Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
20th December 2009
I arrived in Shenzhen at 7am and started the intrepid journey to find Hong
Kong. I kept walking and following some signs and after going up and down
and around about 10 times I managed to fin passport control. I had an awful
feeling just as I arrived that I would need a visa but luckily it was just
me being paranoid! I went through one passport check, then a baggage check
then another passport check and I was in Hong Kong! I found the train to the
city although it did take me a little while to work it out, then I set out
on the MTR to Wan Chai!
Two hours later I made it and met up with mum dad and Vicky it was brilliant
to see them after so long! :D We did some catching up then I had a shower
and got changed then we met up again for a coffee and went for a walk to the
pier. We walked the wrong way and it was longer than intended but the
weather was good and we could see the water so it didn't really matter. When
we found the pier we caught the ferry across the water it was very pretty.
Once in Kowloon we looked around some shops (and mum found the tourist
information) and we walked along the waterfront with lots of stars on the
ground like Hollywood. We had some lunch in a supermarket and it was then
everyone realised we weren't getting knives and forks! I was very impressed
how quickly everyone mastered chopsticks :) We did a little more shopping
and walked around a park before deciding we were tired and it was time to go
back to the Hotel. Me and Vicky were lazy and caught the MTR back, mum and
dad caught the ferry and walked back.
That evening we had subway for tea and we watched Stoke-Blackburn in one of
the bars (although it's best not to remember the score). After the game, mum
and dad when back to the hotel and me and Vicky stayed out and spent all our
money, but it was OK because afterwards I had some pizza!!
21st December 2009
The next morning me and Vic had a late start and caught a ferry to meet mum
and dad on one of the islands. It was very pretty and had beaches and no
cars.
After a little exploring we had lunch at a seafood restaurant overlooking
the water. It was our first proper Chinese style meal, although it wasn't
that successful on the vegetarian side (the tofu didn't go down well) the
fish and sweet n sour went down well. After lunch we walked to the temple on
the island, complete with basketball court on the front. By then it was
getting late so we caught the ferry back to Hong Kong.
That evening we didn't do much, we watched some TV and planned what we would
do for the rest of the holiday, then Vicky had a nap and me mum and dad went
for a walk around Wan Chai. On the way back I bought a Subway sandwich and
was treated to an ice cream and some beer, woo!
22nd December
We had a slow start in the morning and me and Vic went for an English
breakfast at "The Frying Pan" around the corner! It was brilliant I had
Heinz beans on toast with HP brown sauce and a coffee! :D Afterward we went
to CITS to book my return train ticket (at an extortionate $410 dollars even
though the ticket was only 279rmb!) then we met mum and dad and caught the
metro further out of town to visit the 10,000 Buddha Monastery.
When we arrived at the station we wandered around trying to find it and
stopped at Ikea to buy a hotdog! We followed the hidden signs and found the
path up to the Monastery and started the climb up lots of steps, which was
amusing because of the golden Buddhas all the way up the path, strike a
pose! When we reached the top I think it was the fanciest temple I had
visited since I arrived in China. There were Buddhas everywhere and we took
lots of photos.
In the afternoon we went for lunch in a shopping centre food court, in a
Yunnan restaurant. The food was good there, I personally thought it was much
better than the Hong Kong food we'd had so far!
When we took the train back to the city, I went back to the hotel for a nap
and mum, dad and Vic went to go up one of the tall buildings. It was closed
though so they came back not too much later.
That evening once we were all refreshed we went to the Night Market. It was
cool and full of stupid souvenirs and presents. Dad got a Chairman Mao watch
and me, mum and Vic got some Chinese style clothes. The sizes were Chinese
though and I won't say how big they were but it gave us some laughs put it
that way!
Me and Vic had tea at a street cafe, mum and dad weren't brave enough and
went to the shop for a sandwich! I had to branch out to eating fish again,
who'd have thought it would be harder being veggie in Hong Kong than in
mainland China?!
We then went back to the hotel and went for a few beers around the corner.
We found a bar that wasn't too expensive but it was pretty cheesy and even
had kareoke! We had some pizza on the way back to the hotel
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
23rd December
After failure to wake up early enough, our original planned trip to Disneyland was postponed and we decided to go to Stanley. Before that mum, dad and Vicky made it up the tower and I connected to the world via lovely tcp/ip and we met in the centre of town.
With the help of a friendly security guard we found the bus station and got on the bus to Stanley. We had a short walk around then went to the waterfront and had lunch at a very western cafe, woo veggie burger!! We found a cash machine then decided to split up to explore the market. After about five minutes dad had had enough and mum joined me and Vic whilst he went to some kind of boat museum. The shopping was good and although our bargaining skills obviously needed practising we all bought something.
When we got back to the hotel we had a short rest then went out for tea for an Indian! I was so excited it was amazing!!!!! :D We then had an early night in preparation for Mickey Mouse the next day.
24th December
On Christmas Eve we got up as a family and caught the MTR to Disneyland!
One of the trains even had Mickey Mouse windows and it was very exciting :D We spent most of the day watching shows including the Lion King and the Golden Mickeys. I also had a planet named after me by Stitch in the Stitch Encounter! We watched the parade and stayed quite late so we could watch the fireworks. We had a nice meal in the evening in a Jungle restaurant, which served good Chinese food!
The fireworks were brilliant and we had special glasses because it was Christmas which turned all of the lights into flying angels.
