Tea in China, stumbling around Temple Street Night Market and a Hong Kong hang over hike

My very good friend Kay arrived in Hong Kong on Thursday. I enjoyed catching up after six months of time had passed. Kay has spent the past six months in the Philippines working on a community project in the jungle. We grew up in the same town and met while at Alton College, almost 10 years ago. We have been through so many life changes together, from raving in a field/warehouse to university and then career, flat sharing and finally reuniting in Hong Kong.

We headed to a wet market in North Point for dinner. The wet markets of Hong Kong are bustling places, tables of people filling a large warehouse type building. Everyone eating and sharing local food. The atmosphere is electric, loud and hectic. We headed back to Happy Valley, via the 7/11 to buy some wine to settle into an evening of catching up. We swapped stories of the past six months, shared photos and memories.

Waking up with a slightly sore head, we headed to the Museum of Tea Ware in Hong Kong Park. Kay and I have shared many a cup of tea together putting the world to rights and sharing much needed support and friendship over the past 10 years. The tea museum was interesting and showed that life just wouldn't be the same without a decent cuppa. China and England have built empires from this basic tradition of a good brew. I truly believe EVERYTHING can be sorted out over a decent natter and a cuppa.

We headed to the walk through aviary which was an enclosed area resembling a rainforest with walk ways through the trees, a little Swiss Family Robinson. Kay even had a lucky present from one of the birds.

We headed back to Admiralty to catch the tram back to Wan Chai. The tram stops in Hong Kong, specifically at Admiralty are quite a challenge to get to. They are in the centre of the main roads, presenting a problem of how to access them without risking your life on the road. You have to learn to look up in Hong Kong, something that doesn't come naturally to a country girl like myself. In order to reach a place directly in front of you, you have to negotiate a rather complex stairs, shopping mall, escalator type situation. Going against all logic.

We stopped for some dan dan la mian at Crystal Jade's where the food is fantastic value for money and of very high quality. From here we took a slight detour to Ikea, so I could buy some bedding for my new apartment. Here we purchased some Ikea cider and 70% dark chocolate. We settled on the roof terrace once we arrived back at the apartment in Happy Valley and nattered away.

We headed to the night market at Temple Street to buy some tat. This market is full of tat, souvenirs, tat and some more tat. Not the most advised place to go after a few beers. The random purchasing began and continued with the speed to match the beer consumption. We stopped for some food on the street, and another (very unnecessary) beer. After spending way over both of our budgets, on totally and completely unnecessary tat we headed back home around midnight, deciding that the following day plans were now limited to a walk and packing and not much else.

We woke up and decided that a good hike was what we both needed. Some fresh air, get the heart racing and to see what the countryside of Hong Kong has to offer. We headed up to Jardine's Look Out, my new favourite place in HK and somewhere I will take each and every one of my visitors. From Jardine's look out we headed to Violet Hill, another huge climb up thousands of steps. The views are spectacular. After hiking for over three hours we took the wrong path and where we thought we were going to end up, we didn't. We saw our destination from the mountainside come and then go. Unsure of how much further we could possible manage, in the glaring mid day sun. Both of us forgetting to put on sun screen may I add, and swiftly running out of water.

We found a path that took us down to the road where we could catch a bus back into the city. After five hours of hiking we were on a bus, burnt to a crisp beetroot colour and exhausted. A good effort, with a good friend in the mountains of Hong Kong.