Gladden Hotel Fenggang Dongguan

... new terminal we had alighted at. It seemed that in such a development-oriented city, historical conservation was a very recent concept. Anyway, the next order of business was to head straight for another Hong Kong institution, the Peak Tram. The Tram has been operational in 1888, and boasts a perfect safety record!

Along the way, we pass by the central business district, appropriately named Central. In a city chock full of skyscrapers, even in the suburbs ...

... student. As there was still the introduction week ahead of us, I had my room for my self for the time beeing. Very tired from the long flight I headed straight to bed. Sleeping on the thin and hard mattresses they provide is quite a challenge as we are not quite used to it. It feels like sleeping on the floor.

The next day I meet Cristina and Gusti at the main entrance and we went the nearest shopping centre to buy the most important ...

... a Lhasa, en se promenant dans les rues, on a realise quen fait on pourrait vraiment oublier quon est au Tibet tellement tout est deja Chinois. Tous les edifices, les rues larges, les restos de bouffe chinoise, les mega centres dachats et les innombrables boutiques de linge branchees tenues par des ptits chinois brutaux, presses et encore bien plus branches. Ca faisait vraiment dla peine a voir.
Heureusement qu'il reste encore les monasteres, quon a visites, ou vit encore toute la ...

... a 4km walk around it. It was really hilly and we all got really sweaty. But their sweatiness was nothing compared to me! My back was covered in sweat, it was like my t-shirt was anther colour. It was really gross. We had a really yummy sea food lunch. I even had crab for the first time. It tasted like fish, not really that exiting. Then we hung around and chilled out. We waited for ages for the boat to go back to Hong Kong, and it finally came.

... on the talking with the mouth full, general argy bargy rudeness when wandering the streets. They could all do with a term at finishing school if you ask me!!!!!! Day three was a very scenic bus trip to Stanley. Some beautiful beaches and mountain views on our way there. We wandered around the market and sat for a drink in the bay. Another venue ticked of the list. That evening we headed back over to ...

... maybe 30 minutes into understanding my problem and helping me to phone my bank. Anyway it was a great place to stay. A little expensive for me but so convenient for visiting the city. Normally travellers stay in Kowloon, accross the bay from the city and have to make a ferry crossing or use one of the underground tunnels to get into the city. The food is great in Hong Kong, really. Like england you can access food from around the world, Indian, Chinese, Thai, American and so ...

... and the décor was super chic but that wasn't why we wanted to go to it. The main attraction here at this restaurant was the bathrooms. We had to see the bathrooms and more specifically the men's urinal. The urinal originally was a glass urinal overlooking the city. You could aim at the building you wanted to ******************** wall and bullseye. For some reason, they changed up the urinal arrangement and when I went in it was ultra-modern urinal receptacle instead of a glass ...

... 11:30 at night in Kowloon, it was clear that we weren't in China anymore. Particularly the smell - China smells of Chinese cooking, pollution, chemicals and people. Hong Kong has a smell all of its own - or rather a riot of different smells. Walk through a ritzy shopping arcade and it smells utterly pristine and manicured. Sometimes on the street you'll catch the pungent smell of sewage, a common smell in any ...

... this had happened. Maybe I saw a small headline on a website somewhere but I didn't grasp the magnitude of the situation. I mean, this is getting wall-to-wall coverage a month after it happened and it's passed me by. I'm suddenly a little afraid of the way I'm insulated from the World both by my limited grasp of the Chinese language but also the restrictions on access to websites, and media access. It's as if a shadow blotted out the sun and I didn't even notice.

... yes, think about it) has adopted me as an uncle, presumably on the basis that I'm never around to get angry when there is a mess on the floor or the furniture has been redesigned in a canine style. Believe me, you wouldn't want to have Tasha being angry with you either, so Pat comes and hides on Uncle Robert's shoulders at the earliest opportunity (see picture). The ...