It was past nine when we returned to Silvermine Bay on Lantau from HK Disneyland. As we had not eaten we browsed the local options (McDonalds and a supermarket) for available foods and discovered that our daytrip had caused our appetites to regress to when we were eight years old. R's meal consisted of a fillet of fish from McD's a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos and a chocolate milk, I however went for the sausage McMuffin, salt & vinegar crisps and fruit gummies menu. Still it did the trick and we went to bed satisfied if a little ashamed of ourselves.

The next day we felt the urge to redeem ourselves with a walking tour of HK island and after the ferry across made our way to Causeway bay and attempted to walk back to Central for sunset. Unfortunately we sidetracked ourselves in Victoria park and then managed to get lost on all the suspended walkways that crisscross the island (and as often as not lead to high end shopping centres where Rachelle could admire Prada bags among all the rich and beautiful people of HK on their lunch break). Approaching sunset we made a mad dash for the Star Ferry to get Kowloon side before all the lights come on then on Mr Dan Brigdens recommendation we scraped through the dress code requirements and went to the bar at the top of the Peninsula hotel where I promptly lost $100HK to Rachelle in a bet over which neon sign would come on last (Olympus - shame on you).

The final full day in HK saw us meet Ellie (a friend we met at Grania's 30th) for a locals trip around the sights including Victoria Peak, Madame Tussauds which we bought tickets for as a way of jumping the queue for the tram and then down to the Marks & Spencers district (as we have renamed Central as we did all our navigation based on relative distances to M&S) for dinner and a few drinks on a street full of US marines drinking whisky and smoking ridiculously large cigars. Check out the photo album for the shot of us in the freezer of a Russian bar drinking raspberry vodka (and a guest appearance by DM). We had a fantastic day and caught our ferry with a whole 5 minutes to spare, top marks to Ellie for being a fantastic guide and staying out late at bars when she should really have been at home reading upon Plato for the next day at school.

So now we have left China behind and have made it to Thailand, a bit sad to leave as we had such a good time but we will certainly be back soon if only to see which parts they have demolished in their drive towards progress. So to tie it up here are Rachelle and I's top three impressions of China in no order of merit.

Rachelle's Top 3 Thoughts on China:

These are gross generalizations and come solely from our month in the country (and do not represent the beliefs held by offexploring.com). I really loved our time in China and would certainly return, but these are some of the memorable and funny things that will stick in my head for a lifetime!

1)The Chinese love Kenny G (we heard his soulful cheesy sax everywhere we went), children (because of the one child rule, children are called 'Little Emperors' and treated accordingly) and 'artist-interpretation' maps which lack accurate distances, times and locations but look antique (we have been lead astray by many like this).

2)Nothing embarrasses the Chinese; happily people of any age will dance and sing in the streets, speak loudly, cough up and spit terribly nasty loogies (even grandmas), wear pajamas in public, pick their nose, swear at one another, etc.It is a bit gross but a bit awe-inspiring that they really don't seem to care what others think!

3)Everyone's an entrepreneur.It seems that almost everyone has an angle and the Chinese seem so keen to make a sale that they would gladly sell the clothes on their back if they thought they would get a good price.This at times is wearing, but incredibly impressive!

Antony's thoughts for the day:

1)The Chinese will eat absolutely anything possibly a result of thousands of years of high population and famine, this has led to us eating duck neck, sheeps stomach and duck fat with sugar and we haven't been nearly as adventurous as we could have been (we drew the line at dog).

2)The social structure is under a lot of pressure from policies of the Chinese government and the rapid rate of change to a more industrialised society. People always adapt and the lack of accountability from the government allows them to take steps which would be unacceptable in democratic societies but it would be a shame if the Chinese lost what makes them so different and hurled themselves headlong into a 'better life' filled with Starbucks and new Toyotas.

3)It is easy at home to think of China as one place with a Chinese people but this is a place the size of Europe and each region is distinctive with new foods to try and strange and crazy ways of going about daily life. Where else could you see a motorway with people on bikes in the middle lane or be chased around the country by an extended family wanting to practice their English by taking you out to dinner. We both feel like we have barely scratched the surface and in a place so vast and interesting we could never be more than excitable tourists but we will be back it is just a matter of time.

See you all soon, Love A & R