Day 7, Tuesday 20/3:

After spending the morning at home, Alan Descamps, one of the owners of our gite, took us to the  Fromelles museum. Here we met Monsieur Bailleul, who led us up two stories into the roof space of the town hall, where the museum is housed. He gave us an informative talk (with Philip translating) about the WWI events that took place in and around this town. It was very interesting and gave an excellent snapshot this period in history. 

It was through Monsieur Bsilluel’s research that two German mass graves, containing 250 English and Australian soldiers, were able to be located. In 2008, with assistance from the Australian Government, the bodies were exhumed, and through DNA testing, over half were identified. If all goes well, a new museum, funded by the Australian Government will be constructed and most of his collection will be moved there.

Day 6, Monday 19/3:

Today we set out for Lille, France’s 5^th largest city. Its Town center is very beautiful, filled with numerous historical buildings. Of particular interest is the 19^th century Cathedral Nort-de-laTrielle. In 1999, the church authorities decided replacement of the west façade of the church was necessary. Rather than attempting to restore it to its former state, it was replaced with a completely modern frontage. This, in my opinion, is a very sensible approach and was quite successful.

We crossed the border into Belgium, stopping beside the River Deule for a picnic lunch before continuing on to the town of Ypres. We spent much time walking the streets admiring the historic architecture, most of which had to be rebuilt after the conclusion of the Great War. We all had steak to a local restaurant before attending the daily 8pm Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate. This was a very heartening experience.

Day 5, Sunday 18/3:

After our busy day in Honkers, a good portion of our 12-hour flight was spent sleeping. During the flight we passed directly over central Estonia. We made the connection to Paris in the early morning and arrived at Charls du Gaule by 9.30am.  We picked up our new Renault Scenic and set out towards our gite at Sainghin en Weppes. En route we stopped at Villers Bretteneux to visit the Australian and commonwealth war grave memorial.

It was quite a sobering experience. Once at the gite, we settled in and Patsy made a nice omelet for dinner.

Day 4, Saturday 17/3:

As we were due to depart Honkers late this evening, we focused our attention on some nearby attractions. First off, we trained our way to Hong Kong Park. This is a heavily landscaped hillside garden that is rather attractive.

We explored its conservatory and bird aviaries before making our way to the Victoria Peak tram. This funicular tram is a very popular attraction, and as such one needed to queue for at least 100m to access it. As it was rather warm today, we decided to cheat and catch a taxi up. Victoria Peak is now home to a multi-story shopping complex, at the top on which is a viewing platform. Needless to say, the viewing platform was absolutely packed, but the views were excellent as there wasn’t much fog about today.

Once we were satisfied with this viewing experience, we caught another taxi to the Graham Street market. This is a typical Asian street market and made an interesting juxtaposition with the modern high rise that surrounds it.

After a very good lunch back on our side of the harbor, Patsy and I went to check out the nearby Kowloon Park. This park provides a good range of recreational capers for the locals. These include exercise trails, aviaries, a pool and walking trails. Nearby we also found a great vantage point that overlooks the harbor, just as the sun was setting.

After our adventure we met back up with Philip at the hotel to catch a taxi to the airport. Despite the Taxi Drivers apparent death wish (very fast and erratic driving), we arrived in tact. We were at the airport until 11.25pm when we boarded our British Airways flight to London.

Day 3, Friday 16/3:

Today we decided to do some exploring, of sorts, and visit some places that are less frequented by overseas tourists. Boarding the train to Hung Hom, we reached our destination with ease. However, when it came to finding the right connecting bus to Sai Kung, it was a different store. We alighted at a very lar­ge, buzzing shopping center, and the term Gruen Transfer came to mind. We managed to find a bus depot, but not the correct bus. Eventually we spied the other half; merely down one level, on the other side of a highway… After being pointed in the right direction no less than three times by some very helpful Hong Kongese people, we eventually found the correct bus stop.

Arriving safely at Sai Kung, we made our way over to the piers to see a flurry of fishermen selling their live catch to the waiting onlookers. It was very interesting to see the immense array if sea life, including sea slugs, groupers (and other fish), cuttle fish and sea stars. 

Sai Kung is clearly a popular retreat for the local peoples, not unlike our metropolitan beaches.  Restaurants line the foreshore and we had a seafood lunch at one of these. After this we made our way back home to East Tsim Sha Tsui. Part of the journey was in a double decker bus, which provided great views from the top deck.

After a drink at The Hair of the Dog Pub, Patsy and I made our way to a harbor side vantage point to view the daily light and sound show – this time with sound. We decided that last nights viewing was better as fog had rolled in and a number of buildings were obscured by this. We then made our way back to the hotel, finding a geocache along the way. We had dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Day 2, Friday 15/3: Touristing...

After a very good nights sleep, we awoke B&E (bright and early) to start our touristy day. We walked and ferried ourselves to the ferry terminal at Kowloon on Hong Kong Island, boarding a ferry to Mui Wo on Lantau Island. Interestingly, Lantau Island is approximately twice as large as Hong Kong Island, yet has a significantly smaller population. Upon arrival we caught a bus to Ngong Ping, where the Tian Tan Buddha resides. This 202 ton Buddah, only 260 steps away, was opened in the golden year of 1993.

 After checking this out, Patsy and I went for a short walk along the wisdom trail – a concrete footpath – to find a geocache. Upon arrival at the GZ (ground zero), we found some 38 timber poles, arranged in a figure eight, designed to reflect the wisdom of the ‘Heart Sutra’. 

The other main draw card at the main site is the sizable Po Lin Buddhist monastery, parts of which date back to 924, with new wings still under construction. The parts we visited were extremely attractive, however, the tourist to Buddhist ratio did seem to win out on the tourist side quite significantly. Next, we caught a bus to the seaside village of Tai O. This village mainly consists of shanties along the waterfronts. Its main industry is/was fishing and the main streets are lined with live, fresh and dried seafood. All of this seafood gives the village a rather pungent smell. We spent quite some time walking along the shanties and exploring the village. We then had lunch at a local restaurant. As we bussed and trained back to our hotel, one realised just how effective and user friendly Hong Kong’s public transport system is. Using a prepaid oyster card, all you have to do when using any transport is swipe the card and the money is deducted, it couldn’t be easier. The train system is very speedy and we arrived home in no time, despite having to change lines. In the evening, we headed out to view the 8pm laser light show. We were able to catch a ferry across the harbor and see it in part from there. It was quite impressive and I was able to put my DSLR to good use. We then walked back to the hotel and had dinner nearby. 

Day 1, Thursday 14/3 - Commencement of travel

Today we travelled from Adelaide to Hong Kong, via Sydney. The day started at 5am, to catch a taxi to the Adelaide Airport to meet Patsy and Philip. After a coffee we parted our ways and hopped on the plane to Sydney. It would seem that the Sydney airport has been intentionally set out in such a manor to lead you on the most convoluted route to your destination. After a very long flight, we arrived in Hong Kong. The Park Hotel was just a short car ride away, traversing two suspension bridges and one very cool tunnel. Once we were set up in the hotel, we went out to get dinner. Along the way Philip got fitted for a jacket. The proprietor recommended us a very posh hotel at which to eat. However, it was decidedly too posh so we headed out in search of a more down to earth dining experience. 

Time lapse of sunset from south-east Adelaide with my new camera...