Advertisement
Published: June 25th 2009
Edit Blog Post
A brief pitstop in Bangkok to collect our visas for India, and we're on our flight to Hong Kong, where we're spending the weekend with Sarah. Having gone there to teach for a year...6 years ago, we know the living must be good. We arrive onto a Hong Kong island shrouded in misty rain, with clouds gathering round the lofty peaks of hills and giddying forest of skyscrapers clustered on the slopes. As our taxi crawls through the Saturday afternoon traffic, all English road markings and windows misting from the rain, it could be central London. A very posh bit though; every shop is high end designer with Chanel, Hermes and Fendi nestling between the skyscrapers housing international financial institutes...it doesn't look like the recession is doing much damage here. We reach the Mid-Levels, a residential district of towering apartment blocks; with the security gates and concierge it's a long way from Tollbar Towers...we are not in Sutton anymore.
Sarah answers the door, her smile even sunnier than I remember, and then we meet her daughter Katie, who's beaming to match her mum. She is totally gorgeous; happy and smiley with that creamy soft skin only a 6 month old
baby has. We are instantly smitten. When Sarah explains about Katie's terrifying health problems they've been dealing with, and the good news received from doctors just days earlier, we rejoice together whilst Katies laughs at us.
Sarah's fiance Mark soon gets home from some hardcore football training in the rain. He's just had bad news that despite such dedication, a clerical error put him in the over 40's group (!) and he's therefore missed selection for an important international tournament. He's understandably pissed off, but admirably puts away his dissapointment whilst we're introduced, and smiles from Daddy's girl melt him completely. From Durham, he supports Sunderland who could possibly get relegated tomorrow if Chelsea beat them. Uh oh. Two football related disasters in one weekend could leave us homeless, he jokes...I think 😉
Tonight Mark's on babysiting duty whilst Sarah takes us on a big girl's night out (and Ritch). We meet her girlfriends over Thai food and cocktails before bar crawling round the Wan Chai disctrict. It's been awhile since we've been in flash city bars with decent DJs and imported spirits, but we're ok...we can remember how it's done. The ex-pat life is clearly agreeing with
everyone and there's a real buzz to the city. It's kind of a blend of London and Tokyo and the dramatic hilly terrain adds a touch of Rio (especially as thick clouds prevent us from getting the full view!)
It's 2am and we're just on the cusp of ruining ourselves by moving on to the next club when a well timed taxi reminds us of our Sunday brunch date, not to mention Katie's 7am internal alarm clock. So we sensibly (and amazingly, given previous form) call it a night, this is a very good thing. I wake feeling great, but by the time we are showered, dressed and heading down to the lobby, I realise that I'm still drunk from last night. This could be touch and go.
Things improve dramatically as our taxi pulls up to their sports club at Happy Valley...it's super posh, surrounded by a horse racing track which is the only place in Hong Kong where gambling is legal...I can imagine the stakes get very high. The place is incredible and their Sunday brunch buffet could be the best hangover cure in the world, ever. For twenty pounds a head, it's all you can
drink fizz and the most amazing buffet that can take you through breakfast, lunch and dinner all the way to a mountain of desserts. We are a table of 16, a mix of Sarah and Mark's fellow teachers and their partners...it's a great group who are all glowing after escaping London (or maybe it's just the Bucks Fizz?!)
There's a brief appearance by a friend who was out with us last night, but didn't make the 2am taxi. She lasts ten minutes before deciding that perhaps she has a virus and dissapears. Funny how my hangover seems to vanish in the face of such suffering! Sarah heroically takes her own hangover in her stride with no help from the hair of the dog, being on Mummy duty. Mark bravely picks up the baton, whilst making sure that my cup is always overflowing! For 4 hours we eat and drink our way round the room; from smoked salmon and scrambled eggs through to a roast dinner and pud, via the sushi and oyster bar. Countless bottles of fizz later and through the ceaseless banter and loud laughter we realise the room has cleared. This is also a tradition...they are always
the last table 'standing'...bloody teachers!
On the taxi ride home we're all feeling sleepy, ready to curl up on the sofa and fall asleep in front of a film. This is the most 'Sunday-ish' I've felt in a long, long time. I like it. Later that night we stay up with Mark for the last game of the Premiership...it's smiles all round when, despite Chelsea beating Sunderland, it's Newcastle who go down. Mark is a very happy bunny, heading to bed singing of the Geordie's demise. We head to bed, happy we still have a bed.
It's a very grey and rainy Monday morning, so we decide there's no hurry to start our day and have a long lie-in. Sarah and Mark are not so lucky...it's a school day for them and they are long gone by the time we surface. Katie is being entertained by her very own Mary Poppins-alike, singing nanny Rose, as we finally venture out into the drizzle armed with maps and brollies. The weather is a crying shame, blotting out everything with rain clouds that don't look like budging. We find our way down the hill, wander through SoHo and Wan Chai and
into the bustling shopping Central area. We head for the Star Ferry, to take us across the harbour to Kowloon. Moving through the mist, both shores are completely cloaked in cloud, with just the shadows of skyscrapers visable.
The rain gets heavier and so, bellies rumbling, we seek refuge in a Chinese restaurant where we point at pictures of what we want. The entirely Chinese clientele are staring at us; the reason quickly becomes clear when our waiter rushes over in time to stop me in the act of pouring 'tea'. Turns out I was about to start supping the cup-warming water...the waiter supresses his smile as he puts down the pot of fragrant jasmine tea. We clearly do not have a clue what we're doing. We fare much better with our 'point and hope' food ordering technique; the duck and pork dishes that arrive are delicious and our well-honed chopstick skills save us from any further embarassment.
When we emerge from our late lunch, back onto Kowloon's streets the rain is even heavier, so we admit defeat and head back up the steep hill home. This is much easier than you may think as there is an escalator that takes you effortlessly from Central all the way up to Mid-Levels. Absolute genius...I want one in Brighton! The rain puts paid to any plans of the boys playing tennis and dinner at the club, we're all too tired anyway (not that us work-shy loafers have any right to be!) Much more appealing is sofa, movie and a home delivery of Mexican food...like I've said before, me and Ritch are currently on the 'eat everything in sight' diet before we head to Delhi tomorrow night.
Our last day is marginally brighter, and once we're back from the shops of Central and gourmet burgers in SoHo there's patches of blue sky, so we decide to head to The Peak. There's a fantastic old tram that transports us up the ridiculously steep slope to a lookout point which gives the full 360 of Hong Kong. On a clear day you could see for miles, but we're just happy to be able to take in the view down to the harbour. We're above the clouds and so even get a little sunshine and blue sky for our final Hong Kong moments. We've had a wicked time in Hong Kong; Sarah and Mark have really looked after us and shared with us a glimpse of their lovely life here with their gorgeous baby girl. The bad weather was a shame, but it just means that there's loads more to see when we come back.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.117s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 51; dbt: 0.062s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Andrew
non-member comment
Any advice?
Hi - great blog, I will be going to Hong Kong for three weeks on a work assignment, leaving on Friday.....any advice or must see places you would recommend? Thanks, Andrew