A final fling when Mary impersonated a loo door
We arrived in Hong Kong last night after a seemingly never ending flight where the Airbus seats were not too comfortable. Within 90 mins we were at the hotel such is the efficiency of HK public transport. That was all airport actions, a shuttle, a train and a bus! Big problem. 11 pm. (4am NZ time) Whacked…..they give us a room with a double bed. Never have two ladies turned tail so fast! Mary hightailed it back to Reception where they changed us to a faintly smelly room but by now we would have slept on a bench. Time Change of 5 hours plus the travel (2 flights,last one 11.5hrs plus airport waits).
Apart from rock hard beds we slept ok and awoke to a smoggy city. We walked to the star ferry terminal where we consulted about a trip to Lamma Island. This involved a ferry, a boat, and lots of leg work up and down hills following a family trai in extreme. (we both used our umbrellas for shade). Fortunately we enjoyed a brief respite at a beach hotel with a beer and a Chinese snackette. The heat was made worse by the humidity. Two ladies with sun brollies,leaking from every pore….not nice! Basically we walked from one village to another across the hills and bays. The final place was Sok Kwu Wan which was a fishing village with lots of restaurants and live fish…the kind where you choose your fish then they cook it. In the bay there were floating platforms on oil drums where the fishermen lived and worked. We also saw a series of temples and were able to be up close to how village folk live. This included seeing a pond of live turtles. All very interesting but we were glad to climb back on the airconditioned ferry for a 40 min chill out in the air con. However this was n ot before Mary had acted as a door. The only Western loo was doorless and frankly I couldn’t face the other kind so Mary adopted a wide stance as protection!
Next stop was to the cafe we visited at the start of our holiday which supports disabled and low ability young adults. A cup of tea and a scone works wonders. Then back on the ferry and onto the MTR up to the ladies market to purchase a Mulberry handbag for one daughter in law.
What an experience. Under Kowloon is a whole network of tunnels linked to the MTR. Which enable folks to walk in air conditioning rather than the heat. The ticketing was entertaining…we ended up helping other folks! Then the train…oh dear it was crowded. Only two stops, then we came up at the bottom of the tented area where the troubles have been. We had been warned off this excessive by the tourist information girl but a handbag was ordered! The area was heavily policed but at least one could walk across without being run over as they had closed whole sections of roads. We found the market accepting that we could only access part of it due to the restrictions. Our haggling skills are poor but we had fun.
Mary then decided we would walk back. Hmmm. Blistered feet. In the end I wore my camera sock on the worst foot so looked a complete idiot with sandals and one purple foot….but we made it.
After a dinner of Spag Bol and fruit accompanied by our complimentary Rose Proseco we went out again…limping heavily to watch the light show. This time as the crowds were so dense we decided to use the MTR as an underpass……well a few hundred yards of tunnel to cross one road later…this turned out to be a bad idea. Watching the light show was an amazing experience again. It did help that the commentary was in English this time. It was simply splendid with lasers, twinkly lights, music, lighting effects etc. interesting advertising too. One ferry totally covered in an Audi advert sailed past the waiting crowds minutes before the show.
Returning to the hotel it was time for a final pack up. Oh dear . Much chuntering from Mary later as she tried to encourage all of her things to lose weight fast.
After a further night sleeping on our hard brick beds we decided to go for a walk along the Avenue of Stars on the waterfront. In theory this was a great idea…to get a leg stretch and some fresh? Air before the long flight home. Mary has described the walk as “silly”. It was blisteringly hot with no shade. Too hot to sit on a bench without a seared bottom. The “stars” are Jackie Chan repeated 5 times plus unknown Chinese actors. Posing by the Chinese for photos was funny especially when Mary got grabbed for one due to her blonde hair. The lift back to the room bad both of us plastered in the far corners where the air con pumps in. Ice cold flannels to the rescue. Mary now understands about colonial ladies laying under fans mid afternoon…and this experience was at 10 am!
We then travelled back to the airport via the shuttle bus and the express train ready for the long flight home. Shower in the lounge. The inevitable cuppa. And ready to roll back to normality whatever that is.