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!!

Last night in New Zealand - off to Hong Kong

Just a few words before heading to the airport. Off to Hong Kong, 11-hour flight, during night. Guess it could be worse (yeah, like the flight from H K to London/Stockholm...).

Yesterday was great. We arrived in Auckland and was picked up by Andrew at the airport. In the evening we were treated to a very nice dinner at Lone Star (yum!!!) and then off to Southside Comedy where we watched and laughed at and with some very funny stand up-comedians. Loved it!

Today was a nice day as well. Henke & Andrew went for a walk in The Gardens and I and Stefan took off to a shopping mall for some nice conversation :)

Well, this is all for now I guess, as they've brought out the vehicle we're being driven in to the airport (it's called a CAR, and Stefan crashed it, well almost, yesterday).

Hopefully a blog from Hong Kong as well, but we'll hopefully (yes again, lots of hope) arrive back in cold Sweden on Friday.

We will miss New Zealand lots and lots and lots. Love it!! Mwah!! To Stefan and Andrew for being super-hosts :D

oAo

Loving Queenstown

Been in Queenstown since the 24th and we love it. The fly in was a bit weird, since the pilot didn't dare to land on the first try because of the fog. Scary, since I know there's a lot of mountains around Queenstown... But we got a nice scenic route instead, so it was all OK.

First day we walked from our hotel in the sun and it took about 25 minutes to get to the central. Nice walk that we do every day now. :)
Sat in the sun drinking a very nice and cold white wine. Good start of the vacation here.

The 25th was spent on the disc/frisbee golf course in The Gardens. Lovely place for a course I must say. Henke wan big time (of course), but I think I did pretty well anyway, did some nice savings from the bushes I ended up in – haha!

26th was a terrifying day... We took off to Nevis bungy 45 minutes off Queenstown. Not that I was trying to kill myself, it was Henke's try... Got there and he was pretty calm on the outside (while I was shaking, I'm dead scared of heights, not nice going up a mountain on a pebbled road...). He was the one jumping first and I, at a safe place, was videotaping it with my camera. He shouted something, that I couldn't hear, since there were some Japanese guys next to me commenting it all (sounds funny on the tape). He was very happy when he got back about the jump (or for surviving, I don't know...). It was only 134 metres... He was also happy that one of the crew members had told him that he can do a jump in Hong Kong as well... :P
Not done after that, no... Then it was time for a bungy swing. It looked fun actually, being let off in a swing down the canyon. All I heard from Henke was ”mother... fucker!!” haha

As we got back to Queenstown it started to rain some, so we went indoors to a wonderful minigolf course that we visited last time we were here. Guess who's won?... Guess the pic reveal it all ;)

Friday it looks as if we'll try to go on one of those fastgoing boats. I look forward to that! Besides that we'll see what we'll do. Saturday we're going back to Stefan & Andrew again and stay there until we're off to Hong Kong.

Got some nice news from Qantas yesterday. We were supposed to go on a flight that had to go via Christchurch, but luckily they've changed our tickets, so we're going direct to Auckland. Yay!

OK then, o a o :)

Oups, got to go on the Kuwarau river before posting this blog. We loved it! The speed and the 360 degrees turns are great! For safety you have to place your feet down in the bottom and back against the seat. I'm too short... So I just took turns, either feet down or back against :) I survived anyway. Henke smashed his head in the ”roof” twice, but that's ok, nothing in it anyway ;) Just as we got into this mall I found a newspaper showing that one of the boats accidently turned over yesterday and killed 4... Oups.

Oh well, a bit drunk on excellent New Zealand white wine at the moment, better stop writing before I get silly...

Beautiful beach and Singstar

Today was a nice day. Got up and wrote a blog, and now I'm back on it again. Not that I think you are complaining...

Day started with a nice brekkie, since Stefan was making us bacon and eggs (or acon and beggs, whatever you prefer) and then we were off to the beach for a 1,5 hour walk along the shore. It rained some as we left, but the weather got really good the closer we got to the beach. I bet it must've been nice riding along it though...

As we got home I prepared an apple pie (that never got served) and Stefan and Andrew prepared the barbecue. Then Paul and John arrived - wonderful guys! We had a nice bbq, some drinks and cocktail, loads of bubbly and then we were on Singstar. So much fun!!

Today's song was this one... With the gestures to it of course! And we also had fun at a cartoon Paul showed us when talking about New Zealand English - look here.

Tomorrow Auckland plus look at netball. Nice! OaO

Skycity Starlight experience

OK, here goes a small update, since we're off for a walk in 30 mins. We're alive. Thank you, bye.

No, but we've had nice days here with Stefan & Andrew. The day before yesterday we were treated to a nice barbecue dinner at Andrew's parents Vincent & Brenda. It was nice seeing them again, and their new home. Susan was also there, great seeing her. Food was delicious! Still, when I think of it, it's February and we're having a bbq. Nice! :)

Yesterday Stefan, Henke and I took off early to go to the Otara Market. A place for souvenirs and fruit and veggies. After that off to a big mall in Manukau where we went shopping. We'd played a card game called 5 Cards at the bbq yesterday, so we bought that (it's fun).

