Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
My birthday!
Well it's been my birthday all week but today is especially my birthday. My wonderful Chris got up early this morning while I was still sleeping and brought me back a hot choccy with whipped cream on top, a warm apple crumble muffin and a blueberry muffin! He knows me so well :-)
So after stuffing our faces and getting dressed we got out of our little cupboard room and took the train over to Diamond Hill station to visit the Nan Lian Gardens. We spent about two hours walking around viewing the traditional Chinese architecture and plant designs. It was very peaceful and the gardens and ponds were well kept. It was easy to forget we were in the middle of a busy city until we looked up at the tall sky scrapers towering above us.
We walked into a beautiful temple which unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any photos of. We silently watched as some local visitors kneeled down in front of a huge golden Buddha to pray.
After the gardens we went to a large shopping mall just outside. We found a really good frozen yogurt stand where we helped ourselves! We both stuffed as much yogurt in to our tubs as we could then chose from the huge selection of toppings. Fruit, chocolate sprinkles, malteezers, there goes our diet out the window! We went to pay then suddenly realised it was priced by weight! Oh well, its my birthday :-)
I felt that I had dragged Chris around enough shops over the last few days and I didn't think he could handle much more so we made our way back to the station and caught the train to Central to see the Symphony of Lights show from Victoria Harbour. We read that the best way to watch the show was from a Star Ferry while cruising through the harbour with a couple of drinks, so we went to get our tickets early but the ticket office wasn't open when we arrived at the port. A sign outside read that we would have to book our tickets half hour before the Ferry leaves. No problem we thought, there was a nice bar upstairs over looking the harbour so we went up and wasted a couple of hours in there.
It was too windy outside so we ended up sitting inside. We were glad we did, the barman laid out a buffet of free snacks! Of course we helped ourselves to plenty of them! Loads of salami, prawn crackers, pop corn, crisps, olives, vegetables and savoury snacks. It went down lovely with my bottle of Rose. I hadn't drunk Rose wine since being back at home three months ago! The taste (as well as the price) reminded me of the good times drinking in the local Tup back at home with family and friends lol.
It was getting later and starting to get dark outside. The drinks were slowly beginning to go to our heads so we checked the time and realised the ticket office was now open so we paid up and hurried back downstairs to buy our tickets. When we got there there was a small que, after only ten minutes of the office being open a lady from behind the counter announced that all the tickets were sold out and the Ferry was already full! We felt a bit gutted that we couldn't get on the boat. We knew there was a cheap Ferry going to the other side of the harbour which would be easier for us than getting the train back so we got on that. When we got across we found out that we could still see the show from here. So to be honest it was quite lucky for us as the tickets cost 140 HKD for one hour cruise, instead we took the star ferry from central to Tism Sha Tsui pier. Only took ten minutes and cost 4 HKD each!
There was a huge public viewing platform on the other side of the harbour. A crowd was already beginning to gather on it so we rushed to the nearest Seven Eleven and like pikeys we bought a bag full of beer and Smirnoff ice to drink while we watched.
It was free to enter the platform and free to watch the show and it was quite nice sharing the experience amongst a large crowd. We managed to squeeze ourselves into a spot at the front then waited.
Suddenly loud instrumental music began to play from the platform, bright beams of light began to shine up through the sky from the tall skyscrapers from the other side of the harbour. The lights on the outside of the buildings started to flash in time with the music as well as the beams above. As the music went on, more and more buildings began to join in. Chris told me to look up at the buildings behind us, they were also flashing and changing coloured lights in time to the music.
The show only lasted about ten minutes, Chris thought it was too long and a bit boring but I liked it. He also managed to get through three cans of beer! I got through two bottles. It was a unique experience and we're glad we didn't pay to see it from the boat, it was much nicer to see for free!
We made our way back to the station once it finished and took a train one stop to Jordan station. We found Temple Street night market and sat down for another beer. Chris wanted to eat but I didn't fancy the food there so we just had a beer. Behind us there was a stall selling funny and dirty quotes on metel number plates. They were written in literal translation and didn't make much sense, but they were still funny to read.
Chris bought some chop sticks for dummies, ones that open and close on a spring and we also bought a nice set as a souvenir. I wanted to see a fortune teller until I found out they were really expensive! £20 plus for just one question!!! Chris thought it was a load of s*** anyway. The fortune tellers were all down a dark road. Chris went in to use the public toilet and came out pissed off. I asked him what happened and he said to me "I told some guy to f*** off in the toilet for staring at my c*** while standing at the urinals! Then to make it worse he had his c*** in his hand! Dirty old b******!" lol how funny!
One of my favourite moments of the day was when we were walking back through Jordan Station to take the train back to our hostel. We were both quite tipsy by then and saw an old Chinese lady singing on a mic in the station. I asked Chris for some change to give to her. When I ran over and dropped the money into her pot she thanked me then grabbed my hand and with a huge smile on her face she asked me to sing a line with her! I didn't really have much choice as she had already put the mic in my hand and was singing the line she wanted me to repeat. People stared as they walked by. It was a bit embarrassing but fun so I sang with her. THEN! She started singing the Happy Birthday tune to me in Chinese!!! I couldn't believe it, how did she know it was my birthday today?! It was a very strange coincidence. I joined in and made even more of a prat out of myself, but I didn't care, I loved it and kept singing the tune to Chris all the way back to the hostel :-D
Before we headed up we stopped at a street seller and bought loads of food from them. Crab meat on claws, squid balls, mushroom bean sprout spring rolls, some patty's which we aren't sure what was in them but they tasted good. We had a good pig out in our room before falling asleep at around midnight.
Charlotte & Chris
- comments