Last Thursday I started off by going to see the Noon-Day Gun, which is an old Naval gun that is fired at precisely 12pm every day. The story goes that there used to be a pair of guns that were fired every time the Jardines arrived in Hong Kong. There was one British Senior Naval Officer who got annoyed with this practice because he didn't understand it so he declared that as punishment they would have to fire it as a timekeeping shot every day at 12pm. Being a Naval gun it is quite loud, you can feel the force of it through the air.
After finding some lunch I spent the afternoon up on
the Peak. Fortunately this time the air was clearer so I could actually see the city below. I decided to walk around the peak along a trail which has a surprisingly rural feel (apart from the background rumble of the
city). Unfortunately it was still fairly overcast so the views weren't quite as spectacular as they might have been, but it was an enjoyable walk.
Then came the main event. The Rugby 7s.
As it turned out, the weather wasn't great (surprise, surprise...), which is apparently unusual for the 7s, but it was awesome nonetheless. It wasn't quite as busy on the Friday evening, but by the Sunday there was definitely a real buzz around the stadium. It helped that England made it all the way to the final, but almost every match was epic (as is the nature of rugby 7s), with teams like Australia and France getting booed, and Hong Kong getting the biggest cheers. The rugby was phenomenal, and although England were beaten at the last by New Zealand I still loved it. It's definitely something I'd like to do again, maybe with a big group of friends next time.
Throughout the event they had things like crowd sing-alongs and some of the costumes that people had come up with were truly inspired. The event concluded with a spectacular firework display and performance by some of the military bands, as well as the NZ team getting half-naked and performing the haka.
The rest of the week has been fairly relaxed and I have been fortunate enough to be taken out for meals at both the Foreign Correspondents Club and the Golf Club. I also made a trip out to the New Territories to spend a night at the home of Guy, who was at Cambridge with my father, aunt and uncle. That was quite different as he lives on the doorstep of a country park and right down on the waterside. I didn't spend very long there, but a walk with the dogs was definitely enough to be able to see a different side of Hong Kong.
Unfortunately my Hong Kong experience came to an end yesterday when I boarded a flight to Manila. The journey was pretty much uneventful (apart from getting fleeced by a taxi driver) and I am now writing this on the terrace in the hostel where I'm staying (which happens to be called Friendly's Guesthouse). I haven't really planned out what I'm going to do while here in the Philippines, but I'll probably be in Manila for a few days before heading north into the Cordillera.
So Jealous!
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