Then they (Stefan & Andrew) had a surprise for us. They prepared a picknick basket full och yummy things and then we took off. Landed in Auckland Domain (a park) where we were to see a big show held every year called Skycity Starlight Symphony. A lot of people showed up and among them their friends Annie, Katherine, Tia, Sherry and Janine.
We all had a lovely picknick listening to the symphony orchestra, the famous (in NZ and Australia) singer Brooke Fraser (listen here to hear one of her songs she sang), Phil Madsen singing Bohemian Rhapsody (wonderful, we'll see if I can upload what I recorded..), dancers, opera singer Aivale Cole and much more before rounding off with a spectacular laser- and fireworks show with real cannons going off. Wow! I got some of it, but then my memory card was full, so I, unfortunately, didn't get the grand finale... :P
It was an amazing experince and also a nice feeling sitting having a picknick together with all these people. :)

Well, now off. Hope all is well back home! oAo

New Zealand

Gosh, don't know where to start this really... Right now I'm sitting by Stefan & Andrew's computer in their nice house in Manurewa, outside Auckland. The weather is pretty nice, but we're having laundry duty today (and we need it, believe me). I got stuck on here though, trying to catch up on mail and stuff. But soon... :)

The flight from Rarotonga to Auckland went really well and we were picked up at the airport by Stefan, Andrew and Alida. So great seeing them again!!
We got home, talked and ate (and drank some wine and champagne, since Stefan kept his word and had put the champers in the fridge) and then we were off to bed.

Next morning Andrew drove me, Henke and Alida to the ferry terminal where we, after an ice latte and a smoothie, was off on the boat to Waiheke Island (about 40 mins from Auckland harbour).

As soon as we were there (and after having fun at some Americans on the boat...) we got on the bus to go and have a taste of Waiheke. The driver / guide was very amiable.
The sights of the island were so beautiful! Very picturesque (and yes, a lot of photos were taken, of course...)..

First stop we did was at the vineyard Stonyridge where we were met by a nice woman and her old black labrador showing us around and we got to try three of their wines. It was really nice walking around the olive trees they had, and of course looking over the vineyard.

After that stop it was getting really hot, and it didn't help that the bus had something wrong with the air conditioning... :P
Quite soon off the bus again, to have a look at Rangihoua, where they produce very tasty olive oils. I know they're tasty, since we got to taste them. Once again a nice woman telling us how they produced the oil and once again an old black dog. They had a sofa made of an old tree which you can see in one of the pics above (and how to make a guide look like a little hobbit).

From there we went to another vineyard called Wild On Waiheke, where they also had a brewery. Got to taste a lovely ros'e wine (sorry, can't find the right key to press on their computer...) and some other wines and also their beer. Yum... They also had other tastings from different dip sauses, spreads and sauces (how about spicy coriander and lime, or strawberry in with chocolate...). Here too was a nice woman with... Yes. An old black dog.

After that one stop left and that was Mudbrick. There was a not so nice (comparing to the others before her...), stressed out, French woman without a dog telling us about the vineyard. Tried three different wines and had a look around their shop. The view from there was magnificent, and the smell of all lavender growing there was breath taking (yes!).

Then the tour was over and the guide dropped us three off in the town. We went to the Lazy Lounge to have some champers and wait for Malcolm, Alida's brother, to pick us up. He did, and after a quick stop at his place (where we cuddled with Lola and Toby, his two big dogs) we went for a lovely meal at Vino Vino.

Malcolm then dropped us off at the B&B we were staying at and I can recommend that place to anyone who ever gets there! John, the owner, was such a sweet guy, very caring and also a chef (did catering and stuff). Loved it there! Wish we could've stayed some more days there...

The day after Malcolm plus two dogs picked us up at the B&B and we were off to his place to get the boat. After some hard work for Malcolm the boat was in the sea and we took off. Yet another sunny day at sea. Loved it! We got the fishing gear and I actually caught the biggest snapper of us all (26 cm, but they have to be 28 cm otherwise they have to get back in). I, exhilareted, was throwing it around the boat and accidently hit Mal's beer bottle... Oups... Sorry!
Henke also caught some snappers, but he had to fight hard once, running all around the boat following whatever was down there. Finally we saw what it was, it was a stingray! Having Steve Irwin in our mind I kept myself on the opposite side of the boat, and Alida jumped up on one of the seats, haha. Mal, after I had took a photo of it, released it by cutting the line off. So somewhere around Waiheke there's a stingray with a hook piercing between its eyes...

Back on the island we had a nice lunch at Nourish before Mal dropped us off by the ferry. Back on mainland we went and took a cup of coffee, tea, glass of wine in a caf'e and since it was so hot neither of us felt like walking around, so instead we walked down the bar Traffic and had some strawberry champers before going to Britomart (train station) and took the train to Mt Albert, where Stefan picked us up.

Stefan & Andrew treated us to a nice meal at a local Thai restaurant where we tried several yummy dishes. We all could more or less roll back home after that meal... Talked a lot as we got home and then bed time again... Poor Stefan was driving poor Alida to the airport at 4 am this morning...

So, missing Alida of course, she's so much fun to hang around with, we're at home. Last wash is in the machine and then off for some grocery shopping as I promised I'd take care of the dinner tonight.

I have no idea what will happen this weekend, since Stefan & Andrew is keeping their mouth shut. But I guess I had that one coming... :P

Well, see you laters peeps! oAo (over and out Pelle :))

PS - songs for today, so far, are this, this and this. So enjoy everyone and singalong!