Hong Kong and train to Beijing

The flight from Heathrow to Hong Kong was excellent so I would recommend Air New Zealand to anyone. It only took 20 minutes from getting off the aircraft until leaving the Airport on a bus to the hotel so everything here runs very efficiently.
The new airport at Lantau is amazing, very high ceiling with glass everywhere although it is much further away from the city than Kai Tak, the old airport which was virtually in the city. The last time we landed here back in ’92 we could see people hanging their washing out on their balconies as the aircraft came in to land.
I can only describe Hong Kong now as ‘MADNESS’, there must be three time the number of people on the streets as there was on our last visit. Imagine London streets on a busy day and multiply the number of people by three. The MTR needs to be good to handle the volume of people but I could never get used to this. We went on a Star Ferry harbour cruise which gave a bit of relief from the humidity of the city and then on to get the tram to the Peak. The queues were loooong so we gave it a miss as we had been there before. We celebrated my Birthday at a restaurant called Yung Kee which specialised in roast goose and we agreed it was absolutely delicious. Before we ordered they brought a dish of what appeared to be a peeled boiled egg but the white was a brown gelatinous substance and the yolk was black, it was accompanied by slices of pickled ginger.
We had decided to leave this purely on sight alone but were told by an American on the next table that it was a complimentary speciality of the house dish called a thousand year old egg and that they would not take your order until eaten. I would have taken a photo for you to fully appreciate this egg but was too embarrassed as the restaurant was full, I will try to get one off the Net. We decided to bite the bullet and eat it as quick as possible, I was not impressed but the ginger was OK.
The beer here is Toxic Waste so I won’t go any further.
Wednesday we went to the Po Lin Monastery where there is a giant Buddha at the top of 295 steps, Sheila was out of breath just looking up. We did, however, make it to the top after several rest stops and to prove it I have included a photo of Sheila on the way down (in the yellow T-shirt).
I am writing this on the train from Hong Kong to Beijing and we are 20 hours down the line. Trying to sleep on a train is nigh on impossible, the first 4 hours of alcohol induced sleep was OK but after that it was fitful. The scenery is excellent but with the compartment door open everyone just has to look in to see the foreigner working on a Laptop. The train itself is like a 4 star hotel with plush carpets and curtains, you have your own toilet and all bedding there is a boiling water dispenser at the end of the corridor for your Pot Noodle meals. We had a ‘meal’ in the restaurant car last night, chicken and mushroom and beef with black bean and chillies, not bad really and with beer at 50p a can who can complain. Nothing gets better than drinking G+T’s while listening to Pink Floyd and Dire Straits on an overnight train to Beijing. We are now looking forward to the arrival in Beijing West railway station and trying to get a Taxi to the hotel, luckily it is not that far away.