The start of my trip to Australia with BUNAC was brilliant. I met up with Nicole at Heathrow airport on the 6th March, and headed to the Heathrow Central Travelodge, where most of our group had booked into the night before we flew out. We all bonded over mutual excitement and nerves, a drink and some food in the travelodge bar, and prepared for our 11am flight.
To be completely honest, Hong Kong was never somewhere I had given a great deal of thought to visiting. When I discovered that I had a three day stopover there when I was flying to Sydney I did a bit of research and saw what an amazing place it appeared to be, and got excited about having the chance to visit. It most definitely lived up to my newly discovered expectations!
Day one was ever so slightly annoying in that we arrived in HK at 7am, only to be told by our lovely BUNAC rep Lyona at the airport that unfortunately our hotel wouldn't be ready until at least 1pm... tired and grumpy from an eleven hour flight, this news didn't exactly fit in with our plan! However, having dropped our luggage off at the hotel though, we went off to explore the surrounding area and find something to eat!
That day we accidentally stumbled upon Kowloon Park, which was absoutely beautiful!
The park was stunning, especially in the glorious sunshine we had that day, with flamingos casually wandering around the water edge, beautiful trees and flowers and some lovely shade for us weary travellers to have a rest in!
Later that day, after we had a much needed sleep and shower, five of my lovely travelling companions - Emily, Gemma, Sarah, Kate and Marnie - and I went for dinner in a restaurant near our hotel (which was called the Harbour Plaza 8 Degrees by the way, situated in Kowloon) and had a fantastic dinner - I have to point out Marnie's amazing Lime Sorbet drink... it tasted as good as it looked!
The next morning we were up bright and early for a lovely breakfast in the hotel and then headed out to explore the city some more before our official tour that afternoon. Sarah and I, who were sharing a room in HK, headed to Nathan Road - the main road through Kowloon - and made our way to the amazing waterfront, with a perfect view of the incredible Hong Kong City.
Sarah, Nicole and I then went to the Andy Warhol Exhibit at the Hong Kong Museum of Modern Art - it was amazing, seeing all of his originals displayed in that lovely building. Sadly I wasn't able to take photos in there, but Nicole took a quick photo of our tickets!
That afternoon we went off to see some incredible sights - Victoria Peak, the Aberdeen Fishing Village and Stanley Market - the fishing village was amazing to see, the fact that some of the fishermen live out on these little house boats is unbelievable! Stanley Market had some lovely little trinkets too, and Victoria Peak had some stunning views. Here are a few snapshots!
The view from Victoria Peak
On the boat at Aberdeen Fishing Village
Stanley Market
This is just part one of my Hong Kong adventure - I took so many photos that I'm going to do another post on the second full day of exploring! I've also edited the first part of my Hong Kong vlog but I doubt I'll be able to upload it until I get to my aunt and uncle's house where I'm staying next week - wifi is still a little bit of an issue at the moment!
Keep your eyes peeled for part two - it will be up soon! Sydney is great so far, and my memory card if full of photos to show you all the lovely sights!
Top L-R: Amy, Sarah, Harri, Marnie, Gemma, Nicole.
Bottom L-R: Emily, me, Kate, at Victoria Peak.
To be completely honest, Hong Kong was never somewhere I had given a great deal of thought to visiting. When I discovered that I had a three day stopover there when I was flying to Sydney I did a bit of research and saw what an amazing place it appeared to be, and got excited about having the chance to visit. It most definitely lived up to my newly discovered expectations!
Day one was ever so slightly annoying in that we arrived in HK at 7am, only to be told by our lovely BUNAC rep Lyona at the airport that unfortunately our hotel wouldn't be ready until at least 1pm... tired and grumpy from an eleven hour flight, this news didn't exactly fit in with our plan! However, having dropped our luggage off at the hotel though, we went off to explore the surrounding area and find something to eat!
That day we accidentally stumbled upon Kowloon Park, which was absoutely beautiful!
The park was stunning, especially in the glorious sunshine we had that day, with flamingos casually wandering around the water edge, beautiful trees and flowers and some lovely shade for us weary travellers to have a rest in!
Later that day, after we had a much needed sleep and shower, five of my lovely travelling companions - Emily, Gemma, Sarah, Kate and Marnie - and I went for dinner in a restaurant near our hotel (which was called the Harbour Plaza 8 Degrees by the way, situated in Kowloon) and had a fantastic dinner - I have to point out Marnie's amazing Lime Sorbet drink... it tasted as good as it looked!
The next morning we were up bright and early for a lovely breakfast in the hotel and then headed out to explore the city some more before our official tour that afternoon. Sarah and I, who were sharing a room in HK, headed to Nathan Road - the main road through Kowloon - and made our way to the amazing waterfront, with a perfect view of the incredible Hong Kong City.
Sarah, Nicole and I then went to the Andy Warhol Exhibit at the Hong Kong Museum of Modern Art - it was amazing, seeing all of his originals displayed in that lovely building. Sadly I wasn't able to take photos in there, but Nicole took a quick photo of our tickets!
That afternoon we went off to see some incredible sights - Victoria Peak, the Aberdeen Fishing Village and Stanley Market - the fishing village was amazing to see, the fact that some of the fishermen live out on these little house boats is unbelievable! Stanley Market had some lovely little trinkets too, and Victoria Peak had some stunning views. Here are a few snapshots!
The view from Victoria Peak
On the boat at Aberdeen Fishing Village
Stanley Market
This is just part one of my Hong Kong adventure - I took so many photos that I'm going to do another post on the second full day of exploring! I've also edited the first part of my Hong Kong vlog but I doubt I'll be able to upload it until I get to my aunt and uncle's house where I'm staying next week - wifi is still a little bit of an issue at the moment!
Keep your eyes peeled for part two - it will be up soon! Sydney is great so far, and my memory card if full of photos to show you all the lovely sights!
Top L-R: Amy, Sarah, Harri, Marnie, Gemma, Nicole.
Bottom L-R: Emily, me, Kate, at Victoria Peak.
Just stumbled upon your blog, it's lovely! Hong Kong isn't somewhere I'd thought of to visit either, but it looks beautiful. I hope you enjoy Sydney, I'm jealous of the sunshine! xx
ReplyDeletehttp://www.curls-and-swirls.blogspot.co.uk
Thank you so much! It was such a lovely place, I'd definitely recommend it :) xx
DeleteSo jealous! Looks amazing. Looking forward to updates!
ReplyDeleteHey lovely! It was such an amazing city :) hope you are well! xx
DeleteI'm so jealous of your travels!
ReplyDeleteJillian - http://epic-thread.blogspot.com
Aw thank you, it's been so lovely so far, but very odd being so far away from home! Just checked out your blog, it's lovely! x
Deletewow, those photos are gorgeous! everywhere seems so beautiful :)
ReplyDeletehttp://cloudsandcuticleoil.blogspot.co.uk/
xx