Typhoons and Sunburn

I arrived in Hong Kong on the 23rd and I already I love the place. It does help that I have yet again been put up by a mate (Seb, a friend of a friend) and he has been showing me the ropes.

On the first day he took me with him on a boat trip on one of his friends' junk. This is were I obtained the rather impressive sunburn mentioned in the title (fortunately/unfortunately the weather since has been a bit poo, see the typhoon mentioned in the title). From the boat I got a little look at the way the city is distributed over the islands which I think is actually quite interesting. I also met a girl, also visiting a friend, who lives in Welwyn Garden City opposite Matt Ferdenzi (a friend of mine from school) and used to run for Herts Phoenix Athletic Club.

That night they hoisted a Typhoon 8 warning that materialised in the form of a heavy storm (in fact the edge of the one that ravaged the Philippines) that raged throughout the night. The next day most things were shut but Seb and I made a trip to his football club to have a look around.

Hong Kong Football Club is quite simply, amazing. It is basically a massive social club that also has sports teams (football, rugby, hockey, tennis etc). The facilities are incredible: a beautiful artificial surface pitch, gym, swimming pool, two restaurants, bar, tennis courts on the roof and much more. Added to this it is in an awesome setting (we played a game of six-a-side surrounded on all sides by skyscrapers and wooded hills). Seb has told me that he spends most of his time in Hong Kong at the club and I wouldn't blame him.

The rest of the city is also fantastic, it is truly a world city. There is so much to do, awesome bars, restaurants etc. as well as a very cool internet café where eight of us wiled away a few hours playing Call of Duty 4. I have only been on one night out so far, although they are a few in the pipeline for the future. The cool thing about Hong Kong bars and clubs are the open bars where you pay about 13 pounds for unlimited drinks. Do not worry mother, I have shown restraint.