Hong Kong continued

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August 18th 2009

Published: August 24th 2009

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Andy n Jen

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outside sik sik yuen temple

We began the 18th slowly with a sleep in until 0830. We then devoured our huge breakie before heading straight to our closest pub ‘The Bear and Bull’ (the 1st British bar in Hong Kong) for some Pints and Baileys on the rocks. It was then off to the Sik Sik Yuen Temple for some fortune telling, deep prayer, and meditation. After getting directions from a local to the Temple we subsequently found ourselves somewhere in the outskirts of China and no where near our destination. One non-english speaking taxi ride later we arrive at the Temple of Incense, where the drivers only two words of English were “Be careful”. The Temple was spectacularly designed amidst Chinese gardens, water features, turtles, huge prayer areas and of course incense. We made our way into the temple where we all grabbed a basket of shaking sticks. We were then instructed to shake the lucky numbered sticks whilst continually asking and focussing on a specific question until one stick had sprung out of the basket. After intense concentration and shaking it like a polaroid picture our sticks had emerged with Jen’s number emerging 73, and Andy getting number 18. We then preceded through the

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incense...

intricately designed gardens of fortune tellers tents where for $30HK our numbers were read. Andy’s main point was to bite his tongue, whilst Jen’s were words of wisdom in “Summer is the season of love and good luck”. What a waste of $6 Australian.

It was then back to our friend the subway, a device of pure amazement, with waiting times less than 1 minute, fast, always clean and so modern. Heading back to the Bear and Bull we had a light lunch with more beer and baileys, and a Cornish pasty that came out as a shepherds pie!!! Communication breakdown….AGAIN. We then stumbled back to our hotel for a quick siesta before preparing for the night ahead. At 6 o’clock we were picked up by a luxurious couch that took us to Restaurant 666. An amazing revolving restaurant on the 62nd floor (which was once the tallest building in Hong Kong), the tallest now being built to a staggering 118 stories high. We took the glass elevator on the exterior of the building, a scary but mind blowing experience, to the top. We then sat down to jaw-dropping views and a spectacular assortment of food and wine, including

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chinese gardens

Jen’s favourite….a large chocolate fondue. Capturing some fantastic photographs it was then back to the temple street markets where Andy finally purchased his sure to be illegal DVD’S. It was then onto the harbour for a night lights cruise where the free alcohol was flowing and made for an enjoyable experience. Di-sy did a good job not to vomit.

Once back on shore we hit the red light district to carry on drinking and laughing at a strange Asian man dancing his heart out by himself in front of a mirror. A few pubs, and many drinks later, we stumbled into a strip joint to find a patron had stumbled onto the stage, busting out moves that were way better than the so called exotic dancers. The leading madam was quick to grab his ear and escort him off the stage. As fun as it was it was then off to bed in preparation for a big day in the morning.

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