My journey to Hong Kong was fairly uneventful, although I won’t be rushing to spend 9 hours in Dubai airport again if I can help it! Nothing against the airport or facilities, but there’s only so much shopping/browsing even I can do. I arrived in HK at around nine at night, and Liz was there to meet me – hurrah! She lives on Lantau island - which conveniently is the island where the airport is - so it only took about half an hour to get back to their apartment in Discovery Bay (DB). Before going any further – a geography lesson of HK….

As far as I understand, there are three main bits to what is collectively known as ‘Hong Kong’. (There are loads of smaller islands too though) There’s Kowloon/New Territories which are attached to mainland China; there’s Hong Kong island, which is an island (which has the area known as Central which is the city sort of area) and then Lantau island which is where Liz and Huki stay. DB is a fairly residential area, lots of expats and families etc, and is much quieter than the city areas in Central and Kowloon. There’s a plaza with some shops and restaurants, a marina and a beach. There are no private cars allowed, only taxis, buses and golf buggies if you can afford one at 700-800 quid a month to hire. It seems a very safe and idyllic place to live with a young family.

Liz, Gregor and I took the cable car up to Nhong Ping – a village in the hills where the Tian Tan Buddha, (affectionately known around here as the Big Buddha) lives.

The scenery as we crossed over the bay and through the hills of Lantau was spectacular. Although the weather has been a bit hazy so far, (humidity or pollution? – can’t make up my mind) the views are still so impressive.

To get to Central from Lantau, you catch the boat which takes about 25 minutes across the bay – of course the views of the skyscrapers are pretty amazing as you approach Kowloon on the left and Central on the right. I headed over myself the other day, thinking that as a fairly experienced traveler, I would manage to find my way about just fine with the help of my guided walk map.

There I was (following the route diligently), having a great time wandering through wee alleyways and streets, looking at the dried fish, fruit and other unrecognisables on sale at various stalls. The sights, sounds and smells were quite strange but fascinating. However, I managed to veer off course (tempted by some wee shops selling handbags and other items) – and then suddenly found myself way off the map with NO idea where I was. My grasp of Cantonese isn’t much to write home about but fortunately, after a bit of wandering about I managed to find a shop where someone spoke a bit of English to point me in the right direction – towards my next port of call – the Man Mo Temple.
The smell of incense got you as soon as you walked in the door – but when you see the size of the incense burning cones, you can see why! Before I needed an oxygen mask,

I carried on down to the main drag of HK Island and met up with Liz and Huki for our trip to the Peak. The Peak is basically the top of a big hill which gives amazing views over Kowloon, and the rest of HK. We took the tram up (27 degree incline) and then wandered around – it was a really windy night though. As we were waiting for the tram we noticed a display about the history of the Peak prior to the tram – seems that in years gone by the native Chinese were the ones who had to transport the British up the hill in a fancy chair.

Next stop – China for a long weekend. More news and photos to follow….