MY HARD DISK HAS DIED. i MIGHT WELL BE OFF FOR SOME TIME!!
:d AN EXCUSE FOR AN UPGRADE
I resume this digression from Hong Kong, where I am staying in a smart, beige, serviced apartment belonging to a hotshot lawyer friend. He arrives home at 7 30 and I shall be making dinner for him every night as a thank you for the couch in the sitting room (his wife is away, but this is not significant - he is just an old friend). I find this sort of living great for a travel-through but horrendous as an actual lifestyle. In the same buildings - lining the harbourside - are 1000 shops, numerous cafes, 10 cinemas etc. One need hardly ever brave the un-airconditioned and polluted air outside, which is just as well in August, the hottest and heaviest month. Typhoons lurk in the Pacific waiting to make landfall on the Chinese mainland.
It is a lovely contrast to Totnes, I revel in these extremes. Here, we leave lights and aircon on, towels are taken away every day to be washed, and energy is used in horrendous quantities; Totnes is very green and we have to sort out our rubbish into 5 separate bins every week. However, apparently China's appetite for metal in its fast-growing economy means that many people make a living out of going through the rubbish for cans and things, and also tend to relieve public toilets of their handles, bolts and chains! A truck of unknown origin parks every morning near here, and no questions are asked when metal is taken and weighed in - a good price is paid. Another truck does the same with cardboard. So you could say it isn't so un-green as all that here.
The sales are on. This doesn't interest me, unfortunately, as the prices are still high, and anyway, most of the clothes for sale are size 8. The Hong Kong passion for shopping has always left me cold. No, I'm here for the friends and ex-colleagues of Simon's who are all coming to a lunch next Saturday in an old-fashioned Ladies' Club! I expect about 35 people.
We had dinner last night in the restaurant that goes with the apartments, on the harbour, watching the laser light show on the opposite shore. It is an amazing place!
Yoo-hoo, Clary.
That sounds nice. Different from Warrington, too. Thanks for posting.
Looking forward to reading updates as and when.
I haven't contacted Rhona recently, and don't know where she is- I'll phone her mum tonight.
How audial! You would have thought reading...
I found you, Clary! I'd gone through 5 pages of "new posts", only to come back to page 1 .... and here you are!
I was wondering - how does it feel, being back in Hong Kong? Your last visit ended very sadly. I hope this visit is much happier for you.
Keep us posted & feel free to rave on about anything!
Nice. Haven't seen a laser light show in a while. Was it for a special reason?
Must admit that Hong Kong always had limited appeal and even less from your descriptions. I'm not a shopper, prefer the "green" lifestyle, don't like it hot, or polluted, can't stand beige, and I don't like a lot of people around me.
Still, I find your trip fascinating. Are there some awesome museums?
Boy Clary, don't you ever go home?
Clary, I'm one of those visually attuned people... who listen by looking (only half kidding, as I am slightly slow at learning by hearing, or think I am).
I don't know what I would think of Hong Kong. I like cities, like to see how they work, how they look, like architecture/planning such as it is, like street life, but growl at pollution, don't like to be trapped in a big crowd(!), and, while I like a little shopping, am not driven by a shopping gene.
I bet I'd like the food....
I've been looking at going on an alumni tour of Mainland China - the laser light show is a big feature of the beginning of the tour. Supposed to be spectacuuuuuuuuular.
Not worth leaving Canada for, but yes, spectacular. Really, it's the whole setting of Hong Kong that is so amazing, a trip across the harbour in the Star Ferry is a great experience in itself. Have been to the office today, commuting with the huge numbers of people - and feeling totally wiped out, jetlag always seems to hit the day after the day after you arrive. I am very glad of the solitude and coolth of this luxi apartment, and the gin and grapefruit juice at the end of the day too. But the TV leaves a lot to be desired - am mostlywatching tv5 which is French.
My sister went to HK a few years ago and mentioned that the ferries were great. I couldn't quite figure out why she was riding so many, I guess she was just touring... and she likes boats. There were some very interesting sailing boats, too, she said.
French TV? Oooh la la.
TV 5's the best. hamburger and mrs. hamburger even get it back in my little hometown.
Yes, it is the water that makes Hong Kong so special, as well as obviously being its raison d'etre as the best harbour on the south China coast. Ferries are a wonderful way to travel. Nobody should leave the planet without a visit here; you can 'do' the whole thing in 3 days very easily. But come in October, November, December if you can, and then you'll be able to see all the spectacular sights.
Are you going to the top of Victoria Peak? What other spectacular sights? I've looked online and found a map from the lonely planet website.
Morning, Clary, maybe Good Afternoon! there.
I heard from my kinswoman, so I'm glad you've met again. She has kindly invited me again, so I really think I will go there before Xmas. Encouraged, I must say, by you and other globetrotters.
How do things look today? Did the Chinese enjoy the Olympics? They had some notable successes, on the track too, for the first time.
McT
Popping my head in Clary...how I envy you at the moment...
