Kung Hei Fat Choi

Happy Chinese New Year! We arrived in Hong Kong on Friday evening to heat and 88% humidity. What a change from the cold and snowdrifts that was Scotland as we left. The city is looking lovely as most of the Chinese New Year decorations are still up on buildings and homes. People are still greeting each other with good wishes for the coming year and handing out the little red paper envelopes containing sweets. Many of the facades of the tall buildings in Central have huge light displays covering them.

After dinner on Friday, which we enjoyed sitting OUTSIDE at the Aberdeen Marina Club we took the Star Ferry across Hong Kong Harbour to Kowloon. There were hundreds of visitors in the area all with cameras taking pictures of the spectacular views of Central. There are still lots of people from Mainland China in town for the holidays.

On Saturday we visited the Chi Lin Nunnery, this is a really peaceful Buddhist Nunnery Complex. The temple is a spectacular building built in traditional Chinese style. There are beautiful gardens with bonsai trees and ponds full of bonsai trees. The whole are is so tranquil, an oasis in the chaos that is Kowloon.

From there we visited Won Tai Sin Temple the biggest Temple in Hong Kong. The atmosphere there was in complete contrast to the Nunnery. Thousands of people were visiting for what some would be an annual visit to the temple to worship and make offerings to their ancestors. We could smell the incense before we saw the temple. There were crash barriers and lots of people working on crowd control as only the chinese can.

From there we visited the Flower, Bird and Jade Markets. Again, because of the Chinese Lunar New Year emphasis is on the colours red and gold and the flowers on display for sale were beautiful, orchids and bamboo on every stall.

Dinner with Margaret MacPherson was a great finish to the day.