Hong Kong

For our week holiday in March, Wayne and I had booked fights to Hong Kong, obtained a visa for China and were excited about looking at somewhere different.

We were lucky in that Molly had orgainised us to stay with her sister Lynda on Lantau Island. Unfortunately, Molly couldn't come with us and play tour guide, luckily her sister was able to step up to the game.

Lynda met us at the Mix drink station and gave us a guided tour to her apartment which is 29 floors up. The night view was amazing. When we woke up in the morning the day view was just as amazing. We were so privileged to be able to stay here. it was only a few minutes walk to the MTR (train system) and the local mall - Citygate.

Lynda took us for a typical Chinese breakfast...dim sums...yum...Wayne even ate the chicken feet. I tried them but they were too spicy for me. He did say they were yummy...I am not sure about eating chicken feet...just think what they have been standing in! Lynda assured us they have their skin peeled before steaming them.

From here we went to visit some of the local markets where the locals do their shopping. It was fascinating. We didn't notice many other tourists there either. The highlights of this day were the local markets, the goldfish market, the flower market and the bird market.

The goldfish market has plastic bags of fish hanging for sale, all shapes, sizes and colours and they weren't too expensive. Unless you wanted red arowana one...and these go for thousands of dollars. Don't think I will be having one of these! The flower market was such beautiful area to walk around, the smells, the colours were incredible.After walking through the flower market we stumbled up a bird market and could help wandering through.This looking back up the street with some of the flowers on the left and a bird mural on the right.
The birds were of such a variation of colours and sizes we were in awe. Wandering through this market was inspiring and amazing. Most of the birds sing but we found these beautiful coloured ones just sitting.
Wandering along one of the streets was this vendor selling nuts which Lynda couldn't help but buy.

We were brave enough to try some snake soup. and yes it was quite lovely...a bit like eating chicken soup. Apparently its good for your health.

Lynda left us soon after this to go back and pack to fly back to Singapore. we decided to walk down to temple Street Market, which is very touristy but worth a look. The street scenes are all lit up and incredible.
After the market we wandered down to the waterfront to see the laser light show. This was stunning but I didn't know where to look.

We finally arrived home that night after purchasing a bottle of NZ wine from the supermarket and then crashed into bed exhausted only I was awoken at some stage with a loud bang. trying to wake Wayne was impossible so I had to get up to investigate...it was Lynda and we had inadvertently locked her out of her own home. After talking briefly talking with Lynda about our day and our plans for the next day. Her advice was to travel to Macau before the weekend.

A Days Ramble

I have always wanted o walk along the Lower Seletar Reservoir in the early morning. for the Past few weekends, I have been trying to wake up early but it seemed to escape me till this weekend just gone by. We were up and walking by 6.45 and the sight at the reservoir was worth the long walk. The sun had just got above the clouds and was a beautiful morning. The air was hot but slightly misty over the water. They are updating and building along the waters edge.
Not one to normally take a photo into the sun...but this one was worth the effort...although it wasn't till i checked my photos later how worth while it was.
We ride the train past here each time we go to work and the water is always a place we look to see what is happening. In the background you can see the train going into town. It takes us around 25 minutes from Yishun to the heart of Singapore.
The locals fish off this jetty. We have seen them catch some fish but they haven't been big ones. They use a mixture of bait and lures.
Wayne is standing in the corner, the local is crossing to fish for the big one on the other side of the jetty and the train is on its way to Khatib. The stop before ours. It is always a lovely place to walk and mingle but it was just lovely this morning. While riding we often watch the locals fishing off the rocks alongside the train train track so today we decided to walk along there. Today there was nobody fishing there. We usually see monitor lizards and little turtles on the rocks but not today.
We knew the train curved along here but didn't realise just how much until we walked underneath the tracks. Now I know why I need to hold on while travelling this part of our route.
by now the time is 9 am and it's breakfast time. We go off to catch a bus home and find out we are on the wrong side of the road and to cross the expressway we need to jump a big ditch. We looked at each other and decided to catch the next bus to it's destination and have breakfast there. Bus 965 arrive and Sengkang here we come! After breakfast we had another dilemma, so we consulted the bus time tables and selected Pasir Ris.
Pasir Ris Park has a fishing pond in the middle. The locals pay money to come and catch the fish. they can bring their own gear or hire the gear. It seemed that many people come and fish there as there were chairs and rod holders all around this pond.
After a wander here it was getting close to lunchtime. Singapore has many park connectors where you can hire bikes at one end and drop them at the other. We did this...for $12 for 2 hours! We got onto the bikes and headed for the mangrove boardwalk before starting out for Changi Beach. So much to see and too much to take in.
This bird was up in the tree quietly eating a fruit. Enough diversion, now it was time to cycle to Changi. The bike guy said it would take about an hour. he was spot on with his timings. We saw many things we hadn't seen before, temples hidden down little streets, birds of many different colours but they wouldn't stay still long enough to photograph. We dropped our bikes off at the bike place and walked nextdoor for a late lunch...by now the time is 1.45pm.
We were lucky to get a table that looked out towards the see. Lunch cost $51 - including a set meal of sambal (spicy) fish for Wayne and steak for me. accompanied with a pea soup, papaya fruit for desert and either a coffee/tea or cold sprite/coke. We did have a beer and a RTD. Beautiful meal in a beautiful setting.
Right underneath the flight path!
Lunch over we walked to the end of Changi Beach and went for a stroll along the shops and eating places to wee where we would eat next time. Once again we consulted the bus timetable and selected a bus to take us to Bishan where we stocked up on groceries before heading home to cook dinner. Arriving home we were still hot and dusty so shed our clothes to put on our togs and have a lovely cooling swim before cooking dinner.

