And on to Sydney

Well finally, after all those months of talking and planning, we have arrived in Sydney. We spent our last day in Hong Kong in the Central city area amongst the skyscrapers, bustle and noise although, unsurprisingly for those who know Sandra, we also spent quite a bit of time in the Botanical gardens which are in the middle of all the concrete - an oasis of relative peace and quiet amongst the traffic noise.

In summary we found Hong Kong to be everything we expected with the skyscrapers, traffic, noise etc. On the surface it seemed chaotic, but there was an order to the chaos and everything seemed to work well. The streets were busy but almost completely litter free and, unlike Edinburgh, there never seemed to be any roadworks yet the roads were good. Getting around, although daunting at first, became easier as one started to understand the signposting and the fact that to move around the centre as a pedestrian you didn't use the roads but the network of aerial walkways, escalators (including the longest one in the world), subways and inter-linking plazas in the tower blocks. The place was modern, efficient and non-threatening and received Sandra's seal of approval - "I like this place"

Then on to Sydney to be met by our son Steven and his girlfriend Ana - a quick breakfast at his house then on to Sandra's sister Johann's place where we are staying for the next few days.

As we have been asked to house sit for friends of Johan we thought it would be a good idea to have a look at the place and the area. It is on a small peninsular in Sydney Harbour next to a couple of nice parks with views to the harbour. The photo gives a general view of the area (although you can't quite see the Harbour Bridge from the house)

We have the keys and hope to move in in a few days.

The second photo is of Sandra and sister Johann in "our" park enjoying a bottle of wine - Sandra has her relaxed look on!

Tomorrow we will get started on the quest for a vehicle and camping equipment

Sparrows

For the bird lovers amongst us you will be glad to know house sparrows are alive and kicking in Hong Kong. However their habitat is being diminished rapidly as the local engineers concrete over the mountain sides to minimise erosion and subsequent landslides. I am surprised there are no protest groups or perhaps personal safety takes precedence when the future of the occupants of a skyscraper is at stake. Philosophical thought for the day.

Sandra

The best laid plans of mice....and Sandra!

Flushed with her success with public transport yesterday, today Sandra set us a more ambitious target - to get to Aberdeen by bus. Identifying the M590 as the appropriate bus we found the bus stop beside the Hong Kong Jockey Club, however a "just in case "trip to a nearby loo meant we missed it.

Undismayed, a quick change of destination and we waited for one of the small local buses to take us to Stanley Market - a small town on the south coast with - a market! It arrived after a few minutes but the doors closed before we could get on. Undeterred by closed doors, a quick push and she was on. However, undeterred by pushy foreign women, the driver put her off - the bus was full!

A local woman, obviously taking pity on hapless foreigners, came to our assistance and suggested we might like to take a trip to "The Peak" as it was a nice day and the views would be spectacular. As this had been our original idea for the day anyway we took her instructions and headed up Queens Road East to get the Number 15 bus. After a 10 minute wait along came the 15, on we jumped only to find the bus wasn't going to The Peak but the opposite direction -- - we had been waiting on the wrong side of the road!! The photo shows a slightly fed up Sandra waiting for the 15 bus, but this time on the right side of the road.

The reason we had decided not to go to The Peak (the mountain overlooking Hong Kong) was it was a bit misty and we thought this would spoil the view. Needless to say, we were right and the local was wrong. Halfway up, the mist came down and, as you can see from the photo, the view was somewhat obscured. I was reminded of the time a few years ago in Italy when Sandra force marched me - on crutches - to the top of Mt Vesuvius as the view over the Bay of Naples was breath-taking. Or at least it would have been if we could have seen it!

At The Peak we found a very modern shopping mall complete with Starbucks and of course Macdonalds - once inside you could have been anywhere. It just seemed a bit incongruous. That said, there were plenty of wooded walks and the views were pretty spectacular on occasions when the sun came through.

Sandra's shopping instincts then re-surfaced and a trip to Stanley Market was called for. An hour or so later, and two more bus journeys, found us walking through the market stalls in Stanley. Sandra was very restrained as, thankfully, we were just on our weight limit for the next flight to Sydney. Stanley itself was strange, reminiscent of an out of season holiday resort in Spain with all the local council workmen getting the placed spruced up for the tourist season. A waterfront promenade had the usual array of bars, shops and cafes - and I'm sorry to confess I

even stooped to having a pint of Guinness in a bar called the Happy Pelican (or some such name)

Seven o'clock and back to Hong Kong city for an excellent dinner in a Chinese restaurant called the Peking Garden. Our only identified gaffe was to tell the waiter to take away the pot of Chinese tea he brought at the start of the meal and asked him for two pints of beer - Philistines! Everyone else in the place started their meal with tea.

Anyway, last day in Hong Kong tomorrow then on to Sydney. I'll try to get Sandra to do a bit more blogging tomorrow. Her problem is, when she gets back to the room after a day out, she hits the bed and is out for the count.

Hi everyone

Just to prove the doubters wrong I can use this blog but true to form the original entry came up Chinese rather than English. I don't know how!

After James wrote our adventures up last night we went off to the races opposite the hotel. No bets just people watching so the Douglas fortune remains intact. Today we are off to Aberdeen. We have both decided that pavement pounding is not our favourite occupation and as my flower wire took us up to and beyond the weight limit shopping is limited to what we can wear on the next leg of the trip over existing clothes. Aberdeen is a fishing village to the south of Hong Kong Island famed for its seafood. Read hotel dinner menu after breakfast to determine where we were eating tonight but on seeing the speciality dish was fish lips we may try elsewhere

Most amusing part of the journey so far was in London when James was required to strip off his belt sporran etc, left the sporran hanging to a post and then had to retrace his steps through everyone else standing in snaking line to retrieve it. Not only was he in a skirt but he had forgotten his handbag!

