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15th May 2006
Well after a lovely week at home and a fantastic leaving party we were finally on our way to Hong Kong. About 4 hours into the flight the captain announced that we were going to have to land at Moscow to let a sick passenger off, this meant an added 2 hours to our journey - not a great start but at least we could say that we have been to Russia twice now.
16th May 2006
Hong Kong is such a big place, the buildings are so tall, we got to Kowloon smoothly and booked into our hotel (YMCA International House), this was in an ideal location off the main Road in Hong Kong, the Nathan Rd. The room and bathroom was very clean and a reasonable size considering we had read how small the hotel/hostel rooms were in HK. After a couple of hours of well deserved sleep we decided to have a walk down the Nathan Rd. The first thing we noticed apart from the number of people about is the lights, they were everywhere. We had a quick look around the Night Market, which was a short walk away. It was quite cheap
in HK which we wasn't expecting, our first meal in a restaurant cost HK$46 which was about 3 pounds 28p for the both of us. We planned to go to the Tourist Information the next day as there was Typhoon 'Chantua' approaching - great!!
17th May 2006
We had a good night sleep but the thought of rice for breakfast made our stomachs churn, luckilly we found a bakery whilst looking for the Tourist Information. We couldn't find the information centre anywhere and nobody spoke enough English to tell us where it was! We gave up and decided to go back to the Hotel due to the wind and rain from the approaching Typhoon. Once we dried off we decided that we would brave the Nathan Rd again to get something to eat, we went to a place called 'Fity' (i think?) and we both had chicken curry, it also came with what i thought was Crab and Egg Salad but when it arrived it soon dawned on us it was Crab Egg Salad, which were alot of tiny orange balls. Ollie was saying to me before we left that i had to try new things when i'm away,
followed by the phrase "When in Rome". So i put some on my spoon and tried it, it hardly had any taste but rolled around my mouth. Ollie looked like he was going to throw up and didn't touch his - when in Rome hey! Due to the bad weather we didn't do much for the rest of the day, we did go to Pizza Hut that evening however, we only lasted 1 day before going for the junk food!!!
18th May 2006
Today we awoke and the sun was shining, the typhoon had luckily missed HK. We headed to the ladies market where i could buy some sunglasses. It was then to the Star Ferry taking in the views of HK island. We walked just 20 mins to the Victoria Peak Tram and we had not expected it to be as steep as it was. Reaching the top gave excellant views of HK mainland and the busier harbour. We were lucky however, as it was clear day and only a small amount of haze cover. We eat here, relaxed and enjoyed the heat, whilst people watching and saw a double of Uncle Steve. It was back down the
tram and then to the botanical gardens close by. It is worth a visit, as it is free and has plenty to see in the way of animals. Amy managed to get bitten by some insect (this was after Ollie reassured her that bug spray was not needed in HK!!). We returned on the "Star Ferry' back to Kowloon. Back at the hotel Ollie bought himself another Chinese chicken curry, he is now becoming the master of chop stick eating.
19th May 2006
Today we planned to visit Sai Wan Bay Cemetary. The main reason we decided to go to HK was to pay our respects to the brother of Amy's Nan, Norman Beesley. He sadly died at the age of 22 as a POW on the Lisbon Maru during WWII. His body was never found so his memorial is at Sai Wan Bay. To get there we had to go to Chan Wai on the MTR, this was a lot easier to use than the London Underground and more of a comfortable journey. From the station we got a taxi to the cemetary, it put the cemetaries back home to shame. It was so clean and tidy and
well looked after, it was in such a peaceful area too. We had a walk round and took some photos, it was sad to see that a lot of the head stones were just marked with just "A soldier" or "A sailor", at least they are resting in a beautiful place. We returned back via the MTR and Star Ferry. We went into the giant mall at the ferry terminal, where we discovered a food hall called the Spice Market. Here we indulged in Chicken Biriyani - proper food - it bought back memories of home! After finally finding our way out of the mall, we were in time to watch the famous HK skyscraper light show. Even before the show started the lights on the skyscrapers were amazing. At 8pm every night the skyscrapers put on a light show, all the lights co-ordinate with the music and commentry that blares out of speakers for 15 minutes. It is spectacular and shouldn't be missed.
20th May 2006
We awoke to find that one of Amy's bites had ballooned into a big blister. We decided that it would be best to see a doctor in HK rather than Bangkok. The
doctor said that it was a severe reaction to an insect bite and prescribed several types of tablets and some cream. So today was taken up by resting, relaxing, eating and watching lots of Chinese TV! (Amy will watch anything as long as the TV is on)! By the evening, we had one final walk around the streets of HK was too much to resist. We managed to buy 2 purses for the little ones and a comical wine bottle cover, which after some searching we found in Aston Villa colours for ourselves.
Summary of Hong Kong
We loved HK, we felt very safe wherever we went, the food is nothing like the Chinese food back home and i found it all to taste the same - no Sam Pan Specials here. Also there are nasty insects in HK so make sure you wear bug spray if you go. It is reasonably cheap, which we hadn't expected. Also we would definately recommend the YMCA International House, we got a good deal on the internet with Ratestogo.com, they were also great when i needed to see the doctor about my leg, they even got a security guard to take us
there and back. The people are very nice, however we did get stared at alot on the MTR and Ferry, but we were the only white people on there.
I will add some pictures as soon as i find out how to do it on the Guesthouse computor, We are missing you all,
speak to you soon
Amy & Ollie xxxxx
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mum and dad
non-member comment
plenty of time
Really enjoyed catching up with you in Hong Kong brought back some nice memories.Sorry to hear about your bite Amy.It sounds like you're having a wonderful time,weather here is lovely,still raining,and I have a cold so plenty of time to check computer every hour or so!!! Better than making a start on the decorating!!Take care both, miss you love mum and dad xx