Happy New Year!

First full day in Hong Kong was spent catching up on my sleep and catching up with my loved one once she landed in HK. Was great to catch up and be together again, picked up where we left off.. Clare was bit jet lagged so what better way to get rid of it than by hitting the beach.. weather over here been decent, hovering around 20c so headed over to Repulse Bay on Hong Kong Island which was surprisingly lush. With it being off season the beach wasn't packed either so was even more relaxing, dipped my toes in the South China Sea but the water was bloody freezing so no full dip as had enough of being frozen last couple of weeks hehe! Spent the evening walking along Avenue of Stars with Bruce Lee/Jet Li et co!

Been quite fortunate, as although the accomodation is expensive and the room is the size of a matchbox, we're in a decent area called Jordan. There's a plethora of restaurants and great little diners here so been having lots of fun trying different places out with their own unique speciality dish each night. The majority of Chinese are skinny as and its no wonder with the fresh and healthy food on offer, only seen a few fatties over here! There was a one block queue to one of the eating locals when on a breakfast mission, turns out the place is recommended in a local version of Lonely Planet so every man, woman and his dog comes here and its absolute choca throughout the day. The seafood is fresh as and you can literally point at stuff that's in buckets/tanks and say I'll have one of them please. The thing I've enjoyed about over here is can be really adventurous with food and there's no brad pitt in sight!

Headed out to Kowloon Park during the day on the eve of the new year and it was nice chilling there with all the birds and flamingos! Its quite a pleasant and peaceful contrast to the masses of people and malls a couple of hundred meters away. There's an annoying amount of Indians at the bottom of Nathan Road trying to sell you watches, watches, watches & suits but we've learnt to go to the other side of the road which seems a wee bit posher and less scrotes trying to sell you someat. Tried to get in to a nominated hot pot restaurant here but the waiting list was too long, would've been 2012 by time started eating! Went to another restaurant which was good and packed full of locals and then headed down to Victoria Harbour with some little friends.. Bottle of Limoncello (cheers Chew) and a bottle of Baijao (Chinese rocket fuel) got us into the spirit of things. Found a half decent spot to say people had been sitting there for ages claiming their spot lol. Had to laugh at a couple infront of us (think they were European) that said b***** all to each other and to anyone else also all night, cheer up yee miserable gits its only new years eve!? Was great to see in the New Year with my precious butterfly and thoroughly enjoyed the firework display and big city atmosphere throughout the day and night.

New Years day headed to Launtau Island, we were on the tube and thought all these families were going to Disneyland HK.. but noooo! Everyone was heading for the same place as us ffs.. Ngog Ping and the Giant Buddha. Had to wait hours to get on the blooming cable car but it was well worth it with awesome scenic views of the sea and Lantau Island below and Hong Kong airport, cool as watching planes take off nearby! The Giant Buddha was mesmerizing and in a stunning hilltop location, loved it! The next day headed to Stanley at the southern tip of Hong Kong Island and we started off just waltzing around the market and promenade but the weather was real warm so headed to the rocks and then the beach, we both got sunburnt and looked like right bozos with white bits where our sunglasses were!! Got the bus back to Kowloon which was good seeing different areas of HK and passing through Aberdeen (the Chinese version!). The weather the next day wasn't so warm so we went to Causeway Bay and walked our way back over to Central from Victoria Park via the World Trade Centre shopping mall which took a couple of hours but we stopped at some of the main sights along the way. Headed to the harbour for the light show at 8pm which was decent, what impressed me more were the horizontal neon lights on the skyscrapers that reminded me of something out of a Tron movie, proper futuristic!

Thursday started off as per usual, nipped down to the local bakers for some mange which consisted of something savoury (usually ham & cheese breadroll) and something sweet also :p When nipping out also checked the weather as that affects the plans for the day. Unfortunately today was raining (but nowhere near the wind & rain currently experiencing back in Blighty!!) so thought plan something indoors. We went to one of the local malls, The One, had a bit of a shop around then went to watch the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which was good but not as good as the more captivating Swedish original. In the evening reunited with my Beijing buddies and went for a mostly seafood meal in Jordan. We then walked through Kowloon Park to the Ocean Palace car park which had great scenic views of Hong Kong Island, far better and lesser known than the more touristy Avenue of Stars area, its great to have insider knowledge. After all that walking made more room for dessert.. went to a great restaurant nominated for its traditional Chinese dessert, Tofu. This one was sweet and far better than its smellier Beijing equivalent! We ended the evening down Temple Street night market where I impressed everyone with my haggling skills in purchasing some souvenirs.

Friday we finally made it up to Victoria Peak with some stunning scenic (and hazy) views of Hong Kong. Prior to that we went up the Central Plaza building where we got a high rise view of the harbour for free (cheers Rex!). Can't believe its took us over a week to flaming find a local place that does cheap octopus kebabs, wtf!? Less than a squid to boot, bargain!! Saturday headed over to Macao fer the day, was great stepping outside the ferry terminal having the F1 Grand Prix stand infront of us, the bus downtown took part of the racetrack route but unfortunately not in a F1 car! Initially thought Macao was gonna be meh but it was full of charm & character however it was weird also.. being a former Portughese colony it really did feel like being back in Europe except everywhere was full of Chinese people and a few tourists. Tucked into the local tucker including Portughese Egg Tarts (reminded me of Italian ricotta dessert) and Jerky (Jerky central here) whilst walking the streets and squares. The ferry back to Kowloon was so chop suey that when took a leek at the ferry terminal felt like was still swaying from side to side, strange sensation when stood still!

Sunday headed to another one of the Islands, Lamma, as the weather had picked up again. We arrived at the port on the north of the Island and trekked our way to the bottom of the Island which took the best part of an hour. The walk was well worth the effort though as Lo So Shing beach was remote, secluded and there was just us on the beach.. paradise! Final full day was spent on the largest island here, Lantau, on the east side this time at Silvermine Bay Beach. Once again pretty much had the beach to ourselves, well lush! Got the ferry back to Central then across to Tsim Tsa Shui and watched the sunset/dusk from the elevated platform which was a perfect end to the last couple of weeks here in Hong Kong.

Its the longest been in one location thus far but didn't feel that long at all.. far from it. Hong Kong is an amazing city, had an absolutely amazing time here.. Ear popping lifts, eye popping vistas, amplitude of food enough to make yer belly button pop, octopus kebabs, octopus cards, stunning skyline.. what a brilliant city!

Will be strange and very sad saying goodbye to my beautiful butterfly tomorrow and whilst she's heading home to Manchester I'm flying west also but only as far as Bangkok!! Lookingforward to finally flying on the Superjumbo! :D