Olympic action in Hong Kong

It’s been quite a while since I posted any blogs on here, but I’ve just embarked on a big trip and thought it might be a nice (if not slightly old fashioned) way of letting people know how I’m going.

First stop was Hong Kong for a night. I’d been pretty excited about going to Hong Kong because I hadn’t been there since it became Chinese. And I’m dying to go to China, so I thought this might be a good introduction. And in a way it was I guess. But I was really surprised at how western it was and how similar it was to other big Asian cities I’ve been to like Singapore and KL. Everything was high rise and there were so many shops, and heaps of international brands. So I guess to me it seemed more consumer driven than I was expecting. I also hadn’t really planned much of a wardrobe around summer in Asia...

All those things considered, I did have a really interesting time. I was staying a bit out of the tourist centre, in an area where more locals lived. There were a couple of nice resting parks where people were going about their day, playing mahjong and sitting in the shade. I loved all the Chinese medicine shops with their dried fungi and seafood and things. And I loved all the little alleys with huge signs in Chinese and English (often very funny English too).

And the harbour was very pretty in a hazy, skyscraper kind of way. I caught the ferry across from Kowloon where I was staying, to Hong Kong island and, along with a billion other tourists, took the tram up the hill to look out over the water. It was a pretty cool view. And the tram thing was amazing – I tried to take some pics to show just how steep the hill was, but they really don’t do it justice. I don’t know what the limit is for steepness in transport but this would have been pushing it!



In the evening I took a tour to a local fishing village for a seafood dinner. This turned out to be pretty interesting. I was expecting dragon boats and very traditional ways of fishing etc., so was a bit disappointed to see plastic chairs in the restaurant! The food was nice (yummy crab!) but I think the highlight of my evening was the hilarity of the English sign in the restaurant… I did try to explain to the German couple I was dining with why the place wasn’t so ‘hip’, but I don’t think they really got it.

(Click on the picture to see the sign up close)

The other cool thing about being in Hong Kong last weekend was that the Olympics had started. I saw no sign of the equestrian events which were actually in HK but there were lots of other things to keep one entertained. Like the exhibition on the water front complete with big screens showing China whipping everyone’s butt at volleyball and the like. And there were heaps of different versions of the five Olympic mascots. I liked them!

And a story about my trip to HK would not be complete without mentioning, oh so casually, that I ran into (almost literally) Hamish and Andy at the airport. That’s right folks. Hamish and Andy of Rove and Spicks and Specks fame and my future brother-in-law (Lucy always claims Hamish as her future husband – they just have to get introduced!). It was pretty funny actually. I was all bleary-eyed having just flown for 12 hours overnight from Auckland and was staring blankly at a tv monitor when Hamish and Andy bounced past. I wasn’t watching where I was going, so nearly took Andy out. Then upon recognising him, was so surprised that I’m pretty sure my mouth dropped open. He laughed at me, said hi, and off they bounced (yes, they were very bouncy). If only I’d been able to act cool and convince them to run a campaign to bring Spicks and Specks to NZ or something….. dammit!