Dorsett Far East Hong Kong

... and involved some sea lions not listening to their trainers and doing what they want, and the dolphins doing various impressive tricks. And there was a Mexican band which was great. We went to the aquarium and on the cable car (more fond memories) and the pandas were fun to watch.

The weather at this point was going dramatically down hill. Although not really cold by UK winter standards, Hong Kong was experiencing it's coldest winter in 10 years ...

... only then do I realize what just happened:

Dragon Lady is the owner of the shop. The kid works for her and on the side, he unlocks iPhones and pockets the money for himself. It would seem this was not the 1st, 2nd or 3rd time this has happened as Dragon Lady knew exactly what was up without me saying a word. I feel bad and tell the kid, who speaks very good English, "I just got you in trouble huh", with a heavy sigh he says ...

... When I finally reached the Budda, I felt little but not intimidated or overwhelmed by its size. Down below I saw the ocean and a Buddhist monastery nearby - all bringing a sense of calm despite being amongst hundreds of tourists driven mad with picture-taking. After a meal at the monastery we took a bus back down whose driver had no sense of slowing down at sharp curves. To this day I still feel the nausea from that ride, but it was most defnitely worth it.

... nice bowl of black glutinous rice paste sweetened with coconut milk and topped with ice cream wrapped in rice flour, while my girlfriend decided to go with sweet mango with sago and pomelo pulp. And between us, we shared a plate of fried fishball stuffed with squid. Heavenly!

... in a nice YWCA Hostel (classiest hostel I've ever seen). You can't check in to hotels in China without a passport, so we would have been roaming the streets if it weren't for her. The hotel was hesitant to do it, even with her passport and Hong Kong residency, at that. We were on the 17th floor, with a view out over Hong Kong, and had baked beans on toast and Irish breakfasts, or watermelon for breakfast each morning:D On the Wednesday, we got up and hopped on a random ...

... are spectacular. We indulged ourselves and had lunch in a posh authentic Chinese restuarant at the top of the peak - Jayne was still hungry and not at all impressed with the dim sum (******s) and wished she had had an authentic Burger King! We returned to Central where we explored the shops for ...

... to get sick as soon as I arrive. I can't believe that despite the flight I've just been on, I've now got an even longer one coming up in a few hours. I feel like I've been on a plane my whole life. Speaking to Noj at the Heathrow lounge seems a very long time ago (which it was, of course - 13 hours ago now). I have to say, so far the BA Heathrow lounge is winning me over - I am currently in the Cathay Pacific one in HKG, which is lovely, but so far shows a disappointing ...

... restaurant) in Yau Ma Tei at 10am. My friends were late as usual. We ordered porridge and some local dishes (average HK$40/person).

After breakfast, we headed to Fa Yuen Street (花园街, a.k.a. Sport Shoes Street) in Mongkok to look at sport shoes and some photographic equipment. We also revisited Ladies Market (女人街) and Sai Yueng Choi Street ...