Stepping into a new continent – a week in Hong Kong COMPLETED About This Page:

[RobDVC]

Sounds like it truly was a "Very Good Restaurant".

[poohmaine]

Thanks for the photo of Jackie Chan and Jet Li's stars. I love them both!
I would love to see the jacket you got.

[lauren-roxy]

Sounds like a great lunch!! Mark looks very nice in his suit!!

[chezp]

I don't have a photo of me in my jacket - I'll have to see if Mark can do one for me and I'll have to get a photo of little JingJing as well.

[joyjoy]

Got all caught up again... awesome!! I'm amazed at all the parks and aviaries and fountains and flowers and sculptures y'all kept finding in the middle of the city. Just beautiful! The suit looks terrific.

I'm sorry to see your report end, it's been great fun.

[Grammy Grumpy]

Cheryl and Mark, I have always loved all your photos but in this TR the floral photos are some of the best I have ever seen. We have a local photographer (Larry Kanfer) who does good work but I have to tell you that you guys are WORLD CLASS!!!

Thanks for sharing it all, can't wait for more.

[chezp]

Friday 22 February – part four: heading home

Because the weather seemed to be getting better, we decided to take the Star Ferry back across the water and walked slowly along getting more photos on the way…



There’s no denying that this has to be one of the most fun ferry rides in the world and I hope that never changes/ Maybe one day we’ll be able to come back and ride this again. I can’t help but wonder how long the ride will be in the future thought. They are re-claiming land at such a fast rate and have ambitious plans to move the waterfront of Hong Kong Island forward again. Who know where it will end? I would love to come back in a few years’ time and see the work they are doing now when it’s complete.



We caught the subway back to the hotel and had abut an hour to wait before we were due to be picked up and taken to the airport. The time passed fast with me writing trip report and Mark reading, but by the time we were told the bus was waiting for us, I was so pleased. Over the previous hour and a half, we had been subjected to what I can only describe as bad karaoke coming from the bar downstairs. It really was truly awful and if it was designed to encourage anyone down there, it wasn’t working.

We only made one other stop on the way to the airport, which really surprised me, considering how many people were on our bus when we arrived. It turned out the other couple were getting a flight to Australia, another example of people for whom Hong Kong has just been a stopover. Interestingly, they didn’t like the city at all, which really surprised me. I can’t imagine anyone not liking it.


Some views from the bus on the way to the airport

When we came into the terminal, the place was dead. There was no-one waiting at all at the Virgin Atlantic desk, so we were checked in immediately and both cases came in underweight, well one was slightly over, but they either didn’t notice of didn’t care. We even had our hand luggage weighed and that was fine.

All checked in, we had three hours to kill. We walked round the shops for a bit and then went upstairs to get some food.



We found a lovely Italian called Grappo’s and got some appetisers to share, a mixed salad, some prawns in garlic and some bruschetta, followed by a strawberry and custard tart for Mark and a pineapple sorbet for me. Just what we needed. It was a great meal and a lovely setting. We couldn’t get over how quiet the place was though, it was really pleasant.



Then it was through security, where I think we had about four people in front of us. On the other side of security, we found more shops that couldn’t be seen from the other side, as they were one level down. The biggest surprise was finding a Hong Kong Disneyland store. It even had some items in there that we hadn’t seen in the park, so we got a couple more bits and pieces.



Then we made our way to our gate, which was a train ride away and sat and waited to be called to board. We didn’t have long to wait and then we were amongst the first to board. Again, we had ended up with the same seats as we had had on the way out by the toilets, which was really annoying, as we didn’t enjoy them last time. Still, what could we do? Premium Economy was full, so we were stuck with them.

I had every intention of staying up for a while and perhaps watching a movie, but just after take-off, I suddenly came over really tired, so off to sleep I went and that’s pretty much how I stayed for the next nine hours. It’s so nice to be able to get that much sleep, as usually you just don’t have enough times on flights to and from the States. This was a 13 hour flight, so when I work up, there were still a good three hours to go. I passed the time by watching the xxxx which Mark had seen on the way out here and had recommended to me. Very good it was too.

Fortunately not long after that finished, they started to serve breakfast and before we knew it, we were on descent back into London. A very quick flight, considering how long it was. Sleeping that long does make the time fly!

We couldn’t have been quicker through immigration and baggage claim if we had tried. One case was already on the conveyor belt when we got to baggage claim and then the other one arrived a couple of lines later. In fact, we were so quick that we were out before our taxi arrived. We hadn’t exactly said where we would meet, so we decided to spilt up, with me staying put and Mark checking the taxi rank. Mark had literally been gone about a minute when our driver and her other half arrived.

The drive back was quick, although it was foggy (apparently it had been like that the whole week we’d been gone) and there was an accident on the way. Then it home and time to check up on what had been happening while we were away.

Today we walked 7.19 miles.
The weather today was mainly dry with some showers and temperatures in the 60’s.
The best thing today was Hong Kong Park.
The worst thing today was the showers.
Today we tried getting a Chinese meal
And the result was it was excellent.
The most magical moment today was walking into Hong Kong Park.

Next: final thoughts

[Colexis Mom]

What a great last few hours Cheryl! And how lucky to find a HKDL store I'm glad you got so much sleep on the plane Looking forward to your final thoughts

[lauren-roxy]

What a great trip!!!! Thank you so much for sharing with us!! You take such wonderful photos and go into great detail that I always feel like I'm right there with you guys!! Can't wait for your final thoughts!!

[RobDVC]

I'm amazed at how empty the airport was... for being one of the biggest cities in the world, I imagined that the airport would be busy 24/7.
Thanks so much for sharing your trip with us.

[poohmaine]

How great you could sleep on the plane! Can't wait for your final thoughts . . .

[duck addict]

What a great report and lucky finish ( A Disney store at the airport and able to sleep )

[elizabeth shannon]

Ohhh - I don't want this trip report to be over

I have so enjoyed exploring Hong Kong with you! It has certainly made me realise how much there is to see there. You seemed to fit so much in to a short time - I'm not surprised you slept on the way home!

I do have one question - if you were going again where would you stay? I get the impression that you felt you could have been better located.

Thanks very much for such an interesting and entertaining report!

[Grandmasam]

I will miss looking forward to the TR The entire trip has been wonderful, making me wish I was there! The park in the middle of the city looks like a real gem

[mattnkatsmum]

Well Cheryl, I'm glad I wandered down here, as I had no idea that you had started this trip report. (I thought you'd finish the Florida TR first - of course, I seriously underestimated your multi-tasking ability!).

All I can say is WOW!

Hong Kong looks amazing - and is definitely on my must-do trip now. We went to Singapore a few years ago, and I was taken with the Far East then. Must go back. Must go back.

I must also stop shopping at Sainsbury's

By the way, Kat has one of those interactive Pluto toys. We bought it from the Trafford Centre Disney Store for her birthday. It cost £30.