DAY 1

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This has been a long day - and it’s not over yet. Luckily we managed to get a little shut-eye on the plane and had a beautiful pre-sunrise colour show before breakfast, then descended into and overcast and wet Hong Kong at around 6.30am. John unfortunately couldn’t meet us at the airport but gave us a few instructions on how to use the local public transport to get to our hotel. We were a bit nervous at first but with a little common sense and help from friendly locals it turned out to be really simple. We’ve now spent most of the day wandering around the different districts using the trains and ferries and found them to be incredibly efficient. They are all automated and bi-lingual and to get from our hotel down to Hong Kong Island (2 trains and a ferry) only cost $HK12.70 each. That’s about $NZ2! It cost a little more coming back as we took the underground under the harbour which attracts a bit of a premium. (about $HK4 extra) The most noticeable thing about wandering around HK is that in many areas you don’t have to go outside. You just go from mall to mall via covered walkways (usually on the 3rd floor) - and there are a lot of malls and hundreds of shops. It’s just as well because it’s been really hot and muggy and the air-conditioned malls are a welcome respite. (No wonder Kwan doesn’t like NZ - not enough shops!) We got back to our hotel at about 5.30pm for a bit of a rest before John gets here and we go somewhere for diner. (Looking forward to that.) No problems with the language here as everyone is bi-lingual and usually very helpful. We even had people on the street come up to us on 2 occasions and offer to help when we’ve had our map out.
So far a great start to our OE, although we fully realize future conditions are going to be a lot different to our air-conditioned luxury at present.
We look forward to it all.
Bruce & Jac

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Photos

Hong Kong Island
Going to catch the ferry to Hong Kong Island from Kowloon

Comments

[jen]

WOW
wow look at my mum and dad all grown up and experiencing everything!!!