A week off

We've just got back from 2 lovely days in Hong Kong....it was China National Day on Monday so there are 2 public holidays for that, and lots of people, including us, have the week off. To make up for the holiday we had to work a 7 day week last week - hmmm, yes, well, that was fantastic. Who ever heard of working extra days to make up for having a holiday!! Crazy talk!!

It was nice to get away on Monday and even better because Sonja, Neil and Abi were in HK for a night and we were able to catch up with them for dinner and even have some Aussie wine. Abi is gorgeous - almost 2, and saying lots of words. I hope the trip home went OK Sonja! There were fireworks on the harbour for National Day so we were able to watch them from Sonja and Neil's hotel....and Abi didn't let us forget what was going on, every now and then she'd say 'fireworks'!

We had a nice time in HK wandering the streets, checking out the shops (well, I enjoyed that, Andrew didn't!!), having a look around the night market and also a trip up to the Peak (by tram) to see the view of the harbour and the city - wow. Mmmm and the hotel room was luxury - even had a bath!! Walking along Nathan Road was quite an experience - every time you turned around there was another salesman saying "suit for you, copy watches, handbags"... We had another trip (2 actually!!) to our favourite Irish pub...yum. And we took a ferry trip across the harbour. I love HK - it's so easy to get around - the Metro is really clean and orderly, heaps of people speak English and there are English signs everywhere so it's easy to walk around the streets and find your way. In Dongguan we are still trying to get our bearings as everything looks the same - there are a few landmarks but apart from that there aren't many English signs and the streets just all blend into each other. We have had one Chinese lesson so we have started learning a few words. The lessons will start again next week, so it'll be good to start learning a few phrases.

We arrived 'home' last night to discover there was no water - not just in our apartment but the whole block - no running water at all. Not unusual apparently, so we stocked up on bottled water and hoped it wouldn't be too long....and the water is back today so that's good! For our last few days of freedom we'll probably explore the city a bit more and try to work out where a few more things are. Oh and I have to get a hair cut! Very scary - lucky I brought a hat with me so if it goes wrong I'll just have to wear my hat for a while! I'll let you know how that goes!!
Ruth

written by  arterra on October 3, 2007 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Adventure
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