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Published: September 12th 2011
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Hong Kong
The view from the top of the observation point We arrived in Hong Kong at around 3pm local time and had an easy journey to our hotel, picking up the express train to Kowloon and then an airport shuttle bus to our Hotel.
Arriving at the ICON hotel we were happy with our choice of accommodation - bell boys to carry our (slightly oversized) luggage, a luxurious reception and a room on the 17th floor with view over the Hong Kong harbour.
We had a quick shower and got out to experience some of the Hong Kong nightlife… The hotel was on Kowloon, near Nathan Road so we headed out into the 30 degree plus heat and took a stroll. We were given a recommendation for a Dim Sum restaurant at the top of Nathan Road so we made our way through the street food vendors, hundreds of stores and market stalls, to find the restaurant Tim Ho Wah. We were a little dubious as to where we were heading at one point as the restaurant is out of the way of the tourist area, but we eventually stumbled across a group of people queuing outside what looked like a small café, and we guessed this must be
Chicken feet to go!
Leaving with our take away that got binned in 2 blocks the place.
We queued outside along with the others, until a small Chinese lady came and shouted at us to come and sit at a table… Customer service is different in HK! The seating was cosy to say the least, we were given 2 seats at a table bordering 2 other tables where you had no choice but to be-friend your neighbours, but the food smelt good, and having lived off plane food for the past 24 hours we were both looking forward to a good Chinese meal. We handed in our order card and waited for the food to start to arrive, although there was a mistake in our plan of ordering… we had to mark on a piece of paper next to the items on the menu that we wanted. Will had thought that you would only get enough for 1 person with each order, so decided to write 2 next to a number of items to make sure we had enough… wrong! The food didn’t stop arriving, and the little Chinese lady was coming to our table every 2 mins with yet more food saying ‘too much’ ‘too much’… she didn’t think to tell us this
when we were ordering though! That aside, the food was really tasty! Well all apart from the last dish that arrived, which looked like poached knuckles of meat… we were informed that these were actually chickens feet… apparently a local delicacy, but one which we passed on. The nice Chinese lady packaged up our left overs (including 2 full bowls of chickens feet) and sent us on our way. We made it 2 blocks before dumping our leftovers in a bin… we definitely couldn’t face waking up to those in the morning!
On our journey home we came across Bagpuss working in a news agent, needless to say Jo got camera happy and we have several pictures to prove it!
The next day we headed to the Star Ferry terminal and headed over to the Central District of Hong Kong Island. After a few unplanned detours whilst we were finding our bearings, we caught a ride up the never ending escalator to the mid levels before navigating to the Victoria Peak Tram to take in the fantastic views across the harbour back to Kowloon.
As we were both shattered we caught a taxi back to the hotel,
which allowed KC our driver the opportunity to try and sell us a series of tours and excursions – we were measured and polite in our responses!
After a bit of sunbathing around our roof top pool, we had a quick change before returning to the terrace to watch the sun set over the city and the light show across the financial district buildings. We then headed out to Lei Garden for dinner following a recommendation from some of the hotel staff. After being seated and reading through the menu and noting delicacies of whale blubber and pig’s pancreas, and the distinct absence of familiar dishes, we made a hasty run for the door before we ended up with a repeat of the previous night and doggy bags of food we had no intention of eating! We walked a little further past some very dubious live bands doing cover’s of western music to entertain diners, we settled on the Outback Steak House. Before retiring for the evening we walked back past the ferry terminal to take in the sights of Hong Kong all light up at night.
Unfortunately the next day Will felt sick and initiated our 24
hour stint of room service and hotel TV.
The next day started slowly, although we finally checked out just after lunch, at which point Jo headed back to the markets without any supervision! Needless to say she returned to the hotel with bags of tat and a big grin on her face…. I accept some of the responsibility…. I shouldn’t have entrusted her with our spending money!!
To finish off our stay in our hotel and Hong Kong we (Jo) decided we should reward our feet for all the walking with pedicures. After two hours and a little snoring, our feet were left soft and refreshed!
We then headed back to the airport to finish the journey to Sydney. Needles to say we encountered some weight problems at check-in! With a little redistribution we avoided excess baggage charges, although that’s primarily due to them not weighing our hand luggage as that was well over the allowance!
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