Ok so bit slow on the blogging front but will try to back date!

Saturday 3rd December

Plane journey to HK was ok, not so much leg room on the twin seats for Tony (especially when there are a couple of extra large germans infront who seem to be able to recline their seats more than everyone else!) but grabbed a few snatches of sleep and cracked on with the filmsw. Woke up somewhere over China close to Nepal border to see stunning scenery of snow dusted mountains stretching for miles.

When we arrived at HK International we wre greeted by an uplifting "Away in a Manger" made us both smile. Everyone was very friendly and helpful and we were soon at our hotel....A-MAZ-ING! The Royal Plaza is a bit fancy pants and to top it off we managed to get upgraded to a larger room. Views from the hotel room were awesome but found it a bit difficult to orientate myself within the city. The hotel is situated right next to the markets in Kowloon and a shopping mall. We wandered around the shopping mall for a bit but were then too tired and bit scared we might get lost to brave it outside.

Sunday 4th December

Started the day off with a tour of the markets which were a stones throw from our hotel so not too hard to lose ourselves. the bird market was full of old men and tiny birds in cages basically just sitting around talking the bird business. Carrie on to the flower market next to Mong Kok stadium there were lots of Christmas Trees at the this time of year! We got a bit lost trying to find the goldfish market and stumbled across the results of a fire that was the worst in HK for 15years, starting from the stret vendors. To be honest surprised hadn't happened more often as so many electrical wires that looks bodges and the tops of the stalls close to flats above. (Fa Yuen St I think but cant remember). We found the fishes - they keep them in bags like at old school fairgrounds, they all looked a little but sad :(

We carried on down to the Jade market which didnt capture Tonys attention and past the fruit markert, you have to get up at 4.30am for that one though! We wandered through Kowloon Park and saw some children playing drums and dancing with a dragon. At lunch I tried unsucessfully to have some Dim sum, the prawn one was nice but I was highly suspicious of the chicken thing! Carrying on our walk down to the harbour we passed a very up market shopping arcade, gucci prada etc. Stunning views across to HK island but slightly hazy. Tokk the Star Ferry across to HK island to look back at Kowloon but by that point our feet were exhausted so we just got the MTR (very cheap!) back towards the hotel. After a shower and a rest we were ready to tackle more og HK so went down to Tsim Sha Tsui and watched the symphony of lights, pretty clever, bit like the fountains in barcelona! We wandered down the Avenue of stars but didn't know any asian stars so weren't too impressed. the Christmas lights along the harbour were very impressive but must use alot of electricity! We walked up to the Temple St night market and had a browse and then headed for home, our feet had taken a beating!

Monday 5th December

Took the MTR to Tung Chung to see the Giant Buddah, we weren't especially early so there was a huge queue for the cable car and the view was marred by th haze and smog. The village at the top was totally engineered for tourists and wa very disappointing, the Buddah was dominating the surroundings but Tony wasn't happy that it had only been there since 1993 and the monastery was under alot of scaffolding. It was like a Disney resort.

After that it drizzled for the afternoon so we napped and read and then headed out to Knutsford Terrace for tea. Yummy pudding as a treat :) we hit Temple St market again and bartered for a few things.

Tuesday 6th December

Somehow managed to oversleep until midday! Caught the MTR to HK island and went along the mid-level escalators and explored the antique shops, I wouldnt mind having an antique horse from the Tang dynasty in my house! We hchecked out the Man Mo temple dedicated to Man the god of literature and Mo the god of martial atrs, they leave lots of offerings - incense, fruit and there were some pages of writing there too. We headed to SoHo for lunch which was very much aimed at westerners so more pricey but lunch time offers weren't too bad. We then decided that instead of getting the funnicular to the peak we would walk up it! we went as far as the mid level escalators would go and then set off up Old Peak Road. I am sad to say were were overtaken by a dog walker but in our defense we did stop to take photographs (and catch our breath!) The views were excellent and the visibility wasn't as bad as it had been yesterday. It was slightly chilly at the Peak but we were glad of the breeze. Tony spotted fernando Alonso (or should I say he spottted his super hot gf and then realised she was stood next to him) and called him but got ignored only fuelling his hatred for the driver! Despite the easier climb down we took the funnicular (for the exerience of course)

Once back down in the Central District we got a bus to Aberdeen to go to the Jumbo floating restaurant. Unfortunately we had not done our research and were a little taken aback by the price, the food was blnd too I would give it a miss. also they brought out something that smelt lamony and we weren't sure if it was tea or to clean our fingers in! I think it was tea.

Wednesday 7th December

We couuldn't sleep due to our massive lie in the previous day and Tony got up to go and use the pool with the underwater music, I was happy to just doze. When he came back he explained that he'd then gone to MacDonalds for breakfast pancakes and had been given a little bottle of something that was covered in chinses characters but said "honey" so he gave it a little taste and the waitress screamed no at him. Turned out to be body wash, I widh I'd been there!

We checked out of the hotel and wandered through the markets one last time then took the MTR to the harbour. Wednesday is free entry to museums so we made the most of it and checked out the art museum and looked at gold displays (very intricate) and calligraphy exhibition (very illegible) and an exhibition dedicated to animnal influence on art through the dynastys. I'd like to say that I learnt something about chinese culture....maybe a little bit. We also went to the space museum and looked at heritage 1881 where there were art students impressions of influences of HK, that was quite interesting. We then sat at studied the view of HK island, well I did anyway, Tony fell fast asleep. Then it was time to collect our ruckies and go to the airport. managed to get me a seat next to Tony at the exit for free, super sweeeeeeeet :)