It's a week in Hong Kong, compliments of the Hong Kong Tourism Authority, all thanks to a photo entered in a competition. Better take some more!...

"Post your best photo of a hidden side of Hong Kong" the Facebook competition asked .

So I did.

And where everyone else has post predictable shots of the harbour or the Big Buddha on their Facebook page for all to see, it seems my shot of bagged goldfish is quirky enough to win a holiday to Honkers! Flying Qantas, thank you!

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Laura and I set out today on a morning flight, with a couple of included half day tours already booked and Christmas shopping plans.

The Qantas International terminal ominously resembles LAX. The queues stretch up and down then back into Domestic.


Luckily, the online queue is again incredibly short and I continue to wonder why so few people don't use it. Ihave managed to pack my luggage into my carry on - a delight after the lost luggage saga of Dublin. It has reached 9.3kg at home and I fear it will be condemned to being checked but it escapes inspection .

Security and Immigration is barely better than checking in. This is good for a Saturday, they say.

Then the flight is delayed in it's arrival into Tulla by an hour. We lose our gate and are bussed to the A330 parked in the freight area. The push back vehicle then pushes too aggressively and 'shears the shear pins' requiring a 45 minute replacement/repair and an engineer's inspection.

It's an inauspicious start and the mind wanders back to the ease of European train travel.

Luckily the inflight menu and movie choices are good! I enjoy some Donna Hay shows and Jemaine Clement in "People Places Things".The skies are hazy but cloudless and we pass over Mildura, Broken Hill, Darwin and Ambon before landing over two hours late into Hong Kong. Apparently there's been an aggressive passenger up the back and we have to stay strapped in upon landing until five HK Police escort him off!

The hotel transfer desk then knows nothing about us . The hotel has no food this late at night and has us in a room with one bed and a sofa bed. Internet is around AU$24/day. The gloss has well and truly worn off the day. Time for sleep...
 

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Yesterday's flight and late night lead to a very sluggish start this morning. Still smarting from the hotel placing us in a room with one of us on a sofa bed and having outrageously priced snacks, we eschew their (expensive 4 star) breakfast and wander to the nearby arcade. We find a coffee bar with muffins and mini-quiches.

And free wifi!

We also tackle the front desk to make sure that we have a new room with separate beds as requested. I emphasize that we are not sleeping on a sofa bed all week. Nor are we a gay couple. And remember, we are here as guests of the HK Tourism Board who have booked an upgraded suite. And we still want that harbour view, thank you .

Single bed rooms are apparently on the opposite side looking out on high rise apartment walls, so to get a harbour view, housekeeping will physically move beds around between rooms!

I feel somewhat cheeky but stand my ground... I have red hair. Martin assures us we'll find our bags moved into their new home whenever we return this afternoon.

Pedestrian traffic picks up as the shops open late on this Sunday morning. The Metropolis mall
contains a whole 'avenue' devoted to enriching activities for children... art classes, music lessons, Kumon, dancing, English language, gymnastic ballet and more. Parents mill around outside waiting for their little ones. We scout for potential dinner venues.

The hotel, being outside the main tourist and shopping precinct runs a free shuttle bus into central Kowloon. We catch a ride and wander a block up Nathan Road . The touts pushing "Rolex, fake "Rolex" are in our faces and the street still has the general unappealing feel that spooked Rohan nine years ago.

We pass a large mosque and climb into Kowloon Park. Large groups of young girls are spending their day off meeting up with friends. Young families are introducing their children to the wildlife in the waterbird lake. Sculptures amongst the trees and a green maze contrast with the walls of glass skyscrapers beyond.

Beyond the park on Canton Road is a tower with a ferry terminal and a multilevel shopping centre that sees us circling like lost zombies. We see outlets selling things that we pass upIn the irregular shape of each level, we fail to find the shops we want.

We finally pass a cafe and grab lunch at 4pm!

Back at the hotel as the sun sets around 5.45pm, we find our new room more than acceptable. Not just the two separate beds and a glimpse of water, but a dazzling 180° harbour view! Transfixed, we watch the lights on the towers across the water come to life. Christmas-themed lightshows sparkle up and down skyscrapers.

And airport logistics in "Ultimate Airport Dubai" on National Geographic mesmerizes just as much, having just lived it elsewhere yesterday!

