Thursday 18 March 2010

Hong Kong


13 hours, 9648km and one taxi ride later we arrived at Adam's sister's apartment. The anticipation of being trapped on a plane for such a long time with a very active 11 month old meant that I was a little apprehensive as to how we were all going to survive the journey. I was however pleasantly surprised. As it was a night flight, it meant Oliver slept most of the journey which allowed us to watch a couple of films and even have enough sleep to render us capable on arrival in Hong Kong.

We had a fantastic 2 weeks and the time difference even worked in our favour as it meant Oliver went to sleep later and then slept till mid morning, which was heaven! After we adjusted to the humidity (unusual for that time of year apparently!) and bought a few more suitable items of clothing we were ready to explore.
We took a rather precarious trip on a cable car in strong winds to visit the Giant Buddha. After being blown about and clinging on for dear life we climbed the steps to reach the Buddha which was atmospherically shrouded in mist. On our descent I spotted Alexa Chung, who, after a bit of research was in HK to launch her Mulberry handbag. So after a bit of celeb spotting we went to perhaps my favourite place of the entire trip - Tao.

Alexa the day before in Kowloon...

The bag...
I am not sure if Alexa took the coach trip down the mountain to Tao, but if she didnt, she missed a treat. Away from the hustle and bustle of the city and the Starbucks and other global brands that line the streets of many cities lay Tao. Only a short journey from central Hong Kong it felt like a million miles away with its houses on stilts and local market. It was also the first time the sun had made an appearance and so after a stroll around the back streets we found the most perfect spot - a little cafe/bar on stilts above the estuary. It was exactly what I had been craving - some Dim sum, a beer and a very friendly bar owner who bought out a book on the history of the fishing village. Reluctantly we thought it best to get Oliver back so we went to get the bus only to find we had missed it by 5 mins and it would be another 55 until the next one. It was not the type of place where this type of thing caused stress and so we sat patiently and waited for a bus while Adam helped a local Chinese man translate a letter he was writing to a factory. My favourite day of the hols!
The very wet wetlands...

The animals went in two by two hurrah, hurrah...
More out of curiousity than anything else, we visited Noah's Ark on a small island. It was a rather appropriately rainy day on which to visit. A lifesize replica of the ark - with model animals, it was well designed and the exhibition inside was very interactive but I think Oliver was a bit too young to appreciate a lot of what was on show and slept most of the way round!
Mosiac zebra.. not so little or blue but nice all the same!
Some art that adorned the walk ways...
As a result I presume of so many people living in high rise buildings without any outside space, the parks and play areas for children were fantastic. Oliver wasted no time in getting stuck in...





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