Hongkong- Bright lights

After the serenity of Zhu Hai and a relaxing boat trip, Hongkong seemed a hideous contrast. The place is full of bright lights, designer shopping malls, immigrants and choking pollution. Double Decker buses and taxis rule the streets and the Star Ferry and large creator ships rule the harbor. The place is alive with people and the city never seems to sleep.
I arrived after a short boat ride from Mainland China, to Hongkong Customs. I hand over my passport and there it starts. It has to be the only place that has wanted to see my exsit stamp and previous visa. I knew this was going to cause some problems as my Visa for China was in my Italian passport and I was arriving on my Australian. Just to confuse the hell out of you and the authorities involved. So, out I bring the Italian passport and here started the confusion. You see, the Italians believe that your maiden name is always your first and only last name...So my passport is Cox not Rayment. Where as my passport for Australia is Rayment. After I explained married and maiden names, I then had to explain the gift of having two passports and why I was traveling on separate passports in the first place. After much explaining and the feeling of the queue behind me growing more and more adjitated, I was aloud to proceed in to the hollowed city of Hongkong.
It was stifling hot compared to China and I could only say it was from the fog of pollution the covered the city. I trundled through the streets with my ever growing ensemble of bags, looking for the famous Chunking Mansions. The only affordable backpacker accommodation in all of HK's districts. Kowloon is famous for it's less than wonderful characters and housing facilities. The Chunking Mansions house long term migrants from all over the world, along with impoverished travelers. I eventually arrive in front of the, not so salubrious, Mansions to an onslaught of touts and hawkers. Selling copy watches, fake Loui Vitton hangbags and trying to lure you to their promised "Luxury Accommodation". I had the foresight to book ahead and was well warned not to tell anyone about my booking in the foyer. They are renowned for saying they are from the hotel, taking you to another place and helping you part with your money. All before you realized you were scammed. Considering these days, I trust no one who comes up to me on the streets selling me a promised land, it was easy for me to avoid any person who approached me.
The foyer to the Mansions looked more like a third world terrorist camp, than a main lobby for hotels. There were dark skinned men, Muslim men in traditional dress, Indian men flogging off cheap copy goods and tailors trying to sell suits to the tourists. I seriously started to worry about my choice of accommodation.
A security guard helped us to orderly line up and board the lift and after a great deal of time, I reached level 3. I checked in and was shown to a less then great room and informed I was going to joined by two others. In this shoe box? I had a bed the size of a camp stretcher and the other bed was no bigger than a king single...And that's it. No other room to move. We didn't even have a key to lock the door. Apparently a security camera was stragtegically placed near our door. I thought that this will only do us good, at a later date, to be able to watch the robber leaving with our bags. My other concern was who was I going top be sharing an unsecured room with....Hopefully not one of the unsavoury characters from the foyer?
After a little walk around the city and picking up my post from the GPO, I headed for a coffee break..Yep. Starbucks! When in an alien city, a little familiarity can go a long way. I was lucky enough top be joined by three more mature American gentleman, who were interested in why I was visiting the great Hongkong. After divulging my story and all my travel secrets, these guys were well impressed and I had a captive audience for the remainder of the afternoon. Company I was glad to have. By the time the sun came down, I knew that I should head back to the hostel, to see what delights were install for me there. On arrival I was wondering who was going to be behind door number 6? I was pleasantly surprised to find two young English guys, who were just as unimpressed with the accommodation as I was. This called for a beer. So we spent the rest of the evening sitting in a pub, drinking beer and joking about filling out police reports before a good night sleep. Lucky for us there was just a good night sleep ahead of us and no police reports to be had. Our stuff was safe!
The following few days went on a blur of lights, traffic and markets. Shopping is the main thing that Hongkong offers. Not my bag of lollies that's for sure. The one good thing was I was moved to the real dorm the following day. A much better place, with a door that locked and a bed that was slightly larger....And a few characters for room mates. An English girl living in Sydney, who never shut up. Thankfully she left the next day. A Japanese boy who never slept and constantly sat at his computer and made a horrendous amount of noise. Therefore no one slept. An Australian girl who spends her time traveling the world working in a circus. A few Chinese, who stayed one night and left the next.
Hongkong was not exactly the Mecca I had expected or the place that people had said it to be. It was, again, another big city. I tried my hand at shopping for some clothes, only to be insulted by a shop keeper. "Next time come back to Asia skinny, you fat slob." I think they were her words.
All in all, it was not all that I had hoped it to be, but maybe I had expected a little sanity compared to China. What I found was an expensive city, with it's main sights, it's expensive designer shops. Maybe in better company I would have fallen in love with it, like so many others have?