Day 2 in Hong Kong

We were awake early and had to chill til the buffet breakfast opened at 7am.  The boys at breakfast were in 7^th heaven - there was everything and I think they pretty much tried to try it all! As well as the traditional NZ buffet  fair there were dumplings, noodles, lots of different types of fish, croissants, danishes and even sushi.  The boys could hardly walk out at the end and did not eat again til about 3pm.

We had booked a half day Hong Kong Island Tour which was awesome.  Our guide, Sandra, was very informative and a bit of a hoot and it was great to be picked up at our hotel at 9am.  She was a bit of a sports fan talking lots about horse racing and the rugby 7s.

First off we went to Victoria Peak which is world famous and provides a birds eye view of Victoria Harbour, Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island - well it would on a clear day anyway - our day was not so clear!  But still great views.  The tram right up was pretty impressive - very steep and had the boys a little worried. 

We then went to Aberdeen Fishing Village which is a naturally ideal typhoon anchorage and is home to what remains of HKs boat people and their colourful junks and sampans.  We went for a sampan ride which was pretty cool.

We then went to the jewellery factory where they make jade which is a less impressive version of our greenstone I think.  No purchasing here for us kiwis.    

We then went for a drive around the beachy areas of the island, including Repulse Bay near where Jacky Chan lives.

We then went to Stanley Market which is a popular tourist market.  The boys brought a drone with some of their money from Nana, well actually I think Connor paid for it, egged on by Lachlan! We brought our names written in Cantonese and brought Karl a present from here also.

 

Lachlan was born in 2005 and is the Year of the Rooster.  Karl, Connor and i are all born in the Year of the Ox.
This year, 2016 is the Year of the Monkey 

At the top of Victoria Peak and the views

On the Sampan

Connor checking out the jewelery being made 

Playing in the hotel pool.......

Yummy Japenese lunch

Connor’s favourite - Buying the drone from Stanley Market.

Lachlan’s favourite - Tram ride up to Victoria peak and bargaining at Stanley Market.  

After the tour we were starving so went to find some food - found a Japanese restaurant and then headed back to the hotel for a swim and spa.  This was fantastic.  Great day had by all.  

Our first day in Hong Kong with our friend Edwin

Edwin a friend and ex-work colleague from CAFS who now lives and works in Hong Kong met us at our hotel at 10.30am to spend some time with us.  This was awesome and we were very appreciative that he gave up his time to spend with us.  We were so lucky to get to experience some of Hong Kong that only locals get to experience and it made us much more braver to explore and experience during our second and third days.  

First off the kids were starving so we went to Duddell Street Starbucks.  Even after this the kids were food focussed so this part of our day was trying and experiencing new foods.  It was all very delicious - we had fish balls in curry which was super super spicy - Loki had asked for food to “blow his head off” - easily done and mission accomplished with his first curry ball!  We had meat balls which were delicious - Connor chose them.  And we had waffle mix which looked like mini egg shaped cartons.  We got this food from street vendors.

The egg  custard tart - not a hit! The waffles were and the curry fish balls were yummy but spicy! Meat balls were great. 

 

We had a lunch in a little local café: where we had pork and rick and then a seafood and rice dish.

Kids had cold chocolate - nice but different to nz.  The seafood dish had calamari, but not as we know it - it was chewy, bigger bits of squid.

In the windows there were full quails and ducks pluched with the heads still on and they looked like they had been browned or marinated.  Seeing their beaks was a bit weird. 

We then took the subway and saw lots of interesting buildings.  

HSBC Building (where the lion statues were). The building below is said to be the lego building because it was built like a lego tower and is block like.  

We then took the star ferry.   a passenger ferry that goes across Victoria Harbour, between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. It was founded in 1888 as the Kowloon Ferry Company, adopting its present name in 1898.

