Afternoon tea at the Penninsular

Today we went for afternoon tea at "the Pen".

Supposedly a Hong Kong institution and the place to go. So, along we went, dressed appropriately (no flip flops, no sportswear) and ready for High Tea and High Times.

We did have great fun, lovely catching up and chatting. Looking at the very appropriately dressed, super stylish, crowd and also at those who had not read the dress code (yellow baseball cap ladies??).

But, the service was appalling. Never, ever go there. The tea was drunk well in advance of any food arriving - which took over an hour. The food was average but the waiting staff killed any desire to go again.

The morning was spent eating (noodles), shopping (my mother is a bad influence), and then to happy foot for a painful but beneficial foot massage. More pain than seems entirely necessary at the time but your feet feel wonderful afterwards.

Post Low Tea we had a wander then headed back to Wanchai on the Star Ferry. I do so love that ferry.

I rounded off the evening watching CSI, wearing my new heels, eating mini cheddars and drinking a glass of red. Perfection.

How could I forget Friday??

How could I forget Friday night?? First stop Star Ferry over to Kowloon. I love that ferry and it only costs 25p.

Next stop the waterside at Kowloon to watch the famous light show. I've seen this before from a boat but never from Kowloon where you can hear the accompanying music! The HK skyline is truly beautiful and the light / laser show is a combination of hilarious (due to the ridiculousness of it) and stunning.

Following the show we hopped in a cab to Temple Street (this is HK so no add-lee prices, you're looking at about GBP2 per trip) for the night market.

A lovely evening. I made my first proper HK purchase (jewellery box - now I just need to fill it). The Temple Street night market is the mens market. (There is also a ladies market). This means there are many a stall selling Calvin Klein y-fronts. Nice! Also clothes, electronics, leather goods and the usual tourist tat.

We went to one of the outside restaurants and had masses and masses of wonderful food. Razor clams, spicy tofu, piles of fried noodles, yum, triple, yum. Topped off nicely with ice cold beer.

We missed the opera singers but from the taxi experience (see earlier post) I am now slightly relieved!

Dim sum + beach

Saturday, weather sunny and dry but threatening to rain.

We hopped into a taxi. HK taxi drivers notoriously claim to not know where you want to go. Our taxi driver claimed to know everywhere in HK and advised us of this in a semi-reassuring tone as we hopped in.

Traffic was bad so it was a reasonably long journey. A few minutes into the ride said driver advised he liked singing and would we like to hear a few lines. Cue a drive with two English songs (short, a lovely effort, no idea what the songs were), a mandarin song (this one I actually recognised) and a long piece of Chinese opera. How I wish someone had not recently described Chinese opera to me as "like hearing cats being strangled". We were killing ourselves in the back of the cab trying not to laugh! I feel mean saying this, but seriously, you should have been there...

Stop one was a restaurant called Dim Sum for, well, Dim Sum. Delicious! As ever we over-ordered. We did make one ordering error. The menu listed "deep fried milk" as an option. We ordered this to find out what it actually was (English translations often confusing). It turned out that it was indeed deep fried milk. Deep fried condensed milk to be accurate. Not my top dish but another fit of the giggles...

Back in the taxi and we went to Shek-O beach. We had packed swimmers and towels but it was actually so hot that we opted for sitting in the shade at the "surf cafe' reading our books. I felt slight guilt at sitting on a beach in HK planning a holiday to Bali. Almost like planning a holiday, while you are on holiday. Regardless, the Bali trip plans do now look super-cool.

Shek-O is lovely. A tiny beach although not ideal for swimming. Strong currents, someone drowned there only 2 days ago and someone had to be rescued while we were there. No one pays attention to the red flag being raised and repeated calls of the lifeguard towers (is there a proper word for these) for people to get out of the water if they are not strong swimmers. The nice chap at the surf shack was explaining how they are trying to work with local schools to educate children about the dangers of water and swimming etc.

The beach and surrounding area does have a real holiday feel about it. Lots of little stalls selling snacks, ice cream and beachwear. Given upcoming holiday I was having the bikini-diet or new bikini dilemma. Am now firmly in the new-bikini camp. Four week starvation diet wholly unrealistic (I have chocolate and mini cheddars sent from home to eat still) and there are some really lovely bikinis here. Yes, you have guessed correctly, I am about to become a holiday bore!

So the day had been a combination of eating and sitting. Wonderful. Home for a change into glad-rags then out for a wander through Lang Kwai Fong (always good people watching on a weekend), a few drinks in a lovely little bar I will definitely be going back to, and dinner in Pecatto Soho. Delicious.

Just as we finished dinner a thunderstorm alert was announced and the rain started POURING down. I have now learnt what to do and immediately hustled us into a cab home. Lovely evening though.

Rain appears to be holding off this morning but forecasts indicate this will not last the day... Possibly a spa day methinks.

Hutong again?

