Hong Kong Day 1

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Hi Everyone

Can l begin by asking your indulgence. Forgive any obvious spelling mistakes or the lack of good grammar but l am working under harsh circumtances - on the 25th Floor of the City Garden Hotel in downtown Wan Chi on Hongkong Island. That enough of the orientation (sorry about that pun - as l am still sober).

Anyway.

Can l begin by giving those interested a little geography of the route we took to get here (apart that is of persauding Nancy to come that is). We left Newcastle at a very civilised time at 17.50 via London Heathrow Terminal 5 over flying directly over Copenhagen, Riga, Moscow, Siberia and south through China to Hong Kong arriving through 7 time zones at 16.00 hours. Nancy and l were both concerned about our baggage going through Terminal 5 - but everything went smoothly and we were reunited with our baggage.

The flight was uneventful to such extent that even Nancy managed to sleep for long periods. Which those that know Nancy's sleeping habits on her travels was amazing.

On arrival in Hong Kong we met by a guide who took us by minibus directly to our hotel. We have to say that this had been organised extremely well and must be ideal way to travel anywhere. On the minibus to the hotel we met two other couples travelling around the world allbeit on slighly different route.

So after a long flight and a evening meal to organise the obvious place to go in Hong Kong is a Italian Restuarant. So sorry about that but we did find a very interesting Chinese Restuarant. This was not your obvious Chinese resturant which we would find in England but a very local Chinese Restaurant where the local population would eat. We are not going into great detail about all the meals we had but this one was interesting and very different. Nancy had a very interesting looking Sea Food Stew sort of thing and l had Sweet and Sour Pork. Well l would would l!!! The interesting thing about the meal was the local population of the restauant which were entirely Chinese. Can l just say at this point that in my observation there are an awful lot of Chinese around here. As l about to say the interesting thing about this meal was the television. The locals were absolutely fasinated by a Chinese soap which was apparently set in the distant past. They, the staff, as well as the customers were glued to the television set. It so much more interesting watching them as it was watching the televison.

After the meal and for the information of those that do not know us very well we then went back to hotel bar and had a drink or two ot three of Chinese beer which Nancy gave a pass mark to. Can we just say at this point that the entertainment and locals here were far less interesting than our last trip to Virginia. It was fasinating to see and hear that the local Chinese poulation are really into Abba and would get up and dance at every opportunity.


Anyway that is enough boring stuff for the first half day of our trip. Speak to all tomorrow.

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