Hong Kong and China

Sorry it's taken me so long to write!! Very slack, but here's the update on Hong Kong and China.

I spent two weeks in Hong Kong and China with family - Me, Mum, Aunty Aileen, Aunty Betty, and my Grandparents Goong Goong and Por Por.

HONG KONG

We left NZ on Wednesday 4 April and flew to Hong Kong going via Sydney on Qantas. As per usual, I slept on the flight from Wellington to Sydney, not a long flight but as everyone knows, I sleep just about anywhere!! The flight Sydney to Hong Kong, I was quite proud of myself and managed to stay up to watch 2 movies - The Devil Wears Prada and Little Miss Sunshine, as well as napping of course :) ha

Arrived in Hong Kong Wednesday afternoon Hong Kong time and after making our way to our hotel in Kowloon, we were met by Edmund, a friend of Aunty Betty's who was our very own personal tour guide.

Thursday 5 April - was spent mostly looking around the shops, we were staying just off Nathan Road so managed to have a look at the shops around the Jordan Street Station area of Kowloon. You can't go far without passing a jewellery, watch or electronic store in Hong Kong so we had a look around, mostly window shopping. It's impossible to say that we saw all the shops because there are just so many of them but did our best. After going into a supermarket for a few things, I found Lays chippies!!! Very excited, sorry Dave I forgot to buy an extra packet to send home but Mum and I thorougly enjoyed the packet we bought - Salt in Vinegar mmm! (Richard G, you will be proud of me for looking around the supermarket but unfortunately I wasn't tempted to buy any cereal!)

Friday 6 April - we went out to Aberdeen for the day with some family. My great grandfather is buried in the cemetery in Aberdeen so we went out there to see his site and pay respects etc. Had our first yum cha in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Island, accompanied by Edmund and his family. And a big banquet dinner with family, this was the start of our ongoing eating all day every day!

Saturday 7 April - we spent the day with Edmund and his extended family. Edmund hired a mini bus and took us all out to a temple in the Northern Territories, we were provided with a vegetarian lunch but to make it interesting most of the food had been prepared to make it look like and taste like some meat dishes. Most of the food was cooked using tofu but looked and tasted like duck, chicken etc. Not something that I had experienced before but it was nice. After visiting the temple, we took a walk up to the water reservoir that services Hong Kong, nice for Edmund's family etc to see a bit of the countryside and greenery as they don't often get out of the city, but for us coming from NZ it wasn't anything that special as we are lucky enough to have that kind of landscape and fresh air on our back door step. Seeing local Hong Kong people enjoy the outdoors makes you realise how polluted Hong Kong city really is. I missed the clean fresh air of NZ and normal blue sunny skies.

Sunday 8 April - more shopping! We had a look around the Mongkok area of Kowloon. My big purchase of the day was a handbag ha ha! We had another yummy but big banquet dinner with friends of Aunty Aileen's - Chris, Alice and Aaron.

Monday 9 April - more shopping! This was a very productive shopping day for electronics, presents and personal purchases for everyone.

SHANGHAI TRIP

Tuesday 10 April - we flew to Shanghai on Hong Kong Express airlines arriving in Hangzhou as part of an organised tour group by Miramar Tours, Tour Leader = Jo An. Approx 1 hour, 40 minute flight from Hong Kong airport and a 2 hour bus ride. The evening was spent having dinner at our destination, a river cruise, a night tour of Shanghai and a quick look at the coffee district of the area. Hotel for the night was Chen Yuan Shanghai.

Wednesday 11 April - we went on a day tour of Shanghai, visited the Shanghai Baoshutang Pharmacy Co, went to a historial place of the Xue Family and went to a tea pot museum. Hotel for the night was Tai Hu Pearl International, Wuxi City.

Thursday 12 April - visited Kingdom City, this was like a movie set used for films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. You can imagine them doing fighting scenes etc, they put on a show while we were there using horses, acting out something like they would do for a movie scene. Also went to a Pearl Art Museum, visited a Hanshan Temple, and the Gusu Silk Factory where we learned about the silk production process which was cool. Hotel for the night was Chunshenhu Resort Hotel, Suzhou.

