sir pat's travels: My Hong Kong Birthday Bash 2013

Saturday 19 July 2013

I was up at 2.45am to get ready to check-in at the airport by 4.15 am. My brother John kindly also got up early to drive me to the airport. Check in and security went very smoothly to allow me time to have a coffee before boarding the flight. On arrival at Brisbane I had to transfer over to the International Terminal for the flight from to Hong Hong.

My good friend Kurt was there waiting for me. We did a bit of duty free shopping, had a snack and it was time to board the flight. The 9 hour flight went very quickly and the few red wines had us in high spirits so we had a few games of draughts on the Tab2.

Our hotel is in a great location and handy to all facilities. We had a few drinks from our duty free spirits then went over the road to a fantastic meal.

After a 23hour day for me it was beaut to put the head down on the pillow.

Sunday 20 July 2013

After a beaut sleep in we went down to have brekkie in the hotel. Well that was a story in itself as they only had 2 lifts working and after two full cars calling in at our floor that there was no way we could squeeze in, we found the cargo lift in a staff only area and used it. Anyway we arrived at the dining room 25 minutes after leaving our room. Living on the 21^st floor with it’s fantastic harbour and city views had its disadvantage with the lack of working lifts.

After a beaut big brekkie we set out to explore and bought our Octopus transport cards from the nearby underground train station. Wow, Hong Kong has a very clean and efficient rail and transport system.

It was a very clear day although cloudy and a bit overcast at times compared when I was here last March, when the city was blanketed with thick smog and fog.

After many photo stops by the harbour it was on to the Star ferries for the trip to HK island where we got a double decker bus for a ride over to Stanley to visit the markets and then we found a great bar to have a drink before finding a beaut place for a fish and chips lunch.

In the course of the long day we must have walked over 6 miles so it was a relief to return back to the hotel and have a shower and cool drink about 6 pm .

We had an excellent view of the light show from our hotel room.

We just had some take away food and a few drinks before having a well deserved sleep.

Monday 21 July 2013.

After another beaut full brekkie at the hotel we set out for the train station to go to Lantau to see the big Buddha. We have become experts on the subway system and it was a fast and efficient way to get out to this attraction.

Wow, we were in the line-up queue to buy our tickets for the cable car for over 45 minutes. We decided to pay the extra and buy the all inclusive day pass day that would give us priority boarding and set times for the attractions on escorted tours.

There was so much to see with the houses on stilts in the fishing village of Tai O, the white dolphins while we were on the boat ride.

The dried seafood markets, the temples and of course the Big Buddha looking down on us.

The 30 minute cable car ride from Tung Chung to Ngong Ping was spectacular in itself with great views as we crossed the mountain ranges.

We didn't have time to have lunch as we were on the go for the full time we were over there . We thought it would better to join the que about 4 pm to catch the cable car back to Ngong Ping. We finally arrived back in Ngong Ping about 5.30 pm so we thought a stop at the pub for a drink would go down well before catching the train back to the hotel. Actually the first Guinness went down so well I had a second.

As the temps today were in the low 30’s C and the high humidity we felt much better after a well deserved and refreshing shower back at the hotel. We tried a fantastic Chinese restaurant on the 8th floor of our hotel for dinner. We were the only non locals there and were looked after with first class service. The friendly Maître Dee even made suggestions for our choices. Why is it that Chinese food is much better in China than it is in the USA, Australia or Europe? What a great eating experience this was.

We called it an early night, well for us it was and were in bed before 11 pm.

Tuesday 22 July

After another big brekkie we set off by train to Hong Kong Island where we caught the bus up to the Peak.

Not the best of days for this attraction as there were showers however we took in the views between the showers.

We caught the tram down and caught the local bus back to Central where we had some lunch.

Kurt had been wanting to go for a ride on one of the ‘Ding Dings’ since he first saw them the other day. The ’Ding Ding’ is a double decked tram.

