The first four days. ……….Hong Kong

Monday

Worst part was leaving Tess albeit in Harry’s capable hands. Not helped by Harry texting pictures of her looking fixedly at the gate waiting for us to come back😥😥 

Felt bad firstly, for getting Harry up before 9 am to say goodbye and secondly for abandoning her for three weeks of her 4 week Easter break. Will have to buy her a nice present from China🎁🎁🎁

Where’s Dad gone without me?

Plenty of time at theManchester airport before our flight so cheered myself up at Jo Malone. Much cheaper duty free so what else could I do.  Accidentally saved Iain’s seatsit opposite Boots’ Durex display while he had his coffee. Amused me no end!  

The eleven and a half hour flight with Cathay Pacific ( how exotic are we?) was surprisingly straightforward. Fitted in three films

The Lady in the Van- well worth watching

Brooklyn – gentle film about Irish immigrants to Brooklyn

Daddy’s Home- the ideal film for the early hours as no concentration required at all!

Tuesday

Arrived on time and made our way to Central via the very efficient Airport Express.

After a quick shower at the hotel ate at a Michelin starred Dim Sum called Tim something. Iain delighted with Excellent food and we didn’t look too out of place with our chopsticks! Then ventured up to Victoria Peak via the tram. The views look out over Hong Kong, but it was very cloudy that day. We found a nice bar though and I had my first (but definitely   not last) cocktail of the holiday. 

Foggy Hong Kong from Victoria Peak

 

  

Ate at our hotel which was surprisingly good value and the best satay I have ever tasted. 
 

Best satay ever. http://www.hoteljen.com

 

Then decided to take the ferry over to Kowloon to see the light show, but again it was masked mostly in cloud. Nice red junk cruising on the river.

 

Foggy Hong Kong light show

  

Junk on the river

 

Iain wanted to see Temple Street Night Market which was off Nathan Road. Stumbled across a cartoon exhibition in Kowloon Park – didn’t recognise any of them! ( spot the odd one out- or not?) 

Spot the odd one out

 
 

We walked for miles and found a pretty disappointing collection of stalls selling bits of tat. However every cloud…….little gem of a Thai restaurant. Never eaten anywhere with plastic instead of a door but food was fantastic and they sold Chang beer for $2!

 

True Blue

We then made our way to Wooloo Mooloo rooftop bar. On 28th floor and home to the hip and trendy of HK! Surprisingly they still let us in and the views although still hazy were incredible.Cocktails came at a price but worth every penny!

Cocktails at Wooloo moolow Hong Kong

 

View from Wooloo Mooloo ( after two cocktails!)

 

Wednesday

Buffet breakfast my favourite. 

  

The cloud had lifted so we decided to try the Peak again. Very efficient this time and headed straight for the bar which we had to ourselves. Much better photos and saw lots of Eagles circling round.

Non-foggy view from Victoria Peak

Eagles flying over Hong Kong

Then ferry to Kowloon and excellent views of HK waterfront.

  

Afternoon spent looking for and eventually finding the Goldfish market which was really a street of pet shops. Located in the Mong Kok area where hotels seem to rent their rooms by the hour – strange!

Mong Kok

  
  

Goldfish market

 

Returned to the hotel and had an hour or so by the rooftop pool (yes rooftop pool). Unfortunately only 15 m and only fitted two people so didn’t really gt a good session done. Iain went back to our room with both key cards which was a bummer as you needed your card to program the lift. I journeyed from floor to floor with wet hair and just a t shirt over my costume, meeting lots of new friends of many different nationalities before a nice Nordic man pushed my button and scanned his key card to get me home!

 

Our plan was to watch the sunset at a Spanish themed bar called Tapagria. Ironically the sun set while we were on the MTR going under the river – hey ho.

We searched far and wide for this bar to no avail and finally found it had closed!

