Five days in Hong Kong

Tags: Asia, Bike Expedition 2005, China

It was wonderful to get to Hong Kong! Finally a little of the structure and order we’re used to in the West. Now we could safely cross the streets on green, we were no longer in constant danger of falling into an open manhole, and we could enjoy wandering around in smoke-free public buildings and shopping centres.

One of the first things that struck us was that no one paid any attention to us. For more than a month, we’d been the main attraction in every small village and town we went to. In Hong Kong, the only people who noticed us were the street vendors, perpetually trying to sell us tailor-made suits and cheap Rolex watches. That sort of attention we could easily have done without.

We had several important errands to do in Hong Kong. Aside from renewing our visas, we needed to get new tires, a tire pump and a digital camera. There weren’t very many bicycle shops in the city, just 6 or 7, and we were in all of them. Luckily, we were able to buy 5 tires in the size we needed, i.e. 700-tires. We also got a Blackburn bicycle pump. And both Lyngve and Eric bought digital cameras, much cheaper than in Norway.

We arrived in Hong Kong on May 26th and were back in Lanzhou on June 1st. Our last day in Hong Kong was spent at an amusement park called “Ocean Park”. Like all amusement parks, this one had roller coasters, animal shows, and very stiffly priced food and beverages. But we did get to see real live pandas for the first time.

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