First day and half ;-) 24 january 7 AM early morning!

Cathay is really a great airline,service is good,food tasty and there is an electrical socket(power outlet??) at every seat so you can easily recharge any device :-)

After 13hours of flight i thought i would be tired but hey, on Cathay aircraft there is a personal LCD where you can easily ( and totally free of charge) choose between more than 30 films, 20 something documentaries, hours and hours of MUSIC with FULL CD from so many artist, GAMES to play (look at picture) ... WOAW i hardly found time for sleeping ( well i was so excited) that before we were touching ground i was thinking " well if i had one hour more i could still watch another movie.." AHAHA, addicted!

I'm finally in Hong Kong airport!my bag arrive after 5minutes but is damaged so i go at baggage claim where after 10mins of talking they refund me with 1000hk$, not bad!

I run to  the fast high tech AIRPORT EXPRESS train(MTR)!! before i forget..they are so well organized, i COULD BUY that ticket on the aircraft(duty free) i could save also some little money so instead of 300HK$ only 290HK$, is not about money but HEY they will make your life easier and even cheapper, I'm used to ITALY where when u have some kind of advantage YOU PAY more(probably here u would pay 20HK$ more.. losers!)Train is clean, comfortable and MADE for people travelling with suitcases,so still NOT like in italy that a " regular "train is adapted to airport train,

While the train goes to the city of HONK KONG i can't move away my eyes from the window,it might sound silly but i've NEVER SEEN those huge skyscrapers rising just next to the sea..it seems like they are grown directly into the sea.. and damn they are so TALL??and those are for people! Mamma mia i'm not into my skin anymore!!!

So I'm arrived :-) so cool everything looks so " huge " even though Hong Kong is so "small" oh well i feel like a Lilliputian :-P the Airport express ends his run into a " shopping center " which should be HONG KONG station.. but is very close to Central station.. oh well from NOW ON i'll never quite get the differences within the 2 places ..LOL!

Anyway i start wandering into the shopping center trying to understand which was is the EXIT to the city, yes don't take me wrong but is not like in Roma, you go out from subway and you've a sidewalk, a shop, a sightsee... NO !! here sidewalks are IN AIR .. hanging from a building to another, is like in the FANTA movies! For me is really crazy and exciting but is not easy to orientate, at all! So first step is buy a prepaid simcard for my second mobile, with only 100HK$ i get a prepaid card with smthing like 100mins and is ACTIVATED after 30 SECONDS. Try that in italy or in turkey and then tell me if you don't find that AMAZING!!!

Second step is contact my first travbuddy friend in Hong Kong: Laena.

I've kept in contact with her few weeks before my arrival, having someone local that can take me around share some stories and enjoy a drink is very important!

I've to admit that if wasn't for her i'd not understand HOW to get out from that shopping center/prison :-P PLUS once outside she starts to take me around walking first through all those pedestrain bridge , going from a building to another, passing through shops and shopping center, oh yes i'm definitely LOST :-)

this is the FIRST view at the city:

OH MY....!!

so first thing i want to have breakfast...ok ok FORGET italian breakfast this is what more or less you are gonna have over there:

uhmm it wasn't BAD but it was new,different...ad tasty :-D not to mention:CHEAP!



Laena was so nice to take me into this typical place and after that the first big place: VICTORIA's PEAK which was renamed by me VICTORIA's SECRETs :-P

the place is  one of the highest in the city and from there the view is breathtaking!!

To arrive up to the hill there is this old touristic cableway:

 

the gradient is impressive, at some points you start to doubt that little thing can make it all the way UP...you are almost in VERTICAL!!! while going up you start to hear severals " ohhh ... woaw... oh my... " yes the view is amazing:

And Finally from the top:

 

WONDERFUL!! Uhmm about the fog , well might be humidity or pollution or both of them.. but in those days there i've never seen the sky CLEAR...!

So after 13hours of flight,almost NO sleep, i wasn't tired at all,adrenaline and excitment can make miracles!Down from the peak we are now heading to the Victoria Harbour!!
Taking pub. transportation in Hong Kong is the easiest thing, they are cheap and they take you everywhere , in less than 20 minutes we are at the pier taking the famous STAR FERRY which is the famous and charming way to reach the other side of Hong Kong!

this is the old ferry connecting side to side Hong Kong

Once on the ferry again i start to rotate my head in all directions, really everything looks so amazing, also this mix of old and NEW HIGH TECH, it really gets me so much! this is some of the view i had while crossing the channel:

After 15 minutes i'm on the other side of the city: Tsim Sha Tsui !

walking on  Avenue of Stars along the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade is nice cause you've the best view on the city skyline and well i could take a picture with of my idols:

BRUCE LEE :-)

From here i went more inside around Jordan metro station, visited many of those "weird" shops ...they sell some kind of " typical " medications and some other food/medicine:

i tried to have some informations but none were speaking english and they didn't even like too much me taking picture...mmm maybe is a chinese conspiracy? :-P