Sandstorm

It’s so dusty when we first open the curtains this morning we can’t see the other side of the marina, not what we’d hoped for. The plans we had for today have to be changed, no point sightseeing in a sandstorm when you can only see 200meters away. To occupy the morning we walk to the marina mall, the air is thick with sand so we’re forced to cover our nose and mouths with tissues. By the time we get there our skin is carrying a film of dust. The meander around the mall is pleasant in such a spacious, marble clad and air-conditioned environment. By lunch time the sandstorm is just beginning to show signs of abating, we move on to the food court and purchase a kebab sandwich each. After this we can’t shop etc in the mall any longer, a dust walk back leaving us looking like something out of Lawrence of Arabia. By evening time the air has cleared, the rest of the marina has reappeared, a Lebanese restaurant has seduced us tonight and the food is certainly good, vine leaves and cheese to start followed by lamb koftas and chicken kebab with a salad. However, the service was more of the Basil Fawlty style so instead of lingering we leave quickly and head for the Yacht Club for a final drink.

Malls, Burj's and Fountains

After a much needed night’s sleep, it’s time to hit the beach, the hotel shuttle bus takes 15 minutes to get there not because of distance but due to road development works. The beach, like the rest of Dubai is broad and flat golden sand with a calm waveless sea, perfect for swimming. To one side of the beach there are some vast building works and on the other side the edge of the Jumeriah Palm can be seen with speed boats going in all directions out to sea and sea planes landing and taking off. The beach is busy, but not overcrowded and always with plenty to look at. We set off in plenty time to catch the shuttle bus back to The Pearl Marina Hotel as we haven’t really got our bearings yet and I really don’t want a long walk!

For the afternoon we’ve decided to go to The Dubai Mall so suitably cleaned up and dressed we set off to find the metro. The entrance to the metro – which runs high above the 7 lane motorway – is very futuristic and grand. It’s easy to buy tickets and find our way around, the ride to the Dubai Mall gives us a great view of the expanse of Dubai, it’s impressive. Now the walk to the Mall from the station is via air-conditioned walkways and goes on for miles with travellators covering much of the distance!!! Then there’s the Mall, shopping heaven for many vast, glitzy, impressive but that’s not really why we’ve come here. First stop the Aquarium and Under Water Zoo. The tank is visible from the shopping centre and at first we’re underwhelmed, yes the tunnel through the Aquarium is impressive with 18cm thick glass and Tiger Sand Sharks and Rays swimming round you but it can be seen from the outside. We’re directed up 2 escalators to the Zoo and this is amazing, lots of great displays (some a little small for big animals) and high level walkway. Now for the second and third stops, The Dubai Fountains and The Burj Khalifa, we’ve decided not to pay extortionate amounts to go up the Burj as it is not clear today and the amount we would see would be limited. There are huge crowds of people round the lake waiting for the lights and music display that happens each night every half hour, we are just in time. The display starts and is amazing all with the backdrop of the Burj complete with flashing lights. The Burj is so tall you almost have to lie down to take a full picture of it. The whole are is awe inspiring. A short meander through the Dubai Souk which in itself is amazing and then back to see another display of  lights and music, this time at night, wow!

The walk back to the metro takes 40minutes! And so to our evening meal at a local restaurant recommended by a local. The restaurant is a vegetarian Indian and the food is incredible,  salad & poppadum’s to start, garlic & vegetable rice with Kadai Paneer Punjabi, Channa Marsala and butter nan and to finish fresh fruit. We finish the day with a drink at the Nell Gwynne pub within the Marina Byblos Hotel, very bizarrely British except for the smoking inside. The attraction of course was a live band and true to form they do 3 numbers before taking a break, our timing has not improved during our travels!

Dubai First Impressions

Such an early morning start today to catch the flight to Dubai, the taxi ride takes us past the herd of cows sleeping near the main village, in the middle of the road of course and on to the airport. There’s mist around this morning and as soon as we take off Hong Kong disappears. The arrival into Dubai couldn’t be more different, a vast flat, sandy landscape with a dust haze stretching into the distance making everything hazy and somehow secretive. We’re met at the airport and start the journey to the hotel in a luxurious car. The driver does his best to point out the sights as we travel along but frankly we’re just amazed at the size of the roads, 7 lanes each way on the main motorway only going down to 1 lane just as we reach the hotel. There are cranes and building work everywhere, no sign now of a global crisis here.

