We arrived in Hong Kong an hour ahead of schedule and unlike the dramas at Heathrow passing through customs and immigration was a breeze. The new airport is huge and after we got through we found our way to the Airport Express train to Kowloon. From Kowloon a bus is included in the $90 fare from the airport so it’s pretty good value. We are staying at the YMCA on Salisbury Road at Tsim Sha Tsui and the location is amazing. Our room is a harbour view room and we have great views of Victoria Harbour and the nightly light show. The hotel next door charges about eight times the price for somewhere to sleep. No comparison. We arrived about seven o’clock and as the light show starts at 8 pm we waited until that was ... read more

Today we travel back to the UK to spend one night there before we head off for Hong Kong for our final four nights. We were hoping for a bit of sunshine today to top off our tans but it is rather overcast, as was yesterday. The car had to be back by 10.30 am so we finished packing our parcel to mail back home which was 19kg. It cost us €81.00 send back which is considerably less than excess baggage. After w got back from taking the car, we had a few hours just to finalise packing until we were picked up to take us to Luqa for our flight to Heathrow. We have had a really great holiday in Malta and it’s sad to leave. We have seen so much, yet there is still ... read more

Today has been a long and tiring day. Up at 4 am, but awake at 2.30 am, to leave at 5 am to get the 7 am catamaran to Sicily for our day trip. We managed to get a good parking spot just outside the sea terminal gates so no fees to pay. The trip was Sicily was about 90 minutes and the Med was as smooth as can be. We had a couple of cups of coffee and breakfast on board. This was a much bigger vessel than the one we got from Penang to Langkawi so there was hardly any pitching and rolling. It actually steamed at about 35 knots which is 40 miles per hour and yet there was no sensation of that speed. On arrival at Pozzallo, we boarded our coach for ... read more

So today we are off to Gozo. We got away fairly early and caught the 8.15 am ferry arriving a little over twenty minutes later at Mgarr. The journey was very pleasant and just enough time to have a cup of coffee before we arrived. On driving off the ferry our first port of call, excuse the pun, was to head to Victoria (Rabat) the capital of Gozo. The city was known as Rabat but the name was changed to Victoria on Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee in 1897. As it was just on opening time for both schools and shops the traffic was reasonably heavy but we managed to find parking near the bus terminus. As we found out, this was only a short stroll to the main shopping area and the Citadel. We walked up ... read more

Today we set out in search of history and ended up a little disappointed, although we did have a good day. We headed off to Birgu, which was renamed Vittoriosa after the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. Birgu was where the Knights settled in Malta after they were kicked out of Rhodes by the Muslims in 1530. To protect themselves they turned the town into a fortified city to protect against further attacks from the Turks, which in the end turned out to be very beneficial. On entering the city we walked down towards the main square and on the right we visited the Inquisitors Palace. This building was originally the Law Courts of the Knights but after they moved to Valletta in 1571 it became the Inquisitors Palace, administering religious law for over 160 ... read more