December 20
Hong Kong
More gloom on the early morning TV but at least I had a long and good night’s sleep. If nothing else, I rested my hip which had been hurting a lot by the end of yesterday. The hotel wi fi was still useless so I went next door to the café and had tea, a mediocre sandwich and a good internet connection. This revealed no useful information.
I left the café, tried to take a photo and discovered that my memory card was still in my laptop from downloading images the night before. I had to return to my room, unpack everything and set out again. It was just as well that this happened when I was just round the corner. Had I been at the other end of the island, I would have been a trifle vexed.
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It was warm and clear, one of the nicest days I have seen in Hong Kong. I set off on foot in the direction of Central, taking photos of flowers etc as I went. At the foot of the HSBC building, where I intended to acquire some cash for my probably lengthy stay at the airport, is Chater Gardens. This has lots of plants and an excellent water feature. I took lots of photos of both in the hopes that at least one of them might be worth keeping.
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While I was sitting on a bench, a security guard lady walked by and pointed something like a supermarket bar code reader at a spot on the wall behind me.I can only assume that this is so her bosses know where she is and that she is walking around and not sitting in a café drinking tea. |
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HSBC is an amazing building, guarded by two lions, which have lots of friends and seem to have regular baths. They even have a lady who washed and polished their toe nails. The nice machine on the first floor gave me some money and I left a reasonably happy person. |
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On the other side of the small park is a special WinterFest display, a magnificent pyramid. As it is sponsored by Swarowski Glass, it is not surprising that there many mirror like panels. Quite what goes on inside the structure, I didn’t have the chance to find out as it didn’t appear to be open at this hour.
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A little more walking took me past the land reclamation which I have been observing for the past few years, which is now a deep trench, onto the ferry and thence across the harbour.
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On the other side is the Old Marine Police HQ, now a posh shopping area and decorated lavishly for Christmas.
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After playing there for a while, I took the train to Mong Kok, got lost several times (as usual) but managed to find a cheap new phone (I later discovered that they are almost giving them away in London) at the shop where I bought my last one.
The Ladies’ Market was only just opening so failed to provide a new jacket although buying anything large wouldn’t be a good idea under the current transport conditions. Temple Street was also closed so I returned to Ashley Rd in search of lunch.Outside the Hing Fat they were queuing onto the pavement but I found the Delicious Kitchen almost next door and had an acceptable pork and cabbage lunch there. |
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The ferry took me back to Wan Chai and the hotel for a rest and another dose of disaster from Heathrow. Wishing to obtain a better quality wi fi connection, I asked at reception.A very nice man appeared at my room and had a fiddle with my computer and thought he had improved things. Alas, he hadn’t so I was unable to achieve much. |
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Members of the older persons soccer team |
Wandering across the road to Southorn Playground I watched a very elderly group kicking a ball around. I think I would have been too young to participate! They were having a good time and it is a wonderful facility to find in the centre of a large city.
The Computer Centre provided some bits for my ear phones which I had been trying to find for ages. I looked at loads of other things but kept my wallet in my pocket.
The pub’s bar, The Canny Man, has a huge array of malts and supposedly free wi fi. I completely failed to make that work but did get an excellent signal from the main hotel wi fi, so paid some more money and used that. Still no news from Air NZ. Their web site has been completely unhelpful throughout. This complaint seems to be the standard one. Everyone knows that things are difficult out there but they want to be told something. (Ironically, the failure of the web site contrasted with the complete success of the people flying the planes who managed to succeed where almost everyone else had failed).
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After last night’s failures, I managed to get into the Sabah. It was very busy but not yet packed to overflowing. The food was good and the chef was performing his usual pyrotechnics with roti and coffee. There is a big plastic screen in front of him - presumably to protect the diners from flying comestibles - so photography would have been difficult even if I had had the courage.
Bed called so I completed my packing, set the alarm and hoped for the best.