stop doing that - whatever it is!

Get up, check-out, get my backpack stowed away by the incredibly efficient hotel staff, and then return to the Jade Market. It's really muggy today, a change from the past few days where it has veered from warm to chilly enough for a hoodie.

Despite having been to the market once already, I still wasn't quite prepared for the tenacity of the middle-aged ladies who run most of the stalls - within minutes I find myself in possesion of three bracelets. I did manage to haggle a bit in the whirlwind, via calculator, as always, so i leave with a little bit of dignity.

I've got three hours to kill before I have to catch the bus to the airport, so I head to Kowloon park for an explore. It's a pretty place, a quite peaceful oasis just a step away from the madness of Nathan Road, with lots of pools and fountains. Today there's a woman instructing another in Tai Chi, an older lady using the arm-exercise equipment near the low-hedged maze, and as always groups of men clustered round checkers games. There's also small lake with flamingos and an aviary with cockatoos, parakeets and Chinese pigeons - the poshest-looking pigeons I've ever seen, with long luscious ruffs of feathers round their necks and a haughty look to go with it (if bird can look haughty, these ones did).

....One thing I have notied in the Hong Kong is the huge number of notices prohibiting things, and warning of prosecution for even the most minor infringements - you can be wandering along a peaceful avenue in a park when you are suddenly confronted with a large sign saying stop that - don't do that - you will be pun-ish-ed! It's kind of unnerving, though there seem to be hardly any police about here.

I jump the bus to airport in late afternoon for my flight to Auckland via Sydney. Only nine hours + three hours left. Easy-peasy.

written by  LizIsHere on January 28, 2010 from Hong Kong, Hong Kong
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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