Hong Kong

Friday 16 October
The Air NZ flight was comfortable and on time, arriving at about 5:30am.
Met Hung at the airport and we caught the bus into Kowloon to the hotel. We managed to check in early and so was able to have a quick nap before we went out to get some lunch. Hung lives in Aberdeen so we caught the 970X bus from Kowloon to Aberdeen and then a short ferry ride to the Jumbo Floating Restaurant. The food was okay but expensive due to it being very touristy.

The Aberdeen waterfront.

Boats in Aberdeen.

A statue on the Aberdeen waterfront.

The Aberdeen waterfront.

The Jumbo Floating Restaurant

A tourist boat in Aberdeen.

Another tourist cruise boat in Aberdeen.

From there, we caught the bus across the bottom of the island to Stanley. This is a very rich area with very expensive houses, a nice market and expensive bottled water.

Back to Hung's tiny little apartment to collect clothes etc. The apartment is about 30m2 and houses her, her daughter and and her son in law. (with a dog!!) From there back to the hotel and a swim.

Saturday 17 October
To Macau. See part 2.

Sunday 18 October
Lazy morning and afternoon, walking through the markets in Kowloon, looking for and buying some new shoes. Eventually ended up at harbour.

Hong Kong Harbour.

Monday 19 October
Day trip to Lantau Island. This is the largest island and has quite a few sites.
From the train station you have the option of the cable car up to the Po Lin monastery (expensive and very long lines) or a bus that winds it way through the hills to the monastery. Bus was also more scenic.

The entrance gate to Po Lin Monastery.

The Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island.

The Tian Tan Buddha.

The view from the top down to Po Lin Monastery.

Statues at the base of the buddha.

The Tian Tan Buddha at Po Lin Monastery.

The Po Lin Monastery.

Wildlife at the Po Lin Monastery.

Lunch at an expensive restaurant in Ngong Ping.

Another bus took us to Tai O, a traditional fishing village. This seems a million miles away from the hustle and bustle and huge skyscrapers and apartment blocks of Hong Kong and Kowloon. The main method of transportation is boat through the canals.

Tai O village, Lantau Island.

The entrance bridge to Tai O.

More of Tai O.

Lunch.

One of the few streets in Tai O.

The main canal in Tai O.

Typical houses in Tai O.

Dinner was very nice Japanese food in a small restaurant in Kowloon.

Walked down to the harbour for some night pictures.

Central.

Hong Kong Harbour.

A tourist junk.

Tuesday 20 October
To Wong Tai Shin temple complex in Kowloon.

The main entrance to Wong Tai Shin Temple.

Another gate at the temple.

One of the many statues at the temple.

More of the temple complex.

The guardian.

The entrance to the pond area.

A quiet part of the temple complex.

The pond at the temple.

The pond (and a tourist) at the temple.

After lunch, we went back out to Aberdeen to pack a very large suitcase with stuff to take to Shanghai.

In the evening we went to Central on Hong Kong Island to meet Hung's daughter, Fei Fei and her husband, Kan for dinner.

An old tram, a new bus, and an ancient taxi, all in Central.

Central.

The HSBC building in Central.

The bus ride to the Peak is quite spectacular at night and the views from the top are great.

The only picture from the Peak that is actually any good.

Wednesday 21 October

A lazy morning and then a taxi ride to Hung Hom Railway Station for our train to Shanghai. Met Fei Fei and Kan and the very large suitcase at the station.

Waiting rooms at railway stations are always interesting places to people watch and this was no exception. A full blown slanging match between several elderly women over bagging a chair with a coat and someone else taking that chair was quite entertaining.

We left on time and had a four berth sleeper to ourselves. Made it very comfortable, especially due to the number of bags we had. After helping the young mother and her son in the next carriage get some vegetarian food from the restaurant (a note written in Chinese worked wonders), we had dinner with the two businessmen from the next door carriage and found out that one of them was the ex husband of one of Hung's friends. Slept reasonably well.

Our train from Hong Kong to Shanghai.

Our cabin on the train.
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