We flew in to Beijing after about 7 hours sitting on the tarmac in Hong Kong or circling south of Beijing due to a thick fog. Luckily we'd been upgraded to Business class so it wasn't as unbearable as it could have been. After the first day though it cleared up and was nice for walking around. Beijing was very different to what we expected and has wide streets, low buildings and heaps of space. It was cold though, getting down to below zero most nights so we have had good use of our winter woollies. We checked out some [View Full Entry]

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We caught the Turbojet, which is a massive catamaran that hurtles over the water, from Hong Kong over to Macau. Macau is on the mainland of China but until 1999 was under Portuguese rule. It was pretty interesting with a mix of Portuguese and Chinese architecture and culture but the big thing these days is gambling. Casinos are not legal in Hong Kong so Macau is the equivalent of Vegas here and they were big, brashy and multilevel! One even had dancing girls behind the bar on the 1st of 4 levels but cameras were banned so you’ll have to [View Full Entry]

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Mount Isa to Hong Kong Kung Hei Fat Choi! (happy and prosperous New Year - rough translation) We have had a great time in Hong Kong and have sampled a good selection of Hong Kong life. It was definitely a change from laid-back and lightly populated Mount Isa to the intensity of Hong Kong! We have enjoyed staying in Kowloon despite the frequent cries of hawkers for "tailor made suit for you?" and "copy handbag? wallet? watch?” We had a Hong Kong Island tour with a very funny guide who ended pretty much every sentence with "or somefing like that" [View Full Entry]

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