Day Three - Wetlands, Trams and an Aussie called George

Okay, so when we left the story I had wokenup at 12 midnight. First port of call? McDonalds of course, for some good quality nutrition, with all the important food groups of Big Mac, Fries and Fizzy pop. This was then followed by several hours of movies and, at about 8.30, I set off.I walked down to East Tsim Sha Tsui station, and caught the KCr west rail train to Tin Shui Wai, followed by the Light Rail to Wetland Park. The wetland park was quite astonishing. There, just a stones throw away from a huge cluster of housing blocks (think Gorbals x 2), was a strip of pure, untouched wetland, complete with sound effects (crickets). Surprisingly, however, there were very few animals. I only managed to get a pic of a small, yet pretty bird, and a bright red dragonfly, though in one of the bird hides I did manage to see what I believe was an Egret. I walked all around the park, although by this time I was starting to feel a bit tired (again) and so I headed back to the Hostel, for a couple of hours nap, and I overslept (slightly), because the phone didn't go off and so I woke up at five instead of 3. I then headed off to find a noodle bar, and I had chicken and duck noodles, which were nice, apart from the drink I ordered. When I saw lemon iced tea on the menu, I expected lemon flavoured ice tea (think liptons). What I actually got was a very cold cup of (stewed) tea with a slice of lemon. Not the nicest (I drank as much as I could). Mind you, the whole meal was less than 2 pound, so not too bad. Later, having showered and changed, I headed out to find a bar, and when I found one I ordered a malibu and lemonade. The drink was nice, but when the bill came back as $70 (7 pound) I decided to move on and not have another. I headed out and caught a bus to the star ferry terminal, Followed by the star ferry across to hong kong island. The view from the ferry was amazing, with all of the lights of the buildings, especially the HSBC tower shining beautifully in the night, and reflecting in the waters of the harbour. Shame I didn't have my camera. When I arrived I found an open top bus headed for the peak tram, and ready to depart. I hopped aboard and was dazzled by the ground view of some of the buildings, including the HSBC tower. It was such a moment that made me realise how wonderful this city really is. The paek tram was also a brilliant ride. When I reached the top, several escalators took me up to the viewing platform, with a 360 degree view of the city. I will have to go back for a picture, I just have to. I also picked up some postcards, and I found a nice bar at the top of the peak, ordered a Mai Tai and started to fill them out. I then caught the return peak tram, followed by the bus and subway, back to Tsim Sha Tsui. I then decided to head to an internet cafe, and I checked my email and found that my NZ Visa had come through. By the time I had finished at the internet cafe (It was now 2am, so technically day 4 but I'm continuing anyway), There were three folk in the Internet Cafe, which closed at 2. I then got talking to the other two guys in the cafe, and one of them was George, an Australian who hasn't been in Australia for at least 4 years, having lived in Russia and China, as well as Turkey. We headed out, and went to McDonalds for some food. Then we decided to go and get a drink, and we headed to the nearest 7 eleven. I had a vodka and energy drink, and a lemon vodka alcopop. George also had a vodka and enrgy drink, and a beer. We wandered about Tsim Sha Tsui for a short while, and then George decided we should go to the toilet (at Mc Donalds). We wandered in, used the loo and then sat down and, without buying any food, sat for over an hour just drinking and chatting. The satff didn't care, so we just sat. We then headed for another Internet Cafe, a 24 hour one, and we sat up on the PCs, me writing the previous blog and phoning people. The rest is yet to come, so stay tuned for another episode of "Diaries f the Flying Scotsman".