The city itself is very hard to describe, it is awe inspiring, everywhere you turn is a post card skyline, but even in amongst all the sky scrapers (which REALLY do scrape the sky, many are as tall as, and soon to be built taller, than Victoria Peak its self!) you still find butterflies and hawk-like birds circling and navigating the air currents. The buildings are all interlinked so that in the summer the streets are literally deserted, everyone fleeing to air conditioned havens. Everywhere is an air conditioned haven- even the tube has air con...and mobile phone reception!!
What I find even more amazing is every single building and business, from government offices, to banks, to supermarkets and 7-11's...probably EVEN Starbucks (of which there are MANY) are all designed and merchandised according to the strict principals of Feng Shui... except one large building with koala like features built into its glass face, which has never managed to house a successful business. Interesting to note whether that proves Feng Shui as a valid science, or a self perpetuating cycle, in that is is so ingrained into the psyche here....?!? It certainly involves some very interesting principals and processes.
We seem to have really gone down hill with our attempts to rough it though...still protesting that we really REALLY will by the time we hit Vietnam, we have engaged in a day of pampering, a dinner cruse, a champagne brunch, a girls night out at the races and an other one at the rugby and a day lounging at the cricket club. You can take a girl out of surrey......
Of course, while that does all sound rather nice and laa-dee-da, you can never underestimate the charm of calamity Carys, who seems to have cunningly forgotten to mention things such as Ladies Night in the bar district, where EVERYTHING is free... which is resultant in Carys being poorly and so banned by her liver from Disney land- BOO!! Followed by an insistence on a visit to Ocean Park the following week to make up for it!! ( -:
Or that the trip to the rugby actually reduced Darragh to attempting to explain the game to us in terms of the pink side and the sparkly side, while Libby and I had far more fun analysing potential college cliques, a la Americaan Teen films!! Hey look I know Hong Kong won't be in the the wold cup- if that's what it's called in Rugby, which is way more than we all expected me to by the endof the match...I also think I know who's up for prom king and queen!
Our sophisticated night out at the races involved my usual betting form of, "oooh that's a pretty out fit and a nice name" and my favourite trick of changing my mind on a bet at the last minute, only for my original horse to win- probably trampling down my second choice in the process!! It should also be noted that names of racing horses in this country are even more bizarre than in England, so it is only unfortunate that the race where I bet (a WHOLE pound) on Dashing Champion, Storming Ball and Perfect Feelings made for some rather glare inducing dinner table chat in our box. We were strictly discussing form I tell you!
But I have been (a little) serene to...
One of my favourite days so far has been a day trip I took to the island of Lantau. Libby and Darragh were meant to come, but, shall we say, their livers were not receptive to the early start on the day so they went a few days later. We went to some very peaceful and spiritual destinations so it really was rather nice to do it all by myself. I spent the day being thoroughly unsociable to the rest of the tour group, so very happy in my own little world, taking in all the amazing sights. The island could be a tropical paradise; undulating terrain, lush with banana and papaya plantations, certainly not the type of scenes I was expecting to find the the region of Hong Kong! Our first stop was a very secluded sandy beach broken up by dotted boulders and rocks, I took a short wander then proceeded to sit on one such rock, with my feet in the bath warm water and just take it all in, beautiful.
We were then taken to a small fishing village were, despite having been provided new high rise housing by the government, the locals all live in stilted houses, and sell any thing from dried duck egg yolk to a complete shark's skin! We were then taken to the great Buddha, not before seeing it in the sky line, amongst the mammoth hills before us. It is beautiful, a reclining Buddha, of bronze, surrounded by maidens bringing traditional offerings, inside it encases a museum to its creation, and Buddha himself, and also the opportunity to buy memorial spaces for loved ones. Another very poignant destination...despite the inevitable shops and bus park 250 steps down from its base.
We then had lunch at a monastery and I went for a little wander to the Wisdom Trail, a beautiful monument I can only liken to Stone Henge, but each inscribed with a fable or Profit's preaching and forming the symbol of eternity. The day was ended by a 35 min ride back to Hong Kong island by cable car, offering some of the most breathtaking views of the Island, and again the Buddha an ominous feature in the sky line. Wow, what a day!
Everyone has been so incredibly generous and helpful during our time here, hence our ability to live the high life...coupled with our inability to leave! We were intending to leave Tuesday....we are now aiming for tomorrow...though earlier today were hatching plans to rent a flat until march when we fly to New Zealand!!! We shall see.....
If we do finally make our clean break tomorrow we have 5 days in which to travel to Vietnam......
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