We awoke to a miserable, wet, cold day. Time to say Kung Hei Fat Choi, Happy New Year of the Dragon! Today is New Year's Day and it is particularly special because Julie was born in a Dragon year herself so this is the year of her Chinese zodiac sign.

The weather had turned a few degrees chillier but we were determined not to cower indoors. We took a taxi to Central ferry pier where we planned to board the famous Star Ferry for the short journey across the harbour to Kowloon. We first paused to admire a display of interesting sculptures relating to wheels and transport which was undercover near the entrance. We were very glad that it was undercover as it was raining again!

We went upstairs so that we could board the upper deck of the ferry and purchased tokens from a machine. How things have changed since the old days when Julie was here before when we used to use real money! We put our tokens into the turnstyle and went through and the next ferry arrived shortly after. We had to be careful getting on board because the water was quite choppy which made the gangplank move backwards and forwards a lot. Julie was very brave and took a big stride to get on safely. She enjoyed the trip across the water and was pleased to be able to see all the other boats passing by and she admired the huge cruise liners lined up by the wharf.

Once on the Kowloon side we though we might have a walk along by the harbourside but no such luck. A huge New Year's Day Dragon Parade was planned for the evening and already the police were out in force putting up hundreds of barricades in anticipations of the hundreds of thousands of people expected to turn up later to enjoy the parade. It was almost impossible to walk near the harbour without encountering a barricade taking you in an entirely different direction. We soon gave up and went in search of lunch.

We all agreed that Pizza Hut sounded like a good option and luckily we didn't have to queue for a table as we were all feeling hungry. Julie ate a regular size cheese and ham pan pizza all by herself and Mum and Simon shared a large Super Supreme. They didn't feel at all guilty about that because it was a thin and crispy crust which, as everybody knows, hardly counts at all in terms of calories! Seriously though, that pizza was delicious!

We took the MTR back across (under) the water and walked across to Wanchai. Here followed one of the high points of Julie's trip. She had been very impressed by all the high profile car showrooms there are in Hong Kong and had been wanting to walk past and take some photos. This was her chance. All in a row we walked past the windows of Lexus, Alfa Romeo, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Porsche, Maserati, BMW, Lotus, Volvo and so many more. Julie was thrilled. We were all getting very cold by now though and were glad to get back home in the warm where Julie settled down to watch Pride and Prtejudice ... how many times is that now?? We've lost count!

Later in the evening Julie was feeling peckish again so we all walked down into Happy Valley and Julie treated us all to a McDonald's meal for supper. What a good way to start theYear of the Dragon. May not be quite the healthiest though!