We spent the week before Easter in Hong Kong in an hotel with Rich going to work and the kids and I going sightseeing during the day. It was surprisingly cold but we still had a lot of fun.

We visited the Giant Buddha which has a 6km cable car ride which goes over the water from one island to the next in order to get there. Unfortunately on the day we went, it was rather misty and we couldn't see as much as we would have liked. But the Eaton boys in true fashion kept up a running commentary of how you could die at various parts of the cable car ride - it would be no good to have them as companions if you were scared of heights. It varied from how you would drown over water and how the water would get in through the air vents to how you would be smashed to smithereens on the rocks. Climbing up the last several hundred stairs to the Giant Buddha seemed tame by comparison. It was however rather eerie as the Buddha was covered by mist until it loomed large right over the top of you.

We got very good at public transport in HK - but it is so crowded that it is not easy with kids. We did enjoy a rather hairy bus ride around to Stanley past all the HK beaches. HK is in fact very hilly and the buses zoom around clinging to the cliff edge of the island as they go. Stanley has a nice market which is full of arts and craft rather than just clothes, bags and watches. We didn't buy anything but it was nice to look.

The Peak has a wonderful view of HK and we took the tram up. The tram is rather like the scenic railway at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, though not quite as steep. The buildings as you go past really look weird as they are on a severe angle to you. The view is lovely and we were lucky to have a good look before the weather closed in and it bucketed down with rain. We did see it at night and I think that it is when it is at its best. We had a lovely meal before taking the tram back down to the bottom.

We also visited Ocean Park on Easter Thursday - an ocean theme park with animals and rides and Easter Thursday was a brave day to choose as it seemed that most of HK was there with us. However we still had a good day. We had McDonalds lunch within the park and they had a great system where they took orders from people in the queue using a handheld electronic ordering device and gave you a number. You presented the number at the counter and it was bagged ready and you just paid - very efficient. We then ate our gourmet (!) lunch whilst watching the dolphin and seal show - great and very similar to Sea World on the Gold Coast. The one thing which was very different there was an ice skating show which wasn't actually on ice - they were using skates but on a thick plastic tile like arrangement - anyway it was very spectacular as it was a magic show on ice, with a bit of trapeze and a guy wrapped in ribbon spinning overthe audience thrown in for good measure. It was really terrific and all for the cost of admission. Ocean Park was really pretty good value. They also have a new exhibit of jellyfish - all lit up with different colours so they looked really pretty and heaps of different types of jellyfish. The reef section was so crowded - people were 5 deep from the windows, but once you were in you had to continue on the one way system before getting out.

The one thing we did enjoy in HK was visiting the bookshops and buying up bigtime on books - there is only 1 english bookshop in Macau and it is very small, so it was great to buy books especially for the kids.