You could be forgiven for thinking we'd decided to end our trip with a couple of nights luxury in 'Mirador Mansions'..... this however is not the case. I mistakenly booked this particular slum because it claimed to have an outdoor pool on its website - how wrong can you be? It is bringing images of Jackie Pullinger's Walled City to mind - dingy corridors, tiny windowless rooms, broken pipework, jammed lifts, grey washing lines, dodgy characters hanging around..... actually it's not THAT bad. This and its neighbour Chungking Mansions are rising like a pair of phoenixes from the proverbial ashes of downtown Kowloon and the bamboo scaffolding is our landmark for finding our way home. Anyway it's only a base from which to explore this famous city.
I had no idea Hong Kong was made up of so many little islands, or that it was so mountainous. Our first nights exploring revealed an amazing skyline of highrise blocks across the water, backed by The Peak on Hong Kong Island. The differences from China are quickly apparent in the contents of the shops - we feel like we are back in Europe already (apart from the humidity). Down the road from us is the YMCA with its Christian bookshop - we certainly didn't see any of them in China. It's quite refreshing to be able to buy breakfast cereal again....and use facebook! Hong Kong may be part of China but it's still very much its own person.
Having got the idea of going for a swim to cool down we found our way to Kowloon Park Public Swimming Pool. Unfortunately we were two days late for the open air one which closed at the end of October. The indoor pool was just like Taunton pool - but about twice the size and four times the people. Interestingly we only saw Chinese people there - do all the expats belong to health clubs? (perhaps the Ladies Fitness Club we walked past this morning). It was very serious swimming - lots of goggles and swimming caps, so my head-up breast stroke was a little out of place. Still good exercise before the 13 hour flight tomorrow though.
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