On Thursday we did what was called a half day tour of Hong Kong Island. We were picked up from an hotel (not our own) at 8.15am and got back at about 2.30pm. We then had to then get a taxi back to our own hotel and just had time for a shower and to finish packing before we were required to vacate the room at 4.00 pm. We then had to sit about until our airport transver which was at 8.30pm. Then we did all the check in things and had to sit about until our flight which was at 12.35am. The flight to Heathrow was ok but long (13 hours) We both got a little sleep so we didn't feel too bad when we got to Heathrow. The 'plane pulled into our gate for disembarking and then we were advised that the air bridge for unloading passengers was US. We sat there waiting for them to find a suitable stairway to unload us from somewhere else at the airport and get it over so we could disembark. That only took about 1 hour!! The usual immigration queues followed. Having landed just before 6.30 we finally got our hire car at about 9.00am. The GPS I bought prooved its worth. I had no idea which way to go so I just trusted the little lady hidden in it. I only took one wrong turn (my fault, not the GPS) and she sorted me out quickly and led me straight to Ingrid and Rick's house. I must say I wasn't sad to get off the road!
After meeting Ingrid (cousin Rick (Richard) is away on tour) and the mandatory cuppa we went into town (Henley on Thames) where we picked up a few thing from the supermarket and I organized a UK mobile (NO. 0750 3710373) and enquired about prepaid wireless internet. Ricks mother (my Aunt Betty) was brought round for the vening meal and we had a great chat. She is quite a card, a bit of an old tyrant really, but we got on well. By the time we had eaten and I had a couple of rums my eyes were hanging out. When we 'hit the sack' I worked it out, it was 47 hours since we had been in bed! I don't remember my head hitting the pillow. We slept pretty well and early on Saturday morning I got up and went for a walk. Back for some breakfast and then I went and got set up for the internet. As I type this I am still having trouble with e-mail and as tomorrow is Bank Holiday Monday it will probably be Tuesday before I can get that sorted out. It had been arranged for my other Aunt (Marie) to come over by bus. As I was walking into town to sort out the internet I passed this little woman and after we had passed I thought, "I wonder if that is Aunt Betty" and looked back. As I looked back she did also and as I said "Aunt Betty?' she said, "David?" It must be genetic, we both recognized one another. Later we were all together for lunch and had a great chat. Betty had a photo album with her and she has left it with me to get copies of some of them. She had to catch her bus home at 3pm so after that Ingrid took us for a drive around the area. We saw the windmill from the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and the villiage church used for the TV series The Vicar of Dibley. We also stopped of at a traditional old English Pub and I 'had a pint'. On the way home Ingrid took us to the ruins of an old church which has not been used for over 350 years. The whole parish was killed in the great plague in the 1660's. That was an incredible experience. I had not used the hire car all day but had put the keys in the pocket of my track suit in the morning. Later that evening I discovered that the keys were not in the pocket. It appeared that they had 'escaped' some time during the day. A thorough search of everything and every where failed to find them. I rang Hertz to report that the keys were lost to learn that they did not have any spare ones for the car and would have to buy them from Ford which they couldn't do until Tuesday because of the public holiday. It appeared that we were grounded for a few days. During all of this I have taken quite a few photos. I have taken the camera out of its case and left the case at home. This morning I went to move the case and it rattled. INSIDE IT WERE THE CAR KEYS! It's called answered prayer!
We went to the local church this morning for the 10.30 service and arrived at about 10.25 to find out that the service was at 9.30 so we got to sing the final hymn! This afternoon we will probably go the the "Dibley" church for Evensong. I will be dissapointed if Dawn French is not there to take the service!
Lunch is about to appear on the table so I had better close this for now. More later. Love to all.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Days one and two of THE TRIP.
We left Brisbane a little late owing to some hold up and had a very good flight to HK. Arrived a little late owing to dodging some weather. We have never been through Customs ANYWHERE so quickly and smoothly. We were so quick we had to wait about 20 or 30 minutes for our bags at the carousel. Our transfer from Airport to the Hotel was a labour intensive operation. We were attended in turn by about 8 different people, going from one ‘staging point’ to another and that does not count the bus driver.
