23/01/2012

Hong Kong

This morning we woke up early probably because we went to bed before 9 last night! We went to the gym before our buffet breakfast to work up an appetite. The buffet breakfast was good but things like salads noodles and dim sims for breakfast is a little different to what we are used too! Trav however still had six full plates worth of food, talk about getting your moneys worth!!

After breakfast, I was brave enough to let Trav talk to concierge and ask what we could do for the day. He came back with a temple we should visit and how to get there. He did very well getting us to the train station from our hotel but after that it gets a bit messy. Long story short we met some people that spoke English and they kindly helped us. To get to the temple it took four trains, the trains here are really NOT that hard once you get the hang of it and may I add on the way back we aced it, however for us first time users, our heads were hurting trying to work it out!

The temple we went to was Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple and there were thousands of people there. The line up was crazy long but so worth the wait! People were leaving offerings of good fortune for the New Year and welcoming the year of the dragon. There were incense aromas everywhere and people praying.

After this we decided to go to Victoria Peak we spent more time in the line then at the top looking around. The views from the top are amazing you can see the whole of Kowloon, Hong Kong island and Lantau. The tram ride to the top was fun it was going up the steepest hills. Once we had finished at the peak we caught the tram back to the bottom and back to the hotel.

I needed some retail therapy so before the parade I pressured Trav into taking me back to the ladies markets. I put what I thought was good bartering skills to the test and spent HK$500in less that 20 minutes! She is far too good at spending money! I recon I saved more than I spent though and this I kept telling Trav to keep handing my more money!! I recon the stuff I bought will be going in Trav's bag though, mine was heavy enough on the way over!

After that we went to the New Year parade, the area was packed we had to push and squeeze our way into a spot to see. The parade was not as good as we thought it was going to be but all in all something we had to see.

It's back on the plane for us tomorrow to Europe! We have our thermals all ready to go!

Sweet dreams,

Bree and Trav

xox