To Sydney

Spent our last day in Hong Kong on one of the outlying Islands, Chaung Chau. An island devoted to bikes! No cars allowed. If only all islands were made this way. 

And so we find ourselves in Sydney with Kirsty, Derek and Bob who are kindly putting us up while we find a place for ourselves. The emphasis has been on sorting the basic logistics out: bank, phones, medicare etc. etc. Each is a major achievement in itself and cause for celebration when done and ticked off. 
We're going house hunting tomorrow. Saturdays are the day when all the house-views are open, you get half an hour in each house - jostling with all the other punters. Should be interesting! 

The day after the typhoon

Seems like the typhoon came and went during the night!  It was still raining first thing this morning so we set off with umbrella's, within 5 minutes we were returning to the hotel room for sunglasses and sun screen. So it all felt like an anti-climax in the end. At least we were able to have an unhindered day.

Highlight of the day? Sitting on the quayside by the Staff Ferry landing on Hong Kong island drinking a beer after the day's activities. We were looking out over Victoria Bay at the light show on the 490m high ICC building. So flashing lights in the shape of various objects were beamed across the sea from a building half a kilometre high! Quote of the day (QOTD) - from Ros, at the end of the said light show: "So was that it!"

Day 2 - in Hong Kong

Mmm, looking back on my last post.... seems I was getting a bit carried away with the grandeur of the place, sorry to wax lyrical! 

Carrying on from where I left off, we've now been to a couple of local, non touristy, restaurants. We're learning fast, the first night the owner / manager welcomed us with open arms and promptly recommended what turned out to be a veritable feast of all the most expensive dishes. We struggled! To be fair it was still a cheap meal and he did seem genuinely friendly and concerned that we enjoyed the food. The second night we ordered a single noodle dish each! Again we were the only westerners in the place so we came away satisfied that we had experienced the real deal.

We spent yesterday madly fitting in as many of the tourist destinations as it's possible to do in one day, conscious that we had limited time here.  Or so we thought! We finished the day with news that the biggest typhoon of the year was headed our way and that all flights out of Hong Kong have been cancelled on Monday. Guess when our flight was scheduled for? Seems like we've got a couple more days here. What we can do with the extra time in torrential rain and 50 mile an hour winds who knows? But we're just about to find out. 

First leg of the trip - to Hong Kong

The journey didn't get off to the best of starts. We spent two hours waiting on the tarmac at Manchester while a dent to the fuselage was checked out! So we missed our flight out of Heathrow complicating all arrangements thereafter. Ce la vie - could have been worse, some poor sods had to wait till the next day for their onward journeys. It was like being stuck in an episode of "Airport" at the airline desks, complaints galore!

The experience of flying is akin to enforced rest. A pleasant contrast to the chaos of the last few days at home. I finished reading The Life of Pi on my new Kindle (a leaving present from work). Then started Ian Bank's penultimate novel. Bliss!! 

We arrived in Hong Kong airport, marvelling at the apparent efficiency of the place - in stark contrast to Heathrow. I guess that's the benefit of starting an airport from scratch without the complications of a more organic development. Think the airport was built in the late nineties if my memory serves. Very impressive building in itself built on reclaimed land to the west of the city. 

We were wisked away from the airport in a big black merc. It was hot and still with a slight haze to the sky. Dusk was just starting to come on adding to a slightly surreal atmosphere. Our hotel is on the eastern fringe of Hong Kong island so the trip here took us through Kowloom and then through the central District of Hong Kong. It's one long highway the whole way, no traffic jams. We cruised at 80 miles an hour over several suspension bridges and through tunnels as we zig zagged from island to island. Past 50 storey residential sky scrapers lined up against the backdrop of the mountains. And then into the city itself with staggeringly high sky scrapers with company names lit up in contrast to the  dusky sky. A fantastic start to our break. 

We're resting up in the hotel now. The in house restaurants look rather expensive so we'll be going native,  sure they'll be a genuine eatery nearby. 

One week and counting.

Just one more week before our flights out to Oz. We're stopping off in Hong Kong for three nights on the way out - starting as we mean to go on and making the most of every opportunity. Then it's on to Sydney, landing on the 23rd in time to start work on the 25th. At the moment we're busy saying our goodbyes - never had such an active social life, something happening every day. Here's just one example, courtesy of Sam Mann

It's all very exciting but I do find myself lapsing into reflective moments. I've been getting all sentimental about what we're leaving behind. Not just friends and family but also inanimate objects (bikes, car, stereo) and places (the Dales, Whitby) I won't be seeing for a while! Sad I know!

Soon be there.