Madame Tussuards

Our last day of holidays together :-(
We had a list as long as my arm of things we all wanted to get done before Jane, Grant and Amanda left Hong Kong including Madame Tussuards, views from The Peak, and lunch and shopping at Stanley.
Thanks for a great holiday, JAG!

Our week in China

Where to start??  Amanda, Jane, Grant and I had a few days in China - Guilin and Yangshuo - and it was fabulous!!

We left on Sunday and had a night in Guilin.  We had a little time on the Monday for exploring, then caught a bamboo boat down the Li River to a town called Yangshuo.  The amazing landscape there is different from anything I've seen and it was a beautiful place to spend a few days.

These photos are from our night in Guilin.  We found a restaurant that had a (huge) menu in English - with many unusual dishes on offer!  (can you read  'bamboo rice in fried frog'?)  The other menu was from the massage place in our hotel. None of us were game to have the kidney, ovary or bosum treatment!



There was a park called Elephant Hill Park near our hotel, so we spent a bit of time wandering the gardens there, before heading to Yangshuo.

On the way we stopped at the Tea Institute and had a tour of the tea plantations, and also had a lesson on formal tea ceremonies from the Tea Master.  It was really interesting.

These boats were fun!  It took us 2 hours to get down the river, sitting on little wicker seats with our luggage around us.  It was beautiful weather and very peaceful.  One of us (I won't say who, but it wasn't one of the girls) not only broke the wicker seat, but also sat on a small stool and it broke through the bottom of the boat!

Once in Yangshuo we saw the most amazing light show on the river, shopped till we dropped in the gorgeous old market streets (poor Grant never wants to see another handbag shop in his life...), we did a Chinese calligraphy course with a lovely lady called Lily, had massages, ate Chinese junk food, ate plenty of meals at our favourite restaurant (voted by us to have the best toilets in China), drank cocktails etc etc.

And we hired bikes and a tour guide, Moi, and did a 4 hour tour around the farming areas of Yangshuo.  It was a fantastic way to see China and we were so glad we did it.

I could add plenty more photos of our time in Yangshuo, but this post is far too long as is.

Aqua Luna

I went on my first junk last night - an old fashioned boat that sails around the harbour.  The 6 of us - me, Chris, Chris, Amanda, Jane and Grant - had booked it for the evening sail, in time for the light show.  I didn't get a good photo of the whole boat, but the sails showed up ok.

The light show is on every night and I've seen it plenty of times, and enjoy it every time.  It is where all the lights of the buildings along the harbour light up and "dance" in time to music.  But last night was the first time I had seen it from a boat, and it was really nice. 

The rain stopped and the weather was perfect (although a little windy in places as you can see!).  A unique Hong Kong experience.

Canberra friends!

I am feeling so lucky - I have 3 Canberra friends visiting me all at once!  Amanda arrived on Saturday, and it is really nice to have her here.  She has done some hard relaxing while Chris and I have been at work.  This photo is when we found a delicious new yoghurt shop after dinner.

Then Grant was next to arrive last night.  He is also working on his relaxing, and so far doing a good job.  He and Amanda went to the Hong Kong Museum of History today, something I've been meaning to do and never have.

And Jane has just arrived today, so we all met up at Rat Alley to have rat soup.  Just kidding, Mia and Joel!  We really don't eat rats when we go to Rat Alley.

Another couple of days of work, and then I will have a week of holidays to spend with my Canberra friends.  Can't wait!

Apple experience

They have just opened up a new Apple centre in the IFC shopping mall, and it is huge.  I went there last weekend just to look, and it was so packed I couldn't bear staying there very long.  Just long enough to take a photo of all the Steve Jobs memorials piled outside the store.

And then I decided to join the club - yes, the Apple club.  I went back the next day with Amanda and bought myself an ipad!  After feeling very behind the times with all these new fandangled machines, I have given in to the Apple generation.  I couldn't actually use it for a few days due to my internet not working, but I've just started playing with it and I think I'm going to have fun with it.

Tricky parking

Check out this tricky parking for our school buses.  I'm always amazed when I see them - how they fit 15 buses into our small playground.  They have it down to a fine art.

My internet has been down, so I'm behind in blogging.  More coming...