 
Monday, December 7, 2015

I have long snorted at tourist groups behaving like sheep, following guides waving flags or umbrellas - or selfie sticks these days! Since the Greek islands experience, these groups have become disparagingly known as 'the sticker people' .

Today we find ourselves in exactly this position! Well, it's free...

Our trip includes a half day 'luxury' bus trip around Hong Kong island. We are picked up from our hotel and stickered up by Naomi, our guide for the day. We join the 9am traffic jam into the Cross Harbour Tunnel. We take the cable tram to the Peak on HK island and have half an hour to whiz around, including an audio tour. The views are extensive but the skies are gloomy. It doesn't make for great photos but we needn't worry.

The tour has it's own on board photographer! He snaps shots of the couples at a vantage point away from the masses.

The next stop is Aberdeen, a twenty minute drive down to the south side of the island. A former fishing village, it is now a sea only of high rises. We all take the optional HK$60 sanpan ride around the harbour - a jarring mix of decaying fishing boats and huge luxury cruisers wrapped up in custom made tarpaulins.

We are ushered into a nearby jewellery factory - something not mentioned anywhere until we are trapped onboard - and given the sales pitch about quality and specials. The showroom is certainly dazzling but I both resent and resist. The only pieces that appeal are worth an airfare to Europe!

Laura is not so well behaved ...

Our photographer reappears with souvenirs photos and, heaven forbid, souvenir plastic plates complete with photo and HK icons. Neither of us even ask the price out of mild curiosity as they are promptly handed back!

Our bus passes on through the expensive area of Repulse Bay to Stanley. All the while, Naomi fills us with HK information... The arches built into some buildings are for good Feng Shui. The average wage HK$15,000 a month. The population density is 6,500 people per square mile, compared to three in Australia plus a few kangaroos...

Stanley Market is a bedraggled collection of little stalls selling what one friend would call 'landfill' aimed squarely at the tourists. Laura has a good time picking through the offerings but we settle on buying only a pack of Doritos!

The bus tour has however served it's purpose, especially since Laura hasn't been to HK for thirty years, but I am glad when we break free of the deadlines, marshalling, being counted and can rip my sticker off.

Meanwhile, Laura has found the location for the HK Tourism Board's information centre (at the Star Ferry) and the existence of Tourist SIM cards that sound too good to be true. But they exist!... HK$88 for five days/1.5Gb equals about AU$15 total, and sure beats AU$24/day at the hotel!

It's the best shopping I've done all day!

Followed closely by a decent dinner, before catching the Symphony of Lights show from our panoramic windows ...


Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Today is NOT a sticker day.
 
We have an included personally guided tour with Australian Geneva Vanderzeil, a 29 year old blogger currently living in Hong Kong. She is an urban designer by trade but now runs a hugely successful blog that you can read here... http://apairandasparediy.com
 
This fuels a fulltime social media operation - exposure via the blog has attracted work from many large fashion and tourism clients. She posts to Instagram and Facebook a number of times daily and writes and photographs for clients' online content. Occasionally she has jobs such as today's as part of her work for Hong Kong Tourism.
 
With the ease of a true local, she hails a taxi for us and we head north to the flower and bird markets of Mong Kok.

She has a brilliant little app on her phone that takes addresses and Google Map destinations and translates them to a Cantonese direction to show to taxi drivers.

The Christmas season is well underway here with Christmas tress, wreaths, pointsettias and all things red abounding. Bouquets with mortar-boarded dolls mark graduation season. Tulips are indiviually sheathed. The mass and fragrance is tantalizing.
 
The Yuen Po Street bird market has stall after stall of small birds - finches, sparrow-like birds, silver eyes, budgies and love birds. Some are in ornate oriental cages, most are in tiny 25cm plastic crates ready to go . Old men mingle with their cages and their friends. All necessary bird supplies are also available, including bags of live grubs and crickets. 
 
I watch one man carefully snip the legs then head and tail off live crickets before running his scissors up the body. They are then butterflied and three or four are woven on to paper clips to hang in cages.
 
The Goldfish market in Tung Choi Street has bags of fish (of many varieties) pegged to metal frames - this is the place where last visit, I took the photo that delivered this trip... It's still a fascinating form of retailing!
 