Public transport awaits us, where we do not know yet.

Sandra

A day out in Hong Kong - and the Races too

After a fairly boring, tiring and typically uneventful journey from Heathrow we arrived in Hong Kong for the first time and more or less went straight to bed. However I did find time for a quick pint in the hotel bar which claims to be "The most upbeat and chic bar in town". I can't vouch for that yet but give me a few days!

So, off to explore. We took the free hotel shuttle bus down to the waterfront, crossed our fingers that my Clydesdale Bank card got us some cash (it did) then jumped on to a ferry to explore one of the Outlying Islands - Lantau Island. 45 minutes and $13 Hong Kong dollars (about the same as an Edinburgh bus fare) saw us arrive in Mui Wo. Whilst a world away from the skyscrapers of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon i.e. we were getting to see the "real" China, we were slightly disillusioned when the first thing we saw as we left the ferry terminal was the ubiquitous big golden M!

Emboldened by her success thus far with public transport Sandra decided to jump on a local bus. Initially heading towards the bus going to the Big Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery she did a quick about turn when she discovered it was a Trappist Monastery i.e she wouldn't be allowed to speak - just not Sandra at all! So instead it was off on the Number 1 bus (exact fares only - Edinburgh buses again) to the fishing village of Tai O where Sandra took my picture.

Tai O was fascinating although far from beautiful - a ramshackle jumble of houses including many examples of the old Chinese stilt houses built over water which have now largely disappeared. Dozens of small stalls selling fish in almost all its guises - mainly unidentifiable and, to Western eyes and stomachs, not particularly appealing - especially the fermented shrimp paste!

We then re-traced our steps back to the hotel as this was Race Night. The Cosmopolitan Hotel is right next to the Happy Valley Race Course and The Hong Kong Jockey Club and from our room on the 21st floor we have a panoramic view of the whole course. The night-time scene is incredible and very atmospheric with the floodlit green of the course totally surrounded and loomed-over by scores of skyscrapers. The picture below, taken from our bedroom, does not do the scene justice.

Anyway, enough for today, we are thinking of exploring the tram system tomorrow which looks as if it was based on the Edinburgh trams - not the current nonsense but the trams of my youth in the 1950's. Sandra seems to think that there is a tram which goes up to The Peak - I'll find out tomorrow if she is right.

Heathrow

Safely arrived at Heathrow and ensconced at a Wi-Fi Hotspot. Sandra has disappeared to look for a money changer as she remembers that Scottish notes are almost impossible to spend or change in Sydney - at least that was the case a few years ago.

Thanks for all the good wishes from everyone either via this blog, e-mail, text, voicemail, phone, letter, card or even by personal visit - don't you sometimes feel that we over-communicate?

Will try to teach Sandra how to do the blog but she doesn't seem to keen to learn!

All for now - next post probably from Hong Kong. Can't wait, although apparently it's raining there - hopefully warm rain!

Help!

A mini-post before we go.
Despite having a year to prepare here we are with less than 3 hours before we go and:
- the house is still a tip
- bags have been packed and unpacked 3 times
- the scales for weighing them have broken and we have had to borrow
- the pump in the pond has broken down and I can't get the spare to work
- the hose has sprung a leak and we've had a flood
- Sandra is trying to get 7kg of wire into 4kg of weight allowance (if you don't know - don't ask!)
- Sandra has lost her bank PIN No - the bank was going to post it to her - the post's been, but no number (serves her right!)

Apart from that it's all systems go! Heathrow, then Hong Kong, here we come.

Seasonal Festivities

Well it's been a busy few weeks since I last posted.

Sandra has joined the great unwashed and has retired following a hectic final few weeks of leaving do's and office Christmas parties. This led into the main Festive Season with a very traditional Christmas dinner for eight followed by party games with the grand children, Harvey and Oliver.

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Christmas was followed by our Nostradamus Party at which predictions made last year were opened and prizes awarded for the best/worst entries. There were 12 entrants this year and a panel of eminent Judges held court to determine the 2009 winners and losers. I'm glad to say that the Judges were able to maintain the standards set by their predecessors and all sense of sobriety quickly disappeared along with vast quantities of an excellent Macallan (followed by a Glen Moray) and some interesting, and highly alcoholic, bottles of Australian red wine - and that was just the Judges!

The descent of the Judges from sobriety to outrageous intoxication can best be illustrated by these "before" and "during" photographs. Due to the open nature of this blog, with no parental controls activated, I am afraid that the "after" photographs will have to remain unpublished!

The winner was a previous Judge, who unfortunately was unable to attend the event. However his prize, an air horn for a bicycle, was due to be fitted to his zimmer to help him chase the nurses at the Royal Infirmary.

Hogmanay

I knew that my idea of having a barbecue at New Year was a bit mad - especially with all this snow. However Sandra moved the event up several notches of madness by deciding to have it in a Bedouin tent! The walls of our marquee were covered with fabulous fabrics of the Orient and the snow covered ground festooned with Persian rugs. I think for most of the people there the idea of having burgers in the snow was, to say the least, novel.

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Australia

It's now only just over three weeks before we leave i.e. 25 January, so now the preparation is moving into a more real and serious phase - and I am wondering when the panic will set in as there is still such a lot to do.

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That's all for now but keep watching this space as I anticipate more frequent entries in future - particularly if I can get Sandra trained, and interested enough, to have a shot!