 

On the other side we then went to Tsim Sha Tsui Victoria Harbour (Promenade and HK Cultural Centre)

Shopping at Mong Kok Ladies Market: The boys (including Edwin) haggled for some soccer tshirts with Connor ending up with a Ronaldo shirt and Lachlan getting a Messi shirt - initial price $120 HK for one and ended up getting them for $100 HK for two - Total $20NZ. 

I brought a red handbag - initial price $300 - quickly went down to $200 and then went Edwin joined us I got it for $170 HK - Total $35 NZ.

Very local market with no tourists: On the mini bus Edwin took us to a very local market called Wong Tai Sin Market where we were very much a novelty.  Lots of people were staring, saying hello and commenting.  It was a very elderly area and very friendly.  We saw lots of different meats - chicken feet which the kids did not guess and were surprised about; lots of other meat including ox tongue, hearts etc.  No too surprising for the boys given their hunting lifestyle! There were also lots of fish - lots of different crazy looking fish which were still alive.  There were massive crabs, whitebait looking things that had been fried and other very interesting things to see. 

At this market we brought some fruit: we brought 3 pear-apples which Loki called Papples! We brought some grapes and tangerines and two dragon fruit which I had never seen before but the boys recognised them.   

We then went and sat in the square eating our tangerines and watching some older men play Chinese chess. Again we were very much a novelty - Edwin asked if we felt like we were in a fishbowl!

Interesting dragon fruit that we brought at the market - 

Temple:  We went to a temple,  Wang Tai Sin Temple which the boys enjoyed.  Loki liked it because there was fire! We lit some incense on the fire area and then carries them up to the prayer areas.  We all carried three each and stopped at each area and then at the main part we put our sticks in some sand and made a wish. 

Next to us and something else you could do was put sticks in to a container and sit shaking them until one stick would come out - it would have a number which would give you information about your future - you would then take the stick to the shrine.

This was a very colourful and religious and big place and again a very local area.

7 modes of transport in one day Today: 14^th March we went on a plane, a taxi, the subway multiple times, a ferry, a double decker bus, and a mini bus twice!  We also used our legs a lot!

Central:

Pictures from on the double decker bus 

Our mini bus - no other foreigners on these buses!

Connors best bits Double decker bus, getting to try lots of different foods, really liked the temple and the markets.

Lokis best bits  Going on the subway - never been on it, very stop startie and you have to balance and hold onto things; Double decker bus - sitting on the top level - see everything;  Loki enjoyed everything except the walking and the egg tart.

Flight to Hong Kong and our first "oops"

Our flight to Hong Kong was 10 hours long.  The boys pretty much went straight to sleep which was great and slept for about 7 hours - yay! When they woke it was time for some tech games, breakfast and then we were on our descent into Hong Kong.  I was thinking things were going pretty good - and then........Connor vomited, Luckily into one of the sick bags that were available.  He was looking pretty pale and was tired.

We arrived at 6am Hong Kong time which was 12noon NZ time.  We had no problems getting through customs and found the right taxi (Red Urban) to take us to our hotel - The Garden Hotel, North Point, Hong Kong Island.  This was a pretty hair-raising experience - driving is pretty crazy in Hong Kong and there was hardly any traffic - there were also lots of toll roads and tunnels.  Connor began to feel sick again - luckily I had taken one of the extra AirNZ sick bags and he held that for the ride which was about 30 minutes.  As soon as we arrived at the hotel he jumped out and sat on the kerb.  There was traffic everywhere by this point; I was trying to take care of him; not get vomit around the hotel; get our bags; pay the taxi in weird money - was wishing I had another adult at this point!

 
Above: Hong Kong Airport and the boys sitting outside our hotel.

Once Connor felt a little better we went inside to check in. We checked our bags in and were taking to the concierge when I realised we were missing our laptop - uh oh! Checked around and it was not there - realised in the chaos we must have left it in the taxi! Argh! - Long story short laptop got found and brought back by taxi driver later in the day - phew! Reward was given!

