Welcome home

In case I haven't already mentioned it, it's good to be home!  Nice to come back to some Welcome Home flowers too - aaaaaaw, Ross is so sweet!

Welcome home flowers

I could only chuckle when I opened the fridge though.  Five days away and it has already morphed into a 'bloke's fridge' - beer, leftovers and a few lonely vegetables on the verge of going mouldy.

Bloke's fridge

Supermarket tomorrow methinks....

The journey home

I'm excited to be going home today.  Real home.  Back to fresh air, big sky, flowering jacaranda trees and... Ross!  

Dad meets me in the lobby at 8am and sees me into the taxi for the hour long journey to the airport.  It's a long time to be sitting in a cab and the driver is particularly friendly.  By the time we've reached the airport, he's serenaded me with various hits from the 1980s, excitedly yelped 'I love you baby!' a few times, refused to let me leave the cab without swapping numbers and even given me a hug outside the airport.  Wow.  I can't remember HK cabbies ever being this friendly!

Fortunately check-in is a better experience this time round than on the journey over here and all that's left to do is to kill some time before boarding the plane to Singapore.

******

Although Singapore is a little over 3hrs from Hong Kong, it becomes a very ... long ... flight.  Take off is delayed while bags are offloaded for a no-show passenger.  I also get stuck right at the back of the plane with a Mainland tour group.  Definitely a lack of basic travel etiquette going on.  So here are some things that are definitely uncool to do on a plane:

• Suck noisily on rockmelon and then lick your hands;
• Snort and then hoick phlegm into a paper bag;
• Take off your seatbelt and wander around the aisles looking for the toilet when the plane is actually taxi-ing to the runway and even cabin crew are buckled in (this causes crew to exclaim loudly and shout at you to SIT DOWN IMMEDIATELY);
• Snore loudly;
• Sit bolt upright and watch the food trolley as it approaches and then chatter more and more excitedly the closer it gets (this is only acceptable for those aged 5 and under);
• Reach over your fellow passenger and grab at drinks when the trolley finally arrives so much so that cabin crew just give up and serve you first;
• Handing your phlegmy paper bag to unsuspecting cabin crew as they walk past;
• Jumping up and trying to grab your things from overhead lockers before the plane has even reached the terminal.

Oh and did I mention the lady a couple of seats down was throwing up into a bag during the flight too?  The time couldn't go fast enough.

******

Ah Changi Airport, what a blessed haven of calm. 

Christmas trees at Changi Airport

I have a couple of hours until my Qantas flight (provided they're flying today:) so I walk over to Terminal 3 and visit the Butterfly Garden.  I'm so glad I did, it's absolutely amazing.  There is a koi pond outside and step through the chain curtain and you're a million miles away from the airport.  It's hot and humid and the colourful butterflies flutter and play in the lush green vegetation.

Singapore Changi Airport Butterfly Garden

Butterfly Garden

Terminal 3 is further away than I thought so I catch the Skytrain back to Terminal 1 just in time for boarding.  It isn't a full flight so I have the luxury of an empty seat next to me and JOY! My audio system is working so I can just sit back and relax for the next 5 hours.

*******

Home home home home.  So nice to be home.  It's a warm night and there is lightning flickering and the distant rumble of thunder as I climb the steps to my building.  1am - home again to a hug and a blissful comfortable sleep.

Last day of the Fellowship

On our last day together before we go our separate ways tomorrow, we made our way back to Admiralty but this time jumped on a bus to Stanley.

Hong Kong has put on its best weather all week and today is no exception.  The bus ride is pleasant and a good opportunity for mum and dad to reminisce about the various places we pass en route.  We walk along the Stanley sea front to Murray House.  Originally constructed in Central in 1844 as quarters for British officers, it was dismantled to make way for the construction of the Bank of China tower in 1982.  It was painstakingly relocated to Stanley and restored in 2001.  It houses swank restaurants now.

Stanley sea front

Murray House, Stanley

"Murray House, one of Hong Kong’s oldest buildings originally located in Central District, was reconstructed in Ma Hang.  In 2007 a new public pier was built at the waterfront outside Murray House.  The new pier, named ‘Blake Pier at Stanley’ and featuring the historic cast-iron roof truss removed from the decommissioned Blake Pier in Central District, resonates with nostalgia of a long past era."

Excerpt from Stanley - A Brief History (tourist information board on site)

We opt for an early lunch at Saigon at Stanley in Murray House.  Lunch is a bit subdued however owing to cumulative fatigue perhaps or just by virtue of it being our last day together.

Me and my roomie

Mum and dad at Murray House

After lunch we venture into the markets but it's only a quick whip round before we return to Admiralty on the bus.   The stuff on offer is a bit disappointing so we don't linger.

Stanley Market

There is one old resident of Stanley who has seen it all and continues to thrive, literally living on the edge.   The grand old tree has witnessed the rise and fall of the Empire and on it goes. 

Grand old tree eking out a living in Stanley

On returning to Tseung Kwan O there is one final sortie to the Popcorn Mall before dinner.  As Wendy and Bill have an extremely early flight in the morning, we meet downstairs for a quick meal at Crystal Jade.  We have one more photo in the lobby of the hotel amidst all the Christmas finery.

The HK Fellowship, Crowne Plaza Tseung Kwan O (4 December 2013) - and the last outing for my smile for a while...

There is still time so we make one last detour to the 47th floor and have a stickybeak into Cielo, the hotel's rooftop Italian restaurant and bar.  I'm not afraid of heights but even I must admit to having shaky hands while taking photos over the edge of the balcony.

