Touchdown!

Have now been in Hong Kong for 3 days now. After two long flights, and no sleep for 31+ hours, I finally made it! As soon as a stepped outside the nice, cool, air conditioned airport, the heat and humidity hit me like a tonne of bricks. Arrived at the hotel at around 11pm and pretty much went straight to bed.

Woke up the subsequent morning with dizziness and nausea (great start!) But despite that, the first day went smoothly, sorting out a sim card, travel passes (Octopus card) and a new laptop. The Apple store here, or at least the one in Causeway Bay is amazingly efficient, we were in and out, set up and paid for in under 15 minutes - you would be hard pressed to find such service in Scotland. Not only that, but if it is your first time buying a product in the store they give you TGIF-esque cheer when you open it.

That evening we took a bus tour around Hong Kong Island to get a feel for the place, and to help understand the layout better and work out how to get from A to B. Then straight to bed after dinner as I was still exhausted from the travel.

On Sunday we got the ferry over to Kowloon and took another bus tour around that area. We then did a little bit of exploring around the area, taking a wander through the Temple Street Night Market and other neighbouring streets.

This morning I had the chance to meet a friend of the family who has lived in Hong Kong for several years. He was a great dispenser of knowledge and advice and has kindly agreed to help with some arrangement such as setting up bank accounts and applying for a HKID card etc.

I then took a bus up to the university to gather information packs and register. The university is a 20 minute bus journey for the centre of Hong Kong Island and the entire complex is more or less connected, and also on a hill. I did get a bit lost as you have to get lifts to get to hidden walkways but I eventually manoeuvred my way through the many skyscrapers that make up HKU. (I also found out that HK is the city with the most skyscrapers in the world, with double the number of New York which comes in second!)

The weather hasn't been too bad, a few spells of rain, but luckily have managed to miss them. I'm sort of getting used to the humidity blanket that engulfs be as soon as I leave a building, but all in all it hasn't been too horrific. That being said, I did end up a bright shade of magenta after trekking across campus in 34 degree heat.

Don't worry, I'm keeping all my clothes on. 

Apologies for the long post - it has been a hectic few days!

Annabel