I fully expected to be woken by my digestive tract complaining of the previous nights marine fauna assault but all was calm when the birds began their morning chorus. They were nearly drowned out by Sam snoring on the sofa so after a homely cup of PG Tips I headed out for a run in the muggy morning air.

My improvised route took me under the impressive grandstands of the stadium, ending up trackside and stopping partly to catch my breath but mostly to take in my incongruous situation, flanked by skyscrapers, backing onto steep wooded mountains all seemingly centred around the bright green oval of the track. It felt like being at the colosseum, surrounded by athletes, training from their ludus, in the grounds of the amphitheatre where they were engaged to entertain the adoring crowds.

I ran through the underpass to the centre of the track where most of Hong Kong were exercising their small fluffy pooches amongst the lakes and ornamental gardens. There were chows, pugs, Pekingese, yorkies and even a bichon frise with a pink visor! I did a lap of the track and then returned as a sweaty mess for a shower and to wake Sam up!

After much organisation we soon left the flat, heading for brunch, leaving the Spartan to finish his intense morning work out. Under slight time pressure we got hopelessly lost in the maze-like shopping mall before Leah, who was on-call, appeared to navigate us to a Starbucks. With brunch consumed we drove back to pick up Gregorius, who had finished his crazy workout, and we headed on to 3 fathoms bay.

Having negotiated the traffic, performed a sensational piece of parking and arriving only 15 minutes late we were collected from the inconspicuous slippery pontoon and boated out to one of the many rafts of the floating village which sat in the middle of the beautiful bay.

We were greeted by an entire family of floating locals, smiling broadly as we changed vessel, jumping into the very 'experienced' mastercraft which was going to take us wake boarding. Our instructor was called Benny and Leah was soon cruising the wake behind the boat, setting the bar pretty high with effortless jumps and cruisy turns. After 20 minutes or so I found myself desperately trying to remember how to get out of the water and much to Sam's glee my first 2 attempts to stand did not go well. Fortunately with some of Benny's top tips on board it all came back to me on attempt number 3 and I was soon cruising along, hopping the wake, in between numerous high speed sinus irrigations. The setting was superb in the remote bay but with the towers of Hong Kong in the background watching as Sam and Gregorious both streaked out behind the boat, despite Sam's hands still bearing the blisters from his last session. Benny was very pleased with everyone's progress, only looking despairing occasionally before Bob finally showed us all up by getting up easily on her first time out. Turning proved more of a mental challenge as she glided along to the right of the wake, unable to persuade the board to cross the wake, but for a first time out everybody was suitably impressed.

We returned to shore exhilarated but with our bodies suggesting that they would get their own back at a later date. We headed back to the racecourse and after a cup of tea Sam took us on a golf buggy tour of the stables which had Bob in raptures as we whizzed past 3 tier stables, huge walkers and the smart exercise pool. We walked on to see the track and through the winners enclosure, continuing on through to the parade ring, all under the mighty presence of the grandstand towering over us. We could only imagine what it would be like on race day, but we had tickets to Sunday's Champion's Mile Group 1 race so would get to see it first hand in a few days time.

We turned ourselves round and got ready to go out, heading for drinks at the 'TinTin Bar'! Sadly there was no connection to Herge's adventurer and the waitress certainly didn't recognise me, but they did serve an excellent vodka martini and we got so comfortable in the dark ambience that we ordered supper as well. Unfortunately there was live music but with the loud power ballads still ringing in our ears we returned home to rest after a very successful day, grateful to our very hospitable tourguide.