We decided to go
to the Tiger Balm Gardens as Bruce had not seen
them before. We caught the MTR to Central and searched
for the number 11 bus. And searched. And walked.
And searched some more. After about half an hour,
we found it, tucked away. The trip took about half
an hour, through the bustling streets. The gardens
were as kitsch as I remembered and Bruce loved the
grotesque concrete animals in bright, vulgar colours. |
We returned to
Central and went to meet Bruce's colleague, Fladia,
for lunch. She took us up to Barings' new offices
on the 39th floor of a new building. The views across
the harbour are amazing. Bruce met a few old colleagues
and chatted to them for a while, after which Fladia
took us to a Chinese restaurant for an excellent
lunch and chatted about work and her family.
We then took the swish new MTR to the new airport.
This was to satisfy Bruce, who claimed that he had
not had sufficient time to check out the new building
properly when we arrived. The journey was remarkable
and fast, with grand views as we crossed the bridges.
The airport is a beautiful modern building, light
and airy, but - unfortunately for Bruce, no viewing
area.
Disappointed, we went back to Central and the series
of escalators which took us up to the Mid-Levels.
I was intrigued - escalator after escalator took
us higher and higher up the Peak. Bruce told me
this is were the ex-pats live, and certainly there
was a wide range of European restaurants there.
Eventually we got to the top, and we walked down
through the winding roads and returned to the hotel
for a short collapse. We phoned and booked a table
at Grappa's in Pacific Place and toddled off, freshly
showered and changed, for a brilliant meal of duck
breast, sea food risotto and panna cotta. Met fellow
travelling companions John and Anne, to whom we
had recommended the restaurant, they were kind enough
to come and thank us for the tip. On the way back,
did some shopping at the Lady Street market near
the hotel. We bought six genuine Ralph Lauren polo
shirts for the equivalent of £3, would you
believe? Well, Adrian didn't, when we showed him
our bargain. Nevertheless, he asked us to keep the
news from his wife, Ros. Why? |
