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Published: December 30th 2010
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Mmmm, Christmas Dinner
Not a hint of festivity and not much English spoken but great Christmas dinner Saturday 25th December – Arriving in Hong Kong on Christmas Day
Touched down at 2PM in Hong Kong and then off to the Langham Palace hotel in “gritty Mongkok”. Thoughts and experiences:
Changing rooms – Checked in after 19 hours travelling to find shattered glass all over the bathroom floor. Apparently no more rooms at the inn, but after keeping cool and staying friendly, got an upgrade to a Spa Room on the 40th floor. Bit of a result then!
People power – If you thought London was busy, you won’t have been to the most densely populated district in the world – can’t imagine what rush-hour is like here.
Christmas dinner – Not sure if fried rice, spare rib noodles and beef curry count for traditional Christmas dinner in HK but perhaps we have started a new tradition!
Sunday 26th December – Exploring Wan Chai
First full day to explore Hong Kong, but jet lag made it a half day (slept through the alarm):
Star Ferries – The cheapest (25p) and best way to see the harbour and the famous Hong Kong skyline.
Water babies – Dip in the rooftop pool (on 41st floor)
On Top of the World
View from the hotel room followed by Jacuzzi, hot tub and steam/sauna. Deborah asked if someone left a window open before we looked up to see no roof!
Avenue of Stars – The skyline at night (neon aplenty) whilst strolling along the HK equivalent of Hollywood strip. Sadly, Bruce Lee was the only name we recognised.
Monday 27th December – Central District and Harbour Cruise
A proper full day of exploring including a walking tour of Central District and a harbour cruise with laser show:
Monkeys – Quiet calm close to the financial district, with very entertaining monkeys at the botanical garden and zoo.
Lunch? – Lots of pointing, nodding and smiling and a few minutes later we still weren’t quite sure what was for lunch – turned out good though.
Harbour cruise and light show – Victoria harbour at night, seeing the lasers dance across the high rise buildings – peculiarly Hong Kong style bling!
Tuesday 28th December – Lantau Island with the Big Buddha
Off-piste to Lantau Island, to ride the cable car and see the monastery:
Cable car – Huge queue for the cable car but spectacular views over Island and mainland.
Hello Kittie visits London (allegedly)
Chinese Kitsch and the place to have your photo taken – red and white thing is apparently the London Eye! Big Buddha – You travel all the way to the top of a mountain to enjoy a tourist village and someone sticks a monastery (Po Lin) and a huge Buddha up there too! Trekked out to the Wisdom Walk as we felt we had some to impart…
Buddhist Lunch – Veggie lunch in the monastery was a feast and food for thought.
Tri-ing hard – Swam the whole length of the pool for the first time, which is looking a bit better for the 5 triathlons booked next season – just need to string 16 together for the sprint tri now (and 32 for the full).
Wednesday 29th December – A Peak Experience
Headed for the hills to get a birds-eye view before departing for a night flight to Sydney:
Peak Tram – Created to help the wealthy British get to The Peak and back without bothering with those pesky hand-held carriages – just couldn’t get the staff…
Lunch – We were either very lucky with restaurant choices (Mak's Noodles this time) or all Chinese food in Hong Kong is top notch?
360 view – Spectacular views of Victoria Harbour and all around – that
Skyscrapers, Golden Flower and Bald Bloke
It's all about reunification around here - national flower of Hong Kong (not Simon)! Hong Kong skyline gets you every time!
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Ian Johnson
non-member comment
Bloody hell!!!
If I were there the floor of the cable car would turn quite opaque quite quickly!!