We upgraded our room to a suite which meant we could access it straight away at 7.30am rather than the 3 pm check in.  Not really in the plan but meant Connor could get some sleep before we met a friend at 10.30am and we could chill given our stressful arrival.  

Time for the rest of the family to head off

D-day for the rest of the family - time to begin the journey to join Karl in Marseille.  Sunday 13th March at 7.20 we flew from Palmerston North to Auckland. Very exciting times but very hard to say goodbye to family and friends.  There were tears from all!

Dean and Emma picked us up at Auckland Domestic Airport and drove us to the International Airport.  It was great to see them and share our last moments before we headed through to catch our flight to Hong Kong. We left Auckland at 11.50pm on Air New Zealand.

From our window.......

This is the view every morning out our bedroom window, you can see the 12^th century church (right), a little bit of the harbour, and the big fort on the other side of the harbour.  And the blue blue sky!

Exploring - a walk to Notre Dame Cathedral

A different view of the Harbour - from the other side

Finally found it - Notre Dame Cathedral, Marseille 

Our local beach...........yay we can walk to this

This is where I needed to head to from home

Sidetracked - or lost! 

The views from Notre Dame of the city

Sunday lunch - perfect!

Saturday morning was damp but the rain started clearing quickly, so about 10 o’clock I decided to put on the walking shoes and try and find my way up to the impressive cathedral that overlooks the city.  JC refers to it as ‘the good mother’ looking over the city.  Anyway, after about 10 minutes walking I realised I had left the map at home, never mind, it must be easy to find, it’s the only big hill around.  Well after 20 minutes I think I had missed the turnoff, so decided to explore the park on the other side of the harbour from our apartment.  Huge big lawn for the boys to play on, a playground, great picnic spots, and great views of the city and sea.  After exploring around the big building I spotted a bus that had Viex Port on it, so now knew where I could catch a bus from if I got tired.  Decided to carry on around the coast and within a couple of minutes came across this little beach.  Cafes nearby, beach volley-ball club nets on the beach.  I walked down and felt the Mediterranean sea.  It was cold. 

I then decided to head up some streets where the cafes were for a look, thinking it would take me indirectly back to where the bus stop was anyway.  At the end of the street was a sign pointing the direction to the cathedral, so onwards I walked, stopping into a Boulanger on the way to buy a pesto scroll and practise my French.  The lady behind the counter was great, but then at the end she said, I speak English.  I said it was OK, I was trying to practise my French and she replied ‘but I prefer to speak English’.  Who knows eh?

After much climbing I made it up to the cathedral.  The views are breath-taking, and you get a real feel for the city and the islands off-shore with more forts on them, and the Calanques (mountains close by, it is a national park).  The cathedral was beautiful, I’ll let Wendy take some pictures with the good camera to better show it off.  It will be one of the first stops when the family arrive.

Well, legs weary now after walking about 2 hours so I decided to catch the bus back down the hill.  Was no faster than walking thou, the traffic jams are something to behold.  Will be one heck of a city to drive in.  Apparently it is rated the 2^nd worst city in all of Europe for traffic!

Last photo was of my little stroll today (Sunday).  Most shops are shut on Sundays in France, even the supermarket, and it seems that people cruise into the city for lunch and coffee and stroll around.  So I joined them, lunch is pictured…..mmm Heineken J

My first week observations........

A whole week at work has gone by, really enjoying the environment and the people I interact with there.  Here are a few observations and pics from the week:

Every day I walk past some amazing old buildings on my way to work, above is a pic of one, I’m not sure what it is all about yet but it is a cool building.  Also, plenty of nice yachts to admire on the walk, and well then there is fishing Marseille style, especially the trolley – I wonder how old that is?

Here’s two pictures that tickled my sad but funny sense of humour – not sure I want to but my lunch from this sandwich shop…………and as for Tampons, what on earth do they have to do with Photocopiers??? 

Gone fishing! 

Not so sure about this store - it took my fancy! 

An interesting mix!

The tourist train - a ride anyone

Sailing anyone?