Auckland to Hong-Kong

The flight from Auckland was quite tedious with not much sleep, although the New Zealand guy sitting next to me at least had some conversation, even if he was huge and took up ALL of his seat.

We arrived in Hong-Kong and found our shuttle co-ordinator who quickly organised our shuttle which we shared with another English couple from our flight who had toured New Zealand in a Maui campervan.

Of course when we arrived at the hotel at 7.30 a.m. our room was not ready so we stored the luggage, met our flight crew who were staying in our hotel and got a little info from them.

We went out to explore. Saw lots of tall buildings with bamboo scaffolding up the outside. Lots of modern skyscrapers but rather old and tatty shops at their bases. We wandered a bit and then made our way to the waterfront where quite a bit of building work was going on.

We returned to the hotel to readjust and found ourselves talking to Margaret and Malcolm from Nottingham/Derby area. When we head out again we bump into them on the street and go together to find a cafe for a cup of tea. There appear to be none until we spot a cafe sign and head into a basement cafe. The system is - you place your order with the Non-English speaking concierge who gives you some slips of paper. You take them to the counter where you are given your order. A black tea and two teas and a coffee with evaporated milk in. Pretty disgusting!

We go in search of a hotel where the other couple need to be the following day. Staring at the map a Chinese gentleman points us in the right direction and explains a little about tea. He tells us we might get tea in Times Square. We find the square which is a skyscraper surrounded by shops selling watches, mainly Rolex and other up market brands. We search the food areas in the building but find nothing that will simply serve tea.

Return to hotel once more, get a room and have a shower, a sleep and a pizza.

View of building covered in bamboo scaffolding from our 15th floor bedroom window .

We meet up with Margaret and Malcolm and walk down to the ferry terminal and catch the Star Ferry across to Kowloon to watch a firework and laser light show over the skyscrapers of Hong-Kong. 

It turns out to be a little disappointing as there are no fireworks just music and a few lasers. The buildings across the water are impressive though - all lit up. 

The lights of Hong-Kong from Kowloon