Day four: tempt not a desperate man

And let us tell you, William Shakespeare was bang on the money with that one!
Some say the true test of a person is how well they do in the face of temptation. That being said, this means that one of us is a little stronger than the other...
Today we went to Macau – I’m sure you’re all anxiously awaiting to see whether or not we doubled our travel fund, and I’m sad to say that this is not the case. While Brad faced an absolute beating on the Blackjack table, rather than sensibly call it a day, he instead tried to gamble his way out of his losses. He insisted that this is exactly what Les would do in the same situation (much to my disagreement), which therefore justified his actions. Needless to say, we’re on the bones of our arse for the rest of our time in Hong Kong! Thankfully though we can probably skip dinner...
My highlight of the day (other than watching Brad blow money like it was going out of fashion) was lunch. For just over NZ$20 we feasted on anything and everything you could imagine. I paid particular attention to the dessert buffet, which was so diverse it was actually stressful. Trying to decide what sauce to put on my rocky road ice-cream sundae just about killed me (melted chocolate and blueberry if you’re interested). Brad feasted on even more prawns and about 10 different types of roast meat! Honestly those that don’t believe in God need to come to Macau and see the amount of delicious food. I counted 10 different types of lettuce for goodness sake!
Macau is a crazy place – like Hong Kong, Macau is governed by two countries and was colonised by Portugal, but exists as part of China. It feels quite South American, crossed with Vegas and China, with a total of 32 casinos – each one more extravagant than the last. After getting off the ferry, we were accosted by girls in cabaret outfits insisting we go to their casinos. In the end we chose Sands Casino, as they had a free shuttle bus and it was relatively close to the ferry terminal. As the bus pulled into an extravagant gold coloured building, we knew we were in the right or wrong place (depending on who’s view you’re looking at!).
I fluttered away HK$20, which is equivalent to NZ$4, then promptly gave up. Casinos just aren’t my thing and just watching Chinese business men gambling away thousands of dollars a hand made me feel ill – especially when you consider how much poverty is probably in other parts of the country. All was not lost though, and I did walk away with HK$.10, roughly 2c!
Brad on the other hand loves a good game of Blackjack, and while he’s usually very sensible, unfortunately he must have left his common sense in New Zealand, as I had to leave the table and go and watch the dancing girls instead (can you believe they have a cabaret show!?). I wasn’t the only girl there though, so I imagine all the other girlfriends must have been in the same boat! But all was not lost as we did walk away with full bellies, good memories and a complimentary packet of cards (albeit an expensive pack!)
On the way back we stopped at my new favourite place in the world, H & M, which is a huge department store full of the coolest clothes for ridiculously cheap prices. It’s based in the UK so we’re going to have an absolute field day when we get over there! They have male stuff as well, so it’ll be a one-stop shop for everyone’s Christmas presents!
Tonight we’ll try and get an early one, with perhaps one last little stroll of Tsim Sha Tsui, as we’ll be up at 4am tomorrow to head to the airport. We’re catching the bus there as the subway isn’t open at that hour. It will be hard for us to go back to buses – subways are amazing and so quick. Goodness knows how we’ll cope when we’re back in NZ and have to drive. Without sounding like one of those unpatriotic ex-pats who whine about how small/ slow NZ is when they return, we really are lacking in terms of public transport. In fact, it’s quite embarrassing – goodness knows how we’ll cope during the World Cup!
So that’s it for the Hong Kong updates, when you next hear from us we’ll be in London-town, but before then we have a 14 hour plane ride to get through, as well as navigating our way to Shady and Emily’s on the underground!
If we can leave you with one message about Hong Kong, it’s that you have to come here, if you haven’t already. It’s amazing and definitely one of our favourite places.
Love to all and miss you very much!
Love a little-poorer Kylie and Brad!
xx