Morning tea is in Geneva's favourite 1950's style teahouse before moving on to the Jade market. It's a visual riot of colour but unnerving wall to wall pushy vendors.

Many physically grab me to urge me to stop and buy. I ask the price of some earrings out of curiosity and am told HK$100. The next breath is three pairs for HK$30! Before even haggling!
 
The included dim sum lunch is delicious and conversation is easy. Geneva returns us to our hotel all too soon . It has been a much nicer way to explore a city.
 
The evening is a hunt for more of the Winterfest scenery and a better viewing of the Symphony of Lights. A prime position is by the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui. The lasers are set to music here, the views are unimpeded and the crowds are plentiful. 
 
And the lights are just as magical as last night.


Wednesday, December 9, 2015

With no appointments today, we start without alarm clocks. I sit at our window and watch the sights below. There is a large construction site for a new MTR (train) subway station beside the flyovers and into the harbour. Tip trucks ferry excavated clay from the cranes up ramps and discharge their loads on to barges below. Barges come and go. Cranes swing around. Welders send their sparks flying beneath multicoloured beach umbrellas. High-vis vests march across the open ground. It's like watching a human ant farm or Lego world at work .The forecast is for rain all day so plans to walk the sights of HK Island are abandonned. Instead we buy Octopus cards and catch the train north to Austin station and the discount outlets.

It's a brave move, considering we we've been hopelessly lost in there before.

But urban planning is devious here. Large shopping malls open directly off the MTR subways. The one we descend into winds for miles then reveals K11 - 'a blend of mall and art'. There are numerous design shops with top quality products, high end retailers and an entrance to the Hyatt. The air is heavenly perfumed and the winter sales are in full swing.

Laura finds a handbag...

The day continues thus. Train, rain, arcade, shops. Handbags, window shopping, shoes that don't fit.

Jenny finds a new battery for her camera...

A "Rolex, fake Rolex" man offers to point us towards Nathan Road for five dollars. Instead I lead us to an old haunt, the YMCA on Salisbury Road. It has an excellent hotel in a prime location and more importantly tonight, a good restaurant for a simple, inexpensive dinner.

And it is alongside the shuttle bus pickup point. We hobble off the bus and up to our room. I regret not packing my red walking shoes after 7 .67 kilometres on shiny marble arcade and subway floors. By 10pm, the rain has stopped and the air has cleared. We can see across the harbour clearly and it is evident that the wet weather has forced many more off the streets too... The high rise apartments are all well lit.
 
Tomorrow, the old feet will be premedicated with Nurofen if needs be, before setting out for what is meant to be a sunny day.


Thursday, December 10, 2015

I wake at the UNGODLY hour of 6.54am and contemplate rolling over but instead watch the rising sun reflect off the many gold glass east-facing towers across the water. A flotilla of small working boats head up and down the harbour and the building site is already in full swing.

It is misty on the hill tops but there is blue sky and sunshine. Despite this, the previously dimmed signage atop many buildings flick back to life.

After a day of hustle and bustle yesterday, we navigate the excellent MTR train system to Diamond Hill and the Nan Lian Garden. It sits amid a myriad of high-rise apartments and is built in the style of the Tang dynasty with hundreds of clipped Buddhist Pines dominating. The scenic garden is meticulously landscaped... every hill, rock, pond, plant and timber structure has been placed according to specific rules and methods. There are examples of Chinese architecture, a koi pond, a waterfall, a teahouse and ancient bonsai trees to marvel at .

Across a bridge is the Chi Lin Nunnery and lotus ponds. Established in 1934 and renovated in Tang dynasty style (AD 618–907) in 1990, it is a large temple complex of elegant wooden architecture, treasured Buddhist relics and soothing lotus ponds. The complex also includes a series of temple halls, some of which contain gold, clay and wooden statues representing divinities such as the Sakyamuni Buddha. Many Asian visitors drop to their knees at the various shrines and I give a secret nod to the one for health and
longevity...

We continue our train travels across to HK Island.

The trains are eight carriages long and open from one end to the other. As peak hour approaches, it is a sea of black hair as far as the eye can see as the train snakes through the tunnel. We emerge from below ground at Causeway Bay. Here the famous double decker trams rattle along Hennessy Road. For HK$2.30, we ride all the way west to the Western Market . Up the top of course!

