Wednesday 8th December

This is going to be a very short post today. The internet conection is worse than ever today, more down than up, so I need to be speedy!

We spent Wednesday rushing around, trying to cross things off our "to do" and "to buy" lists. We started by a great bus ride to Tung Chung. Normally we'd take the MTR, which is mainly underground, but as we looked at the bus stops by the station a bus turned up which was going straight there. We got the front seats on the top deck, and some good photo opportunities!

The dry dockyard, where all the HK ships are brought for repair

From Tung Chung we got on the 23 bus, which winds its way up very precariously to the Big Buddha, the Po-Lin Monastery and the Ngong Ping Village, which was boasting a Christmas Village, snow and Xmas Foods. Oh dear! The day we went, the cable car (the Ngong Ping 360) was closed for maintenance, most of the shops were closed for stocktaking or renovation, and the food fair was a tent with "dinosaur legs" alias chicken, sweetcorn on sticks, and hot dog sausages. Not quite the Christmas fayre we're used to!

This water buffalo family have chosen the right place to live, by the monastery, as the Buddhist Monks love animals and are all vegetarian!

The monastery and associated shops has been commercialised, far too much in my honest opinion. I cannot compare the place we first visited 4 times ago with what we found there yesterday. Very sad and diasppointing. So we got almost straight back on the bus to go back down again.

From there we visited Central, and the Man Mo Temple, then the little shops and stalls nearby.

And on to Possession Point Park, where NM remembered seeing a pure white Clarius catfish last year.

He managed to spot it again, this year with a mate, who was black and even bigger than this big boy!





And then back to Prince Edward, Mongkok and the markets. We took a look at the street where the fire was earlier in the week - how very sad. The area is still cordoned off while the emergency services make it safe. You can see the burnt out ruins of the stalls, shops and flats above.

At 8pm we went off to meet NM's brother and sister-in-law for a farewell dinner. We had such a lovely time, chatting non-stop whilst eating humungous burgers, waffle fries and "monkey business" milkshakes! We were in the restaurant almost until their closing time. J&C should be visiting the UK again next summer so we're planning a repeat meal then!

Monkey business milkshake - vanilla icecream, milk, peanut butter, bananas,
whipped cream and peanuts, yum!

From there, the Night Market was calling NM, so although it was way past 11pm we went off to shop a little more. That is what we miss most when we return to the UK; apart from the Trafford Centre, everything closes so early.

Today we are meeting NM's long-lost friend for lunch, and tomorrow we'll be packing to come back home. We've had a fabulous time, done some amazing things, and spent time with great people. We'll miss it loads.