Hong Kong: Saturday 8th - Wednesday 12th November

Boy, it's hard to keep up with the news.

Anyhow, here's the rest of our Hong Kong trip:

Saturday: spent the afternoon at Ocean Park. James, the kids, Sibylla and I went first and arranged to meet Winifred and Penny. Michael was our taxi driver but had to work. We went on the cable cars (which are like the gondolas in Queenstown), and then the Raging River ride, which was soooo fun (but very wet), then James and Oskar went on the Mine Train (which cured Oskar of any desire for riding on rollercoasters). We met up with Winifred, Penny and a picnic after that, near the Dragon rollercoaster, which James went on, and he went on the Abyss as well. Then we went through the Aquarium (which was awesome but frighteningly crowded), then a quick detour back through the Raging River, and took a taxi back round the hill to the main entrance and went to see the pandas. They were pretty cool, but didn't do much. Watched a bit of an evening acrobatics show and tried a few arcade games, then home via the Aberdeen Boat Club for a swim.





































































reading by the pool


Sunday: bus trip to Stanley (along windy roads in double decker bus - who needs fairground rides!!), had picnic lunch by the sea and then browsed through Stanley Markets. Loads of cool stuff. Bought a chess set and chops (? stamps and wax) for each of us with our names and translation of the Chinese characters. Also some clothes. Popped in to the Aberdeen Boat Club again for a swim (we bought a couple of excellent water guns at the market, which got a good workout).
















Monday: Disneyland! We headed off early (everyone except Michael again, as he had to go to work) and got there around 11am. We spent the rest of the morning in Tomorrowland, on the Oribtron, Space Mountain (though the kids didn't want to go on that one - just James, Winifred, Sibylla and me), Autopia, the kids got wet in the UFO Zone, then a couple of goes through the Buzz Lightyear laser blaster ride. We also went to the Golden Mickey show. Off to Fantasyland - tea cups (not me!), It's a Small World (that song!), back on the tea cups. The others went off to watch the parade, kids and I queued up for the Dumbo ride. Caught a bit of the parade. Got some food in Adventureland then met up with the others. Penny, Sibylla and Winifred went to the Lion King show, James got some food and kids got wet again in the Liki Tikis. Met James and took the raft to the Treehouse, where we met the others, then took the River Cruise, which was hilarious. The grown ups were ready for a cuppa so took the train to the Main Street bakery while we headed to Tomorrowland again for a last ride on the Orbitron and a run around in the UFO Zone. Got the kids a couple of huge balloons. Then we met the others on Main Street, got the kids something to eat and watched the fireworks display over the Fantasyland castle. Magical.













































































































































Tuesday: spent most of the day packing. How I hate packing! Did go down to the Boat club for a last swim.

Magical hospitality: got to say a huge THANK YOU to Penny, Michael and Sibylla for looking after us so well, showing us the sights of Hong Kong, feeding us wonderful meals and picnics, and letting us take over their beautiful home. And of course, Izzy the dog who the kids loved to pat. We had a brilliant time.

Wednesday: Up at 5am, but the time spent Tuesday getting ready paid off, and we had a hassle-free journey to the airport. Thanks again to Michael and James for taking us to the train station, and to everyone for getting up at such an early hour to say goodbye.