The hotel is in a great position at one end of the marina so we can see both the marina and through the other buildings the sea, it is air-conditioned luxury. We set off to discover the marina area, it boasts 7Km of waterside walkways plus numerous shops and restaurants. To be honest at first everything looks to be either under construction or closed for renovation, an area in its infancy but as we walk we begin to find places that are open, they’re just hidden inside vast buildings accessed by a discrete door. We pass the yacht club and find the Dubai Marina Mall with all the glitzy shops. From here we discover Pier 7, a huge round tower like building overlooking the marina. Each floor is one restaurant some funky urban spaces, some very dark, another very modern, we decide to come back tonight to try one of these. A walk back to the hotel makes us realise we’re hungry now so a quick snack and a refreshing drink at Angelo’s sorts that out.

The restaurant we decide on is on the 4^th floor, a choice made mainly due to very loud thumping music coming from 3 of the others, it’s only as we go into “Scene” that we realise it’s Simon Rimmer’s restaurant. We join the small queue at the desk to ask for a table, there appears to be 2 young ladies and they’re both busy. “Can I help you?” says a male voice, it appears that Dubai has speaking reception desks! Not sure how to respond we look at each other, the voice repeats the question “Can I help you?” and a head appears round the side of the desk at about hip height. “Could we have a table for 2 please?” “Of course, this way”. What appeared to be someone on his knees turns out to be a dwarf, who leads us to a table talking as he goes. Now it’s very difficult to hear someone talking away from you, over loud music and 3 feet below you, do you crouch down and ask him to repeat all that or smile politely and hope this is the right response, being British we do the latter. The restaurant is a funky mix of distressed mis-matched furniture, low lighting and beano wallpaper! The view of the marina is amazing and the food is pretty good too, slow roast lamb, crispy leek, mushroom and  smoked cheese pancake followed by sticky toffee pudding to die for, yummie….

Richmond and Aberdeen

We have a slow leisurely start to the morning with breakfast on the gorgeous rooftop terrace before driving to HK across the bridges that join Lantau to HK. The drive takes us over the mountains of Lantau through the cloud and down the other side towards the airport. We meet a wild water buffalo on the way ambling its way up the road, they along with some cattle have been released in the National Park and are free to roam where they like. The drive across the bridges is amazing, past the huge container port with vast cranes and 1000’s of containers waiting to be moved. On past the high rise buildings of HK and looking out over the sea to Kowloon and on to the road to Richmond. We get a fleeting glimpse of Happy Valley where the horse racing happens – this is a national sport and there’s meetings every week. The road continues to climb past Ocean World where the rides are set high on the mountain cliff edge for maximum scream value and the sweeping down towards Richmond. We pass tall skyscraper blocks with huge empty spaces in the middle, for the dragon to fly down the mountain to the sea in the morning and back up to the mountain at night.

At Richmond Steph and Gary guide us through the shopping mall and down to the promenade by the sea, it’s a place for posing in cars and walking your dog, the Porsche and Morgan cars passing us reinforce this impression. The Pickled Pelican is the place for lunch and upstairs by the windows offers great views of the bay and surrounding mountains. Of course it has to be fish for lunch, fish and chips and a salmon salad. Afterwards the exploration continues to a small market area which opens out onto the area’s one remaining beach. It’s really quite small backed by beautiful old beach houses and with an Indian almond tree overhanging the beach framing the view of silver sand, sea and islands, only one word for this gorgeous.

Our day trip is only halfway through, we continue on to Aberdeen, an old harbour area that’s great to explore by boat. The sampan is expertly steered by the lady owner, weaving us in and out of the moored and moving boats. There’s houseboats laden with people’s lives, small fishing boats, large fishing boats for deeper sea fishing, new expensive gin palaces, traditional boat building on the banks, the problem is not what to see but where to look next. The tour ends all too soon, but there’s more to discover as we land at Jumbo’s Floating Restaurant in the middle of the harbour. It’s hard to put its impression into words, huge, colourful, ornate all apply but none are adequate, there’s 2 huge golden dragons at the main entrance chasing the golden pearl of wisdom the endlessly rotates in a stream of water just out of their reach, there’s the phoenix on either side of them and ornate carvings painted in every colour covering every spare inch of space. The boys go off to explore the Tai Pak restaurant that’s closed for renovations, though it looks like nothing will be happening too soon, while us girls investigate the live fish tanks and pictures of the rich and famous visiting the restaurant in the past.

