On 6th July I had a very late start and then, in preparation for heading for less sophisticated and functional parts of the world, I went to the post office to send off by surface mail to the UK the usual batch of things – photocopies of my diary, developed slide films, and a few mementos such as used air tickets. Despite being (if only for 6 more years…) a British colony, Hong Kong felt very Asian and “exotic”, and it was strange to see the Queen on the stamps and coins.

Next priority was to see if my Chinese visa had been issued the previous day, so I headed to the travel agent and lo and behold there was the visa in my passport when they handed it back to me. So it looks like this adventure really is going to happen…

In the afternoon I embarked on a Hong Kong walking tour. This was more interesting than I had expected, and went round some of the historic sites of the original buildings and fortifications, from when the island was first captured and claimed as a colony. We also went to a “medical market” full of shops selling all manner of weird things that are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

On the tour was a girl from Munich called Niki, and after the tour was over she accompanied me for the rest of the afternoon. We found a very British-looking post box nearby, a reminder that this is definitely not China – yet.

After a drink we headed up towards the Peak Tram station.

The Peak Tram took us to the top of Victoria Peak, which we reached just as the light was starting to fade.

I took the same photo 3 times as the daylight faded and the lights came on in the huge and buzzing city below us. Eventually it was time to head down. I said farewell to Niki, and caught the Star Ferry to Kowloon and my little room. The Wimbledon ladies final was on, and I watched the Argentine Gabriela Sabatini get within 2 points of winning the championship, only for her arch rival, the German Steffi Graf, to recover and come back to win.

On 7th July I had another late start. First task was to load up on films, since I have little expectation of being able to buy reliable slide film in China. I also figured that I’ll be eating very Chinese food for the next month, and so indulged in a very western brunch at Burger King.

I found a small Mandarin phrase book, which may well turn out to be a good investment. However, though there are several pages about pronunciation, the tonal nature of Mandarin makes it incredibly difficult…

I then decided to head out to one of the outer islands of the colony. At Star Ferry terminal it was a little confusing trying to figure out the options, but I decided on Lamma Island, this being the easiest to get to – about 12 km by boat.

From the little port where the boat docked it wasn’t obvious how to escape to get outside the village, but after a couple of false starts I found the way round the bay and over the green hills to the fairly unspoiled west coast of the island.

Having got used to Hong Kong being a concrete jungle, it was a surprise and relief to see rural tranquility within the same territory, within sight of Victoria Peak. I caught the next boat to Hong Kong Island and then took a bus “over” Victoria Peak (one end of it) back to the north side and then got the ferry back to Kowloon.

I decided to ring my sister in Bedfordshire to confirm my plans to head for China – my brother-in-law answered and wished me luck.

Back in my little room I relaxed, watching the men’s final at Wimbledon – Michael Stich beat Boris Becker in straight sets.