Taxi Drivers and all that jazz!

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Oh my GOD! Those (some) taxi drivers are dangerous.

What have we been up to in these last few days? Well we have not been keeping the blog daily for the last few days because it has been a range of both really busy and not terribly exciting for some of you.

The 3rd being Marks birthday we decided to do some quiet family stuff. As we have found it has been easier to wake up later than we are used to at home and then go out for a later breakfast and this was no exception. So at around 9 am we were up and out the door of the hotel by about 10am. We traveled over to Middle Street using the Subway, then caught the MTR to Admiralty in order to organize ourselves. We got to the Delifrance in the Admiralty Centre. This is where the day started to go down hill. The order was significantly wrong with Mark not getting any breakfast at all because they did not put the right number of meals. Okay you say this is a small hurdle. Then we thought about getting some more cash. Hmm we didn’t check out Eftpos Card expiry dates. They expired on the 30th June. Not good. Thankfully the banks are great here and we organized a cash advance on our Credit Cards! Then we decided to head over to the Ice Skating in Tai Koo Ching so we caught the MTR over arriving at about 12 pm. We arrived at the Ice Skating Rink only to be told it was closed to the public until 1.30 pm. So we looked around, had lunch and waited until 1.15pm started the line and were told we had to wait until 1.30 pm to buy tickets. Oh well! 1.30 came and we were told that we had to have correct change. By this stage we are beginning to feel a little cheesed off. It must have showed too because the woman relented and let us buy our tickets and gave change as well as selling us a token for a locker. Then the locker ate the token, which meant that one of use had to stay off the ice at a time with the bags. So of course that is what we did, until about 3.15pm. Elizabeth made a new friend Joyce who was attending the Ice Skating School. They both swapped emails at the end of the session. Both Beth and Charlotte seemed to enjoy the skating and took to it like ducks to water or should I say skates to Ice?? Travelling back to Kowloon on the MTR we had finally made it back to Tsim Sha Tsui and Marks Octopus card stopped working and he had to get it reset. We raced around madly to make it in time for the Tour booked for tonight. Showers and Dressing and in the lobby by 6.15pm we find out that it will not be here until 6.50pm. So we waited - not enough time to do anything else. 6.50pm comes and goes and by 7.25 Nicola is not amused and neither is Mark, who goes to enquire at the tour desk. Oh, we have been forgotten! The first half of the tour is over! Oh dear but that is okay we can still make the dinner part of the evening. At the same price!!!!!! I don’t think so…..we tried to cancel at this point as it was their mistake but no we cannot do that. So Able Tours should be struck off the itinerary next time we travel. No apology nothing; so we were not happy at all. The cruise was nice, Dinner was Okay but not fantastic.

Back to the hotel by 10.30pm and bed.

This morning we got up and headed back out on the courtesy bus headed in the general direction of the Jade Markets. We wound up by the YMCA for breakfast at Starbucks where we met a family from South Africa who were heading to Lo Wu shopping today. We passed a really nice 30 mins talking about the shopping there and the sights and then off we headed to find a taxi to take us to the Jade Markets where we bought some nice bits and pieces and most importantly Charlotte got her Jade Dragon. We also had one of the nicest Taxi Drivers for this stint who was quick efficient and generally didn’t take us on a wild goose chase all over the countryside.

From here we walked back to Jordan MTR road and then walked all the way along Nathan Road to Tsim Sha Tsui and then hoofed back over to the Middle Road Post Office to buy some boxes for mailing goodies. Interesting system, with one line to purchase the boxes and another to mail them! When getting boxes, ask for the customs declaration forms to take with you because it makes it quicker to mail your items. They also seem really used to people packing their parcels there at the counter and offer to let you use their sticky tape! We had decided to head back to the hotel with our boxes to put them together, check the weight and package everything so off we went. We got to the Wing On Plaza exit for the subway and thought we should be able to buy sticky tape there to package everything up. Not so. Both the girls bought some more goodies but no tape - that was bought at the Bookazine in the Tsim Sha Tsui Centre and then back to the hotel to start packing everything up. 2 big parcels each about 5 kg in weight we prepared and then we headed back to the Post Office to mail them. At about $100 Aussie Dollars this makes our life a little easier with not carrying as much stuff!

The we found some more things that we hadn’t yet bought and headed for the Ladies Market in Mong Kok catching the MTR for the last time and then cashing in our Octopus Cards. Brilliant Idea for getting around - truly fantastic!

Then a walk through, bought the last of our goodies and Mark bought a Holden HSV jacket, etc then a quick walk around the Digital Market and the sporting goods section one street over and we decided to make the walk down Nathan Street until we could find a taxi rank and this is where we picked up our worst driver of the trip. First he was busy talking on his phone as we drove down Nathan Road, then he was busy playing with things in the front seat when all the traffic had driven off and then he was driving really fast, drinking a drink, and when he finally put that down here he is racing down the street when he runs over a dog (laughs at this) and keeps going. By the time we made it to the Hotel I felt ready to do what the young girl in the Pacifier does. Run over to the ground, throw myself upon it and give thanks for a safe arrival!

We headed back upstairs, the girls jumped in the shower and I headed back down to the Bookazine to pick up some things I had seen for Christmas for the girls and when I get back Elizabeth has broken her front tooth again!!!!!!! Oh dear! She finally settled down, we changed and headed out to Sticky fingers for dinner (very nice meal too) and were back at the hotel by about 9.15pm So now we are about to finish the packing (when the girls go back to sleep) and then bed. We have a late checkout at 12pm and fly out by Virgin Atlantic at 7.30pm finally making it home to Cooktown by about 5pm on Thursday evening all things being equal. I will put up one other blog tonight with our Top 10s for you all to read.

We will catch up with you all when we get home, but until then we are not quite ready to come home but the time is here so we will be with you all again really soon. Take Care

“The Pitts

Interesting facts:

“Crazy hour” This is on top of Happy Hour (lasting for 2 hours at the Sticky Fingers Restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui Centre)

Taxi Drivers who don’t speak English - there are a few so get a business card from your hotel which tells them where your destination is!

Ahh~! I forgot in Shenzhen there is an extraordinary difference in the gender imbalance - it is the only place in China with a 7:1 ratio of women to men! Usually it is the other way around! Shenzhen is also described as a mans paradise - wonder why!

Marks Input

It is hard to believe that time has gone this quickly. We are truly sad to leave as we have hardly touched the surface of this wonderful city. If coming over, try and learn the basics of Cantonese or Mandarin, it is truly appreciated by the locals that you have at least made the effort. We have met some truly wonderful people as well as the city being safe and welcoming.

We had our second rainy day last night/this morning. Given everything that went wrong with our Able Tour - this was not surprising that the weather would chip in. On a positive note, the harbour at night is truly beautiful and well worth the experience.

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