Hong Kong - Day 3

Today I went to see the Tian Tan Buddha statue which is 34 m tall and faces North to China. you reach the statue by Gondola

It was amazing to see the statue as we came over the hills, it truly is huge. 

You walk through an historic fishing village (which has been turned into a tourist hotspot complete with a Starbucks) and then reach the Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery. There are 268 steps to the top where you get 360 degree views.

statues sit at the base of the Buddha, this is where I show my lack of knowledge of the religion. They are obviously offering him things of worth. 

After exploring the Buddha I went for a walk along the 'Wisdom Trail'. It was such a refreshing change to walk through the quiet forest listening to the bird song. There were huge butterflies all the way along, some with vibrant blue backs. At the end of the Wisdom Trail there is a maze of posts to walk through, which obviously have some significance.

It was such an enjoyable day to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city and to see a lot more of the Hong Kong countryside. It was so warm, I even succumbed and bought an umbrella to keep myself shaded.

Well that is the end of my Hong Kong adventure. Next stop ... Bangkok.

  whwhich is 34 mic

Hong Kong - Day 2

I wandered from my hotel down to the famous "Ladies Market" which is about 5 min walk away. Things really don't start opening here until after lunch time. The hustle and bustle is incredible, flashing neon signs, noises, cars, people, bartering, and cheap knock off goods. It is an unreal situation which made me a little sad.

In the midst of it all I spotted a primary school. Along the side of the school were listed the values they hold and strive to develop:

In the midst of an environment that seemed so different, it was refreshing to see something so similar.

Hong Kong - Day 1

All the luggage from Elephant and Castle to Heathrow

Jane and I had a hilarious time struggling with our luggage from our station to the airport. There weren't too many steps to drag the cases down, but at one point Jane was sitting on my suitcase in the train when the doors behind her opened and we thought she was going to roll right on out of the train.

Looking to Hong Kong Island from the Kowloon side

The flight from UK to Hong Kong took 11 hours. I watched Hansel and Gretel, Jack Reacher, Identify Theft, and This is 40 on the flight. I won't have to get videos out for the entire year the rate I'm going. So I left UK at lunchtime and arrived in HK at 7:30am, so I lost an evening. When I got to the hotel I couldn't check in until 2pm so I had to walk around for about 6 hours and I had already been awake 24 hours. I wanted to find a nice park to lie under a tree, but that's not really what Kowloon is about. I found the main street and saw that there was water at one end of it - so of course I went in the totally wrong direction. Once adjusting and turning around I wandered for hours until I got down to the avenue of the stars at the end of Nathan Street. It was quite lovely. A stretch of water across which you could see the huge buildings of Hong Kong Island. People were walking along the avenue taking pictures. Everyone had an umbrella to protect themselves from the sun. Not a bad idea since I am now a little pink. 

The walk down to the water took me past soooooo many shops! It is a shopaholics dream and would most probably be my husband's nightmare. The sheer range of items made it so hard to really choose and I am still getting used to the dollar exchange so my wallet stayed relatively shut.

Tourists, umbrellas, and the avenue of the stars

I checked into my room at 2pm and found that my idea of doing nothing but laying by a swimming pool is not what I am going to do for the next few days. The hotel has an indoor pool and it will be serviced during the time of my stay - of course.

But the room is nice and clean and the bed is comfy so I settled down for a nap. I woke up about 8pm and went out to find the Temple Street night markets. There are so many people wandering around that it is perfectly safe to walk the streets at night. 

Temple Street night markets

I didn't have my good camera with me so these are all iphone snaps. The night market is like a huge $2 shop. You are supposed to haggle and I just can't do it. I paid exactly what they asked for when I wanted to purchase something. It seemed so cheap anyway. 

I am finding the language barrier difficult. I have a pass to ride the trains but I am finding it difficult deciphering the signs and maps and so on. I also had a moment where I had one of the hotel staff standing at my door trying to tell me something but she had no English and I had no idea what she was trying to say, even with gestures. It ended with a smile and she left. I wonder what it was all about. This has really brought it back just how much French we pick up in our western lives because the language barrier was not as difficult there, it was much easier to pick out lots of the words. 

Anyway, day one down. I am completely out of sorts but feel very safe and confident. Tomorrow I will try and find the large buddha statue or something like that.