Day three: all systems go

Kia Ora!
Today was the bee’s knees!
It started out rather early, with me waking at 6.10am (you try sleeping in a hot windowless cupboard!) and we’ve just got in the door this very second (about 9.30am local time).
After deciding upon Ocean Park over Disneyland, as our theme-park of choice we decided there was no time like the present and head off early. We definitely made the right decision and if you’re ever in Hong Kong you absolutely have to go there. The term theme park doesn’t even do it justice – the fact that it has a gondola system, extensive escalators and an underground train to get you from one side of the park to the other says it all. It was GREAT fun and so scenic and beautiful. The park sits on a mountain cliff with attractions based on either side and a gondola taking patrons from one side to the other. The gondola looks out over the ocean and neighbouring islands (including China), and it’s just how you’d imagine it – misty horizon, green mountains – teno choice! All the words and pictures in the world could never do it justice, so the only option is for you all to go there
If you want a good laugh, follow Brad around an Asian theme park. His poor knees are certainly feeling it as he stuffed himself into seats for the endless amount of rides. Thankfully he managed to get a break from time to time as we walked around countless wildlife exhibits, including pandas, dolphins, jellyfish, huge fish etc. The park is HUGE and our legs are certainly feeling it now as we traipsed all over the show.
After Ocean Park we decided to make the most of the evening and go on a two-hour harbour cruise of Victoria Harbour (between Kowloon and Hong Kong island which are the two main centres of Hong Kong), which included the famous ‘symphony of lights show’. It was great and we learnt more than our fair share of Hong Kong facts, such as:
• It costs approximately one million dollars a night to light the city’s buildings
• Hong Kong was given back to China in 1997, under the condition that the country abided to laws set by England for the next fifty years
• It costs approximately $5000 a night to light a 45 story building (of which there are many!)
• Hong Kong is 1100km2, with 230 outlying islands
We could go on as you all know how ridiculously smart we are, but fortunately for you we’re also really modest!
The only down side of today? The food! As tends to be the pattern with us when travelling, we hold off getting food for as long as possible (then wonder why we feel fatigued). At Ocean Park we had our first food stop – a little snack hut where we decided to get some Japanese fish cakes and fries to share. I’m willing to bet our travel fund that those supposed ‘fish cakes’ are 100 per cent vegetarian – reech! Bright orange and in the shape of fish – not a good start!
To top it off we decided to try the local Maccas’ as I was feeling a little nostalgic. I literally threw up in my mouth after taking a bite of a grey chicken burger, and Brad’s burger literally soaked the bun through with oil. Not the same A-grade McDonald’s New Zealand standards we’re used to!
Tomorrow we’re off to Macau, the gambling capital of the world, to double our travel fund. Macau is part of China, so we’ll need to take our Passports. Then it’ll be an early night as we’re up in the middle of the night to catch the night bus to HK airport, before departing to London-town! Yikes!
Feels a little surreal as we keep remembering that this isn’t actually a fun holiday and we’re not coming home afterwards. Will be great fun, but still a little crazy at the same time.
Lots of love,
Us
xx

