13th Jan day 90 all things Chinese and start of trek home

I forgot to say in yesterday's post that Hong Kong is buzzing with life certainly up to midnight. All the shops are open and there are hoards of people everywhere. If you are a night owl this city is ideal for you.

The lady serving breakfast in the hotel really warmed to me, probably because on my first day there I tried to find out what was thank you in the local language and said it to her. It sounds like Doozjay. Neither of us could understand a word but there was such a lovely warmth between us as we said goodbye in our own languages.

Having packed up and left my luggage in the lobby I walked up through the street market to the flower market and onto the bird garden, which was what I really wanted to see. It was a beautiffuly warm morning so walking was a treat, Kowloon was bustling with life, here are a few pictures to give you a flavour.

It was locals going about their daily lives buying things, some of which I didn't even recognise! I walked for 3 hours passing thousands of people and in all that time I only saw 1 European face. It's strange when you look at things like this newsstand and there is virtually nothing you can read.

I passed through the flower market by chance as it was on the way to the bird garden but oh what a delight and blessing it was. The colour, varieties and perfumes were spectacular for someone like me who loves flowers and plants. Look at this for just 1 place selling orchids.

In the west we have become a very throw away society, preferring to buy new rather than get anything mended, but that's not the case here. In the shops all around where I was staying they were selling parts to fix every conceivable thing, I found it evocative because it reminded me of when I was growing up and you could go to the local ironmongers for a huge variety of 'bits'. Here are a group watching a demonstration in the market.

The bird garden was actually a bird market sadly, but the songs of so many birds together was just fabulous. There were so many pretty birds that I didn't recognise and despite being caged they were clean and well fed - but birds were definitely created to fly. 

Would you believe on my last day of a 3 month trip I worked out how to take a picture of myself that isn't a selfie and here it is with the gate to the bird garden behind.

I walked back to the hotel, stopping for my last cuppa and cake. The taxi arrived to take me to the airport and I arrived in plenty of time. 

The bridges over to Lantau Island where the airport is situated are incredible, similar to the Severn Bridge but about 6 times bigger, what an engineering triumph. 

I managed to buy myself a book in the airport thankfully having failed miserably to find a book shop anywhere in Hong Kong Island or Kowloon. The time passed quickly and without incident. I had managed to persuade the airline stewardess on the desk to change my tickets to aisle seats for these next 2 long legs of the journey home. It was both a relief and blessing to be able to stretch my back and legs for me without disturbing others.

I watched the Bill Bryson film a walk in the woods which starred Robert Redford and Nick Nolte. It was ok for passing time but it certainly wouldn't be on my rewatch list. I would recommend Suite Francaise about a French village under German occupation. I dozed for only about 15 mins on this flight despite being hanging tired, we arrived at Dubai at 3am local time, I had been awake then for 26 hours. I was starting to feel to get that shivery and sick feeling you have when sleep deprived.