http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/JohnBickerton/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from JohnBickerton en-us Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:47:15 +0000 Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:47:15 +0000 So a brief summary of the whole tripWaterloo Sunset KinksDon't pay the ferryman Chris DeBurghCarry on regardless Beautiful SouthOne hand in my pocket Alanis MorissetteEliminator ZZ TopV12 DB9 Aston MartinManic Monday BanglesLift me up Geri HalliwellBreathe ProdigyFool on the hill BeatlesMoney Pink FloydPure morning PlaceboKnockin' on heaven's door Guns'n'RosesSharp dres http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/blog-59122.html Flying back is uneventful apart from the girl next to me who fell asleep quickly after takeoff and promptly lost control of her neck leaving her head antisocially lolling from side to side. The inflight movies and music channels repeat every couple of hours and uninterrupted cloud makes the view wholly unremarkable. Despite flying during daytime for both our origin and destination time zones http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-59121.html The hammering club treated me to a dawn chorus of their collective talents followed by fifteen minute instrumentals on the angle grinder to mark 830 and 9am. Irsquom awake now. As itrsquos my last full day in Hong Kong I go for a walk around the city buying last minute items that are considerably cheaper than home. I have dinner with Arthur and Rose again a fantastic multinational buffet http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-59120.html Itrsquos the little things that show how organised Hong Kong is like the adverts in the MTR stations. Itrsquos not noticeable unless you look carefully but when the train comes into each station you can see that the platform adverts are in the same order in each station. It shows the attention to detail in the culture there. The pace of the town shows clearly on the railway too the Octopus http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-59118.html This evening Irsquom going to lsquoa partyrsquo so I pick my outfit. Hong Kong is a town where you can never be overdressed so I slip into one of my new suits and a good job too. The party turns out to be the launch of Veuve Clicquotrsquos new rose champagne and paparazzi photographers line the doorway. Inside therersquos hundreds of people and champagne is flowing like water. I spend s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-55728.html It seems therersquos a formal code for walking in the street in Hong Kong. There are two speeds ldquoamble with obligatory zigzag pathrdquo and ldquoGet out of my way Irsquom laterdquo. Both are the same speed but the second uses quicker smaller steps and you tend to travel in straighter lines. Most importantly though get in other peoplersquos way. It doesnrsquot matter how you http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-55727.html I spent the day examining how the bus company manage modifications to their buses by trial examination and then modifying the whole fleet. Itrsquos a process that seems to generate more paperwork than spanner time but seems to get results.In the evening I went to Happy Valley race course the headquarters of the Hong Kong Jockey Club and one of the entertainment epicentres in HK. Ronald has mem http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-55421.html After spending the afternoon drinking coffee to stay awake in a Cantonese safety training session my favourite ldquoIn case of fire dial 7232232rdquo I leave work dazed and still holding my coffee mug. Arthur rings to say wersquore meeting his mother for dinner but her plane didnrsquot land till 530 so it wonrsquot be too early. I jump on the train to collect my suits from the tai http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-55255.html When I was much younger Mother warned me against the dangers of using an umbrella or flying kites in thunderstorms. Quite what she imagined would possess me to stay outside at the first hint of rain on the few occasions I have ever flown a kite is beyond me but today in direct defiance of her sound advice I was outside at 6am in the most magnificent storm I have ever seen under an umbrella. I wo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-54936.html The hammering society apparently take Sundays off. I wake late and head up to the Mid Levels above Central to have a look round up there since Irsquove not had a look in the daytime yet. Antiques shops abound and therersquos a strange draw towards buying knickknacks for which I have no need at all the thumb size carvings of Mao Tse Tungrsquos head come to mind but still strangely moved http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-54710.html I think my block hosts the morning practice for the Hong Kong amateur hammering club therersquos noise from beside and above and definitely more than one hammer at work in each location. Maybe Irsquove taken a room in a manufacturing facility that only works weekendsItrsquos interesting to study how much the press is controlled in the content that they can publish. Newspapers only ever s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-54709.html A slow day in work Irsquove finished an inconclusive study into why wheelnuts occasionally drop off certain buses on certain routes always the nearside rear wheel. There doesnrsquot seem to be anything particularly odd about the vehicles or route but therersquos plenty of evidence to suggest therersquos a problem somewhere. The highlight of the day is Japanese for lunchhellip Walking http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-54708.html After work this evening I went back to the tailors for my first fitting. If today is anything to go by Irsquove bought two onearmed jackets and trousers that completely cover my shoes.The tailor was a completely different animal today as he slipped deftly around me adding pins and adjusting folds he barely spoke except briefly to compliment me on my shirtIt was only 5 from the UK.Very goo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-54142.html Anybody whorsquos going travelling please bear in mind itrsquos quite a lot of work to produce a blog entry every day and some wonrsquot be that interesting. Today I went to work had a walk and came home to have tea wasnrsquot really hungry so I went to the library. Apologies to those who wanted high drama and tales of bravery and woe Irsquom tired so early bedtime.To digress sl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-54141.html After a day in work I decided to set about getting the tailormade suit that Hong Kong is famous for. Irsquove been warned that prices here are likely to be similar to those in London or Paris but I set a price of HK1300 for one suit in my head around 100. A suit at that price or maybe two would be a bargain.In the shop recommended by Lonely Planet the window and glass door appear to be t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-53602.html Whether China is Buddhish Taoist or Confucian itrsquos Easter Sunday and Irsquom 6000 miles from home alone eating a complimentary Easter bunny in a fivestar hotel room and watching traffic. Itrsquos surprisingly stressful surveying the scene as suicidal scooters weave between coaches and taxis and the occasional roar of a Ferrari V8 splits the air what do I do if I see an accident I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-53340.html After a trip to the market in Causeway Bay to check that offthepeg suits are expensive they are I get back to find the outside door of my apartment block is closed as usual and locked as usual but the keypad entry system is dark and doesnrsquot beep in the usual irritating manner when I bash some buttons to gain entry. Nonplussed I start trying all of the four keys I was given when I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-53339.html Arthur meets me in his car for a weekend in Macau we head to ferry terminal and back again for my passport and wersquore met in Macau by a stretch limo and wersquore shown the sights briefly before the driver takes us to the hotel. The Mandarin Oriental is a fivestar hotel which is owned by the same company as many of the casinos in ldquoMacau the Vegas of Asiardquo. An exPortuguese http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Macau/blog-53331.html I head to the clothing market in Mong Kok to hopefully pick up some bargains on shirts for work. The market is heaving with people and crammed with lsquobargainsrsquo to be had on souvenirs but there are some items of interest. I pick up five reasonablequality shirts for under 25 and she throws in a tie to sweeten the deal. The next stall has some reasonable ties too so I stop by to have a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-53330.html Still placed with the Technical Services department today Irsquom touring various depots to see some project work which is currently going on within the company. A design is under consideration for conversion of three doubledeck vehicles to opentop tour vehicles and two singledeck MAN vehicles are moving back to singledoor configuration with added luggage space for use on the airport route http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-53329.html