Ann wanted to ‘put her feet up’ and I wanted to go shopping for a new pair of sport shoes. I had done some research on the ‘net’ and knew to go to Fa Yuen Street, known as sport shoe street. It has that name for good reason, I reckon I had passed over 20 sport shoes shops before I even got to Fa Yuen Street. I ended up getting a pair of Adidas for $320. That translates to about $46 Aust. Ann had room service bring a burger to the room and ate there. I intended to get something while I was out and about. I found it all very confusing as all the signs are in Chinese characters and I have trouble reading that! I was unsure of what that they were trying to sell me. I ended up going to KFC and even that was confusing. I had to make my choice from a picture menu and what I wanted included a cup of Pepsi. I could not convince the girl that I wanted it without the Pepsi and she then wanted to sell me the other items separately , in bigger quantities and at much higher prices. In the end I took the Pepsi!
This morning we were to go on a half day Hong Kong Island tour. The pick up point was at another Hotel so we got a taxi. The doorman at our Hotel got the cab and told him where we wanted to go. The driver could not speak English, drove like an American Nascar driver and had a never ending conversation in very loud Chinese over his mobile the whole time. He dropped us off at the Hotel, helped himself to a tip (which I didn’t realize until after I had given him another tip) and went about his business. We went into the lobby to wait as instructed and waited, and waited, and waited. Thought they must be running a bit late so we waited some more. I eventually got to doing some checking and found out that we were at the wrong hotel. The tour has now been re-scheduled for tomorrow. We thought we would have a look about where we were (the wrong hotel) and walked out into the street and the heat. After about 100 metres of less Ann was feeling off colour and decided she had better get back to our own hotel. Another thrilling taxi ride!
We had a cuppa in our room and Ann decided that she had better have a rest until she felt better. I wanted to look for a couple of items so went our walking. I wanted to see if I could find a fishfinder for my kayak and wanted to look at ipod’s and Nintendo DS’s. I don’t think that anyone in HK knows what a fishfinder is and even if they do they don’t sell them. Someone sent me to some markets which turned out to be literally gold fish markets! After trudging several miles I finally came to the conclusion that electronics are no cheaper in Hong Kong than in Brisbane. What a fizzer!
Came back and took Ann out for a sandwich for lunch (that took some finding!) and a bit of a look at the shops in Langham Place Mall. By then it was my turn to want to ‘put my feet up’ so we again returned to hotel and I even caught a few Z’s.
After that we went to the Ladies markets and Ann bought a couple of things and had a bit of a look about. We followed that with a meal and now are back in the room waiting to watch the evening lazer show which is on every night at 8pm allegedly. I will try and download this a bit later this evening. Ann is feeling a lot better now, I think she got a bet stressed over the tour mix up this morning and also something from breakfast kept repeating on her. All seems well now though we are both pretty tired and have another early start tomorrow. More later. Love to all. Dave and Ann.
We left Brisbane a little late owing to some hold up and had a very good flight to HK. Arrived a little late owing to dodging some weather. We have never been through Customs ANYWHERE so quickly and smoothly. We were so quick we had to wait about 20 or 30 minutes for our bags at the carousel. Our transfer from Airport to the Hotel was a labour intensive operation. We were attended in turn by about 8 different people, going from one ‘staging point’ to another and that does not count the bus driver.
Ann wanted to ‘put her feet up’ and I wanted to go shopping for a new pair of sport shoes. I had done some research on the ‘net’ and knew to go to Fa Yuen Street, known as sport shoe street. It has that name for good reason, I reckon I had passed over 20 sport shoes shops before I even got to Fa Yuen Street. I ended up getting a pair of Adidas for $320. That translates to about $46 Aust. Ann had room service bring a burger to the room and ate there. I intended to get something while I was out and about. I found it all very confusing as all the signs are in Chinese characters and I have trouble reading that! I was unsure of what that they were trying to sell me. I ended up going to KFC and even that was confusing. I had to make my choice from a picture menu and what I wanted included a cup of Pepsi. I could not convince the girl that I wanted it without the Pepsi and she then wanted to sell me the other items separately , in bigger quantities and at much higher prices. In the end I took the Pepsi!