Such a long day and two tired bodies relaxed after the swim and dinner with a lovely cold wine to round off an adventurous day.

Brunei

It was with great excitement that we were finally on our way to Brunei for Chinese New Year. We were not sure what we were going to see and do and had booked ourselves into Brunei Hotel. This was in a great location but it was a bit tired looking. It did provide a comfortable bed after a day of walking for what seemed like miles. And we did enjoy the g & t's for our night cap.

Across the road was the river which housed this delightful market. They are always a great place to visit and are an eyeful of wonderful colour and unusual products. These piles are dried fish, I know what they want with these but am sure I will never buy any!
On our walk we found the mosque that was built by the present day Sultan's father, 50 years ago. We were able to go inside and were absolutely amazed and stunned with the beauty and serenity of this building.
One of the views from a water taxi ride showed the contrast between the local peoples. this building stood out from many different places along the river.
We did notice on our ride that many of the houses seemed to have been burnt down. Our driver confirmed that this is what happens often. Above is one of the many fire stations along the river. He went on to tell us that the population on the river is more than what actually lives in the town. He was very proud of the All Black sticker he had on his boat and knew that we say 'kia ora' when greeting.
There are 17 primary schools on the water, almost as many Islamic schools and a number of high schools. The children get rides in school bus boats like the one above. It seems that the teacher also gets a ride in one of these too.
To get a taxi boat, you stand on one of these taxi stands and one will come racing over to you. We didn't try this but did get one from the riverfront near our hotel.
Shell Petrol Stations abound on the river and the price for a litre is 54.7c (Singapore). Everyone seemed to own a car or a boat. There didn't appear to be any boat rules...they taxi boat driver told us it was first there that has right of way. They all seemed to be going at a fast pace to get to the next stop or drop.
A typical taxi stand. They see a white face and raise a finger twirling it to ask if you want a ride. All prices are negotiable.
While down taking photos of the white mosque we were approached by a local asking if we want him to act as a tour guide..he wanted to take us to the big mosque (above) and to see the Sultan's palace for $12. We were brave and took him up on his offer and were we ever pleased we had done this. The big Mosque as the locals call it was beautifully stunning. It has 29 turrets which corresponds to the fact that he is the 29th Sultan of Brunei.
It didn't seem to matter from which angle you were there was always a photo opportunity and we made the most of it.
He dropped us off back down by the older mosque in town. The wind had dropped and the man made lake was still and great for reflections.
Even during the day it was picturesque. We were then picked up by a guide from MegaBorneo and were treated to two days in the Temburong National Park. We were taken on a ferry across to Bangar where we were met by our tour guides people and driven to the base of Bukit Patai, which was a steep walk up the hill to magnificent views.
One of the highlights on the way up was the wall here of layered rock wall. We were fascinated by it but our guide just wanted to walk on and on.
We found a rock that was encased in tree roots. It must have have been there for a very long time.
And finally we got to see the view. Wayne is talking with our guide about where we are in the world...what is which way and what is the other way. I was only interested in what I could see around and the views beyond. Then it was down the hill to the waiting van. After our walk we had the most enjoyable drink that I can remember - believe it or not - it was a can of cold coke.
Dinner that night was cooked in bamboo...sweet and sour fish, chicken and a fern along with rice and beef. We helped prepare the meal by putting it inside the bamboo. The hardest part was putting the pandang into the end to create a steam seal.
Not sure whether I was starving after our walk or that the food really did taste that great but we polished off most of the meal.
Around Trandie Marina (our homestay) were many different orchids. Above is a tiger orchid. Many of these orchid are attached to a tree and we were told that they find the plants floating down the river after floods and they catch them and create a show of them for the visitors that stay.
After a lovely sleep we were back up at 6.30 for breakfast and up the river at 7 by longboat and making our way to the beginning of the canopy walk. This was going to be a 1350 step climb to get to it. I was not looking forward to this but am so pleased that I did do it. It has been the best canopy walk we have done. It was not an easy walk but it wasn't too hard.
Here is Wayne on the first flight of staircases...it was like climbing stairs but they were like aluminium ladders that zig zagged up to the first level of the canopy walk. We climbed up about 12 of these ladders (following a tree all the way up) to reach the first walk of 60 metres and then it was another climb of a bout 8 ladders to the next 60 metre walk. After this walk we climbed the last 8 ladders to reach the top level. I wasn't game to climb any higher for the view but Wayne did.

