Lantau and a big Buddha

Today was a long day. We got picked up at our hotel at 8 and the first stop was the Avenue of Stars. It's like Hollywood Walk Of Fame, but with stars from Hong Kong (such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chow Yung Fat, Bruce Lee and more).

After that off to a jewellery factory where we got a fast tour of how to see the difference of colour on stones, how you make a jewellery and then the jewellery that was for sale. Didn't buy a thing, although some things were really, really nice. We found out that our Zodiac was the Rabbit :)

From there we went to Tung Chung Bay where we got onto a boat. It was a 45 minutes boatride and if we were lucky we would be able to see some Pacific Humpback Dolphins. And we were! We saw some of those pink dolphins jumping in the water - so cute!

From the boat we went through the fishmarket (dry fish parts and stuff, didn't look at all tasty to me...) to Tai O Fishing Village where the houses were built on stilts, and they were very old.

Then we took the bus to the Po Lin Monastery, a very rich monastery. They've built a huge Buddha in bronse. 34 metres high! Unfortunately it was very, very foggy up there, so I couldn't take any great photos of it. We went into the Buddha's belly where we got to see ashes from the real Buddha...

At the monastery we were treated to a vegetarian meal. The soup wasn't nice at all and contained everything that Henke doesn't eat... Tofu, mushrooms and sweet corn. Haha! But the rest was pretty tasty.

We walked through the new Ngong Ping Village before taking the cablecar (25 mins ride) down to Tung Chung Bay again. It was very high up, but I didn't get scared. Maybe because most of the ride was painted in white (all the fog made the visibility zero...)...

We found out today that they don't talk about the toilet, they say they're off to the happy room. Nice! :)

Afternoon/evening spent I in the hotel room while Henke was out roaming the streets for more watches and stuff. Came back almost emptyhanded (no watch). Tomorrow we're probably off to the Hong Kong-side, but the forecast says rain, rain and more rain... :P

Oh well, going back home on Friday! Can't wait!! Guess Henke could stay out far longer, but I want to go home now... Mum and Dad - we're supposed to land at Arlanda at 21:30 (coming from Heathrow, SAS).

So, probably last entry. Thanks all for reading and commenting! It has been great reading!!

Big hugs and o a o

PS - guess what those lovely Chinese letters mean...;)

Hong Kong

Well, we're here... Strangest flight so far. Supposed to take off at 23.55 and land 06.15 (local HK-time, i e almost 11 hours in total), but we took off at 00.20 and landed at 05.25. Guess the winds were with us... Very comfortable flight in all, but the food wasn't that good :(

Been here two days now and it's interesting... I'm not that impressed. I just think there's a lot of high buildings, very trendy, mixed with old ugly houses. Too many salesmen on the streets trying to get us to some strange place for looking at Rolex watches and Gucci handbags... Not my cup of tea.
Henke likes it more. He's fascinated by the city (but he do hates the salesmen too...).

Yesterday we took it easy, exploring some of the city. We ended the day by looking at the spectacular light show over Hong Kong's harbour area. They lit up the houses, used laser and music. Quite cool actually. See if I can publish it here, as I filmed the whole thing. (no it didn't work, I'll try tomorrow instead).

Today we've done a lot of walking around Kowloon. Good excercise. Just wished that I could find something to take home... Henke bought a T-shirt, a Quicksilver sweater, a watch and surely more stuff, while I got... Candy?... Wow.

Tomorrow we're off on a sightseeing tour with a bus. We're going to Lantau, where the big Buddha is situated on the top of a hill, next to a monastery. It'll be nice to get out of Kowloon for a while... :) I guess we're aiming to go to the Hong Kong island on Thursday, to see what it's like on the other side of the water. Friday it's time to go home, veeeery early in the morning :P

Well, o a o for now... Hugs for everyone!!

Hong Kong booked

Only one more hotel to book after I booked this one. It's not easy booking a hotel in a place you know absolutely nothing about... But we agreed on staying at Harbour Plaza Metropolis on the Kowloon-side of Hong Kong. It's overlooking the harbour on one side and Kowloon on the other, so it feels as if it's central enough. And I believe we'll be able to walk to get to the ferries that'll take us to the Hong Kong island-side, so it'll be good. :) Have a look at it here: Harbour Plaza Metropolis.

So now the hotel left to book is the one in Los Angeles. Probably the one we should've booked first, since that's our first stop, but... I've asked Tessan at work where to stay, and also e-mailed a Facebook friend Daniel to get some hints - but it's still difficult!! Oh well, if not tonight we'll book tomorrow.

Write soon again :D

Our trip is taking shape...

This time I've decided to write the blog in English, so that our beloved friends out in the wide world can follow us too. Nice, eh?! :)

One thing we'll really appreciate is your comments, so please - don't hesitate to write! :)

Our route (if you want to say hi on the journey ;)):

Feb
3rd - leaving Stockholm
- via London Heathrow
- to Los Angeles

8th - Rarotonga, Cook Islands

15th - Auckland, New Zealand

March
1st - Hong Kong

6th - leaving Hong Kong
- via London Heathrow
- to Stockholm

We're so behind in planning for several reasons. Only one hotel booked, and that was booked by our lovely friend Stefan (hugs). We're staying at Muri Beachcomber on Rarotonga and hopefully that will be lovely... Check out their web site for more info and pics: Muri Beachcomber.

Next things to do will be booking some more hotels and getting a shot in my bum tomorrow (against hepatitus)... And maybe start thinking of what to pack... Oh dear... Think I'll return to my wine instead...

Bye for now... O a O