Again every cloud………. We ended up in The Chop House here it was Happy Hour (hurray) and the Mojitos were great. The manager, Stuart, was from Dumfries and gave us great ideas for the next day and also pointed out Knutsford Terrace (yes really) where there were several bars. Happy Hour was on til 10 in the first one so it woul hav been rude not to have two! Two Chinese girls were having a big heart to heart at the next table. There was some crying and handholding but I couldn’t work out whether they were a couple and what the angst was about. You would have loved it Barbara!

Via another bar El Cid (Chinese duo playing Spanish guitars and singing  La Bamba), we had a vague plan to find our little Thai restaurant from the previous night. We turned off the main road and guess what we found? The REAL  Temple Street market which was full of bustling stalls and street food. Brilliant. 

La Bamba

 

Thursday

One of Stuart’s suggestions was to visit Wong Tai Sin temple. We got the MTR there and passed through the gates stroking the lions on our way in. There were a lot of tourists but many locals praying fervently and leaving offerings. One lady had brought a cooked chicken! We’ve both stroked our Chinese zodiac sign. I am a rabbit and annoyingly Iain is a tiger

 

Stroking the dragon for good luck

 
 

My zodiac sign the Rabbit

  

Iain and the tiger

 
   

cooked chicken??

 
There was much shaking of joss sticks and general noise, but also a tranquil garden of good wishes where turtles swam in the ponds.

 

Turtles

 
 

Garden of Good Wishes

 

We nipped into Temple Mall and Iain bought me the second present of the trip (already had an iPhone charger for$2 from the market). I now have a lovely new backpack which packs itself into pouch when not needed. I am indeed completely ruined and know this may provoke some envy.

Hong Kong MTR

A quick word about the MTR transport system in HK. So efficient and quite entertaining.

Doors stop at same place every time and two sets have to open. Clear arrows to stand on to the side to get on and in the middle to get off with everyone sticking to the rules. safety cartoons showing what happens if you don’t let passengers off first play constantly and little men with paddles stop you rushing on at the last minute. In case you are still not clear there are the two helpful message boards blow to help understand the sounds when the doors open and close!

  
  
Seasoned travellers that we had become, we hopped back on the MTR and down to the Central Pier. On the last minute for the ferry to Lamma island so walking at Olympic speed and finally ran down the gangplank onto the ferry.

Thirty minutes later we landed at the main town of the island Yung Shue Wan which was the opposite of Hong Kong island. No high rises, just sea food restaurants and bars. We had a seafood lunch at the Beer andBabble Cafe watching the Eagles overlooking the bay. Wonderful stuffed mussels and King Prawns.

  
 

Yung Shue Wan

  

Stuffed mussels – delicious ( sorry Harry)

 

   
 

Yung Shue Wan harbour

 We explored the town which took about 3 minutes with a deserted Main Street and unusual items for sale.

  

Then embarked on the 6 mile walk to other town on the island. We stopped at a lovely beach well staffed with its own lifeguard. Bit cold for swimming but had a paddle. 

  

Lovely views of Sok Kwu Wan as we walked round. 

  

Took this picture of a dog and cat for Carol!

  
Sok Kwu Wan the other main settlement is a fishing village, really quaint and again just seafood restaurants where  you can pick your own fish! We watched the sun go down drinking wine and eating wonderful prawns at the Rainbow restaurant. unexpected bonus was a free ferry ride back to Hong Kong fo restaurant customers (saved us £3.50).

 

Sunset Sok Kwu Wan

 
  
  

Yummy prawns at Rainbow restaurant

 
 

Neil Morris – we didn’t even have to ask!

 
 
Sat on the top deck together with a Chinese tour party plus exuberant tour guide. Lovely views of Hong Kong as we sailed in.
 

Iain’s new friend!

 
  
Went back to hotel then to Kennedy town. Iain very happy to find a craft brewery there and enjoyed two pints of beer 

 

Craft not Crap Brewery

 
while I enjoyed some rather nice wine. The restaurant we planned to eat in had closed for the night, but found some lovely local food and then headed home excited for the next phase of our journey the next day – Shanghai and seeing Ellie 😄😄😄😄😄😄❤️❤️