Hong Kong
We have finally made it to Hong Kong! (although have now been trying to keep our eyes open for 26hrs which has NOT been easy after an 11 1/2Â hr flight!)
We left for the airport at 9 in the morning and boarded around 12.15 – we flew Quantas and to our delight all our cabin crew had Australian accents and a very dry sense of humour 🙂 for example over the speakers, “Jane from our crew is still bursting with joy to sell you some duty-free today..”
Anyways, too many films and a lot of food later (including a pot noodle, mars ice-cream and an horrific cooked breakfast) we arrived here in humid Hong Kong with a local time of 8.30am. We decided to buy an Octopus card (kind of like an Oyster card on the tube in London) It allows us to use buses, trams, underground MTR and the ferry with just a swipe! We caught a bus to Kawloon where we’re staying which took about 40 mins and took in the sights as we went. HK is soooo different to how I imagined – the people are all really friendly and the city is a real mix of traditional and current chinese culture.
Having found our hotel with suprising ease we wanted some food. Although we tried to find a local restaruant it’s all pretty daunting to be honest with whole geese turning on a roast in the windows and chickens feet and pigs knuckles being delicacys in the end we opted for a safe bite of KFC. HOW WRONG WERE WE! Instead of chips they serve rice and it seems ‘Hot Shots’ over here are BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF SPICY BALLS OF CHICKEN THAT MAKE YOUR STOMACH TURN :/Â
AAAaaannyway, other than discovering that the cuisine may not be for us today we have been to the Jade market where we both bought a braclet (with carved Jade stones meaning Happiness and Good Fortune) the people on the stalls come running like Hussan Bolt if you even glance at their goods though so we learnt quickly not to touch anything unless you wanted to be ‘captured’ into a bartering session!
After we headed down to Ladies Market which is where you can get your knock-off Rolex, Gucci and Ed Hardy, Holly got a very good Links of London bracelet (usually around 100 pounds for the real thing, here she paid the equivilant of 8 pounds haha!)
Then we jumped on the underground and headed to Wong Tai Sin Temple, people go there to pray and everyone carrys insence with them. We went inside the main temple and you can take a wooden pot filled with numbered sticks you kneel on the cushions and shake it back and forth until a single stick falls out, the number on it is said to be your lucky one – mine was 41?! There are lots of fortune-tellers here so if we go to one later they can apparently tell us what our number means..hmmm haha
This evening we are heading down to the Harbour to watch the light show over the HK skyline and are also going to visit the Temple Street Night market, we’re really looking forward to it but will be grateful to get into our beds when we’re done!!!
Tomorrow we are going to get the Star Ferry across to HK Island and then go up The Peak which gives view over the whole city 🙂
Love it, speak soon Alice XX
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alice12
you are making me jealous! keep having fun!
Ps. its Usain Bolt
xxxxxx
Great stories, Alice – keep them coming.
We spent an hour this afternoon skiing in the Hemel Hempsted Alps, aka The Snow Dome. A bit of a different temperature than HK! Lorna’s friend Tom was there teaching a couple of beginners, he looked bored stiff. The good news for us was that the legs still work, and neither of us fell over.
As for lucky number 41, who knows? Maybe the date of Sunday 14th March holds something extra special for you, the 41st day of your trip? Do tell us!
Dad xx