Rain, rain and more rain... we caught the end of a typhoon and apparently Hong Kong's wettest month in recorded history - hooray - so I spent most of my time indoors, shopping and watching films. Happily I also managed to catch up with some friends that are working in HK.

As we crossed the border from China to Hong Kong, Bobo had to be escorted by a tour guide from HK - I was shocked by the restrictions on Chinese people travelling to HK and I still don't fully understand it. They have to apply for some sort of permit to go there and there are restrictions depending on where they are from - people from big cities in China are allowed in relatively easily but people from small villages aren't allowed to enter HK unaccompanied, they have to be part of a 'tour group' and be escorted over the border by a 'guide' (I think they are considered a flight risk). It seemed preposterous that Bobo, who has a degree in tourism and has worked as a guide for years, is not allowed to enter in her professional capacity without supervision.

We had our last group dinner with Bobo in the Kowloon district and then went down to the harbour to watch the light show that happens at night (sneaking into fancy hotels along the way - ostensibly to use the toilets but really to have a nosy!). We walked along The Avenue of the Stars on the edge of the harbour, admiring the handprints of famous visitors and the various brightly-lit boats passing by.

While I was in town I met up with my friend Chuen (from DB) - we went to the swanky rooftop bar at LKF Hotel with some of her friends and then later to a bar opposite (apparently frequented by local celebs). Chuen stayed out til after 3am despite having a conference call at 5am - hardcore!

The following night Catherine and I met up with some more DB connections - James, Katherine, Ludwig and Joe - for a few pints of Guinness at the Dublin Jack Irish bar in Lan Kwai Fong. Later James treated us to a fantastic dinner at a Lebanese restaurant after which Catherine and I went back to the bar at the LKF Hotel - I think I spent more on cocktails in one night than I'd spent in total during my three weeks in China (a welcome break from the backpacker lifestyle!). We had a lot of fun, looking out at the view over the city from the rooftop and dancing with random people til 4am.

We had just got back to the hotel and gone to bed when we were woken up by Tom, Brad and Dave coming back from a Gatecrasher club night, marvellous... Apparently Vicki had left them early on the evening and gone home, very ill. She and Dave had to be at the airport in the morning so it must have been a painful day for them!

In the afternoon, Brad and I went to the cinema and saw Wanted - it was rubbish. In the evening we met up with Tom and Catherine and we all watched a dodgy DVD copy of Kung Fu Panda in our hotel room, which was good fun.

One night a bunch of us went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and a another night we sat on little plastic stools in the street with some great Chinese food from a local restaurant.

The main tourist attraction I missed on my previous visit to HK was the much-hyped Stanley Market so Tom, Catherine and I decided to go and check it out. It is on the opposite side of the island from where we were staying and the trip turned out to be a total waste of time! It cost a fortune because we took a taxi and the traffic was horrendous plus the roads were blocked by landslides. When we eventually arrived, we found the market was tiny and mostly full of rubbish! A far cry from the pristine shopping malls in town where I had breakfast at Starbucks and ice-cream at Haagen-Dazs in between shopping at Zara and H&M

One day Tom, Catherine and I took a trip to Macau, which is an odd place - an island about an hour away from HK on the ferry which is technically a different country (another 'autonomous region' of China, like HK). Historically it was a Portuguese colony and Portuguese still seems to be the first language - there is an interesting mix of European and Chinese culture, architecture and language. We spent most of the day strolling around the town, taking in the historical sights. We also visited a couple of the casinos - gambling is illegal in China and HK but not in Macau so it is best known as the 'Las Vegas of the East' for it's plethora of casinos - and I managed to lose only HK$4 (mainly because I didn't know how any of the machines worked so I didn't use them!).

And so ended my trip around China. China's politics are questionable at best and new scandals are emerging all the time (shortly after I left, there was evidence that they had contravened an arms embargo by supplying equipment to the Sudanese government that was being used in the war in Darfur and, separately, they vetoed UN sanctions on Robert Mugabe). I was surprised to learn that China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and does not recognise it as an independent country. Notwithstanding these issues, China is a fascinating place to visit, I enjoyed learning about the history and I loved the food. It has the most fantastic mix of unique ancient culture with modern development and creature comforts - where else would you find a McDonalds in front of centuries-old drum and bell towers like in Xi'an? Or Starbucks and Haagen-Dazs outlets around the corner from a restaurant proudly advertising its 'dumpling stuffed with the ovary and digestive glands of a crab' like in Shanghai? I loved it!