Hong Kong day 3 and to London

This was the last day in Hong Kong and of our big trip. It was a long day as our flight to London took off at about midnight.

Before we left our hotel, we went up to the top floor (41) to see the views from the bar and restaurant. It would certainly be a great place to dine.










Through glass we could see across Causeway Bay to the Expo Centre with our local land reclamation project in the foreground.











Turn through 180 degrees and you were looking towards the old airport site on Kowloon.












This was typical of the surrounding area towards North Point.










When we had checked out of the hotel, we waited for the hotel bus to take us to the airport train station in the centre of town. Our posh hotel was in Oil Street, not very posh. The hotel tried its best to obscure the street with a row of large potted plants but we quite liked the local mess which John now had a moment to photograph. Did the street get its name from all the little car repair shops there? This is a typical workshop.










Here a bus is having a puncture repaired, note the bath of water on the pavement for locating punctures.

On another corner the owner had a lovely husky.











At the Airport Express station we were able to check in our suitcases and collect our boarding passes even though we were not due to fly for over 12 hours. We had time to kill in the centre of town before collecting our glasses that would be ready at 2pm. We went to the Hong Kong Park and Botanical Gardens which we had walked by the previous day. The gardens are a haven of green in the centre of a very busy city. Inevitably it was "multistory" which gave great views of the city and the gardens themselves.





















There were many water and architectural features making the area very photographable.


















The park also had a very large walk through aviary. Here we met some new birds like this Bali Mynah











and others that we had failed to get photos of before such as these Emerald Doves which eluded our cameras at Lord Howe Island.










Within the park and its water features there was some interesting wildlife such as this dragonfly











and these terrapins.











At the centre of the park we found the Cotton Tree Drive Marriage Registry which explained the many wedding groups having their photos taken.










On our way to collect our glasses we stopped to take some photos of the Hong Kong trams. We never managed a trip on them but they are very much loved. They are just like the ones that used to be found all over the UK. The most striking thing is how narrow they are.










After a Chinese lunch and collecting our glasses we set off to see one of Hong Kong's big tourist attractions the cable car trip to the Giant Buddha on Lantau Island. The cable car takes 25 minutes to whisk you from Tung Chung to the Buddhist monastery at Ngong Ping. You get great views of the airport, Tung Chung and the untouched mountainous interior of the island - its peaks reach 934 metres at Lantau Peak.










When we arrived we found there were large crowds of people and that it was the festival of the bubbles which were everywhere.








After reviving pots of special Chinese teas we went to see the giant Buddha. There were 256 steps up to the Buddha so it was quite a trek.










The reward was great views of the surrounding country and Lantau Peak and of the Buddha.





















As we returned to the cable car station the crowds had thinned out.









However the queue for the return trip was enormous and we had to wait for an hour before we could get into a cabin. We were planning to have dinner with Ann Marie in the Lantau village of Discovery Bay. Discovery Bay has a good ferry connection with the central pier of Hong Kong and is popular with expats. It is a self contained community of lots of high rise apartment blocks, a seafront shopping and restaurant area, marina, golf club and country club. There are good bus services to Tung Chung with its metro station and the airport. There is only one road into Discovery Bay and it includes a toll tunnel through a mountain. We spent an enjoyable evening with Ann Marie and were joined by her daughter Alison and Alison's husband Ross. They had everything worked out for us and put us onto the 22:00 bus to the airport.

We were flying with British Airways and it was our first flight on a Boeing 777. Although it had a spacious feel to it we found it very noisy at times, 95 decibels during ascent. It also shook and snaked about on the slightest turbulence making reading difficult. We passed on dinner and after our long day were able to sleep so the first eight hours of the 13 hour flight passed quickly. We touched down in Heathrow a few minutes early at 5am London time. It was 9 degrees and raining. After a leisurely coffee, an hour and a half on the tube and a bus ride we arrived at Helen's at the reasonable hour of 7:30.




Pat and John on tour

Hong kong day 2

We had eaten enough rice by now, so after breakfast in the local Starbucks (these are everywhere in HK) we went down to the pier to meet a friend from our village in France, Ann-Marie. She has family in Hong Kong and so is a frequent visitor and knows her way round.

