Well, guess where we are?
We arrived in Aukland at 11.30am local time and it is now 1.30pm
Flights are long and not too comfortable but at least they were both overnight so to speak. No more flights for three and a half weeks!
Hong Kong was amazing and we packed such a lot into our two and a half days. We did a city tour which took us up to the Peak to view all round but nowadays there seems to be a haze most days. We had a really lovely guide called Tak. He was so informative and amusing. We went up in the funicular rail and you could feel the g-force it was that steep. We went to Stanley Market where the expats live and relax while working for the big companies in the city. We had a ride in a sampan in Aberdeen harbour where there used to be 50,000 people living as the boat people. They have mostly all been tranferred to skyscrapers and have given up fishing.
Another couple and us shared a taxi next morning and went to see Chin Li Nunnery and the Kowloon Walled City both very interesting in different ways. In the Afternoon your Dad and I went on the Star Ferry back onto Hong Kong Island--- seniors free! We then caught the Ding Ding tram which runs from East to West of the island. No matter where you go you pay getting off and seniors were $1 (10p). We ended up at the terminus with the tram and in order to go back the way it came it went left up the middle of a busy street market. The stalls were varied but the one I loved to see from the top of this tall narrow double decker tram was the one with the live fish tanks!
Next morning we went on a tour to the New Territories right to the border with China! Quite amazing to see the city of 11 million just on the other side Shenzen. Industrial factories and high rises by the hundred.
We saw a taoist Temple right in the middle of another market and a walled village belonging to the indigenous folk of Hong Kong. One man died in 2005 and he was from this family and was an MBE.
On the way back we went to the original border called Boundary Road now and went into a bird market . This is what elderly men in HK do to pass the time. But it was so sad to see these beautiful birds in tiny cages.
As you may have gathered we did enjoy our time there. We ate Thai and Chinese (real local one but they were lovely to us) .
Both fine looking forward to meeting the rest of the group (27) . We were 11  before. One couple from Carnoustie.
Love M&D