The inside of Jumbo is just as opulent and impressive, the double sweeping staircase paved in marble, the ornate lighting and huge colourful Chinese wall friezes are amazing. And then when we reach the 3^rd floor the huge dining room opens out before us and once more luck is with us we have the last table by the window and settle down to enjoy a Cantonese banquet. It’s arranged differently to banquets Dave and I have had in the past, the most prestigious food being served first – crispy suckling pig, crispy duck skin and pancakes, followed by steamed prawns, prawn, celery and cashew nut followed at the very end by special fried rice to fill us up – as if we have any room left! It’s a meal to linger over and savour before taking the ferry back to Aberdeen central.

The drive back to Lantau is almost in silence, saying goodbye to so many places and sights we’ve seen, a little sad but I’m sure we’ll be back after all Gary and Steph have come up with so many more great ideas for days out and places to visit a further 2 weeks might not be enough! We really can’t thank our excellent hosts enough for their warm welcome, time and enthusiasm to help us discover the real Hong Kong, where East meets West and the rich and poor rub along together on different paths. Meeting and reconnecting with old friends is great, discovering new deeper friendships is equally great, thanks Gary, Steph and of course Wilson.

Hong Kong and Kowloon

Dave and Gary are going for a Thai massage this morning to prepare themselves for a day of sightseeing. While they are gone Steph and I have a leisurely breakfast on their rooftop terrace, from the top here it’s a beautiful and fascinating view. The house is in a pedestrian only village surrounded by a bowl of forest so it’s really quiet. The surrounding houses have higgledy piggledy rooflines, some with terraces on the roof, others with nothing, none of it is the sterile urban development we’re used to seeing in the west. Steph takes me on a stroll through the village and surrounding area, past small holdings growing all sorts of crops from bananas to salad leave, past the wet market which is just finishing and along the seaside front of the bay. It’s a lovely area to live in.

Brunch is taken at their local restaurant, China Bear which does excellent food and juices the choice is huge. And then there is the slow ferry ride to Hong Kong, this time we can sit outside and see the sights as we chug along on our journey. There’s the emerging islands with little sandy bays, the widening expanse of the bay as we go round the islands, all the different boat traffic – huge container ships, slow ferries, fast hover jet ferries, traditional junks – and the ever impressive skylines of Hong Kong and Kowloon. The extent of the high rise development is amazing and soon we’re walking through it along walkways at 1^st and 2^nd floor level. All along the walkways is cardboard city, today is Sunday and it’s the maids of HK only day off, they’ve come to the centre of the city to meet up with their friends. There’s hundreds of them, chatting, eating, sleeping as we make our way past.

Our first must do is “The Stairway to Heaven”. It’s a series of escalators that connects the rich city to the richer apartments at the top of HK, they go on for seemingly miles, as there is only one it goes down to the city in the morning then in the afternoon the direction changes to go up the hill. All the time we’re passing rich and poor shopping streets, looking down on the lives of ordinary folk.

Next must do is the tramway to Victoria Peak, the queue looks huge but our tour guides assure us it will move quickly and soon we’re at the front of the queue waiting for the next tram, when the doors open it’s like a giant game of musical chairs and we lose out and have to stand. Now this turns out to be a really good thing as the views are even more impressive and we appreciate the steepness of the climb even more. The Victoria Peak Park at the top is heaving with people but a short way into the circular walk around the peak and they’ve all disappeared. It’s a beautiful walk through semi tropical jungle with occasional view points of the surrounding city which changes as we walk round the Peak. At the end, back to the mayhem and time for some refreshment, The Peak Café is the oldest on the Peak and seated at a table beside a huge banyan tree with great vies of the city at night I can see why it is so popular. A bottle of prosecco and “Tapas” of smoked salmon on nan bread, prawns in filo and calamari, along with good conversation is a great way to end on Victoria Peak.

