February saw us boarding yet another plane and heading south this time. It was time, we felt, for another visit to HK - last seen in 2007 before my Chinese adventures began and just few weeks after Dave's 'interesting' start to the job there.
So, this time we chose HK Island, just a short trip on the Star Ferry to Kowloon. The Grand Hyatt, Hon Kong is an amazing place and living and dining well over 30 floors up ensured the very best of views across Victoria Harbour to the hustle and bustle of Kowloon.
We arrived with a few plans, lunch with Dave's tailor and dinner with some lovely friends who had recently left Japan. The rest was down to us and we made the most of it all.
The first day we wandered around a very smart shopping mall and then hopped in a taxi to Mid Levels where we found an interesting array of shops, stall and restaurants - just the spot for lunch. We indulged ourselves with duck pancakes (of course!) and filled up with rice and chicken. Yum yum.
The second day we took the Star Ferry across to Kowloon and wandered around in the heat of Nathan Road and areas off, followed by lunch with the tailor .... bad news.... the clothes weren't ready; they were to be sent to the hotel later! Anyway we had a great lunch in the Shangri La Italian Restaurant and enjoyed the view from there too. Vinod gave us a recommendation for dinner, made the reservation and told us where to go. We were really looking forward to a sumptuous Vietnamese meal in a busy part of town.Busy part of town it was. The restaurant? Well, we could hear lots of fun going on somewhere above us buton the floor that we were put there were two other couples who left soon after we started and we had the whole place to ourselves! It lacked atmosphere!!!! The food was OK - not the best we had eaten by some way, but good enough.
Our final day dawned rather dismally. Grey, misty and with a lot of pollution coming in from mainland China. So we headed away from the city to the other side of HK Island - to place called Stanley which in its heyday had been a bustling little town with a market full of tourists. It still had the market but numbers were most definitely down. We sauntered around the the market, stopping to buy a few souvenirs then ambled along the sea front to a museum we decided not to go in though as it was full of school children!!!!
Ah, what to do now? Er... there's a pub over there.....had to be tried really so we tootled along and got prime position looking over the sea, looking at the board walk. Sipping our beers, I spotted a little girl on a scooter.... my friend's little girl... so I ran out of the pub, across the road and along the front grabbing Gaby as I went. What a lovely surprise for us both. The fact that we were meeting later that evening was not a problem!
We had such a wonderful evening with Gary and Gaby in Hong Kong - it was lovely to see them both and to spend so much time with them.
We loved Hong Kong. We loved the hotel which was grand and luxurious - sigh...... I have no doubt we will return especially as there is no Chinese Visa to secure before we go!! Another huge plus point if you have read my earlier blog!
