Central Hong Kong is exactly how you’d imagine- sky scrapers, lights and people everywhere. A real concrete jungle. I was, however, staying just outside a different city in Hong Kong called Sai Kung which is quaint with water-side restaurants with their live buffets swimming around in overcrowded, tiny tanks (although a sad sight, it was a great chance to see quite a variety of sea-life).

Day 1

We went to a small tea shop (the only one left in Hong Kong apparently) and experienced a tea ceremony with the owner who spoke surprisingly good English. We tried three different teas: Oolong, Oolong with Ginseng (my favourite- has an artificial sweetener aftertaste), and Pu-erh. After about 10 small cups, we were all getting high off the caffeine and our bladders were bursting. We said “No more tea” to which his reaction was “OK, here’s three more rounds”! To my surprise, he didn’t expect any money for this- I suspect he enjoys the company and a chance to drink tea..

Day two

Nat had planned a lovely day of climbing for me. However, a thunder storm was brewing so we went to the Ladies Market in Mong Kok instead. It was exactly as you’d imagine for an Asian market with all-sorts of weird and wonderful things. However, they knew exactly what you’d pay for their stuff in the UK and milked it. However, with a little haggling (and often walking away as we didn’t desperately need the items) we got fantastically reduced rates. It helped that Nat spoke a little Chinese.

Day three

I spent the morning with Nat and Liz, we went to Raze, an indoor trampolining centre which was great fun! There was a trapeze, kids play area (which was obviously where we spent most of our time- foam pits!), slack line and 'super' trampolines. It was 150HKD for a 1 hour session (you really don’t need any more than that).

I spent the evening with Hen in central Hong Kong, we went to the light show (a bit anti-climatic to be honest), caught the Star Ferry (2,30HKD which is about 23p!) over to central Hong Kong and went up dozens of outdoor escalators throughout the centre as it’s so hilly which was quite bizzare. HK was buzzing at night- a fantastic atmospheres in all the bars. But being two old ladies at heart, Hen and I caught the tram (great way to see the city the trams look just like the night bus from Harry Potter!) back to her flat and watched a film.

The centre of Hong Kong is a bit nuts- so many high-rise buildings, top brand shops and restaurants along with little alley way street food stalls and quirky things like knitted stair pillars.

Hong Kong was good fun to visit, but I'm looking forward to seeing mainland China. Next stop- Yanshou.