Day 2 28th August 2009

Leaving the hotel this morning from the air conditioned lobby was like walking into a blast furnace – its been 35* and humid as h*ll here today. This morning we jumped on the famous HK Star Ferry for a tour around the harbour, taking in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island and the passing junks – not a bad place to bring a yacht for a looksee – only problem is the extortionate mooring fees at the HK Yacht Club!
This afternoon we went up to Victoria Peak for a view over HK harbour and the surrounding mountains followed by a visit to Aberdeen and the floating village and fishing community. We went on a sampan trip around the floating village – as you can see from the photo our sampan was driven by Fu Manchu – scary guy – with an even scarier accent. On our way up to Victoria Peak we passed Happy Valley racecourse – which is even bigger than I imagined – unfortunately (?) the horses are on their holidays so no racing. We ended the afternoon at Stanley Market where Nigel & Robb treated themselves to silk dressing gowns – as of yet I, can you believe it have resisted the urge to purchase anything (maybe it’s the heat?). The boys have also been eyeing up a new camera – so we have done the camera stores tonight. Even at 11pm at night the streets are still crowded with shoppers, the restaurants are soooo busy – it’s a bit like the deli counter at Waitrose – take a ticket and return in half an hour – which by then you’ve found somewhere better to eat!

We finished the evening by eating in all places a Japanese Restaurant (only place with a 15 minute wait folks!). The Chinese do like to make noise when they eat – I can only liken it to a Bernard Mathews turkey hut the week before Christmas and someone has told the inmates they’re in for a real treat! We sailed past the big floating Jumbo Restaurant today – it looks great in the tourist pictures but after seeing the back I think we made the best choice of eating over in Kowloon. Tomorrow night we have got a cruise out to Lama Island’s Seafood restaurant – it’ll take us an hour to get there – hope its not too rough on the way back – not usually sea sick – but a dodgy Chinese might just tip the scales!