Day two: hot in Hong Kong

Hello beloveds,
Lots to report today, highlights include an old Asian woman grabbing my breast, quick spew in a department store and stuffing our faces with four different types of shrimp!
After a nice long sleep, I woke up with a really sore chest, which hurts every time I so much as move my head. At first I'd convinced myself that I had a blood clot and was about to have a heart attack, when Brad gently reminded me it was far more likely that I'd just pulled a muscle whilst lifting my pack! Together with Brad’s sore heel (which we later found out was due to a massive shard of glass being wedged in his shoe), we felt quite in the wars.
After my initial blood clot/ heart attack panic, we headed to the harbour for a good old gander. It’s so amazingly pretty – more skyscrapers than you could ever imagine.
We walked the famous ‘avenue of stars' and saw lots of Kung Fu superstars handprints (including Bruce Lee, where Brad posed for an inordinate amount of time pulling various kung fu positions, much to the amusement of many locals. When he started making ‘high-YA’ noises I decided it was time to move on).
As suggested, we decided to go on a harbour cruise tonight which shows the famous light-laser show, but we got tied up eating buckets of shrimp/ prawns, so that will have to wait tomorrow!
I started to feel really sick and faint, so we sat down and got something to eat. I couldn’t hold on though and had to have a wee spew in the toilets of a department store. It was full as anything which was quite embarrassing, but when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go! We decided to head back to our cupboard on account of me feeling a tad ill, but we got a bit lost. No drama though as we found our way back, but at this stage I wasn’t feeling a box of birds. When an old woman came up and grabbed my chest I could barely object! All I could do was push past – either that or throw up on her shoes! Weird and I still don’t know what she was doing. Perhaps she was a Chinese medicine witch doctor and knew I had a pulled muscle? Either that or she was like those service dogs who can sense when a heart attack is coming!
We had a wee snooze and woke up feeling like a new person, so we decided to head back to the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui (most densely populated area of the world and where our cupboard is located). We navigated our way through the subway system and took a tram ride up to the peak, which was AMAZING - 360 views of Hong Kong. The Peak is a tram which basically takes you to the highest point in Hong Kong (including the islands), and is located on Hong Kong island. We took heaps of photos so will upload and send them out tomorrow.
At the peak, we had a bite to eat at a place called Bubba Gump (could we resist Gems and Con?), which was obviously inspired by Forrest Gump as it was decked out top to toe in Forrest Gump memorabilia. I’ve only seen the movie once when I was little, and when Brad told me how Forrest donated 50 per cent of the profits from his shrimp boats to Bubba’s Mum I started crying. Call it jet lag, call it emo, either way it was a touching moment!
Brad had possibly a million shrimp/ prawns cooked four different ways with so many with different sauces, and I had a grilled mahi fish burger which was delish. I was saving up for the dessert though (couldn't decide between ice-cream sundae on a giant warm cookie, or 'that chocolate thing' which was a huge chocolate cake/ pudding served with ice-cream and sauce), but in the end I was too full! I'm gutted now as the dessert is world-famous!
Tonight (it's 8pm), we'll go for a stroll and explore. Nothing shuts until 12am so it's very much all systems go at night.
Hong Kong has really surprised us. Lots of tall people, and so good-looking! Everyone is so stylish and there are lots of Europeans living here. Did I mention the clothes stores? Each stop is more styley than the last. I'm not even going in to any as I've never seen so many cool clothes, and just don’t think I’d be able to wear anything I own ever again!
There’s a general feeling of safety here – much more relaxing than Bangkok. Although you’re still hassled for massages or a customer-made suit, people take no for an answer. Definitely not as cheap though, with prices being fairly similar to New Zealand.
Love to all and we miss you very much. Keep looking at the time and thinking about what you’re all doing at that moment, although we’re trying not to do this as it makes us a bit sad.
xxx

Day one: Hello Hong Kong

Kia Ora kids!
Update one is officially underway!
We have arrived safe in Hong Kong after a long and arduous plane ride. Despite what we originally thought after our trip to Thailand, long-haul isn’t a piece of cake, and when you can’t sleep given it’s broad daylight things can get pretty tedious quite quickly – particularly when Brad’s entertainment system conks out an hour into the journey!
Not to worry though as we made it safe and sound and are now ‘cosy’ at Yum Fai Guest House – cosy really being the key word here! We all know Brad and I are slightly longer limbed than the average folk, and as a result we can literally touch both sides of the room. We also have two teensy single beds, where we have to curl up like little sardines! Not to worry though as it’s a PERFECT location and we’ll hardly be here anyhow.
As I type this Brad has drifted off to sleep – no surprise really given its 4am NZ time and we had a rough night’s sleep the night before we left! As a result this first update will be a quick one.
It was sad saying goodbye to everyone, and I’ve already shed a few tears in Hong Kong (day one!), but am sure the slight feeling of melancholy will subside and the excitement will take over. Hong Kong is a very exciting city after all!
First impressions are that it is very hot, and you feel safer than you do in Bangkok. It seems very Vegas, and we’ve already been offered drugs twice (on a short two minute walk to buy water)! It’s such a melting pot with so many different faces!
Anyway had better sign off as I’ll never get to sleep. Love you all very much and thinking of all our loved ones back in Aotearoa – we miss you already.
xxx