We flew out of Delhi on the 11th, and although some great times were had in India, the coming change of scenery was definately a relief for the three of us. Having not booked any form of accomodation, we followed our noses and arrived at the legendary Chunking Mansions. This mammouth structure contains tens of floors of dingy guest houses and bedsits whilst the first two floors are a warren of your standard indian restaurants, sweat shops and dildo vendors. Shortly after arriving, we realised that in order to find a room we were going to have to follow one of the many Indian touts milling around on the ground floor. We were led up to a small aisle of boxy rooms on the 5th floor masquerading as "The Royal Plaza Inn". A shrill voiced and rather large turban wearing gentleman offered us a room for 250 Hong Kong dollars per night, so naturally he settled for 180.
Outside the squalor of Chunking, Hong Kong was an extremely clean and efficient city. The architecture was incredible, not to mention the array of crazy gismos most of these buildings contain. Toilets flush themselves, soap automatically dispenses itself and the toilet attendants typically come to your assistance via zipwire. Our three days and three nights in Hong Kong were all spent exploring the city and convincing ourselves that our life's troubles would inevitabley end if we were to only buy a 110" widescreen liquid display television for 14,000 pounds. The change in food was a big treat and although we did eat a portion of chow mein each at a street restaurant, McDonalds milkshakes were the staples of our diet. Sue us.
After Hong Kong's brief cameo in our travels we made our way to Phuket, Thailand and arrived on the 14th. We're staying in the flashy beach town of Patong and were organsized enough to book our diving course almost immediately (we're starting tomorrow). Luckily we've found a dive center (www.sunrisediving.net) ) run by an ex marine who went to Queen's Taunton. He gives us free internet access aswell as advice on fighting, drinking and prostitution (we'd never looked at it the way he does). Naturally, he makes us all giggle like the pathetic young boys that we are .
Patong is everything you would imagine; white sand, crystal clear water, lush greenery and a few gogo bars to cheapen the scene a bit. Hopefully our skin will soon recover from the 35 degree scorching it received yesterday and we can show ourselves in public.
Hope all is well in Bristol, we are thinking of you and love you all long time
