace lasted more than 24 hours), where we took a very small domestic flight to Kathmandu, which was SO bumpy I was actually quite scared (the person behind me was also sick. James and I were both pretty nauseous too btw). We then waited in Kathmandu airport for ages as the King of Qatar's visit meant the whole airport was on lockdown until he left. We also went through a ridiculous number of checks and security, which became extremely aggravating. On our flight to Delhi, just as we were beginning our descent, when the captain announced that due to a thunderstorm (and extremely bumpy conditions) we weren't going to be landing in Delhi but in Lucknow, which was back half the distance we'd just travelled. Once landed there, we waited for 20 mins on the plane before being told we'd refuel here and take off again to Delhi. Our 2 hour flight became a 5 hour flight. We arrived so late in Delhi that there was no point going to our hotel, so we got a Domino's pizza and checked into our next flight to Hong Kong, departing at 4 am. Checking in was slow as the airline's systems were down and after no sleep and being exhausted, it was very hard to stay standing. After making it through security and into the departures area, we found no seats that did not have hard metal armrests, so it was near impossible to get any sleep, plus there were loads of mosquitoes there which I could feel and see biting me as I sat there.

As soon as we boarded our flight, James and I fell right to sleep and woke after several hours hungry, but soon realised they didn't serve free food on this 5-hour flight.

When we arrived in Hong Kong, it was like stepping into the future. After being in some chaotic and rundown airports, it felt weird walking through a pristinely clear space that had automatic flushing toilets with paper, tap water we could drink, and even showers all before immigration. Immigration was a breeze, and we collected our bags and found the bus stop that took us straight to our centrally located room. We got front seats on the double-decker bus and ogled the smooth roads and obedient cars. The hills surrounding Hong Kong are lush and beautiful, and springing up from below them are tall high-rise buildings which make it so interesting to just stare at.

Our Airbnb room was located in Chungking Mansions, which I would recommend Googling as it's a bit of a notorious place that used to be considered a ghetto (though we didn't know this at the time). The room was... um...a room. We knew it wasn't going to be that nice as it was one of three places that was within our budget in the whole city that wasn't just a mattress on the floor, but we still hadn't quite expected what we got. The entrance was through rough currency exchange and Indian food stalls, to the lifts in the centre. Our landing was then extremely humid and smelled of fried food, and it smelt of BO and more food in the apartment hallway. The apartment had obviously been roughly divided into 6+ rooms. Ours was only just a bit bigger than our bathroom at home and consisted of a bed, toilet and shower room, and a wardrobe. It was tiny, and the AC unit was old and loud and had one setting; cold, and no window (well, a window to a shaft that we were too scared to look into). We both played it cool and tried to pretend it wasn't the worst place we'd ever stayed in.

We quickly freshened up and headed out for some dinner at a ramen restaurant which cost us £45, more than we'd spent on a single meal for the whole trip.

We then took the bus to Victoria Peak where you get a stunning view of the city skyline from atop a hill and then took the old (but now refurbished) super steep tram down.

By now very tired, we then went back and slept to get rested for our trip to Disneyland the next day.

P.S. we did not sleep well as the AC was freezing when on and humid and stuffy when off, plus I'd all but cocooned myself in my silk liner for fear of bed bugs or other creepy crawlies getting on me. Plus when we woke up it was as dark as when we fell asleep, so we had no idea what time it was all night when we stirred awake.Read more