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Published: January 3rd 2007
Hi folks, well, so far so good. We set off from Heathrow as planned early evening of 28th December and arrived in Hong Kong afternoon of 29th.
Once through customs etc we got the Airport Express train down to Central and then the MTR (underground system) on to Fortress Hill which was the nearest station from our hotel (about a 5 minute walk).
Our hotel was very large and good, the facilities were excellent and the people very helpful and friendly. Bob and I spent the first day wandering around, we walked through Victoria Park up to Causeway Bay (which is a very large shopping area) and then back again stopping on route at a small local Chinese Restaurant for a wonderful local meal.
We got up early the next day and set off for Lantau Island and visited the Budda and Po Lin Monastry. Bob didn't do the steps up to the Budda which was a shame as once you were up there the sites were great and also there were many more statues and things to see that you couldn't view from down the bottom. We then went in to the Monastry where we saw a display of Martial Arts and had a vegitarian meal.... well it was cooked very nicely and was certainly an experience but I don't think it is one that I will repeat (not too keen on Tofu!).
We then went back to the hotel to wash and change in time to meet up at Joe Banana's for cocktails with Mandy and Steve who had arrived in Hong Kong earlier that afternoon. After a number of drinks we then headed off to find a restaurant and ended up with a particular speciality of "Hot Pot" which is where you have a large hot bowl of water and cook your own meat/fish etc in the water. Actually the food was really nice, well we cooked it so we would have only had ourselves to blame but again, it was a fun experience but not necessarily one that we would want to repeat too often. After further cocktails and a quick trip in to a Girly Bar we headed back to our hotel around 1am.
31st December Bob and I set off on the MTR (god this underground is fantastic, it is so clean, punctual and well signposted) where we got off and then walked through Hong Kong Park up to the Peak Tram Station where we met up with Mandy and Steve again. The queue for the tram was about 1 1/2 hrs in total so Steve suggested that we got a taxi up instead. Once up at the Peak we climbed to the top for some spectacular views around Hong Kong. We were lucky with the weather as it was fairly clear and we could see quite a distance. We then had a meal in the Peak Restaurant, very nice but also very expensive.
We got the tram back down the peak, although the tram is very old, it is run very well and again so clean. Once we got down back to the main Tram Station, Mandy and Steve joined us as we walked back through Hong Kong Park stopping to go round the large Avery that they have, we saw some really fantastic birds in there. I do have some photo's and will try to load some shortly but this computer doesn't seem to have a point for me to plug in my camera. We then walked through a shopping mail called Pacific Place.... and well that was another new experience, every single shop in there was a big name, e.g. Prada, Gucci, Cartier etc and prices to match. Steve looked at a superb tv, only around 10k stirling!
Anyway, we then went back to our accommodation and got ready for New Year Eve celebrations. We met up with Mandy and Steve again around 8pm outside aa restaurant called Yung Kee in Central. This restaurant is one of the best in Hong Kong and the meal was superb and not really that expensive. Thoroughly recommend anyone in Hong Kong trying it, though you may need to book.
After we had eaten we walked up the streets to Lan Kwoi Fong area which is well known for its great night life, bars etc. There were masses of crowds, police were everywhere only allowing people to mingle in one direction to save any crushing etc. There were decorations, lights and banners all along the roads and the atmosphere was electrifying. We saw the New Year in with all the street crowds and it was a fantastic night but oh so tiring. No seats available so we had been standing for around 5 hours in the end. I think we arrived back at the hotel around 3am.
No need to say really but we slept in late on New Years Day. When we eventually got up, we had arranged for Mandy and Steve to meet us at our hotel where we set off to walk the Dragon Back Trail. We arrived at the starting point by taxi and it started off with a sharp incline through dense forest. Every so often you got to see spectacular views of tower buildings and remote beaches through spacess in the trees, after about half an hour we actually saw the sign pointing up another incline as the start of the Dragon Back Trail. This climb was longer and steeper. Bob was moaning and growing saying we had tricked him and if he had known what it would be like he wouldn't have come, but he raced off hoping that by going quickly he would get it over and done with quicker!
Anyway, the views on this part of the trail were spectacularly stunning. Views on both sides of the "back" showed Hong Kong, beaches, and everything. It was certainly well worth the climb. This part took about an hour and then we started the decline, we were really lucky with the weather as the sun had been shining all day but with a bit of wind so when up at the top we weren't cooking!
We eventually finished the tail and came to a bus stop, we were so lucky as we only had to wait about five minutes and then a bus came along and took us in to the Village of Sham O Shek. At this village was one of the stunning clear sandy beaches and we were sitting on the beach with the sun shining and the heat a nice 24 degrees, I took a dip in the sea but that was bl....dy cold! We then had a meal in a local small cafe restaurant near the front, again what superb food and much needed by this time.
Unfortunately once we had finished and were ready to go back to our accommodation we had about an hour wait until the next bus came so we managed to get hold of a taxi again.
Bob and I collapsed at our hotel and had lovely soaks in the bath, we then had a very late and leasurely walk around North Point, up to the harbour watching the boats along the river and lights across in Kowloon. We then had a drink at the hotel bar and another meal at the little restaurant we found on our first evening (Bob wanted more of their Ribs). We eventually got to bed about midnight very tired but pleased with what we had achieved.
Can't believe our time in Hong Kong has nearly finished, we had to pack and start to get our things together as we needed to check out by 6pm that evening. Bob and I then decided we would try a Tram in to Central and get the Star Ferry over to Kowloon to do some shopping... but unfortunately the Tram we got on diverted half way to Central and headed of for Happy Valley so we got off and went via our usual route of the MTR in to Central.
Once of the Star Ferry in Kowloon, the buzz was huge, we didn't particularly like the hasselling from people trying to sell copy watches and pressing us to visit their taylors so we didn't stay too long in Kowloon but headed back to Hong Kong Island. We decided that we need to experience the huge Escallator which went up the Mid Levels of Hong Kong so up we went, only to find one section was being repaired so we had to walk it! We went around the Soho area which is full of restaurants and little shops, if we were going to be in Hong Kong any longer we would certainly have explored this a bit more but we had to head back to our hotel to get washed and final bits of packing.
The courtesy hotel bus took us to Hong Kong Station where we checked in our luggage and then met up again with Mandy and Steve for a final meal. We had luckily managed to get hold of Bob's brother Tony who had returned to Hong Kong that day and we arranged to meet him at the airport for a quick catch up prior to getting on our flights to Perth. Our final meal with Mandy and Steve was and Yung Kee again and just as good and just as busy.
Met up with Tony and a friend of his at the airport, it was really great as we hadn't seen him for around 2 years but time just flew by and we only just got to our boarding gate in time which is definately a first for Bob.....
I will fill in on our next stop another day soon.
Happy New Year everyone...........Helen and Bob
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Dad
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Well done!
Keep it up. This was brilliant! Congratulations in particular to Bob for achieving all that walking! What stamina you both must have. Did you get into training. Looking forward to your next blog!