Officials at the China / Hong Kong border seemed obsessed with disease. Posters everywhere warned of the dangers of sneezing and spitting and men in masks lurked round every corner ready to pounce on you with a thermometer if you showed the slightest sign of a temperature. We were slightly concerned having just got off an overnight train with no air conditioning and then having walked half a mile through the train terminal...we wiped our brows and tried to look cool and undiseased. It must have worked...no-one tried to shove a thermometer into any orifices!!!

We left our China group in Hong Kong with a farewell dinner and a few drinks. It was sad to say goodbye though over the next few days we did see many people again and hung out a fair bit with Carrie and Sharon!

Over the next 3 days we explored Hong Kong; the highlights were:

1) the famous Hong Kong lightshow - colour changing buildings and strobe lighting along the shoreline to music

2) the Bird Garden where old men take their caged birds to admire and discuss with friends and the goldfish markets where bags of brightly coloured fish hung everywhere

3) the 120 year old tram up to Victoria Peak to admire the Hong Kong skyline

4) the scenic cable car to the Ngong Ping Plateau to see the worlds largest seated bronze Buddha

5) dinner in 'the best restaurant in Hong Kong' (they claim) called The Gaylord (classic name!)

A low-light was probably our dorm room at the guest house in the Mirador Mansions. Changing rooms to share with Carrie and Sharon was a complete debacle with air conditioning not working, the owners trying to build more beds to fit more people in at 10pm, other residents lighting up cigarettes and boxing up what looked like dodgy electrical goods at all hours...all while we were trying to play a civilised game of Mah-jong over a beer or two!