Day 16 - raining 25C
It's raining but we're leaving so that's fine. We take a last walk up our hutong and take a few photos. We check out and taxi to Beijing West Railway Station. The train to Hong Kong leaves at 12.45pm and takes 25 hours. We booked hard class sleeper in a 6 bed compartment which was nearly half the price of the next class up. We didn't really know what to expect. It turn out freat though as we are the only ones in our compartment and the train is very new. Within 10 mins of leaving Beijing Rene is inside the sleep bank depositing z's. I catch up on the journal and read. The Chinese start eating the moment they have sorted their bags, most bring food with them, some go to the dining car. We get a cary out from the dining car, Rene has omoletted and I have boiled rice with soy sauce..
The backgrund chinese music stops at 9pm and Chinese men in pyjamas strat drifting past the compartment doorway (in fact there aren't any comparntment doors in hard sleeper) carrying their mugs or wash bags on their way to the wash room. Chen, who is in the compartment next to ours and saya he is a script writer for a TV show in Beijing (we've seen a little TV in Beijing and this isn't something to boast about) has red pyjamas and reminds me a little of father Christmas, but this is no santa as all he leaves us is the noise of his rasping hoik, which moves Rene to insert her travel ear plugs. Lights go out at 10pm and as the train continues south across China we drift off to sleep.
Expenses: Taxi 17y, water, biscuits, oranges 12y, yoghurts 2y, dinner 32y.
Day 17 - Rain and sun
The attendent opens the curtains at 6am and the music comes on at 7am. Mutley chunters something at him from her bunk as in her world of sleep its a Sunday, which means a lie in. I point out we are now work shy fops and everyday is a potential lie in but she's already asleep again.
Outside it's raining, inside its breakfast which is a large orange. The fields we are passing are green and look prosperous. The towns are grey and look bankrupt. The rivers are full and muddy brown.
I visit the toilet and discover there is no toilet, only a stainless steel lined hole in the floor. Squatting's fun for everyone. There's a footpedal which releases water down a channel into the hole. Whoever came up with this idea is mad and smells.
We enter a mountainous region with an endless patchwork of terraced rice fields, only broken by a blackout when we enter one of many tunnels running through the hills.
Grey oxen are working the fields and men and women in conical hats are working them. We have no guide book or maps for this region so we really don't know where we are, but as the apartment blocks strat to fill the landscape towards midday we know we are nearing Hong Kong.
We are staying on Lamma Island whilst in HK. My cousins Tracey and Paul both live there. Paul and Kim have recently had a baby girl called Holly so we are staying with Tracey, Jerry, Rosy and Lucas.
Tracey very kindly meets and greets us from the train. As we leave the air conditioned station it's like entering a huge oven. It is boiling. Beijing was hot but this is a whole new ball game.
We bus it to Aberdeen where the ferry to Lamma departs. Aberdeen is full of fishing boats and Sampans and there is also a large fish market. Tracey can't wait the 45mins for the next ferry so we jump in a Sampan and chug leisurely over to Lamma. Rene managed to hold on to her lunch despite the swell.
Lamma is the third largest of HK's islands. There are no cars and few biuldins over 3 storey's high. Trails meander along coastline and hills between small villages. There are some good beaches and populare seafood restaurants. The vegetation is lush and jungle like and is home to a vareity of birds, butterflies, frogs and snakes.
Tracey and Jerry live in a tiny village called Pak Kok. Paul and Kim live in Yung Shu Wan where a lot of the restaurants are.
By the time we drop our backpacks at Tracey's we're sweating like a pair of overweight runners who have just completed their first marathon in a pantomime horse costume. Tracey proudly showsus the house her and Jerry have bought and are renovating in Pak Kok. It's 2 storey, large and has the most stunning panoramic views out over the sea with HK island and /Lantau in the distance. They are hoping to move in in about 3 weeks time.
Exploring, talking, eating and perspiring fill the remainder of the day.
Expenses :- None - thanks to Tracey!
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