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Hong KongOct 10, 2009
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We finished our tour in Hong Kong. It was a 15 hour train ride to Hong Kong and we were pleased that the train was a lot cleaner and nicer than the last. We said goodbye to our group with a final dinner in Temple St Night Markets.
We were disappointed the bargains weren't as cheap in Hong Kong as mainland China but we did a bit of shopping anyway. On our first free day we decided to visit Lantau Island which has the largest bronze buddha in the world (21 metres). We caught the underground to the cable car station and then had a great cable car ride for 6kms to get to the top of the mountain where there is a monastery and the giant buddha. The buddha was very impressive but the complex overall was a bit touristy. We then caught a public bus to a little fishing village called Tai O where we walked through the markets selling dry fish and shrimp paste, had lunch a a little cafe and then visited a temple nearby. Determined to take every form of transport possible that day we caught another bus to the other side of the island, then a ferry back to central Hong Kong and then a Star ferry back to Kowloon and our hotel – it was a great day out.
We celebrated our last night together with H, J and WA by going out to a fancy restaurant near the harbour. Its speciality was Bird's Nest which we had no idea what it was (and we weren't going to sample it for $2,000 Hong Kong dollars) so we asked the waiter and he said it is made from bird's saliva and is great for anti-ageing. We decided to give it a miss and since H and J shouted us a lovely dinner, WA splurged on McDonald's ice-cream sundaes for us.
The next day MS and I were on a flight back to China leaving WA, H and J to head to the Peak to take in the views. We had a wonderful three weeks with them and it was sad to part.
