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Published: November 3rd 2012
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19
th – 23
rd October
Hong Kong
We caught our flight from Beijing to Shenzen in China. The airport in Beijing was an old army base and Terry was a bit worried I had booked some cheap airline (which I had) that would be dangerous. The airline was the only one to fly out from this airport so it wasn’t busy at all, only took 15 minutes to check in and go through security. First time since India they noticed I had a lighter in my back pack, so had to hand it over. Plus they made me open my locket necklace to ensure I had nothing hidden inside – again never had that happen before, so Terry and I thought it can’t be that bad.
The flight was great and we even had food which was a surprise. We landed in Shenzen which is on the Chinese border of HK. We flew to here as it was £150 each cheaper then to fly direct to HK. It took one hour on the subway to reach the immigration border, which was a breeze to go through, before we spent another hour on the airport express bus to
the HK airport where we were going to meet my mom. We were two hours late to meet mom, even though I had warned her we had a long way to come, she looked very relieve to see us, think she was starting to worry we were not coming. She had not slept at all on the plane but she seemed alright, if that had been me I would of look a lot worse and been a lot more moodier.
We caught the bus to HK island where we had rented a whole apartment to ourselves through Air BnB for £60 a night. It was on the Hollywood rd, a short distance from the SoHo area.
As we arrived at the apartment quite late into the evening we all crashed out and got a good night sleep ready for the next day. To get around HK we purchased Octopus cards which are just like the London Oyster card. Mom was able to get senior discount so everywhere cost her no more then 20p to get around whilst we were payin around a pound on average! We loved HK it was bigger then we thought
it was, made up of the mainland and a few islands. We went over to Kowloon area and had a look at all the markets. Terry picked up a great polo shirt and I got some cheap sunglasses as mine had broke. That evening we decided to grab a cooked oasted duck as they were sold everywhere in the shops and looked so delicious. We also brought some green Veg to have with it – was the best duck! And so much of it too for only £6 altogether.
Terry and I went out for a drink on the evening to flute bar where my friend from Uni now runs it with his girlfriend, was great to see him again and the bar was fantastic, small with lots of charm. He even made us two mojitos each on him – felt very woozy leaving the bar afterwards.
One of the days we headed to Latau island which is the island adjacent to HK island. We caught a gondola up over the mountains to where a big Buddha statue was on the hill. Mom was really impressed with it. We then caught the bus over to a
small fishing village which just stank of fish surprisingly haha, but I think it's to warm to have fish hanging up everywhere!
Next day we caught the tram that goes up to the top of the Peak that is the highest point on HK island and overlooks the city below. We got up there late evening so we could see the view in the light and then as it grows darker. Was one of the best city views we have seen, I think because it was more natural rather then on top of a building we were just on top of a hill. Was very spectacular, mom has never seen a skyline like that before she said so that was incredible.
On our last night we went over to Kowloon as from the promenade they have a laser show where the buildings on HK island light up in time to music. Was a huge crowd that gathered and was fun to watch, however Terry did say the music could of been better, maybe a bit of Metallica or something would of livened things up rather than the traditional Chinese music.
We loved HK, we only ate out the once but it was not that great and preferred to buy the roasted duck and veg that we had at our apartment, as we got so much more and was so tasty. The nightlife in HK from what we saw looked really good, loved the SoHo area, had a really nice expat vibe to it. Think we would definitely head back to HK again!
Singapore – 5 hours 22
nd October
We caught a flight from HK to Singapore which gave us a 5 hour stop over in Singapore. Terry and I have been before so we quickly headed into the city and took mom to see Raffles and we splashed out on the Singapore sling cocktail for her. As she was dressed for travelling she refused to go into the Raffles long bar at first but as soon as she saw a backpacker covered in tattoos and wearing flip flops enter, she soon went in. Was totally overpriced in there but was worth it for mom. We then had a look at the skyline, grabbed some food and headed back to the airport to catch an overnight 5
hour flight to Darwin, Australia.....
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