I will start with yesterday - we headed out for breakfast in the morning, having googled a place that served Western breakfasts. We all seem to be quite happy eating local food for lunch and dinner, but still prefer breakfasts that we are used too. Whilst the breakfast was okay, everything was a bit cold, so wasn't as delicious as it promised. Today's breakfast at the airport was much nicer, with probably the nicest coffee we had all trip (and to Marg's delight it was hot!)
After breakfast we walked along the Tsim Sha Tsiu promenade which goes along the edge of Victoria Harbour. It was a very pleasant morning for a walk, and the kids took lots of selfies and groupies. There were lots of others out walking and running as well.
We did an hour long harbour cruise on one of the Star Ferries. This was a great way to see the harbour and also learn some of the local history. We even had a snack as part of the ticket. Though no-one ate the seaweed cookies (not even Anhtony) that was the snack. Shortbread and seaweed just do not go together!
We all went our seperate ways for the afternoon, various forms of shopping and more shopping. John and I did a little bit of shopping, then caught the train a few stops to investigate the electrical markets on Aplui Street. What an eye opening experience. We came out of the station to this amazing crowd of people and a street full of market stalls. You could buy almost anything that was electrical or needed to run electrical things. There were even stalls of remotes, old drills, rice cookers, you name it was there. We didn't buy anything but we had a fun time looking.
We had Spanish Tapas for tea, in a Spanish restaurant of course - it was a strip of restaurants along this really interesting alley way/terrace. After tea we headed off to explore the Temple Street night markets - again a street full of market stalls. We were very intrigued by the stall holders who had set up their picnic table and we're having a lovely dinner and a great time (by the number of empty bottles under the table), don't think they cared if they sold anything. We set ourselves the challenge of trying to find the most kitch thing. Marnie came back with Hello Kitty playing cards. Marg found key rings for Astrid, Elsa and Madeline, we found Number 1 Doctor and Number 1 Teacher fridge magnets for Casey and Sheree.
The girls then headed off to do more shopping (anthony left them after the first shop), and we headed back to the hotel for wine and chips. The four of us had a very pleasant time with our wine and chips until the girls got back, and we shared our shopping purchases for the day.
Up early this morning and off to the airport to fly home. John had done a great job of researching the best way to travel to and from the airport. We walked arou d the corner to the shuttle bus, which took us to Kowloon station (it was a pretty wild bus ride), to catch the Airport express train. We knew we could check our bags in at the airport, however we hadn't realised it was full check-in service. There was no queue, we checked in, got our boarding passes and avoided the horrible airport queues. What a bonus! When we flew into Hong Kong we also used the train to get from the airport into the city. Because our flight was delayed we weren't sure if we were going to make the last train for the evening. We made it with seconds to spare, and literally run into the station as they were shutting the doors for the evening.
We filled the time in prior to boarding spending our last Hong Kong dollars, chocolate, lollies and water. Casey was very disappointed when they checked our bags at the gate lounge and took all our water. She made Anthony skull her water so she could take the empty bottle on the plane (much to the amusement of the security guard).
Back to reality tomorrow. Marnie starts work at 8.00am, so she claimed the window seat so she could sleep! Anthony starts at lunchtime. Casey has one day, before she starts her new job.
It's been a great trip, lots of memories and lots of good times had by all.