I'VE BEEN MUTILATED, MUTILATED AND VIOLATED AND BRUTALISED!!!!!!!!!!! Its worse than the cupping (that was baaad...http://www.truprint.co.uk/share/p=128181163913228088/l=224711783/g=31854125/cobrandOid=1006/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB )!
Its my own fault really, when someone professes to the world that they are going off to be a rugged traveller for a few months and "rough" their way around the Far East, whether they are a girlie girl from Surrey or not, their account of the trip should NOT include words such as, upgrades and pampering seshes. Up until now we could blame all that on our tour guide, but now we are on our own to face the consequences......
We have arrived in Hong Kong!!! Made it to the end of the tour, said our....rather anticlimactic...goodbyes, and wandered off into the streets to find our hostel.
Hong Kong is amazing, I really like it here, but can't quite put my finger on why...maybe because I don't want to admit that the reason is probably because it is a lot more western and easy to feel at home here...well it's either that or the pretty bright lights!
In China a lot of the cities we visited were seemingly half finished, or half destroyed (providing a rather si-fi film, creepy effect), the streets were lined with..erm..."hairdressers" basking in red lights (especially in Yichang) and spit marks, and the people, as we've established, could be less than friendly, and the atmosphere was fairly grey and at times manic.
From the moment you step out of the train station, the other side of customs, the desire to point out, just how, NOT CHINA Hong Kong is, is very clear. Lining the streets were placards of news paper clippings and headlines covering subjects clearly banned in China, such as the Tiananmen Square massacres, smoking is to be banned in restaurants and karaoke bars (apparently as fresh air heightens the karaoke experience so!) and spitters are fined. Everyone is very friendly and keen to help (sometimes scarily so, when you leave a shop and members of staff come streaming out of the woodwork to thank you and say good bye. In unison- where do they all come from?!), though it is a very busy and bustling place, the atmosphere is some how still very relaxed (after China, some times painfully relaxed, people walk SOOOO SLOOOOW and don't look where they are going...kind of like how mum always complains I walk, so sorry for years of torture there Mammabear!!), and yes the prevalence of English signs and speakers does make it an easy destination to tackle on our own.
I am very glad it is this City the Darragh has met us in, though Libby and I are getting on great- in fact being with the tour highlighted just how much we prefer our company to others (its actually a bit sad, not only are we finishing each others sentences, we can start them now to!) but its nice to have the opportunity of my own space (my own bed room!!!...er...the hostel upgraded me, to a double room, free...point one in my demise....) and I feel so at ease, and actually enjoy, wandering around in my own time on my own terms. A reaction to being with a tour I guess- I'm actually so excited to finally be in one place so long I have unpacked. Everything. I NEVER unpack!!!
So to celebrate (...well...any excuse we could think of really, we chose to focus on) Darragh's impending arrival, Libby and I pronounced day one in Hong Kong a day of pampering...well it was meant to be one treatment, and then they were so cheep that we thought it'd be rude not to get two, then I got so over excited by what a good friend I was being, all this moral support helping her prepare for her man's arrival and all, and demanded we get our hair done. This all sounds extravagant...er...for travelling folk...but it really did only amount to about 30 quid and absolute bliss.
This, and Libby's cries of "Hong Kong LOVES us!!!" (there is a Starbucks next to the hostel) should have made me suspicious...but no I went all out, whole hog, and this is where I was punished. About FOUR HOURS LATER, many many people had gone into that hair dressers and been transformed into people with very cool slick black hair cuts and styles, Libby included. Now I don't know if its pure blondest discrimination, or maybe jealousy at my growing fan base I was telling you all about, but what did I get? Little miss blondie?
A BOWL CUT AND HAIR THE COLOUR OF.....well I don't know really its TOO hideous to describe...Libby termed it a dirty blonde/grey... actually...horrifyingly... I....gulp....think it might have been...my....my....my...
...natural...
...hair...
...colour.
In winter.
When there is no sun to aid my cause.
And I remember why bleach is such a happy invention, not just as it gives me soo much of an excuse for soo much!!
So while Hong Kong may love Libby, so far it has robbed me of my claim to fame, and my sleeping bag. Still, with a good head for priorities, I rushed straight out and invested in a lot of die and A LOT of clips, and am now sporting a rather fetching (?) Gothic blackish look. This could be fine had it been voluntary, or aided by the wonder that is hair products (oh the new found respect of the surrey gal). It wasn't and isn't. Humph.
It has however apparently given me a great tan...now I'm sure being brunette now I should know how the hell that works.
Oh dear I have rather buggered on, yet managed to skillfully avoid telling you what I've actually been doing, apart from pampering and pitying myself. Maybe I'll disguise giving you a break as leaving you in suspense, till I fill you in at the end of Hong Kong. Assuming that is that there are no more misshapes in the interim...er...like our booking a sunset Harbour and Victoria Peak tour to celebrate the lovely weather we were having, till we handed our money over, which is literally when the fog set in.
Oooh Aaaah, what a view!
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