We rushed onto the train as soon as the fireworks were finished to try and avoid the crush and we got back tot he hotel about 10pm. Since it was Christmas Eve we went out for a drink. We first went to a bar called Dusk Til Dawn because dad knew someone who owned it but it wasn't very exciting so after one drink we moved to a bar next door. This bar was better and had some live music and lots of free party poppers, Christmas hats and various other noisy toys! :D
We had a countdown to Christmas which was a little weird, it felt more like new year. We had another drink then decided to go to bed so Santa would come!
25th December
Yay Christmas Day! We woke up and went to Starbucks for a Christmas morning coffee, Vicky was running late and caught us up.
Once we were all awake we went back to the hotel and opened our Christmas presents it was very exciting and I got lots of nice things :D We had a glass of wine then went for our Christmas Dinner in the hotel, Chinese style! It was a buffet and had loooooooads of choice I think I had about nine courses :)
After dinner, even though it was a little difficult to move, we decided to go up Victoria Peak. Annoyingly I forgot my camera! When we arrived at the tram station it seemed as though everyone else had the same idea as us because there was a two hour queue! We caught a taxi up instead and it was much more straight forward. We walked around the peak, bought some things from the Bubba Gump Shrimp Factory :D and took some photos of the view which was quite clear!
In the evening we went to watch the light show on the harbour it was very cool and cheesy, complete with a Junk sailing past at the end! Afterwards we tried to find somewhere to do KTV but we ddin't have any luck and in the end we just went back to Wan Chai and had a few beers in the bars near the hotel. Dad had some sandwiches that he tried to give to the people begging, but they didn't look too impressed.
26th December
On Boxing day we got up early as a family and went to Lantau to visit the Big Buddha. We had to wait a long time to ride the cable car once we'd arrived and it was very scary! It was also really strange, it was a little like Disney Land, complete with "Enlightenment Experience Package" and a photo just as the cable car lands! When we arrived at the top there was a new town withe Starbucks, Euro Gogo, Christmas decorations and the Salvation Army band playing. Not what you expect at a famous Buddhist monument! I guess I should've known better in china though....
We had some lunch (yay mashed potato!) then walked up tho the Buddha statue. It was interesting, but after we found out it was younger than Vicky and build by some famous steel company it lost most of the magic it had left! We had a short look in the monastery, I've never seen people using so much incense! Then we had had enough and decided to see another part of the island.
We caught a bus to a small ton\wn built on stilts with a big fish market. It was very pretty but smelly! We had quite a long walk around and explore then caught the bus and a ferry back to the hotel. We had to queue for a while everywhere was so busy! I think it was a two day Hong Kong holiday.
Back at the hotel everyone had a rest and I went to read in Starbucks for an hour. We then went out as a family for a Chinese meal, it was good although we were the only western people there and it was everyone's first experience of a real Chinese meal. Chinese waiters don't leave you to decide and they suggest things, which at home seems very pushy and it's something dad wasn't used to! Hehe. The food was relaly nice though and afterwards they gave us a free desert which was a purple bean and sugar soup thing, I thought it was yummy but it wasn't popular with everyone else :(
After the meal we went to watch the Stoke - Man United game. We did so well until we went down to ten men :( We lost 1-0 but it was an impressive effort! Me and Vic then stayed out int e bars, found one a little like a Chicago Rock but with people dancing on the bar. It was fun and we stayed there most of the night, Vicky even found someone studying near Exeter!
After a solo adventure for pizza, I caught up with Vic in the hotel and went to sleep...
27th December
I was not feeling too well this day, can't think what had come over me, must have been something I'd eaten! Haha...
Vicky was lovely and bought me a subway and we stayed in the hotel until about 2pm, mum and dad had done their own thing. When it started getting late in the afternoon and I was feeling better we thought we should go out a little bit.
We went to the Art Museum which was a nice relaxing afternoon. We had some food a the cafe which had a fantastic view then had a slow walk around the inside. On the way back we went through the shopping centre, stopped for a smoothie and I had a curry rice wrap yummy :D By then I wasn't feeling well again so we went back to the hotel for another rest.
I spent that evening in the hotel sleeping then reading my book whilst mum, dad and Vic went out for a meal. They were very kind and brought me ice cream back :D
28th December
This was our last full day in Hong Kong, and a Sunday, so we decided to go to the races! It was really good, much better than I was expecting! I'd never been to the races before and I wasn't really too bothered about it.
First me and Vic went for a western breakfast (beans on toast!) and I went to pick up my train ticket for Yiyang. We then met up with mum and dad and caught the MTR to the race course. We initially got on the wrong train and had to come back a stop, but we worked it out in the end!
It was really cheap to get in and it was very exciting, we could get really close to the race track! We watched a few races and then worked out how to place a bet. To begin with I wasn't going to bet but I joined in after a while because it was more interesting :D Everyone except dad won something, Vicky, as usual, won the most!
When it got a bit later we went back to the hotel just in time to avoid rush hour on the MTR. We packed and dressed up for our last night and went out to some bars. We found one that had cheap beer, cider, good music and the football on! Unfortunately, Fuller and Griffin had a scrap and we lost the game ><
29th December
Last morning in Hong Kong! We got up early as a family and went for a breakfast together, more beans on toast mmmmm!!! We then wen to a town called Aberdeen. It was cool, lots of boats and we took a Sampan cruise around the harbour.
There wasn't too much else there so we caught the bus back, mum got a copy of my photos on a DVD and we went for a coffee before I had to leave. Everyone came with me on the MTR as far as Admiralty where we sad sad goodbyes and went our separate ways :(
I then had a long journey, I was very early in Shenzhen station, but tired from carrying all of my bags. I wasted time in McDonalds then read my book until I was finally able to get on my train! I stayed up late reading because I started one of the books I'd had for Christmas :p
- comments