The last couple of days...

Wednesday 2 December

Yesterday we met up with N_M's parents and took the bus to Stanley, on the south side of Hong Kong Island. Some of the Colonial British buildings have been moved brick by brick from their original location in Victoria Harbour to Stanley.

This is the original Blake's Pier where the Governors of Hong Kong arrived from the UK and left after their tenure here. Chris Patten was the last Governor who left on the handover night, midnight, on 31 July 1997.

And this is the original Murray Building, built in 1846 as officer's quarters, and dismantled and moved brick by brick to Stanley in 2001/2.

We had a look in an Estate Agent's window there; the price of property is almost unimaginable. To get a 4 bedroomed house in Repulse Bay, just next to Stanley, costs 110,000,000 $ (about 9 million pounds) to buy, or 200,000$ per month to rent (about £16000). Totally ridiculous money, but small fry after a flat sold recently in mid levels for 750,000,000$ (yes, that's 50 million quid!!)

After our trip we came back and enjoyed an Italian meal in the shopping centre under our hotel.

Thursday 3 December

Today we took the bus to Ngong Ping to visit the Po Lin Monastery. This was our third visit, but as we left it much later in the day, most of the crowds had left and it was very peaceful.







The carvings on the outside of the building are quite stunning.










And here is the Buddha himself, just as the sun was setting.








After a brief visit to Tung Chung shopping outlet, we took the bus back to Mongkok for a wander round, then onto Jordan.

Hong Kong has a few "Yee Shun Milk Shops" and they're amongst our favourite places to eat. N_M always has the noodles with spam and a fried egg (sounds awful but apparently is ultra tasty!) and I have a cheese and egg sandwich.

How's that for a butty??!!

For pud I have the cold chocolate milk pudding, and N_M has the hot steamed milk pudding, which is made from milk and the white of the egg. The whole meal costs about £5 including Chinese tea and coca cola. Bargain, and extremely delicious!

And now we're back at the hotel ready for bed. We've got a few busy days coming up, so lots to tell afterwards. Laters!

Saturday 15th

We had an "interesting" start to the day today, with the toilet being blocked and the contents pouring all over the bathroom floor! Luckily only clean water from the cistern, but it felt as though it would never stop! A lovely housekeeping lady raced up with industrial gloves and a giant sink plunger, and sorted it out very quickly. Whatever she gets paid, it isn't enough!!

We decided to take a trip back to the Po Lin Monastery today, so after a train ride to Tung Chung, we caught the white knuckle bus ride to Po Lin. The monastery is still as beautiful and peaceful, and they keep the grounds so beautifully with the whole area being full of flowering plants.


The monks were called to prayer while we were there, so we could hear all the chanting and praying.



We then walked just along the road to Ngong Ping Village, where the World Vegetarian Food Fair was being held. Oh luxury, so much food that I could eat and thoroughly enjoy! We shared 5 dishes from 5 different countries - Mexico, India, Italy, Greece and USA.


To get back again I agreed to try the
Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car. Now for
anyone who knows me, (particularly R&A on the Manchester Eye!), I'm not that keen on heights. So this was quite a scary thing! We were put into a pod with 7 Germans and off we went. The views were pretty spectacular despite the weather being hazy and misty with the heat. I was ok until we passed the support pylons, then my stomach ended up in my mouth!




We had brilliant views of the airport and could watch the planes
take off and land from above. It's a 5.7km trip and you are pretty
high up, partly over the mountain tops and partly over the sea. I'm glad I went, although I wouldn't necessarily want to go again!






This evening we've been on the hotel shuttle bus into town, starting in Tsim Sha Tsui and then wandering about in Mongkok. There are so many little shopping arcades with tiny little Japanese shops selling all sorts of collectibles. We manage to find new things to see every night.


There is a chap who busks in Mongkok every night, he plays a
guitar and sings to his little Pekinese dog who sits on a stool next to him. On the floor by his pitch, there are lots of newspaper articles, and we read tonight that this is Danny Hui who was a famous singer in the 1960s. Sadly he became addicted to heroin and ruined his career, so he now makes his living by busking.






A little farther down the road a big crowd had gathered to watch a street artist. This poor guy is very disabled, with only one arm and part of a hand on the other arm. So he paints with the brush between his toes or in his mouth. He was doing some lovely work, which spectators were buying for $100 (about £8).




We're now back at our hotel to get a good sleep ready for tomorrow's planned trip to Fanling.