Friday 13 April - we visited a lotus garden, water village, tea factory and went on a boat cruise on the lake. That evening we went to a show called 'Night at Westlake' which was really good, it had a mixture of opera, dance, acrobatics and martial arts. This was our last night on our Shanghai trip and the hotel for the night was Sofitel Xanadu Resort, Hangzhou. Very nice accommodation to finish off the trip :)

HONG KONG

Saturday 14 April - we flew back to Hong Kong from Hangzhou. More shopping that evening and my proud purchase for the day was a pair of shoes. Shopping in Hong Kong is perfect for me as I could find shoes straight off the shelf in my size, it was such a novelty trying on shoes that fit perfectly! And this applied to clothes too, all the sizes in Hong Kong fit me well but unfortunately I found their style in clothing a little strange.

Sunday 15 April - another day of shopping. We had yum cha with Goong Goong's older sister who is doing well for herself as she is in her 90's.

MAINLAND CHINA TRIP TO VILLAGES

Monday 16 April - we headed back to China to look at the village areas that Goong Goong and Por Por grew up in. Headed to Guangzhou, train to the border and approx 2 hour bus ride out to Taishan. We arrived in the evening so spent the night at the Taishan Overseas Chinese Hotel. Dinner, accommodation and breakfast in Taishan was very cheap!

Tuesday 17 April - we hired a van and our very own driver who took us further out of the city to find the village that Por Por grew up in. This was like one of those discovery stories you watch on tv ... driving along the streets of Taishan we stopped some people to ask for directions, it just so happens that one of the woman we talk to recognises my Por Por from previous photos and can name her in person! This led us to find the house that Por Por grew up and we got to meet extended family and see the house and area in which Por Por grew up in until she was the age of 18 and left for NZ. After visiting Taishan we headed to Xinhui which is the area that my Goong Goong is from, we got to see the house that Goong Goong lived in but unfortunately with no family living there anymore the site is ready for demolition and we couldn't look inside as it was all boarded up. On our return back to Hong Kong we went via Macau, had a look around Macau and back to Hong Kong.

Wednesday 18 April - we got a chance to see the central CBD area of Hong Kong and more shopping!

A few observations from our time in Hong Kong - very polluted, i missed seeing clear skies, high rise buildings everywhere, they have bamboo scaffolding which looks scary but they obviously trust it otherwise they wouldn't use it? They have stands all over the place selling juices, their carrots are massive so when you look at my photos I just wanted to express how big they were! There are little bakeries everywhere selling yummy pastries, buns etc. BBQ pork buns, pineapple buns mmm! Lots of little shops that sell dried fruits, meats, soup ingredients, places that have their meat hanging up on the side of the road etc. Because just about everyone lives in apartment buildings, there are lots of people that hang their washing up out their windows, sticking out from the side of the building, not something that I would want to do with the amount of pollution around, it's not exactly like they are getting a good airing ... hmm, just something they do I guess.

A few observations from our time in China - landscape is very different than Hong Kong. No high rise buidlings but in Shanghai there are bicycles, scooters and motorbikes everywhere. With cars driving on the right hand side of the road we had to be careful crossing the street remembering to look both ways!

Thursday 19 April - last day in Hong Kong for myself, Mum, Aunty Aileen and Aunty Betty and probably the most successful shopping day for everyone :) Goong Goong and Por Por stayed on for a little longer. Mum, Aunty Aileen, Aunty Betty and I all headed to the airport, I was stressing a little that my luggage was going to be very overweight but luckily it didn't turn out to be a big issue. My suitcase weighted in at 25kg, that's half of me! The others left 2 hours before I did which was a sad departure, with me heading to London and them returning home.

Kat kindly uploaded all my photos of Hong Kong and China and you can view them at http://picasaweb.google.com/njshew/NikkiChungFamilyHongKongChinaTrip?authkey=gLmWaixvN1A