Advertisement
Perth Airport
Goodbye Australia!STARTING OUT
Tim's Mum and Trav drove us to the airport where we caught up with Heather and Sharon at the check-in counter. There was a mix up with our ticket numbers, eventually the good people at Cathay Pacific sorted it out so we could at least get as far as Cape Town without any more hassles, fingers crossed it was a one of.... But they sweetened the moment by giving us 4 seats to ourselves 😊
Got to love Australian Airport security. Took belt off, had to go back through and take bangles off, back through again to take boots off - FINALLY got through, got dressed again and then had to get frisked, only in Australia!
Boarded flight, realised I've been on budget airlines too much when my excitement peaked at all the things I could do/watch on my tv! Sleep, I didn't want to sleep now!
Think I laughed out loud watching Top Gear cause I got some funny looks, oops.
HONG KONG
Got to Hong Kong just after 8am and was done and out of Customs by 8:30am! Didn't have to get anything checked, too easy!
Had a tour of
Hong Kong booked to kill the day and not getting picked up till 10:30. We got changed (because it was supposed to be a hot humid 29 degrees), found a luggage store place and waited at Airport Hotel for tour guide. At this point we should have reconsidered getting our warm clothes back on 'cause it was a tad chilly, but ever optimistic hoped it would warm up - it didn't.
We were picked up with another couple from Albany and driven into Hong Kong, we had lunch together at a really nice Chinese Restuarant, had a wander around (hassled by more tailors and dodgy watch people than Phuket, we stopped counting at 15 on the first side of the street) then we all met up again to start the tour properly at 2pm.
There was 7 more people now in the group, 1 German, 2 Dutch, 2 Canadian and 2 more Aussies from Melbourne. Our guide, Celia was hilarious, she explained Hong Kong history, geographics and culture, and I understand more about Feng Shui than I ever did before, apparently that's why Alan Bond ended up in jail you know! Also in Hong Kong the bathroom is
called a Happy Room 😊
We went to Victoria Peak (named after Queen Victoria and not Victoria Beckham by the way), the tallest point in Hong Kong, but with so much smog you can only see so far. But they had a big photo-shopped picture of what it would look like if it was clear.
Went on a Sampan (old traditional fishing boat - but modernised with a roof and motor!) around the harbour. Kinda strange seeing outrageous luxury multi-million dollar boats (only outrageous because we don't own one!) and huge towering high rise buildings alongside the fishermen and their boats that were barely holding together, rotting wood, rusty and old.
We went to an jewellery factory and saw jewellery being made by hand and then having plenty of time in the showroom to tempt you. Love how all tours have a stop like this tucked in! At least this one was interesting and they didn't really hassle you to buy, which was good because it was sooooo expensive, possibly geared towards those people who own the nice boats we went past earlier. Tim was pretty quick offering to get me out of there, using the excuse
of it will be warmer outside...
Then onto Stanley Markets. Kind of like a miniature version of a Bali or Phuket market, but not as cheap. And the best bit was they didn't hassle you 😊 All I wanted was a Hong Kong metal badge for my backpack but no luck, in fact it was hard going to find anything with Hong Kong on it.
Shared a taxi with the couple from Albany back to airport. They were flying onwards to Vancouver.
NEARLY TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO HONG KONG
So glad to get back into our Winter clothes, still can't believe how cold it was...
Hunted high and low again for badge at airport but still no luck, seems Hong Kong just aren't into souveniers.
We found a Chinese massage place at near gate 40, there's actually a train that we could have caught there or even had a gopher take us the airport is so big! Tim is now a massage junky like me so we both had one, so nice, although after I was struugling to keep my eyes open, let along walk and talk. And we still had to make
it to gate 71 for our flight.
Had tea with our last few dollars and then boarded flight to Johannesburg - Africa here we come!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.11s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 8; qc: 57; dbt: 0.0702s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
