Back from Hong Kong

Yes, we're back (have been for a week now) and only just got my blogging act together after spending ages trawling through hundreds of photos trying to decide which few to choose so I don't bore you all! Also, have had major problems loading these photos on - not sure if it's my laptop or blogger that is playing up. We had the most amazing time and saw so much that I am quite sure we would not have encountered if we hadn't had the two most incredible tour guides with us, aka my lovely sister and brother in law. Lots of aching leg muscles from walking everywhere and lots of eating and drinking too so hopefully everything evened out nicely (my clothes still fit, in other words).

Our first full day in Hong Kong was spent wandering around the park in the middle of the city. So beautiful and a refreshing change from all the buildings crammed in together. It was quite apparent that the locals love plants and flowers as there were so many pots and tubs dotted around in the least expected places.

At the park we saw these gorgeous turtles/terrapins, we even saw one which was about the size of a 50 pence piece. You can tell I was missing my tortoises already as we spent quite some time looking at these little fellas.

On the first day we also had a bit of a mishap. F is lacking in suitable summer shoes so we only took her trainers and crocs and said that we would find a shop to buy her some sandals. We were on an escalator in the underground when all of a sudden the escalator stopped. It turned out that F's croc got sucked into the side of the step and that's what caused it. We all had a go at trying to pull the croc out and this is what it looked like. There was not a mark on F's foot and she was completely unfazed by this episode but I suddenly remembered a horror story on the radio from a few months ago where a child who was wearing wellies had to have their lower leg amputated because of something like this happening. It turned me cold just thinking about it. We quickly popped into a local shoe shop and bought some sturdy walking sandals and from then on, F was very careful on the escalators. It was only after all this happened that I noticed that some of the escalators had green footprints painted onto the steps to show where to put your feet and they also had pictures of sandals and flipflops warning people to be careful wearing rubber soled shoes. So relieved she was unharmed. Please make sure your kids are standing sensibly on the escalator with feet well away from the sides when they are wearing these kinds of shoes.
 

We got a great view of the city from The Peak, even if it was a bit foggy. There was a mist/fog over the city for most of the days we were out there but we did get some gorgeous sunshine aswell as a spectacular thunderstorm too.
 

I was not expecting Hong Kong to be so hilly, I just assumed it would be flat. Hence the aching leg muscles!

Another day we went to the Goldfish market (yes you read that right), the Bird market and the Flower market. Hong Kongers sure do love their pets, especially dogs. We sat eating some lunch in Stanley and watched for near enough an hour as a lady posed with her dog whilst her boyfriend took photos - by the end they had a crowd of people watching and also wanting to pose for photos with the dog. It was a lovely golden retriever but still, really?!
 

One of my favourite days there was a trip to Jumbo Top Deck, a floating buffet style restaurant. We basically grazed on food for over four hours whilst we had our glasses topped up again and again with bubbly. There was so much yummy food to choose from and F was very pleased to see sushi and baked beans, both of which she indulged in! E enjoyed what was on offer on the dessert table, especially when I said she could have whatever she wanted.

On our last day, we visited the aviary in the park and saw some incredible birds, which I have no decent photos of. But here is a Birds Nest Fern growing in the aviary, and now I know why it is called that. It was huge and so healthy looking, unlike any of the Birds Nest Ferns I have ever looked after. It was kind of bizarre seeing all these house plants that you can buy in M&S growing in the ground outside.

More photos soon, don't worry I have restricted them to just a few, and may have to restrict them even further if I have any more problems loading them on!  Hope you all had lovely Easter holidays too. x