After a few minor delays on the train and at customs we arrived in Hong Kong about midday on Tuesday. I instantly fell in love with the place, everyone speaks English, the signs are in English and the people are so polite (it seemed far more British than Chinese!!) We got some taxis to the YMCA to find only 2 rooms are ready which Ruya and I pounce on! Early bird as my Granddad would say!! The rooms were small for the price but the shower was an actual cubicle, it felt so weird that it wasn't hung over the toilet, something that I had become quite used too! We tried to have a quick swim in the hotel pool but were told the kids were swimming so we couldn't go in. So we met Ruya, Stu, Tom and Hammy and headed out to squeeze as much as we could into our day.

We got a tube (the best system we have come across, it even beats London) towards the water and grabbed a McDonalds, fast service (lack of time) and cheapest place in HK (lack of cash!) then walked the rest of the way to the ferry port. The view was incredible even though it was hazy. We took the Star Ferry across to Hong Kong Island and wandered around all the banks and hotels rising high up into the clouds. Signs told us to walk back to the ferry point to catch a bus up so we did. A minute later we arrived at the tram so we could have walked! The tram ride was very steep and the view was not that good because of the fog that was settling in on the island. When we reached Victoria Peak we went straight to the top of the building to look back down on the city. All we could see was a blue/grey mist and it was raining! We were meeting the rest of the group up there later anyway so spent some time exploring (code Chelsea uses for shopping!!) We had a look for possible places to eat our last dinner with the group but it was all so expensive and some members were on a tighter budget than others. We found a bar 'noodles have no boundaries' and had far to much to wine waiting for the others (they were 90minutes late with no apologies tut tut!!) We went back up to the viewing point to try to get some pics and luckily the fog had cleared so we had a wonderful view of the city all lit up.

We all headed back down to Kowloon by tram and ferry ending up in a fab Indian restaurant for some much needed food and more drinks. Vicky (from our India tour group) had told us to visit Felix Bar in the Peninsula Plaza to use the toilet there so I dragged the entire group there for a drink. It was, to our disappointment, an up market bar and we were wearing flip flops so couldn't get in! We did however make it to the toilets! The floor to ceiling windows have a view over the entire city - amazing and well worth the visit! After our toilet break we walked back to our hotel, said our goodbyes to the group and headed to bed for some well needed rest and recovery.

Wednesday 13th June

6 of us met early for a day out at Disney HK. It was such a fun day, right from the Disney themed train to the pictures with the characters! The rides were pretty good too! We were the first people to arrive and had the first pictures with Mickey and Minnie Mouse. The rides were empty early on so we went on again and again. The weather was hot and sunny for most of the day to. The characters were all over the park so we got lots of photos, we ran around the park like 8year olds all day long! On our way back we stopped at an Irish Pub before heading to our hotel. It had to be the most revolting place I have ever stayed in my entire life! The room was big enough to squeeze a double bed and the toilet cubicle doubled up as a shower room too! We stood in the tiny corridor chatting to other travelers for as long as possible, delaying actually sleeping in there!