Are you Cassie?

After we had got through arrivals at the Hong Kong airport, we were in the main concourse. As we walked through suddenly a tall Chinese man asked me "Are you Cassie?" I thought - what is this place? first I'm French and now I'm called Cassie! I replied "No, I'm not Cassie" Clare then informed me that they were infact taxi drivers and were asking "Do you want a taxi?"!!! .. another typical 'Mary moment' for me! :P

After searching for about 10 minutes we found an ATM and withdrew HK$500 each. Clare found the Park Lane Shuttle bus and we took the 1 hour drive into Hong Kong and Causeway Bay.

Our first glimpses of Hong Kong from the air as we were landing were very exciting - it was just so huge, so glittery, and just so foreign. It felt like watching a huge Christmas light show.

As we drove thought Lantau Island over the 2.2km suspension bridge and onto Kowloon, then Hong Kong Island, my first observation was that they live in high rise buildings - in one small space I counted 26 buildings all of 25 stories high! :O and you could see into the buildings with their twinkling lights and observe people eating dinner or hanging their washing from opened windows. Other very 'new' things were

People live in these!!

• Square shaped cars, instead of the curvy shaped cars we have in Australia



• Lights everywhere! even in the middle of the night everything seems like daytime



• Mickey Mouse displays of soft toys and figurines in the back of car windows



• High rise schools!



• People playing soccer in tiny outdoor spaces at 10pm at night!



• Seemingly thousands of people wandering the streets at 11pm on a Sunday night!!



• Heaps of old, crumbly buildings and street markets.

- Mary

Off to Hong Kong!

Waiting for our flight.


Flight CX170 Perth to Hong Kong departed Perth International Airport at 12.29pm Sunday. When we first arrived at the airport we didn't even know how to check in! we eventually worked our that we were early! After the Cathay Pacific check in counter opened and we got through, we met up with Mummy, Daddy, Guy, Gran & Pop. Pop joked to me asking me if I had got lost yet! (I am famous for it! :P) Mummy replied that so far, pretty good - I had only got lost finding the check in and the toilets!





We all headed off to the Dome coffee shop to have a drink and say goodbye. I chose a latte.





Guy got Clare to take him up and down the escalators a few times, even though he hated going up them with Daddy, he loved doing it with Clare! :)





At nearly 11am we said goodbye to Gran & Pop and then Mummy, Daddy and Guy - Guy gave us huge hugs and kisses.. then we were off! First we waited in line at customs where they checked our passports, and then we went through security. I was pulled aside by the Indian security guide for an explosives check - I had to hold my arms out and be scanned He was nice and chatted with me and wished me a nice trip. Finally after all that we had made it to the depature lounge. We walked up and down the small area for the next hour, and I spotted the Cathay Pacific flight attendants trying the perfumes on from one of the duty free stores.





12pm and we are on board our flight! We will be served lunch but not dinner on this flight - maybe we'll find dinner after we reach Hong Kong. Our flight is fairly empty - and Clare sits across the aisle from Celine and I. To entertain myself I decide to listen to the Hindi radio station. On this flight we are provided with some a pillow, blanket, toothbrush and socks - the socks are really NICE :)





There is a gorgeous Chinese girl of about 2 sitting in front of me, she likes peeking through the seat and smiling at me, and then jumping up and looking over the top of her seat.





For lunch I had rice with vegetables and for dessert there was rice pudding, which was so smooth and creamy - I absolutely love it and could eat this all day! When flying over Borneo we hit some turbulence and have to all sit still. Now it's 5.32pm and we are flying over the South China Sea.

Hi from Hong Kong

Hi everyone,

I'm sitting in a free Internet room in Hong Kong - I can't believe it we are actually in China!!! :D last night was kind of bad - I was so wishing I had never come.. but I knew I had to grin and bear it and now I'm loving it. I think the 13+ hours of travel from our house to our Hong Kong hotel had got to me. After sleeping from 11.30pm till 6am I feel heaps better.

One thing that is strange is that we seem to be the only young foreigners in the whole of Hong Kong! weird..


Today we are going to do some shopping! I need to find a memory card reader as I left mine at home..

I will write more from Rome.

Mary