Hong Kong - A New Adventure

Sleep was not an easy thing last night. The body clock does not have time to adjust like it normally has when I travel onwards to New Zealand. We woke up at some ungodly hour and I got on the computer and the next thing I knew there was a knock on the door and our breakfast had arrived.

After finishing our breakfast we got ourselves ready for a bit of a sightseeing trip. We did not really know what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go but we got ready and left the hotel shortly before 10am.

Our first port of call was the shopping mall right next to the hotel where Mothercare was to be inspected but alas being early on a Sunday did not bode well for Catherine looking to part me from some more hard earned money.

We finally left the air conditioned comfort of the buildings to go outside. We decided to go and have a look at the HSBC building with it's 60m tall atrium and Bronze lions which are embedded with shrapnel marks from the second world war. What we had not expected was that there would be thousands of Filipino women under this atrium which made it sound a lot like a place where we used to go and buy eggs from in Matamata. As far as the lions are concerned there were indeed shrapnel marks to be found. They were obviously not directly hit as the marks are minimal but taking even a small chunk out of a bronze statue could well mean there was a bigger price to pay.

From here we headed towards the Star Ferry terminal on the Harbour. We decided to go over to Kowloon Side and have a bit of a look around. The ferry was a pleasant surprise at 5.70 HKD for the whole family which total up to about 40 pence in UK money. I couldn't wait to get on the boat and see Catherine turning green. The ferry ride itself was fine, I noticed Catherine puffing the air out heavily a couple of times but as it was only a short trip it seemed fine. The girls enjoyed the trip and Nia in particular giggled for the majority of the way. Once we got to the other side of the harbour the boat began to Rock pretty heavily and we were standing waiting for them to drop the gang planks. I nearly got to feeling a little ill myself at that point.

The second we came out of the ferry terminal we had blokes trying to sell us Watches, Bags, Suits at bargain prices. We told our selves to give it a miss this time but before we return home we will be buying some of this stuff so when you get that Rolex from me in the mail remember it might only last a day! We moved across to Nathan road to check out the Electronics, Jewellery and Fashion stores. It was an interesting place to say the least. The electronics seem reasonable and without really doing any negotiating we could have had an Ipod Mini for £100 and an 11 inch Samsung Slim line DVD player for £200(Graeme I reckon we could get this for around the £180). And I mean we really did no negotiating.

We popped into a Tailors shop that just happened to be called Nick's Fashion. We went into this one as he was not outside touting for Business. He went through his list of clients and it was to say the least impressive. Now call me a pessimist but why would the German Secretary of State buy a Suit on the Cheap in Hong Kong? I will wait for some recommendations before moving forward with that particular purchase.

We then decided to make a move towards or stomachs and find a restaurant that would serve us and two small children. On the way we were overwhelmed by 3 ladies in a clothing shop who were all standing at the front of the shop going crazy about our 2 beautiful girls. They gave them sweets and loads of hugs and kisses. Nia was rather overwhelmed but smiled once she saw the sweets and I do believe Rhiannon was pretending to be asleep and glad to be in the stroller!

We found somewhere to eat lunch on Canton Road. A small Chinese place and we ordered a multitude of dishes, or at least that is what was bought to us after we ordered. I know I ordered some Deep Fried Tofu and Special Noodles in Soup with Beef Brisket. It was good and although we ended up with about 6 dishes it only cost us about £15. Probably too much but as we were still tourists today we thought we had done OK.

We returned to the hotel had a sleep and hung out in the room for the afternoon. 32 degrees and 90% humidity are not the best mix for walking the city streets of Hong Kong.

When dinner time came around we were planning on going to the Clipper Lounge in the hotel and sampling the Buffet which we were then told is not available on Sundays. We moved on to the Mandarin Cafe where we proceeded to be seated and we enjoyed a thoroughly delicious meal.

Impressions so far:

Walking on the Street everyone with out fail stares, I think this is mainly due to all three girls having blonde/strawberry blonde hair and me being (much) larger than the average person round here.

Getting a tailor made suit is not a problem

The hotel...what a place. To quote our guide book on Hong Kong "Mandarin is considered by many to be the best Hotel in the world...The cafe is a favourite tai tai lunch spot, the Chinnery Bar is where bankers come to unwind, and the Mandarin Grill is where government officials and taipans come also have their power lunches".

Hong Kong Day 2 Slide Show