Friends of ours had moved out here and it would be interesting to get an insiders perspective of life in HK. We were also meeting Amanda on her school holidays. Who but a teacher could keep us in line! And besides, Amanda was shell-shocked from a long flight and a long school term. A little R&R was just what she needed. And HK is the place to provide!

John and Carol and little Poppy are living the high life. Rural Northern Ireland was not all that it was cracked up to be, so why not Hong Kong? Why not, indeed?! With a home overlooking the harbour and a string of shopping malls down below, and the Club just down the road - in fact, the Club was the whole pier we could see from their window - we could see how happy they were.

John and Carol are particularly generous and very hospitable people who gave freely of their time and allowed us travellers free run of their club! We were truly slumming it! The Pacific Club is fantastic. Ing watched the first episode of the light show from her spot in the jacuzzi (the "bacuzzi" as Poppy calls it) while Amanda and I played with adorable Poppy!

With 2 year old Poppy, it was just easier to go where it was easy for the family; and especially very heavily pregnant Carol. Needless to say, the indoor swimming pool was a pleasure to be in. Completely different after swimming in the Nile! The banks of the Nile are nothing like the banks of Hong Kong Bay! The changing rooms were like an expanded version of somebody's plush bathroom. The only difference was that it was bigger and the lockers came with fluffy white bathrobes and slippers. How could I not negotiate my way to the shower in these garments? In the sauna section, it was filled with middle aged oriental men. With the plush surroundings and the hushed whispering, it was all to easy to imagine that this was where the Chinese Triads dons were meeting!

Supper was in the casual resto. Having a peek in the other two made me think that there was little difference between the two except in clothing of the members eating there. Oh yes, it was members only! Since I had not brought my formal clothes with me (I cried when I couldn't, but there was just no space left in my bag! The sacrifices I make!), but was wearing only shorts, a T-shirt and slops when I went up to the resto. The maitre de's look of complete distaste at my attire could have withered a pomegranate! It was with complete pleasure that I could answer his merely raised eyebrow with "Mr Li's table, please." Bye bye eyebrow……!

But John and Carol treated the three of us like long lost members of the family and we were eternally grateful. We saw a very different side of HK living and how much they were loving it and how happy they were. Both of them are realists, so we got the whole picture; the good, the bad and the ugly. They are dead keen for us to move out there and enjoy the HK life. Well, if we are bribed with more food and drinks and places like the Pacific Club, then maybe. Just maybe!