Wednesday 2nd March

We arrived safely in Hong Kong at about 5.30am local time.  Not much sleep had by either of us on the journey.

We were through immigration quickly and collected three of our four bags very quickly, but had to wait for ages for the small one with the toiletries in.

We asked at an information desk about how to get to our hotel.  A suggestion of the train followed by a bus was not what we wanted to hear as we thought that there was a shuttle bus.  Linda rummaged through her paper work to find that there were details of a shuttle bus in the original itinerary but not in the final itinerary.  Thank goodness that she had brought both copies!  It told us that we needed to go to stand B17.  We found a pillar with B17 on it and waited there for about 5 minutes until we realised that there was a notice on the other side of it!!  That shows how tired we both were.  It instructed us to go to desk B17 but we could only find desks B1 to B16!  We asked at B15 who told us where the missing desks were.  We pushed our luggage to the correct desk only to find that it was unmanned and there was a notice on it to go to B12!!! Linda was finding this very funny or was it that she was having hysterics by this time.  We went back to B12 and found that there was a very reasonable charge of $100 per person (about £8) for the shuttle bus and that we could charge it to the room.  We booked the tickets and then were sent off to another area to sit and wait.  We were approached three times by different people reassuring us that we would be moving very shortly!  Finally we were approached by a young man and told to follow him!  We did and finally got into a very luxurious shuttle bus (leather seats like arm chairs), leaving the airport at 7.15 am and arriving at the hotel at 8.00am.

We approached check in to ask if we could leave our luggage but were booked in and given a room immediately!  Service!

Up to the room and the bags were brought up for us.  We managed a quick cup of tea and then Linda had to get into bed to have about an hour’s sleep.

Feeling refreshed we both showered and set off to explore.

All of our senses were assaulted at once.  The noise was horrible, the sights were incredible, it was very hot and our noses were given whiffs of exotic food and horrible drains!  The smog spoilt many of our views of the city.

 

After walking past some traditional market areas, we passed through the jewellery area selling mainly expensive watches and bracelets.  We continued walking around the main Kowloon shopping area ( where designer shops were cheek by jowl with market stalls, Chinese food shops and fast food outlets) ending up at the harbour side. 

 

We walked along the Avenue of the Stars but only recognised the names of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.  There was also a statue of Bruce Lee.

 

We were reminded of our visits to both Canada (Whales) and Germany (Lions) when we saw the Buddy Bears that Jackie Chan had first come across in Germany in 1990 and brought the idea back to Hong Kong.

 

On the way back from the Harbour side we visited one of the city parks and admired the beautiful flowers and the birds (both wild and caged).

Linda was fascinated to watch the people, mainly men, playing a board game with counters.  We weren’t too sure what game it was.  People just sat down at the board and then waited for someone else to come along and play.

 

During the day we were approached many times asking whether Ian wanted to have shirts or suits made or whether we wanted “copy watches”; all of these offers we declined.  In contrast, many designer shops had doormen restricting access so that queues were formed up outside and shoppers were allowed in when others came out.

 

We noted that there were some very smart, modern buildings adjacent to some very scruffy ones; also that the majority of buildings were high-rise with street facing shops on the ground floor, other trading establishments on the first and second floors (with lift access from spooky passages) and residential on the remaining floors (access not apparent).

We were extremely weary when we got back from our 8 km walk around the city so after downloading the photographs we changed and went for dinner in the hotel.

We were thrilled to find that we could have broadband access to the internet in the room and there was no limit or charge on it.  We were able to look at the e mails and were thrilled to find one from Nick and Jenny Frost who we were friendly with when we were first married and lived in Hildesheim.

After writing the blog, accessing the account to publish it has proved problematical as the required toolbar is in Chinese characters!!

As you will deduce, we have succeeded in uploading it, complete with photos so we are having an early night as our sightseeing tour of Hong Kong by coach starts at 8.00am.