Sunday, April 17, 2011

Up, up and away

We got to the airport with heaps of time to spare so had some time in the lounge before departure. The layout of business class on Virgin Atlantic is in a series of little cells, arranged obliquely so the seat can fold to make a lie-flat bed. There is no possibility of looking out your window at the passing scenery so all a bit odd really. Ours was a daytime flight so the beds were a bit superfluous. I did try them though and found them very flat but also very hard.

plane

Into Hong Kong and onto the Cityflyer bus into town so we arrived at the hotel before midnight. The hotel, Butterfly on Prat, was decorated quite fashionably but nothing could disguise the fact that it was a tiny room and that the street outside became very lively with bars and clubs after midnight.

The morning, grey and a tad rainy, was for wandering,. We investigated the flower market with gorgeous blooms at a pittance.

Phalenopsis orchidsorchidsHK Flower stallflowermarketHK

eventually taking the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong and checking out some shops.

StarferryStar Ferry with Hong Kong in the background starferryb

As usual, Nick found the unusual to photograph

hotel

Later we explored the Ladies’ Market which had some exotic offerings, from clothes and fans to items to “dress” men. I was rather taken with the elephant.

Ladiesmarketa

fansHK

Men’s apparelpeterheater

We met with our friend from uni days, Joanna Leung, at the Kowloon Cricket Club for a wonderful meal of grilled lobster. Such a treat to still have those precious friendships from days of our youth.

The following day we were due to fly out at almost midnight so spent the day going to Lantau Island to visit the Buddhist Monastery and the Big Buddah. To get there we went via a very long cablecar route that took us from close to the airport, across bays and hills and to the top of the island. The arrival area was very touristy but the Buddah and monastery were serene.

chairlift

Chairlift

buddahb

We declined to scale the staircase

goddess

Plants surround a goddess

 

Buddah
Big Buddah

temple
Temple

CreatureHK

A creature guarding the temple

dragon

Dragon

pots at temple

At the end of the day a return to the airport, retrieval of my reading glasses that I had left on the plane (thank heavens lost and found actually worked) and off to check in. I love the curved ceiling line of Hong Kong airport.

terminalroof

Next stop Istanbul!

3 comments:

  1. the Buddha is incredible! Looks like you kids are off to a good start. Are these pictures with your new iphone? Please send me your number when you can!
    love Christine

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  2. That really is a big budda and I love hong kong airport. Hope your having a good time in Turkey and looking forward to the next blog. Also can you email me your contact number? I also realised we didnt have it. In case of emergencies and we need to contact you :)

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  3. Hi Lynn - have just caught up with your blog - it looks amazing already and I'm glad you're making excellent use of the picture tables. Oh, these images of Hong Kong take us right back into it.

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