It was a fun ride and great for sight seeing. We did the markets near Time Square then caught the very crowded peak hour trains back to the hotel.

We had a couple of well earn drinks before getting ready to go to dinner.

We had another great meal in a restaurant in the basement of our hotel building. I guess it was an early night as we were in bed about 11pm

Wednesday 24 July

Today was our shopping day and getting around the various specialist malls and markets. We visited the Computer and electronics Golden markets at on Fuk Wa Street in the Sham Shui district, where we spent many hours looking at all the new gadgets.

We had a late lunch in the Pacific Place arcade on Hong Kong Island. Then we joined the peak hour crowds on the underground for the trip back with many line changes to The Temple Street (Night) Markets).

The rain was very heavy and with our new umbrellas we were still getting wet. Kurt being tall was worried about getting poked in the eye by the short local’s umbrellas. We made it a short visit and as our hotel was not that far away we walked home.

We had a few drinks at the happy hour and then some sandwiches before having a late night to see in my birthday.

Thursday 25 July

Rain rain rain, The rain gods are also celebrating my birthday. We started celebrating last night so it was a bit of a slow start to the day.

After an enjoyable brekkie we set off to visit Ocean World. Wow, what an attraction, and even though we were soaked we enjoyed every minute of it.

I think I will have to let the photos tell the story of this well planned and set out attraction. The shows and displays were excellent. The Pandas for me were the highlight, closely followed by the penguins and the walrus.

Oh, you should have seen Kurt after his roller coaster ride in the rain, he looked like a drowned rat. We took in a porpoise show to try and dry out and take the weight of our legs and give our water soaked shoes a rest.

When we returned back to the hotel we had a couple of happy hour drinks before getting ready to go to dinner. We returned back to the restaurant we visited earlier in the week . We again were the only Westerners there and were welcomed back with great enthusiasm and were treated like VIP’s. It was another excellent meal.

We had an early night, well about 11.30 pm as we have a big day tomorrow with the 11 hour visit to Macau.

Friday 26 July.

We were up early for brekkie and had to be in the lobby before 8am for the pick up bus to take us to the Macau ferry.

The ride over was a little rocky and many of the Chinese landlubbers were sick, I just shut my eyes and pretended it wasn't happening.

The ferry ride only lasted an hour then we had to make our way through the very crowded Immigration and customs hall.

We were met outside by our tour leader and we were lucky as there were only ten of us on the tour on a 30 seated bus. Many had cancelled because of the weather. After many stops for photos we went to the tower for the fantastic views. It was designed by the same bloke that did the CN tower in Toronto but this one is much larger. There were folk even bungee jumping and walking on an outside ledge.

We enjoyed a local cuisine lunch before going to the ruins of the old church. Wow, the place is a mixture and a contrast of the old and the new.

Because of the small group we were given extra sight seeing and a guided walk from the old church ruins through the old town to the Jacky Chan casino.

It was at the Jacky Chan Casino where Kurt and I gave a HK $10 each donation on the pokies. Big spenders as HK$10 equals about Aus $2.

The return ride was much smoother and after a long day we had a few happy hour drinks before going over to a ‘western’ type pizza place for a feed.

It was good to get to bed as we were both very worn out after the long day.

Sat 27 July 2013

We had a late brekkie before heading off to the nearby sky tower and to our surprise the sun was shining for periods. The Sky Tower was excellent so I will let the photos do the talking.

We headed back to the hotel by the train system to do our final packing. The hotel gave us a late checkout time of 3pm.

The shuttle bus took us to the airport and after the check in procedures we had a snack and did a bit of duty free shopping before boarding the flight.

The 9 hour flight on the A380 seemed to go very quickly.

Sunday 28 July

The change over from the International to the Domestic Terminal went very smoothly and we were able to have a couple of Guinness before the flight up to Cairns.

Wow what a flight, we were looked after by the Hostie of the year and she introduced us to a great wine to have with our lunch. The wine was a Hunter Valley red called Rolling.