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No report for the 14th as we passed over the dateline coming back. We had a good breakfast at the hotel and then checked in to our flight. That was a bit of a pain as we had to check in at the domestic terminal and then go through security at the international terminal. Our flight was uneventful but hit me hard jet lag wise. We left at 12:30pm and got here at 7:30am which was 1:30am Africa time. So we should be sleeping. Instead we are sitting in the hotel lobby in Hong Kong. The have a great mass transit system - very efficient and apparently never breaks down. We took the MTR as it is called to the Kowloon interchange and then transferred to a bus which took the most circuitous route ever. We both swear we went past the same point at least 3 times. I think we are fairly close to the waterfront but can't tell yet. We will be looking at the Lonely Planet guide to check out what is available. After a little rest, we discovered we are right in the ritzy shopping area. Whilst walking, we were accosted quite frequently by East Indians wanting to sell custom made shirts and pants. We were both hungry and when approached by an older Chinese lady giving out brochures for a restaurant, we decided to try the restaurant which was a Dim Sum restaurant. Immediately in front of us were a Chinese girl in her mid thirties with her mother and they were seated at the table next to the one at which we were seated.The mother obviously noticed our confusion over several menus only one of which had any English. Her daughter got up and came over to talk to us and made some recommendations. She spoke very good English and her choices proved to be most delicious. Her mother decided we had not ordered enough and had her daughter order us another dish at their expense. When we were leaving, we thanked them both and the daughter gave Jean her card and asked that if we experienced any problems during our stay to please call her immediately! Wow! What amazing hospitality! We walked down to the Peninsula Hotel, which apparently was the hotel at which the British commander of Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese during WW2. We are resting again and will go out shortly to experience the Temple Street nighttime market. We had envisioned the Temple Street Market to be a huge dining experience but it turned out to be the Temple Street Knockoff Market. Want an expensive Bose system? You can have one for $100 and don't ask why it sounds like it is coming out of a bottle! We have discovered that things are VERY expensive in Hong Kong. I was curious to see what my camera cost was in Hong Kong compared to what I paid in Canada. $1,521 cdn with one lens compared to $699 with 2 lens in Canada. Tonight, we had chicken satay for me and pasta for Jean and we shared a chocolate pudding. $81.20 cdn! Because our waiter was so slow, we had a succession of neighbour diners. 4 from Australia and 1 from NZ. Had some great discussions! The last couple of ozzies were most interesting. He was a retired Australian airforce pilot and she worked for children's welfare. We ended up being asked to leave the restaurant because they wanted to close. No authentic Chinese food tonight. There is no English translations provided for the menu and we were not too adventurous! Time to sleep now. We are both at the zombie state.
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