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We'd spent a few days at our mate Stevo's apartment, Stevo was traveling for a while and so let us take advantage of his pad. Administrative duties were in order, the fun of getting the laundry done making sure tickets for home were all printed and correct. Later on we moved into a Micro Boutique Guest House...Swan Vesta Hotel would have been a better description, still it was cheap but very small, we only managed to spend one night there and then opted for a full size hotel in Aberdeen, Ap Lei Chau. In Hong Kong terms it was miles from the action of Wanchai, but in reality it's only a 25 minute bus ride away. It was quite cheap and allowed us to wind down a bit. Geographically it was easier for us to get a bus to the south side of the Island and go to Stanley to relax a bit. Stanley hasn't changed and The Smugglers Inn is still there and thriving. The weather was appalling, howling wind and rain and meant it was a quiet night in The Smugglers. But, this being Hong Kong, someone will always venture out and in this case we bumped into Ray, who has walked the mountains of Wales and was great fun, Ray's heading to Wales soon and I've promised him a walk up the Brecon beacons when we meet up.
Wednesday night saw us "Off to The Races" - Literally, as a gang of us met up for a curry and then a trip to Happy Valley Race Course for the midweek racing meet. Happy Valley has to be one the world's best tracks. Smack bang in the middle of the city it takes your breath away plus the atmosphere is electric. Millions of dollars go through on each race and the tote is shown on giant screens. Grant chose the winner on race 5 but we did a quinnela and the other nag let us down. Still, at least Grant can say he put a bet on at one of the worlds' top racing tracks. We saw the night off quietly in Wanchai having a pint at the Queen Victoria boozer.
Thursday was going to be a bit of a mad one as we needed to make sure we had everything together as departure day is looming and we also wanted to say our farewells to everyone who'd made us so welcome in Hong Kong and that's quite a task in itself.
Wednesday night saw us "Off to The Races" - Literally, as a gang of us met up for a curry and then a trip to Happy Valley Race Course for the midweek racing meet. Happy Valley has to be one the world's best tracks. Smack bang in the middle of the city it takes your breath away plus the atmosphere is electric. Millions of dollars go through on each race and the tote is shown on giant screens. Grant chose the winner on race 5 but we did a quinnela and the other nag let us down. Still, at least Grant can say he put a bet on at one of the worlds' top racing tracks. We saw the night off quietly in Wanchai having a pint at the Queen Victoria boozer.
Thursday was going to be a bit of a mad one as we needed to make sure we had everything together as departure day is looming and we also wanted to say our farewells to everyone who'd made us so welcome in Hong Kong and that's quite a task in itself.
- comments
Big Steve Hotels on Ap Lei Chau? I have been away a long time.. Good to see the old strugglers still there, alas my sister used to work there so rarely went !! One day, maybe I’ll go back, I still don’t really have a yearning for it though.. Good to see the the chaos of your other travels has subsided somewhat.
Neale Watkins Hi Grant. Hope you’ve taken lots of photos? Bring them into school to show me on your return.
jaynelove Remember when we went to the races and I won 10 out of the twelve that was running that day ! Pity I was only betting $10 or $20 dollars a time and not $1000 a time....... xxxxx