This morning we were to go on a half day Hong Kong Island tour. The pick up point was at another Hotel so we got a taxi. The doorman at our Hotel got the cab and told him where we wanted to go. The driver could not speak English, drove like an American Nascar driver and had a never ending conversation in very loud Chinese over his mobile the whole time. He dropped us off at the Hotel, helped himself to a tip (which I didn’t realize until after I had given him another tip) and went about his business. We went into the lobby to wait as instructed and waited, and waited, and waited. Thought they must be running a bit late so we waited some more. I eventually got to doing some checking and found out that we were at the wrong hotel. The tour has now been re-scheduled for tomorrow. We thought we would have a look about where we were (the wrong hotel) and walked out into the street and the heat. After about 100 metres of less Ann was feeling off colour and decided she had better get back to our own hotel. Another thrilling taxi ride!
We had a cuppa in our room and Ann decided that she had better have a rest until she felt better. I wanted to look for a couple of items so went our walking. I wanted to see if I could find a fishfinder for my kayak and wanted to look at ipod’s and Nintendo DS’s. I don’t think that anyone in HK knows what a fishfinder is and even if they do they don’t sell them. Someone sent me to some markets which turned out to be literally gold fish markets! After trudging several miles I finally came to the conclusion that electronics are no cheaper in Hong Kong than in Brisbane. What a fizzer!
Came back and took Ann out for a sandwich for lunch (that took some finding!) and a bit of a look at the shops in Langham Place Mall. By then it was my turn to want to ‘put my feet up’ so we again returned to hotel and I even caught a few Z’s.
After that we went to the Ladies markets and Ann bought a couple of things and had a bit of a look about. We followed that with a meal and now are back in the room waiting to watch the evening lazer show which is on every night at 8pm allegedly. I will try and download this a bit later this evening. Ann is feeling a lot better now, I think she got a bet stressed over the tour mix up this morning and also something from breakfast kept repeating on her. All seems well now though we are both pretty tired and have another early start tomorrow. More later. Love to all. Dave and Ann.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Start of THE trip.
Hi,
I 'm new to this and have been convinced to 'give it a go' on the eve of 'THE BIG ADVENTURE', our trip to UK. The 'our' is yours truly and my wife Ann. We leave tomorrow and will have a two day stopover in Hong Kong to break up the trip. Should arrive in England 6.30am Friday 22nd August. I will try to add some each day to keep everyone informed on what is happening and where. The plan is to have 9 days with a Cousin and his family at Henley on Thames and then move to a small cabin in Suffolk just out of Bury St Edmunds. We have the cabin for 6 weeks. I have chosen the Suffolk area as that is where the Stannards roots are. My ancestors were farm labourers in various areas of Suffolk until my great grandfather George moved to London and joined the London Metropolitan Police. I am very excited about meeting family who have basically been 'names on Christmas cards'.
My maternal grandparents came from Lincolnshire so I hope to meet members of that side of my family and greatly expand my limited knowledge of Brown part of me.
I 'm new to this and have been convinced to 'give it a go' on the eve of 'THE BIG ADVENTURE', our trip to UK. The 'our' is yours truly and my wife Ann. We leave tomorrow and will have a two day stopover in Hong Kong to break up the trip. Should arrive in England 6.30am Friday 22nd August. I will try to add some each day to keep everyone informed on what is happening and where. The plan is to have 9 days with a Cousin and his family at Henley on Thames and then move to a small cabin in Suffolk just out of Bury St Edmunds. We have the cabin for 6 weeks. I have chosen the Suffolk area as that is where the Stannards roots are. My ancestors were farm labourers in various areas of Suffolk until my great grandfather George moved to London and joined the London Metropolitan Police. I am very excited about meeting family who have basically been 'names on Christmas cards'.
My maternal grandparents came from Lincolnshire so I hope to meet members of that side of my family and greatly expand my limited knowledge of Brown part of me.
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