Photos galore

After a busy weekend, Monday evening was spent relaxing and catching up with the X factor. On Tuesday Katie lent her time to charity, The Home of Love which is run by the Sisters of Charity, Mother Theresa's organization. This is located in Nam Cheong Estate, about half an hour away from where we live in the centre. I made my way to the meeting point in town and was spotted by another Westerner hanging around in the station. We then made our way across town to the charity having been left behind by the other volunteers (turns out we were waiting in the wrong place!). I was greeted by the other volunteers and it soon became clear that the “American’s Womens Association” was indeed all American women who wanted to do some good in the city. I definitely felt in the wrong place but really wanted to stay and help out. The organization is based in the ground floor of a building block and houses around 20 homeless men and around 8 women with children. The women help out in the kitchen, preparing the meal everyday and the men seem to disappear off into the local area.

Having peeled and chopped onions, ginger and lettuce we waited around until everything was ready to be served. There was only one incident with a cockroach – it did make me wish I was wearing trainers and not dainty sandals! At 10:30 the gates were opened to the men (yes, we are locked INSIDE the building) who came rushing in and sat down. In Hong Kong, there are around 400 registered homeless people but reports suggest there are thousands. In order to get a meal you must have your Hong Kong I.D. card alongside a personalized meal ticket. No meal ticket, no food, regardless of how hungry you are. It was upsetting seeing very frail old ladies being turned away but the Nuns were very strict. Before the meal was served a prayer was sung and then we handed out the meal which consisted of melon and meat soup (!) and noodles with vegetables. The women served themselves before the men. After a few more seconds and thirds were served, the meal was over and we had to wash up.

 Having done my good deed for the day I met Kate and hit the shops for the first time since I arrived. I was very restrained and only bought a playsuit. I am hoping that Bangkok will have plenty of goodies!

Wednesday’s mean only one thing...Happy Valley Races! We headed out to meet Matt’s friends from work for a drink and a gamble...but this turned into a rather late night ending up in a very random rock bar. A good night but Katie had a bit of a sore head the next day so her second good deed of the week was postponed until the week after!

It was soon the weekend and we wanted to make the most out of the beautiful weather that had appeared. We hit the Big Buddha on Lantau Island where Matt works. To reach the Buddha we took the cable car which travels across the water and across various hills giving us an amazing view of the island. There was the opportunity to travel across in a cable car adorned with Swarovski crystals but Matt wasn’t keen.

 Where Matt works, on Lantau Island

 In the basic cable car (boo!)

The buddha as seen from the cable car

It is the world's largest Buddha statue, by using bronze, it's 34 metres tall and weighs 250 tonnes, created in December 1993. It is a pretty impressive sight which attracts hundreds of people, either coming here as tourists or to pray at the Po Lim Monestry.

After a good look round and lunch consisting of cheese sandwiches and Pringles (we Brits know how to do a good lunch!) we headed back down by cable car and into the shopping outlet which is conveniently placed at the bottom. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite the quality of Gunwarf or Bicester Village so we went back home empty handed.

 Matt having a go on the childrens games (darts) - health and safety is limited here!

 An airbus

Hannah, you could get a transfer!

 Realizing that Katie hadn’t eaten any Chinese food for a week (Matt has a large amount at work – including fish eggs on salads etc etc as regular meals) we went out to try the Dumplings that Matt had raved about since eating them at work. The dumplings were pork meat and soup inner rapped in a doughy exterior. Yum. Turns out the restaurant is Michelin starred so we really are living it up! We will go back there again. We include a picture of the order form however we should mention that I got someone at work to write in Cantonese what to have!


 On Sunday we met up with Jasmine and headed out to Nan Lian Garden, a recently built tranquil traditional Chinese garden. It also houses a monastery. Here we ate at the vegetarian restaurant which was very tasty. On the outside of the restaurant is a waterfall which cascades down the window – very nice!

 Birthday Buns - quite a chewy texture with a sugary mixture inside

After lunch we visited the Wong Tai Sin Temple where we had our fourtunes read.

 Here you are given a pot and must kneel on the cushions and shake the pot of sticks with a question in mind. Each stick is numbered. When the first stick falls out you must pick it up and memorize the number. This number then correlates to a story that is told by the fortune tellers.

Matt - the year of the dragon

Katie needs to get a move on if she wants to find a job and Matt’s family are to be healthy, as long as they seek treatment! Jasmine showed us around the beautifully coloured temple and then took us into a market and explained all the different foods we could buy. We bought a few of the stranger items and are keeping them back until Christmas so beware your presents this year!

Saying goodbye to Jaz we headed across to Mong Kok which hosts the ladies market. Here we purchased some traditional children’s Chinese outfits and some Paul Smith (?) pants! A busy weekend which was finished off with Baked Beans on toast and Spooks. Stay tuned for more posts this week....promise!

 The dumplings - before Katie dropped it, causing soy sauce to go everywhere

The order form - in Cantonese!