Cutlets average (the picture is somewhat flattering) but they made a valiant attempt - to be honest I am still not sure whether I was eating breakfast, lunch or a midnight snack so just happy to be fed. Landed in Hong Kong and headed directly into the city. Soooooo humid - I truly believe I lost half of my total bodily fluids in a 30 minute walk and to make matters worse - the mood seemed somewhat frantic. I think our mistake was that we tried to fit too much into too small a time, hence not really giving time to all that HK has to offer. Saw the botanical gardens and some older government buildings as well as a couple of churches - you will see them in the pics. The Anglicans do churches so well, the Catholics should hang their heads in shame. Richest organisation in the world and they still insist on using 'Dodgy brothers designers' for their buildings. Of course Rome is exempt from this criticism:) we then headed across to the mainland on the ferry. Well this is where frantic started to escalate to whatever emotion is next on the panic scale. Wrong ferry, heading to god knows where and I could see John getting paler before my eyes. The plan had been to find a nice place to have a relaxing dinner but alas, we were trapped in street after street of designer stores with not a Dim Sum in site. People were 20 deep across the footpath, and I had not drunk any fluids to replace my dwindling bodily supplies. I was starting to struggle. Our pace quickened as we decided that the only course of action was to head to Kowloon station where we needed to go to get back to the airport. That's when the fun really began. We were far too far away to walk - although to be honest, we had no idea where we actually were and I apologise now to all my Chinese friends, but the people were so damned rude. John nearly had his nose removed on at least 6 occasions when he dared poke his head in a taxi window to try and get a ride to the station. Obviously the trip was deemed as not worth their while - but could they not read the signs on the top of their cars? Taxis drive people places don't they? Our pace quickened at each rejection and we started to think we could be stuck in wherever we were for the night. Just then, John tried one last time - and I couldn't be prouder. His head would not come out of that taxi window until he got the response he was after. There was fist shaking, lots of pointing, pleas for empathy and lots of talking into an imaginary microphone (the taxi driver that is) but finally John broke him down. He agreed to drive us to the station for $150 Hong Kong dollars. Now I am no expert on costs of travel in Hong Kong, but as the ferry ride only cost 35cents, I somehow feel this guy's price may have been slightly inflated:) important to know when travelling that sometimes there is no price one won't pay when desperate, and taxi driver Reg (I just made this up) could smell our fear. Well to cut a very long story short, dinner at the train station, one beer only (shared through a straw) as John was a little mean on the Hong Kong dollars he withdrew, then back to the airport for our midnight departure. Starting to flag at this stage - conversations became sillier and our ability to read signs and understand directions was completely shot. All we could think of was eye masks, ear plugs, the peace and quiet of premium economy and slumber. Sadly we only got 50% of what we wished for - yes you guessed it - a screaming child in the row behind. Again apologies to all my friends with young children, but surely a dosage of drugs to get the child and the fellow passengers through the next 12 hours is not an unreasonable request. Poor mum tried her best to cajole, shhhh, muffle and even subjected the 2 month old to the full season of Mike and Molly - and even that couldn't put her into a comatose state of slumber. Anyway, John took half a restavit and managed to sleep through most of the fun and games and I watched the full season of a Lisa Kudrow comedy, so that will give you an indication of how dire the evening was.
Next stop Rome. Xx