MENU goes East - Cape Town, Dubai, Hong Kong, Kowloon

After all the last minute checks, an Uber took us to the MyCiti bus station

The Airport bus is always a very comfortable and cheap 25 minute ride which took us

to Cape Town airport to catch Emirates 773 to Dubai

(Business leaders fly LearJets; Pop groups have 747s)

a Boeing 777. Economy seats more cramped than on Turkish and Lynne's TV didn't work

Dubai airport. Huge and bustling at 1am local time and laughably expensive on an SA budget

with a 2 hour wait to board Emirates 382 Airbus A380 for Hong Kong

Immense. 10 seats wide with better space and more comfortable seats than the Boeing and really good, large TV screens. But we were so tired by then that we tried to sleep

The queue to get off. We were right at the back

and the bags take a while to unload in Hong Kong

Hong Kong airport has an underground train to take you from plane to immigration

Mr Chung. A friendly and very helpful introduction to a very friendly city

took a photo of John

Another, very comfortable, train took us to the Hong Kong central station. Expensive but fast

crossing the harbour from Kowloon to Hong Kong en route

The Hong Kong Underground is very like London's, but the lines are separated from the platform by a glass wall with automatic doors which match the doors on the train

and then another wait

for the free shuttle bus to our hotel

The Metro Park in Causeway Bay, which we reached 24 hours after we left home. Hong Kong time is 12 hours ahead of SA

The room is very comfortable and well-appointed and the service is very good

A visit to a local supermarket

which has excellent sushi, reduced in price late in the day but still fresh

and then a walk in light rain to look for supper

There was loads of street food but we couldn't get the ATMs to give us Hong Kong dollars from any of our cards, UK or SA and they don't take cards in the food stalls and smaller restaurants. Eventually we found a Western Union, changed some of our US dollars and queued for a take away dinner

too tired to sit down in the restaurant

Breakfast in the hotel

A huge choice of eggs - boiled, scrambled and fried, bacon, fried tomatoes

of Western and Eastern: sesame buns with sweet soybean paste, hash browns, waffles, maple syrup, even tomato ketchup

toast, bread, muffins,fresh fruit and yoghurt

Dim Sum, croissants and Pain au Chocolat, 

fruit, smoked salmon and ham

Kellogg's cereals, yoghurt, sliced roasted almonds, raisins, jack fruit, grape fruit, strawberries

pork and chicken sausages

noodles, different every day

Congee rice porridge, with and without pork. And good coffee freshly brewed, juices and hot chocolate

and a good view of Victoria Park through the large windows in the front of the hotel

Breakfast with Tiffany, our waitress

and a travesty: in a display, a bottle of Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse Delalande 1997, standing up under lights and slowly dying. A sad end to one of the world's greatest wines. Apparently it's been there 10 years

The swimming pool on the 32nd floor with a view across the bay to Kowloon

and a long drop to the street (Lynne screaming in High anxiety)

We are next to Victoria Park which has great sporting facilities

Tennis is obviously very popular. We can see 32 courts from our room

Just past the Excelsior Hotel, the Conference Centre, where we will attend Vinexpo

the view across the harbour to Kowloon

Hong Kong is skyscraper city. Some of the buildings are very tall and very narrow and the flats are often tiny

Our 32 storey hotel gets lost behind the taller buildings

A very clean modern tube with no doors between carriages en route to the markets in Kowloon

This patisserie shop has a branch in every tube station

Kowloon is a mix of older apartment buildings and very modern offices. This is the old part of town

The ladies' market came first

where Lynne looked at a silk kimono, but decided that it was too heavy. You are expected to bargain. Start at half the offered price and end up in the middle

 

Beautiful silks and not that expensive. But are they real?

Lots of street food

and young people looking for lunch

Some of the dishes will be loved by fans of offal

sate

and ducks and chickens everywhere - and not expensive

In the fish (pet  fish) market, many small shops, selling a wide variety of fish and aquariums like this. $HK2280 is R4560 . Might be worth copying?

Tiny exotic fish swimming in little bags

very pretty and, apparently, very good feng shui

crowded streets

A flower seller in what was a restaurant

Anyone for a quickie?

in the flower market

flowers and plants from all over the world

Beautiful orchids

and a walk to the bird market

Caged birds distress us
William Blake wrote 'A Robin Redbreast in a Cage Puts all Heaven in a Rage'

And Lynne wanted to set them all free

So we left quickly

Poor beautiful Macaws squawking up a racket

These white eyes are all over our garden at home

Back to our hotel view and more late afternoon drizzle

Sunset over Hong Kong. It is a beautiful city, growing so fast

Lynne was here 20 years ago and it is almost unrecognisable. Here it is by night, with the light shows in progress

Like a fairyland on stilts

Guests late night swimming as the air is warm and steamy. 25°C but 75% humidity

Next episode: 
MENU Goes East - Hong Kong, Victoria Peak, Dim Sum
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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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