Relatively good night’s kip for both of us, given all the coughing and spluttering that has been going on with both of us recently….

Sorry to report grey skies and low, thick cloud again. According to the locals, we Brits have brought this crap weather with us!

Breakfast was the same as yesterday – bloody busy. The hotel seems to be pretty full – people coming and going the whole time.

We had nothing scheduled until our evening excursion, so we took, literally, a walk in the park. Hong Kong Park, right opposite the hotel. I think we were both expecting just a relatively small area of green space, but it was quite a bit more comprehensive. An artificial lake, a conservatory, fountains, fish, terrapins – what more could one want? Like everywhere in Hong Kong, it was thronged with people, even on Christmas Day. And they all take posed pictures of themselves and each other, just like mainland Chinese. Talking loudly on their phones, just like mainland Chinese.

Even the terrapins were piled on top of one another, as most organisms seem to be in Hong Kong.

After an agreeable session of people watching in this park, we went back to the hotel, via the Peak Tram Station, just ‘cos I was curious.

The Brits historically like queuing, but they can’t hold a candle to Hong Kong residents (HongKongans?) Blimey! Apparently it was an hour and a half wait just to get up to Victoria Peak! And there they were, queueing patiently.  Curious I may have been, but not THAT curious…..

The starting point for our evening tour was the Excelsior Hotel in the Causeway Bay area of Hong Kong Island. So – we daringly caught a cab (with some help from the multitude of flunkeys on the doors at the hotel, it must be said). 10 minutes later, and the equivalent of £4 lighter, including tip, we were there. Remarkably inexpensive and very efficient.

We were eventually accosted by a tiny lady called Terri, who ushered us and around three other people who had also been waiting in the lobby, to a minibus parked outside. We then went to the Kowloon Hotel on the mainland to collect some more punters. This took AGES. Finally, off we went to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, where we boarded a boat to take us for a harbour tour.

This actually proved to be more interesting and enjoyable than yesterday’s trip, mainly because it was longer and covered more ground (or water), but also because there was a free bar on board.

But people EVERYWHERE again….

The minibus picked us up after this trip and took us up to Victoria Peak for a) views b) food. The views were stunning:

The food, served at the “world famous” Bubba Gump restaurant, less stunning. Not bad, I suppose, given the mass catering that was going on. However, the group was beginning to interact and that made it good fun.

Back to the minibus, which then took us to a night market, an experience I had not been looking forward to, but Jean was. My fears were realised when we had to traipse through narrow alleys shared with crowds of people not only getting in my way but also looking at absolute mountains of tat. I have honestly never seen so much tat in my life. How can people enjoy this???

Thankfully (for me, anyway) we returned to the bus and got dropped off back at our hotel some 30 minutes later.

Despite the market episode, I actually enjoyed this trip. Terri made it entertaining and worked very hard to ensure we enjoyed ourselves. This on Christmas Day, too. I can honestly say we’ve never had a Christmas Day like it!

But SO many PEOPLE!!! Dear God!!