Looking down from the roof of the hotel

It's a fitting close to the trip.  The bejewelled hillsides twinkle their final goodbyes to what has been a short, tiring but infinitely worthwhile trip.  Hong Kong doesn't hold that special something for me anymore.  I think it stopped feeling like 'home' a long time ago.  And yet it still resonates with a part of my being and always will, like a song you never quite forget and which ever so occasionally pops into your head and plays over and over.  It was wonderful to see my friends again.  Old friends who tug at the heartstrings and who made me promise I wouldn't leave it another 12 years before coming back.  

Goodbye Tseung Kwan O

I promise.

A visit to old Hong Kong

After last night's feast I'm not sure where I'm going to find an appetite for breakfast this morning.  Thankfully by the time I've made my way to Sham Shui Po I'm starting to feel a bit hungry.  I wait in the MTR station and before long my friend, Sam emerges from the crowd.  It has been another long span of time since we last met!  This time it's 12 years.

Sam has chosen Sham Shui Po because it still feels like old Hong Kong.  Small independent shops and tea houses abound rather than the ubiquitous chains and luxury brands that have swamped retail strips everywhere else.  

Sham Shui Po

We make our way to the Kung Fu Tea House, a small unremarkable hole in the wall which is packed even though it's only 10am.  We fight our way inside but still have to share a table.  It's the type of place where you try not to think too hard about the state of the kitchen, especially when they give you a bowl in which to rinse your own utensils using hot tea!  It's certainly a traditional dim sum breakfast and it doesn't even cost HK$100 for the two of us! 

My good friend Sam

Best of all I get to catch up on the years with my friend.  Not before there is a major disturbance in the restaurant however.  It is perhaps a bit toooo 'authentic' Hong Kong and more than Sam bargained for!  An old lady in a wheelchair is pushed into the teahouse by her foreign maid whom the waitress loudly accuses of being incompetent for pushing her mistress into a sharp table corner.  So begins a very heated exchange in Cantonese.  Everyone turns around to gawp just in case it should degenerate into meat cleavers at three paces.  Fortunately it doesn't.  The maid leaves angry and the waitress forbids her from coming into the restaurant ever again.

Before Sam and I say our farewells, he leaves me with a very interesting souvenir - it is for my protection since the news is rife with the season's first case of avian flu.

A rather strange souvenir

I have a few hours to myself so I return to Tseung Kwan O and take some time to explore the curiously named Popcorn Mall close to the hotel.  I manage to do a bit of shopping and can only stare in wonderment at the pace of development that is happening outside. Tseung Kwan O is taking off, I don't think I have ever seen so many cranes on the horizon.  There are massive residential complexes being constructed with even more behind, and behind those, whole hillsides have been sliced away to make way for more new builds.  

The pace of development in Tseung Kwan O is simply awesome

I have the luxury of resting in the hotel for a few hours before joining everyone else for dinner in Hennessy Road.  

The comforts of home away from home

The surprisingly spacious room at the Crowne Plaza

Some of our dearest friends who have become like family to us since we connected in Perth many years ago have recently started Zahrabel, a Lebanese Private Dining Club.  It has only been open for a few weeks and following the reception dinner last night, they insist that we go for a meal there.  We are absolutely spoilt.  We are treated to an amazing feast of traditional Mediterranean dishes, each made with secret ingredients and a whole lot of love.  It is a superb evening.

Full circle

Late afternoon sees us making our way to St Margaret's Church in Happy Valley - the raison d'etre for the Hong Kong trip.  My mum and dad married here on 5 November 1966 and posed for a photograph on the steps.

The steps up to St Margaret's Church

Today Wendy and Bill get to recreate the moment.  So do mum and dad.  They get to stand at the same spot they stood as newlyweds 47 years ago.  My dad mightn't have confetti on his shoulders anymore and my mum mightn't be sporting a flowing veil but the smiles are the same and they still look fabulous.

Looking back - my mum and dad on their wedding day and 47 years later

The next generation of newlyweds - Wendy and Bill recreate the moment

There is a short blessing inside the chapel to celebrate the happy marriage once again. Father Hanley is a Brooklyn priest who may have the grizzled appearance of an old man but whose sense of humour is still vital and sharp.  He reminds me of the stereotypical clergyman who has visited the sherry cupboard a few too many times.  He is warm and wonderful and the ceremony is fitting and sincere.

For me the happiest part of the afternoon is seeing my Godmother again.  I haven't seen her for 20 years but she is the same warm, generous, jovial and indomitable Aida.  Age really hasn't wearied her.  Her 81 years might have slowed her down but only a bit. She still goes swimming (a relatively 'new' hobby which she only took up at the age of 70) and her characteristic razor sharp wit remains.

My most gorgeous Godmother Aida

Outside the church with family and friends

From the church we make our way to Moon Koon Restaurant overlooking the Happy Valley Racecourse.  We are joined by more good friends and are fortunate enough to have a private dining room.  No races on today which is just as well because it doesn't detract from my dad who gives his Father of the Bride speech again.  And it is received just as well as it was originally in Perth a few nights ago. 

Father of the Bride

The food is exquisite and the courses just keep coming.  Assorted BBQ meat, fish, asparagus, the most tender of vegetables, prawns, chicken, noodles and rice.  By the time dessert comes it's difficult to find space ... but then there's always room for baked sago with a surprise centre of lotus seed paste.  

The evening rolls on and by the time we all pour out of the restaurant after 11pm, we are all tired and full but happy.