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Well I've done it again! But it's my own silly fault :) has been a hectic few days and have only stopped to catch my breath now! I warn you this is rather hurried and repetitive :)
On the morning of the 16th we packed in a hurry and a few of us set off for our calligraphy class in town. The woman was lovely, although she did try to sell us everything from the brushes to the paper, and we quickly learnt how to draw the Chinese numbers from 1-10. It was great fun going back to basics with look, cover, write, check and all that but I'm afraid to say that I have no recollection of any now! We then progressed onto our names, the characters for long life and happiness and felt rather pro by the time we left!
We caught a night train later that evening after a long bus back to Guilin where we sat next to a very jolly old man who had to sit on a stool between our seats as he was the last on the bus..wonderful health and safety here :) (don't panic though granny!) we got on the train rather late and were very pleased to find our carriage both quiet and clean (a novelty here!) and for once we weren't right next to the loos..result!
When we arrived the following morning in Shenzhen (the mainland chinese city bordering Hong Kong) and I managed to bump my head for the 4th time this trip (I have been a very nice person and have swapped with Caleb so he can have the middle bunk every train), we briskly walked to the immigration office amidst a zillion other Chinese hopefuls heading to HK. Luckily we managed to get through very quickly as there are so few foreigners going from mainland to HK but were slightly perturbed when our Colombian member of the group Maria failed to materialise..! She turned up an hour later having been pulled aside and questioned!! Rather scary! They let her in though so it was ok :) that afternoon we went for a walk around Jordan where we were staying and popped on the tube to go and look at the shopping malls of Tsim Sha Tsui..very exciting to be back in a shopping mall! We went to the docks afterwards to watch the city light display which happens at 8pm every night. It was pretty cool and all done to music (my kinda thing) but i was rather disappointed at my msin HSBC building being so weedy compared to the others..get on it HSBC! That evening we vetoed a big final meal as we'd treated ourselves to 'curryinahurry' and settled on beer and snacks in Vivian's hotel room accompanied by multiple card games and captain elephant to mark the end of our trip :)
The following day we had a yummy lunch of dim sums and noodles and sadly waved goodbye to Emma who's flight was that day. Mairi and I then went to Causeway Bay to see Vivian, Cassy and Lauren safely to their new hostel (I have had the incredible fortune of being able to stay in this hotel as Mairi had booked a few more nights here in the sane room AND booked one too many, YEY!). After finding Calen and Amanda again and having a quick mooch, we set off to find the two things on our minds: food and entertainment. The food we found wasn't quite what we were after but the half hour trek in the pouring rain was worth it when we got to a very futuristic mall in Admirality complete with a cinema to watch Oblivion in. For the record the film was pretty weird but we enjoyed it nonetheless.
The next day we all met at 11 at the peak tram station..the time had cone to see the skyline! Only problem was that the weather was so dreadful we didn't get to see much of it but Hong Kong still looked very majestic and mysterious in the fog. Poor Vivian also had to keep running inside as she doesn't want any tan (the fashion here is still to be as pale as is physically possible..I'd fit right in!) - the weather has been bonkers all week with up to 70% humidity where you feel like you're walking through water and frequent downfalls where the raindrops are so huge that you're drenched in seconds!! When we got back down we went to the space museum and saw the Mayan skies film in the ominimax which, although rather cool, did make me feel slightly queasy!! Also I kept waiting for 'billions of light years ago..' to blast out like in Friends :) we then had another mooch around the shops before bidding farewell to each other (their flights are all today) and then Mairi and I set off for the culture centre to watch the opening night performance of Dirty Dancing!! I was very very pleased to get the tickets as I rang up yesterday on the off chance that there might be one of the cheapest tickets spare and found 2 were so Mairi and I managed to book tickets one behind the other. We felt rather grungy compared to the 'opening night chic' attire worn by the rest of the audience but we were just happy to be there. The musical was really good but basically a play of the film with live music but it didn't really matter. What was funny was the way the actors spoke obviously very slowly for the Chinese audience even though there were subtitles at the side on a screen..all felt a bit stilted to us but we soon got used to it! Also a lot of jokes were added in about China and Vietnam which we didn't quite get but the audiences loved them! You'd never get such a loud audience as home - they were all laughing loudly and clapping at funny bits and it was all very strange..not at all like a reserved English audience..they were all practically on the floor with laughter at a particularly unfunny bit!! The dancing was amaazing though! I left wanting to dance my socks off (was only partially restrained by Mairi) but we returned to our hotel very happy.
This morning Mairi left me *sob* at 7 and in came Vivian at 11! It's all very musical chairs here and Vivians staying tonight in my room before moving to a hostel tomorrow when I go :) Viv and I are having a very chilled day today and had a scrummy wagamama esque meal for lunch. Tonight in going to meet Alison Chan for supper (YEYY!!) and then pack up for the long journey tomorrow.
Bring on Hong Kong-Dehli-Kathmandu!!
Lots of love, Flo x x x
- comments
YKW So glad you're enjoying Hong Kong - I loved it when I was there (once I got used to the amount of people there seemed to be absolutely everywhere!) So good you're getting to experience things you wouldn't in England, and of course that there is no pressure to have deep bronze skin he he! xxxx
sandra hello flobear love your writing,glad you are enjoying yourself. Got new chickens in at work and they all have names. You will love them.Hannah is sending photo. Lots of love Mummy sandra xx