Last night I leave the office (it is dry and sunny) to collect mum from the airport. 1. she has whizzed through so I am late, 2. a red rainstorm kicks off, 3. no taxis, 4. grotty hotel (NEVER book the Novotel here).

So, the solution was to throw alcohol at the problem. This morning was a hot ribena and peanut butter, plus butter, on toast kind of a day.

Doing this in style we dressed up and went to Hutong for (yet another) FABULOUS meal. The asparagus with chilli and white sesame deserves a special mention and I will be hunting down the recipe. I really do like that restaurant!

After dinner we decided to keep on going and ventured upstairs to Aqua (see photo). Even more spectacular views (the rain makes it quite dramatic), more champers (always a good tipple to follow red wine) and the surreal experience of being in a bar playing house music, accompanied by my mother.

We had a great time and I was sad to remind myself I had work in the morning so we had to call it a night.

The rain continues to fall so plans remain 'fluid' (pardon the pun) this evening.

Many thanks to all who sent gifts across with mum. MUCH appreciated!

One of those days

Ok. So its 10am and I'm in the ladies at a fancy hotel. Stepping out of my frock. (Yes you read that correctly). Not quite as bad as it sounds (possibly). I was there for a meeting. On the way there I had discovered that I had lent against something white. Which marked. I was in a black dress. Less than ideal.

10.15am, cup of tea and a muffin in hand, I make it to the sign in desk to collect my name badge. (Dress now back on). Cup of tea goes all over the sign in table. Muffin hits the floor. I am handed a second cup and second muffin. This (muffin2) also hits the floor. Why oh why does this happen to me?

So, I kept a low profile for the rest of the day. I think I avoided most further incidents.

By early afternoon I had gained sufficient confidence to take a trip to the Manolo Blahnik store. My first ever trip - can you believe it? And what timing. Almost as if to make up for the mornings humiliation, today was the first day of the sale. 50% off. Rows of beautiful shoes.

However, I was restrained and decided to sleep on it before purchasing. Hence, an early night for me. The quicker I sleep, the quicker I get to shop. Perfect logic, yes?

Holidays!

Hello all. Well I am frequently told that the joy of Hong Kong is that "it is so easy to get to other places". Well, with 4.5 weeks to go of my time here it seemed time to book those all important holidays.

Mere moments (ok so it took a little while) on ebookers later I now have flights to Bali and Sydney. I hasten to add these were not booked in an orderly manner. Despite Bali being halfway to Oz, I have managed to get myself flights where I go HK - Bali - HK - Oz - HK. Nice. Good planning there! Note to self. Buy an atlas.

I have also booked with an airline that was until recently banned from flying to the EU due to safety concerns. Oh yes. Still, I used to drive a Ford KA on the M25. I know which is riskier. Crisp bag on wheels!

All well in HK. Last night I finally made the Peak Hike night again, three weeks missed due to Tokyo jaunts. Made it up to the top. Just. Feel it would be easier if I did go every week. Or did any other exercise. Ahem.

Moving quickly on to food tales I did get to have a delicious lunch at Zuma, and clearly the biggest pizza in the world post peak hike. The O Cafe does a pizza 1m sq. Yum!

Today is meetings, meetings, meetings. The excitement never stops. I expect I'll round off the day by doing my washing.

Mum arrives tomorrow, hurrah! I have heard tales of treats from home.... I have already had one exciting message saying twirls are in the post. Can this be true!? Hurry the plane, hurry the post!

Oh, hold on, I almost forgot the REALLY exxciting news! There is a Manolo here. New season arrives today. Maybe I will be amending those evening plans... (Shoes for work don't count dad!)

Lantau Island

Lantau Island. What can I say. As the pictures show, the views are beautiful. However, the warm up to the views is not exactly all you would want it to be.

Those of you considering a trip:

1. book tickets in advance;

2. pay extra and get the "crystal 360" - not for the glass floor but for the queue jumping;

3. bring drinks and snacks; and

4. avoid if you have vertigo.

Ok, so it was the ultimate tourist end to a weekend. What else were we supposed to do other than a trip to Lantau. So we merrily hopped on the metro ready for a day of sights.

We had not prepared ourselves for a two and a half hour (yes you read correctly and that is being generous) queue before getting onto the cable cars.

'Great' things about the queue:

1. the man with the beer belly bumping into us with said belly (sweaty and gross);

2. the lack of food; and

3. the fact that in HK people don't queue, so by "queuing" you are actually "watching queue jumpers".

Grrrrr.

Still, we made it onto the cable cars (not the time to remember you have vertigo) and the sights were beautiful - although probably not worth the queue. Next time I'm booking in advance.

Clearly first stop was to eat. Guidebook tip was to head to the vegetarian restaurant that forms part of the Po Lin monastery. Tasty treats and eating there means free entry to the museum within the big Buddha. Top tip number two!

The big Buddha is actually the Tian Tan Buddha. 34 metres tall and weighing 250 tons. 256 steps to reach it.