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Published: December 7th 2011
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weird and wonderful
Have no idea what this plant is called or the fruit which we saw later on, on its own for sale Hong Kong 2011 I arrived at Hong Kong airport bushed after a long flight where I did not get my upgrade as the plane was so full and to add insult to injury after having booked my seat all the way through from Cape Town I got bumped off my aisle seat on baarding to a bastard with Platimum voyager miles!!!! I hate Voyager they suck! The plane was overbooked so I should have been happy that they did not bump me off the plane!!! Don’t think I want to fly SAA again. You also have to pay full fair so you can get upgraded. That means you cant buy any specials and then be upgraded which I think is another whole rip off! It leads to expectations which…… Anyway don’t want to start my blood boiling again as arriving in Hong Kong was amazing, everything goes so smoothly. Passport control is quick and efficient (even with a shift change they don’t miss a beat as that is what happened before my eyes and I thought WOW could that happen in SA??? Nah!), there is a person standing on duty point you to the nearest available Customs Control
bird food
crickets and other bugs - nothing but the best for their birds and the food has to be fresh like their own food! booth that is available almost like a Woolworths checkout and I love the way Woolworths have a fair queuing practice. The information from the Hotel was you can catch a shuttle from B1 opposite B and as you walk out you see B. B1 are the concierge desks and the first one I went to said yes they can help me my name was on a list (even though I had not booked it) you pay at the hotel it gets added on your bill please wait here madame put this sticker on someone will be here in 15 minutes to collect you – and they were! It was an easy ride to the YMCA Salisbury and an interesting one as you travel over islands and bridges past harbours with containers stacked to the sky I have never seen so many in my life in one place. Probably full of all the stuff we see in the R5 stores!
Check in was painless and the room was outstanding with a great view of the harbour too. Don’t think its what I booked as its much more expensive to have a view but what the heck its awesome
shopping
of course a girl could go mad! and next to the most famous Peninsula Hotel and I am sure they are paying a lot more than us for the same thing. I had a shower cleaned up and explored the surrounding area to get some fresh air and stretch my legs. We are in uptown Kowloon with Max Mara on one corner and Vivien Tam on the other – can only look in these shops! Found a really nice supermarket and bought myself a take away sushi handroll that was out of this world for HK$14 which is about R17, some water and milk and went home for a cuppa and a nap.
Watched the light show with my radio on from our hotel room and then Terry arrived. Much thinner than I had seen him in years it was quite a surprise. We went out for a bowl of noodle soup and then to bed I was totally exhausted.
This morning we got ourselves and Octopus card for travelling on the busses and MRT in fact I think it covers 8 different means of transport and that is why it’s called Octopus. We took a bus to the top of
View from our room
that's the Peninsula hotel next door Nathan Road and wandered through the flower market where a King Protea will set you back HK$50 (R60) each. So at R15 a bloom we have nothing to complain about! From there we wandered through the Bird Market, Ladies Market, Goldfish Market until we made our way back to our hotel bushed from all the walking. No Barbs we have not had any duck yet!!! A lovely bowl of soup for lunch, rice and chicken for dinner. Duck will be on its way we have seen a few Duck shops. In the Ladies Market we saw a ceremony going on – very colourful priests and a shrine, the area was cordoned off by police tape and there was a queue of people waiting to walk up 3 by 3 to the shrine. We did not know what was going on so asked some of the shopkeepers who told us there was a huge fire last week and 9 people died in it. We then saw the block a little further up and the how ferocious the fire was. It seems to have started in one of the market stalls and then went all the way to the top of the
Ligh show
Every night for 10 minutes there is a sound and light show - my camera did not pick up the lasers but its quite spectacular building. A lot of apartments have been sub-divided into what they call cubicle flats. This makes them more affordable for young people and cuts down on travelling expenses but much more overcrowding. It’s still all in the newspapers here as they are not sure if it was caused by arson or not.
Tonight we walked over the road to the Boardwalk and watched the light show amongst millions of tourists. We wanderd back through 1881 now a high class shopping area which used to belong to the British Police Headquarters with the fire station in front. Now decked out in all its Christmas Finery and it was truely lovely filled with open and closed carriages, lights and spectacle. The weather is balmy thank goodness and although the sky was grey today it did not rain. So happy to be in my bed and ready for a good night’s sleep.
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Simon Richmond
non-member comment
Hi Lee - good to hear you arrived safe & well despite the cramped conditions on SAA. I think I stayed at that YMCA years ago - it\'s a pretty good one. Glad you\'re enjoying yourself - enjoy the rest and all that wonderful food. Thanks again for dinner last Saturday - I\'m settled into my lovely flat now and think I don\'t want to leave. Toni is taking care of me and I\'m busy busy busy checking out all the great new things - found a fantastic burger joint in an industrial yard in Gardens I must take you to when you\'re back - it\'s called The Dogs Bollocks at the Yard!