This morning we said goodbye to the beautiful town of Yangshuo and headed to the train station for our final bullet train journey to Hong Kong.

Before leaving we went out for breakfast and came across a local on his moped with his dog.

Life is simple here and laid back, a refreshing reminder that what we had heard about China before visiting wasn’t a true reality.

Once at the train station we had a short wait before we heading to the platform and grabbed a few photos on the last day of our Intrepid tour in China.

On the platform waiting for our final train with a few of the travel group crew.

And here’s the train, and it’s on time!

The journey was c. 4hrs and we travelled along at a steady 300kph through endless tunnels before we reached the start of the urban sprawl as we got close to our final destination.

Entering into Hong Kong has a definite feel of leaving one country and arriving at a new one, with passport checks and arrival forms for HK.

Once we had battled through the numerous passport checks we picked up a taxi for the short trip to the Travel Lodge, Kowloon.

Oddly the Hong Kong taxi’s felt like a step back in time, compared to the modern electric ones we’ve travelled in elsewhere in China, and look to be at least 25-30yrs old & relics of the British rule which ended in 1997.

Once we had briefly settled into our hotel we went out for a final tour group excursion and dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant.

After a pleasant, if unspectacular meal, we walked down to the harbour to the Avenue of the Stars and Symphony of Lights to try and catch the 8pm show. Sadly we were a little late and instead plan to see this spectacular light show another night during our 3 day stay.

The Kowloon part of Hong Kong is one of the oldest and whilst there are still many hotels, shops and restaurants it feels like it’s seen better days and wasn’t quite the Hong Kong hub we had imagined.

The area did start to improve as we walked alongside Kowloon Park and passed the Kowloon Mosque, a stunning and historic landmark on Nathan Road.

As we got to the harbour end of Nathan Street, the area took on a real shine with high end retail stores, new hotels and then the sight of the skyline lit up across the water and the view of Hong Kong Island opposite.

We had a wander around the area alongside the harbour where the Hong Kong Space Museum along with the Museum of Art are located in modern architectural buildings.

Inevitably our eyes were drawn to the skyline and the numerous skyscrapers all lit up.

This is the Hong Kong we had heard about and seen in pictures. It feels like a modern financial city hub which wouldn’t look out of place in Europe or the US.

Sadly this was our last night with our tour group and we celebrated the last 17 days together with a beer on the steps looking out over the water. We had fun reminiscing about the places we’ve visited since meeting in Beijing on the 13th August.

Tomorrow we plan to meet up with the remaining people from our tour group (Laura, Jamie, Christine, Simon and Julie) and visit Victoria Peak and do the Peak Walk before going to the man-made peak at Sky100 Observation Deck for a different view of the city.