you can see that I really did climb this. I must admit, it did take me a long time to climb down!
In the corner of this photo is Wayne looking up the climbing down tower. I guess we were about 60 to 80 metres off the ground.
On the way back to our homestay we stopped off to visit a waterfall. The walk was lovely and you could have been in any part of New Zealand with this walk. Unfortunately there was not much water flowing but Wayne was able to have a fish passage on his ankles and hands...no he didn't let them near his feet.
Finally we were back in Bandar Seri Bewagan where we had a short wander around and found a cafe that serves both local and western food.
For a few nights and days we certainly packed in many things but would love to go back again.

Saying goodbye to the family in the Coromandel was hard as we knew we wouldn't see them again till we are home next year. It was great to see the parents but also made us realise that they aren't getting any younger or fitter. We caught a plane down to wellington and and spent the night at Logan's hotel and then an early start to get the ferry across the sounds to meet up with Lloyd and Anna.

We rode all the way over inside as it was a bit rolly outside. We left Bradley in Wellington and picked up Logan. Logan slept all the way across, guess he must have had a good night at his works Christmas party! We had a small wait in Picton. We whiled the time away at a local cafe enjoying the seen and the view.

One of the highlights was to cycle our way to Renwick from Lloyd and Anna's house and visit a few wineries. Loogn was very keen to show us which ones we should visit and it was a lot of fun even though I was very tired at the end...think I had biked over 40 km's that day. My amazing packhorse had his backpack so we were able to purchase some quality wines.

Lloyd was very proud of his garden that he and Anna are growing. It did produce quite a variety of goodies for us to eat. We were most impressed with this.

I took time to take a photo of each or our boys in setting on their own without their knowledge. The photos show us exactly what they are like and it also shows them that we are very proud of them. Logan had picked this book up to read and didn't put it down until he had finished it.
Bradley was forever writing in his little notebook. He has a great talent for making words come alive.
Lloyd has finally found a passion that interests him and he is making the most of his studies to ensure he has a great career ahead of himself. it was wonderful to spend some quality time with both him and Anna and we are very proud that she wants to be part of our family.
Christmas day started with a champagne breakfast and then a walk down to the local river for the boys to have a swim in the water. It was a matter of the other two picking on the baby (although he is the biggest). It was fun to watch and see how these boys interact as adults considering how much they fought against each other as little guys.
Zena is still a well behaved dog and still delights in taking herself for a walk. We managed to take her a few times for one and were impressed that she had lost none of the training she had had as a puppy.
Anna is developing her skills of the fire poi and I even had a go. Was amazed at how hot it was while doing the twirling but also impressed that when the poi did hit you that you didn't actually get burnt, it just left a black mark on you.
Then it was back onto the ferry to Wellington where we spent our last few days before flying back to Singapore. No stop in Wellington is complete until you have been to visit Te Papa. This time round we saw the giant squid and were suitably impressed with it and the process that went into preserving it,
Our final photos were of the tui that were singing so beautifully in the trees on our walk back down Wadestown hill after visiting my uncle Dave.
Our trip home was not long enough but it did give us a good taste of home and some great quality time with the boys, and our extended family. it did make us realise that one day we will be back to live in New Zealand but also know that we are not quite ready to do it yet.