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Catching up on the blog from our time spent in Hong Kong. We arrived from Tokyo after staying in relative luxury and checked into Yui Fai Guest House, on Nathan Road- Kowloon. What can we say about the accommodation for 13 pounds 24p per person? Horrible…The main shock was the style of living in large mansion (do not assume mansion means luxury) blocks- We knew what to expect but it was still a shock. Rooms gated off by metal shutters- which don't even lock- why? The room itself was small, crammed with a single and double beds 'cooled' by the noisiest fan in the city. We got used to it though and the best thing about it was the very helpful owner- Raymond, who even collected our laundry for us!
On our first night after the shock- we watched the symphony of lights (biggest light and sound show in the world with 44 skyscrapers lit up/ fired laser lights) at the harbour which was amazing- even the torrential rain did not spoil the show.
The next day we took the star ferry- all 18p of it from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island and took the peak tram to Victoria Peak. We paid for a ticket which gave us access to the sky terrace and the views/ photos were stunning. Lunch was just below the terrace with the best views in town and was at a place called "Bubba Gump Shrimp Co"- (Forest Gump Restaurant) It had memorabilia and the actual costumes from the film decorating the walls. I went for a Shrimp Burger which was terrific.
One afternoon we went up to the 43rd floor of the Bank of China Tower to the public viewing gallery and saw a totally new vista of Hong Kong.
One evening meal we went to what we now think was a Birthday restaurant- as everyone had a cake/ candle brought out to them for dessert and the lights were dimmed- as well as having birthday balloons everywhere. We felt a bid daft when it obviously wasn't either of our birthdays (we had assumed it was the restaurants birthday) but the eight- yes eight course meal we had was really good.
We visited the many markets in Hong Kong- temple street night market, the fish/ bird market (the bird market was pretty sad to be honest with not great conditions), Jade market (where ironically Claire bought a piece of amber) and the ladies market- (don't worry this involved no actual ladies). We found much of the market goods slightly tacky and the market traders were really pushy. It is a great place for fake goods (copy watches, copy handbags, copy rolex, copy suits…copy copy copy…) however, we found it annoying and the street corner sellers harassing, as surprisingly we didn't want a million and one fakes.
To escape the madness for a day we travelled to Aberdeen and Stanley Market on the far side of HK Island and the atmosphere was much more relaxed and far friendlier. We rode a sampan at Aberdeen and later took the free shuttle ferry to Jumbo Restaurant- huge floating restaurant with great lights and fantastic food- the Queen has been there don't you know J Claire's face did drop slightly when she saw the 90 pound set menu- needless to say this was not the option that we chose.
On our last day we went to HK Zoo and saw many gibbons, raccoons, agoutis, tamarin monkeys and marmosets. The weather was sweltering 35 degrees plus humid, so we always made dashes into the nearest coffee shops to get a drink and cool off.
We finished our time off by watching the Symphony of Lights for the last time at the harbour, which was great in the good weather and certainly one of the highlights of our time in Hong Kong.
After 4 weeks of dashing around next stop Phuket and some sun/ relaxation is definitely on the cards.
Missing everyone and hope you are all well.
Love
Dave and Claire
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