Hong Kong, China: Feeling the squeeze.

Well, it's been a while. As you may know, my trip has come to an end and I am now back in breezy Britain. We've been unable to access the blog due to the 'Great Firewall of China', where they don't like people blogging lest they, God forbid, express an opinion. Anyhow, let's see if I can't bring you up to speed quickly over the next few days. Jacqui's trip has over a month to run (she's three days into her epic six-day Trans-Siberian train from Beijing to Moscow as I type). She'll fill you in on that once she finds an internet cafe in Russia next week.

We briefly returned to Hanoi after Halong Bay before flying to Hong Kong. After several months in developing countries, arrival in HK was a shock. Everything seemed so clean, cars would actually stop at pedestrian crossings, barely a scooter in sight: we were a bit bewildered in truth. The city centre is squeezed into quite a small area of land, yet it's tough on pedestrian shoe leather with plenty of steep hills.

We stayed in Kowloon, across the harbour from Hong Kong Island. We had little choice but to stay in one of the big 'mansions' around the main drag (Nathan Road). These buildings feel like tired old office complexes that have been converted into budget accommodation. Each floor has two or three small guesthouses - many of which seemed to be housing migrant workers. Our hotel room in Mirador Mansion was perhaps our smallest of the trip. All Hong Kong backpacker rooms are shoe-boxes. Our room consisted of a bed, a small table and mirror, and about two square feet of standing room outside the equally miniature bathroom. This was not a room for a six-footer like myself, but I just had to lump it. Thankfully there was storage space under the bed for all our gear.

Space is at a premium here. Unpromising, scruffy lift-shafts can often lead to large and fancy first-floor restaurants; a tawdry looking silk shop might have a cracking bar in its basement - our guidebook helped to an extent, but you probably need a goodly amount of local knowledge to make the best of Hong Kong. Our one bar tip though: Cafe 71, an excellent bohemian little place, if you can find it...

The first thing to do when you get to Hong Kong is take a ride on the Star Ferry at night and take in the hugely impressive cityscape. This was a whole world of difference from SE Asia where we'd seen very few skyscrapers over the previous two months.

Prices gave us a jolt too. From 50p beers in Vietnam I was suddenly confronted with the prospect of a pint of Carlsberg setting me back 57 HK dollars (£4.45). I nursed one gingerly while we watched the Championship Play-off Final in an Irish bar.

We also took the earliest available opportunity to visit the legendary Happy Valley Racecourse, which proved a really entertaining night out, made all the better in the last race of the day when a horse, appropriately named Really Happy, wiped out the losses we'd accumulated by betting on earlier races, leaving us slightly in profit for the night. Can't argue with that.

The following day we were lucky enough to be in town for the annual Dragon Boat Festival in Stanley, at the southern tip of HK Island. Despite some rainy weather everybody seemed to be having a brilliant time, with most competing teams comprised of groups of friends or workmates. I especially enjoyed the team competing in panda outfits.

We had given ourselves plenty of time for Hong Kong and this meant we were able to go on a couple of walking tours our guide book had recommended, which gave us a less touristy insight into real Hong Kong life. The walk we did in Kowloon was especially interesting, as we got off the beaten track away from sterile shopping malls and took in some hectic markets. This felt more like China; less colonial than other parts of Hong Kong. Our HK Island walk took in Norman Foster's unusual HSBC building, described by locals as an 'inside-out robot'.