The market turns out to not be the lively place we anticipated, being smaller, quieter and selling fabrics and upmarket gifts. Having expected something akin to Vic Market, we make a note to research HK Island further for a return visit tomorrow.

It has been an 8.6km day in the Birkenstocks: the feet are fine but the energy is flagging. It's one more train ride to Tsim Sha Tsui to connect with the hotel minibus.


Friday, December 11, 2015

One last iconic form of transport remains for us in this city.

We head in to Tsim Sha Tsui and ride the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour to Central. The trip is shorter than last visit... Two city blocks have been reclaimed from the water since 2006. The ferry terminal now exits onto an elevated walkway that allows people to walk numerous city blocks under cover, away from traffic and exit directly into building lobbies and shopping malls .

We follow the signage to the mid-level escalators, a series of covered travelators that run down hill in the morning peak and uphill for the rest of the day. We land at Hollywood Road, also known as Antique Street for obvious reasons and meander west to Man Po Temple.

Built in 1847, this heritage listed Cantonese temple is a tribute to the God of Literature (Man) and the God of War (Mo), both of whom were worshipped by ambitious students looking to succeed in the civil examinations of Imperial China.

The air inside is thick with incense smoke from both the giant incense coils burning overhead and the copious sticks bought and burnt in bundles of ten by numerous worshipers who seem unperturbed by the many tourists. It starts to scratch at the back of the throat within minutes.

Four of the spectators are Diana, Rod and family ... a chance meeting with friends from home in a city of 7.2 million people! It is a lovely opportunity to grab a coffee and chat with them.

From Man Po, Laura and I continue downhill through alleys and streets of small traders to the main boulevards of Central and it's high end shops. It's a progression from the riotous colour of small stalls to the breathtaking visual merchandising (and prices!) in the windows of Dior, Armani and friends...

This evening, we head back to Tsim Sha Tsui and Hullett House where an annual European-style Christmas Market is underway in the courtyard of an 1881 colonial building.The stalls are a mix of standards and don't quite match the media hype but the surrounds are beautifully decorated for the festive seasons with thousands of bud lights and giant replica ice carvings.

There are two hours to kill before the evening light show. We stumble on "Jamie's Italian" by Jamie Oliver in the nearby Ocean Plaza. And so in a city full of Asian eateries, we eat Italian for dinner. Because we can and it's Jamie. The raspberry pavlova is especially tasty (although possibly NOT Italian...)

We catch the Pulse light show projected onto the walls of the Cultural Centre and City clock tower then catch our favourite minibus back to our favourite harbour view .

It has certainly been a day of for sensory feasting!


Sunday, December 13, 2015

* I nash my teeth as it becomes apparent my tourist SIM card has expired and I am forced to hit the local coffee shop to get online to check in for our flight, check the weather for our clothing, check emails for reassurance and check addresses of shops.

* The weather is cold and overcast. There is a definite chop on the water. Numerous yachts with spinnakers unfurled are out racing up the harbour.

* It's Saturday...Children are out with their parents at classes and groups gather for yum cha at the various (usually) bridal reception rooms in the hotel.

* Bridal parties are arriving at the hotel. The impossibly thin girls waft through reception in long chiffon gowns and white fur stoles .

* The men wear outrageously colourful suits with small soft toys pinned to them.

* We whiz in to town for some last minute shopping and marvel at the large numbers of young people in the Ocean Centre wheeling carry-on cases and buying designer goods with gay abandon.

* Laura buys another handbag.

* Jenny buys one handbag.

* We battle with reception who again try to charge us for the (included) airport transfer in, saying that 'Return Transfers' mean cover only for the trip to RETURN to the airport!

* The carry-on case has burgeoned to 11.7kg and gets checked in...

* Announcements at the airport reinforce the new maximum allowable export quantity of two cans of powdered infant formula out of Hong Kong or risk a HK$500,000 fine... about AU$100,000.

* Qantas is again running behind schedule and we are an hour late taking off but service is excellent and there's even some snoozing!

* A return to HK for a girls' Christmas shopping trip next year has crossed my mind...

* It's time to go home and see my kids ...