Now for the taxi ride down to Star Ferry, a twisting and turning ride before we catch the ferry to Kowloon. Gary and Steph have timed it well for us as we catch the light show from the ferry and the observation deck at Kowloon. Another tick in the box. On to Temple Street Market – a night market selling seemingly everything always at a good price. And finally the ferry back to Lantau and a drink back at China Bear where we started, this feels like deja vue, as we sit at the same table. Did all that just happen or did I dream it, if I did it was a great dream!!!

Night Time Hong Kong

There’s little to say about another trip to an airport except this one seems very crowded and over extended especially trying to get through security and passport control. On the air side of Brisbane airport there’s very little to it, so not much to do when the plane is delayed by an hour. The plane eventually arrives and we leave Australia behind and head for Hong Kong.

Gary and Steph meet us at the airport and warn us we’re on a very tight schedule tonight as they plan to take us to some music bars in Hong Kong. A short ride over the Island of Lantau to their village of Mui Wo, the Chinese drums are beating, it makes for a great welcome to Hong Kong. We now have half an hour to get ready and back down to the ferry, the next one is in an hour and a half! That’s enough incentive for us, shower, change and out in 25 minutes. The ferry ride to Hong Kong gives us enticing glimpses of the Hong Kong and Kowloon skyline at night, hopefully we’ll see more in daylight.

Our evening of music starts in Lan Kwai Fong at Gary and Steph’s local for a drink, Rula Bula. It’s a great spot on the corner of the street to watch everyone milling around, the procession of people parading around the strip. We’ve arrived on great weekend to be going out in Hong Kong as the rugby seven’s tournament is on, consequently the streets are full of men in fancy dress – officers uniforms, surgeons, police complete with plastic chickens and men obviously caught short so making do with hotel bath towels. On to the first venue, Insomnia, the band plays a few numbers before going to a break, this seems to happen to us so many times.

We move on to another area of the city by the MTR, it’s another efficient underground system. The second pub is Amazonian in Wan Chai, it looks almost traditionally English with honey coloured sand stone on the walls and mullioned windows. Its packed full of people enjoying the band’s music and jigging up and down, they can’t do much more because of the press of people and the fact that their feet are stuck to the floor! After all this beer it’s time to fine the toilets, now I’ve never experienced crowd control on the toilets before. There’s a suited and booted guy complete with bouncers mike standing in the doorway to both toilets directing when to go in and when to wait. I wonder what he shouts over the mike to his colleagues – pee incident, man needs help?

Our evening ends with a cab dash back to the ferry to catch the midnight ferry back to Lantau. It’s been a great introduction to life here in the islands of Hong Kong. I have the impression of a life ruled by ferry times and a huge contrast between the rural quiet of Lantau and the Hubbub of Hong Kong.

Last day in Oz

Botanical Gardens

Today is our last full day in Australia and we’re determined to make the most of it. A lazy start to the morning is perfect followed by a walk to the city and on to the Botanical Gardens. They are absolutely gorgeous, showcasing many of Australia’s plants and the setting is amazing with the city on one side and the Brisbane River on the other looking out to Kangaroo Point. The stroll demands a quiet rest on a bench overlooking the river watching both the river traffic and the wildlife. We continue over the bridge to Southbank and wander through the parkland to picnic green lawn where we’re lucky enough to find 2 empty deck chairs, well it would be rude to pass them by. An hour and several zzz’s later in this peaceful area our tummy’s are rumbling. The café street offers many possibilities for lunch but the Mexican offering a burger and a beer deal grabs Dave’s attention and I must admit the grilled chicken salad is good too.



Music at The Post Office Square

After reluctantly packing the bags, we set off for the city to Post Office Square. There’s live music on tonight courtesy of Rush Café, with tables and chairs spread over the grass the soft jazz covers by the band are very relaxing as the sun goes down. The walk back takes us through Queens Street Market, back over the river and through Southbank to West End. After many, many debates over where to eat and a few too many footsteps for my liking we settle on Habitat. Like the previous evening it has a relaxed vibe and the food is gorgeous, a sharing plate of pork loin with apple and caramelised onion plus salad followed by corn fed chicken, olive crusted potatoes and fennel salad. It was a fitting end to our Aussie dining experience, it’s all been presented with great pride and even greater passion for good food. We have a lot to learn from the Aussies in this department. And so to bed, tomorrow Hong Kong.