USA / Canada ... Nearly didn't make it....

Well I had a close call this morning. I hadn't even made it to the driveway and I slipped and fell quite hard onto my elbow and hip. Was nearly under my car! I feel quite jarred but let me assure you.... it took me less than 3 seconds to assess the damage and confirm I would be fine to fly! Fingers crossed thats the most damage we get.

HK - in retrospect

Well I'm only 6 months late... but I would like to add a few images from our last trip to Hong Kong. I was too busy at the time, having fun, to post while we were there. On the night the Rugby 7's finished, Mark's parents John & Jan arrived for a few days with us in Hong Kong. It was a treat to have this time away with them. This is their first morning stroll not far from our hotel.

Mark has always been fascinated with the amount of stock the little stores there hold. He sent John in onto this hardware store pretext of finding a philips head screwdriver. He had luck within about 4 mins.

We headed over to the mainland from HK island to Mongkok. Besides the usual street markets selling clothes, handbags etc, we also went to the morning food markets. This one even had a stall selling frogs for eating.

Not too far from Mongkok was the Chi Lin Nunnery and Monastery with the Nan Lian Gardens. I had always been keen to see them and had not managed it on previous visits. The buildings were reconstructed around 1990 having been damaged by fire. The craftsmanship of the timber was incredible. There were no screws or nails. Just interlocking timber pieces.

The gardens were quite extensive and very beautiful. We ate lunch in a restaurant that was situated under a waterfall.

We went to Macau again as J & J hadn't been before. It was good to have had the few days there earlier so we knew the lay of the land. One of the foyers in the Venetian hotel. Can you spot Mark, J & J on the balcony?

Jan is a fan of Venice and gondolas. I may have 'pressured' them into this ride, but I know they enjoyed it in the end.

Then it was time for a drink. So we headed to the Ritz Carlton bar. Its located on the 102nd floor of the ICC building. We did a big launch there for work in 2007 so I was quite familiar with the precinct. The hotel itself occupies the top 20 or so floors and the bars have the most incredible views over Victoria Harbour to HK island.

On our last day we went to check our the view from The Peak, which is on HK island and just above our hotel.

Mark & I headed out one night for a late night drink in Lan Kwai Fong. We were watching the passing parade and discussing the joys of traveling and how we wanted to see as much while we could. The bar we were at put out this sign around 11:30pm. With a couple of drinks under our belt we firstly read it as Seniors hour. So Mark jumped up for a photo, only to realise later that it didn't read Seniors after all.