Kel: Hello again! Sorry we've been away from the blog for so long. Things have been busy, but we've so much to catch up on.

So, although it was a sad goodbye to Thailand we were really excited about moving on to new countries and cultures. Our first stop was in Hong Kong for a couple of days where we got the chance to catch up with my friend Frith (from innocent days), her hubbie Andy and their gorgeous wee boy Fergus.... and a big modern city again.

It was so lovely to spend time with Frith and Fergus. She's doing really really well adapting to HK life and motherhood and Fergus is a total booty grooving charmer. A big dancer, a big smiler and up for lots of play. I think Matthew found a friend for life.

We had a full day in HK and totally went for it. We were staying on Lantau Island so we had a beautiful ferry crossing over to the main Hong Kong Island in the morning. I'd never thought I'd say this about landscape with skyscrapers but it's a really stunning place. Very mountainous, lots of islands and massive skyscrapers on the tiny amounts of land in valleys. Even though it's a thriving place the landscape does add a certain amount of zen calm. Lots of sunshine and dry 20 degree heat helps too.

So we wandered around Hong Kong, had dim sum and green tea for lunch in a local cafe, saw loads of really weird, wonderful and awful things for sale (including a bucket full of dried sea horses - couldn't believe my eyes - and bird's nest soup) We travelled with commuters on flat escalators across town, we crossed over to the main land and wandered around the flower, goldfish and general markets there, then headed back to Hong Kong island for some HK noodle soup (maintaining our Thai addiction but HK style) and had ... wine!!! So so so nice. Missed it so much for 3 1/2 months! This is a place for ex pat money though. It's designer designer designer. We even saw a tiffany branded bus stop on the way home ... nuts.

The next day we headed up on a cable car to get fantastic views of Lantau Island and beyond and made it to the top of Ngong Ping to see the worlds largest outdoor buddha which was pretty amazing too. Then after a last dinner with Frith it was off to the land of Oz.

MATT: So Hong Kong is exceptionally cool and as Kel has already said it was really nice to see Frith, Andy and little Fergus...what a wee charmer.It was also really cool to stay with friends in their home after such a long time staying in Hotels and all the other temporary places we have been for the last few months...home comforts have become a bit of a stranger to us by now.

Hong Kong is an amazing city - modern, luxurious and hectic.It is a shame we had so short a time to enjoy it...but we certainly tried our best to see as much of it as possible in the time we had. The city at night is alive - all the buildings lit up and the shops, bars and restaurants coloured with neon.

We really enjoyed being back in the western world (even though we are in the east and it is so expensive to what we have become used to as backpacker bums) and can see why the expat community love it here...