On the way to meet Ann-Marie, Pat was amused by the use of the trademark transposed to the chinese on advert on the tube.



The HK tube system is as impressive as in Singapore - fast, quiet, there is wifi and mobile phones work. By comparison the tube to Heathrow is an embarrassment.

This tasteful but extravagant decoration was in one of the shopping centres that we walked through.




Having met Ann Marie our first stop was Stanley market. We took a bus across the island and so saw more of the coastline and 'countryside' than we might have done otherwise.











Stanley market was a mix of clothes, knick knacks, souvenirs, art, etc. Ann-Marie has her favourite shops and bought something there and Pat found a linen shop and got some lovely clothes at a good price. John spotted a painting and we spent some time in the shop working out where it would go. We decided on the terrace room and so it will soon be en route to France.

Purchases done, we ate lunch at Lucy's on the waterfront




and then took a taxi back to Hong Kong and to the bottom of the cable tram up to Victoria Peak.

The taxi driver stopped when he could to let us take photos




A cemetery built into the hillside




The cable car is very steep and was crowded.



It was strange to see buildings at 45 degrees



We were lucky to have good weather for the views from the top although apparently there is nearly always some smog that comes from China. The red barges with cranes transport, containers or materials for land reclamation projects.





Below was what the Australians would call the CBD (Central Business Centre) of Hong Kong.







We walked from the cable car back to the pier for Ann-Marie to catch her ferry back to Discovery Bay, including an accidental trip through the five star HK Mandarin Hotel.

We wanted to take photos of Hong Kong at night, but it wasn't yet dark enough, so we took the ferry to Kowloon where we hoped to get a better view. Clearly this is the thing to do because we were not alone and it was difficult to find a clear spot by the waterfront.




This is what they were after, the point where the lights are visible but there is also a little light in the sky so that mountains and clouds are visible.



The harbour tour junk was still sailing around with red sails.





We stayed in Kowloon to eat. John had spotted a Pizza Express in a shopping centre by the cruise ship dock. On our way, we passed through shop after shop of high end children's wear: Gucci, Dior, etc, etc

Christmas decorations by Disney World were in full swing on the sea front, with Toy Story as the theme. People young and old were lining up to be photographed with their favorite character.







Pat and John on tour

Hong Kong, day 1

We set off in search of a typical Hong Kong breakfast. The little cafe where we had eaten the night before was open and full. 'Hong Kong breakfast' as on the menu, included sausage, egg, toast, coffee and noodles.

Our first job for the day was to find the shopping area and order pairs of glasses. We headed for 'Central' which is one of the areas marked as 'shopping' on the map and soon found ourselves in a maze of busy roads and buildings with elevated walkways.




There are plenty of shopping centres to choose from and by chance, the one we choose included the Hong Kong Apple store and an optician.




Our shopping mission accomplished, we wandered down to the ferry terminal. On our way the elevated walkway gave an excellent view of a big land reclamation project in progress close to the piers. A smaller project was also going on near our hotel in Fortress Hill.



The day was too cloudy to go up to Victoria Peak, so we decided to cross to Kowloon on the Star Ferry from Central pier.



The ferry is built for moving people around quickly




unlike this harbour rubbish collector





and harbour cruise junk.


Kowloon was full of shops and ready for Christmas. The Heritage hotel was taking the place of Trafalgar Square with a Christmas tree and roundabout providing photo opportunities.







Nearby is a Time Ball, once used by sailors to set their chronometers





Clearly Kolwoon is the place to go if you want to spend money; we had never seen so many big diamonds on show in one place. This is NOT on Pat's Christmas list



We went down to the waterfront where there is a 'movie stars walk'








On our way back to the ferry, we accidentally wandered through the Shangri-La hotel and thought that we might sample the tea.


There was a choice of afternoon tea, so we settled on the Chinese version.





We returned to the area around our hotel for the evening.




This little park with some green in a very built up area was well used.



There is a big land reclamation project in progress stretching from the piers in Central at least as far as our hotel in Fortress Hill.

We saw several restaurants on our walk in the area and later ate at the 'Very Good Restaurant' where there was a menu in English, but no English was spoken.


Pat and John on tour