Diary Entry March 26th 2007: Hong Kong

Arrived in Hong Kong. Brad and son Zack picked us up from the airport. Went home to their pad which is very nice with green scenery all around. Had a little nap before dinner as I was exhausted. Thai airways seats were very uncomfortable and couldn't find THE spot to get good sleep.
Muscat to Karachi: 1.50mins
Karachi to Bangkok: 5 hrs
Bangkok to Hong Kong: 3 hrs Very long uncomfortable flight, hated it.
Brad is an old friend of Alex's from back in flying school and Alex was the best man at their wedding. First time I've met Brad and Rhonda. Super couple with three adorable kids. Very smart and disciplined kids. Zack however is very active and is a rugby player in the making.
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27th March 2007
Went for a ride on the cable car up to see the biggest outdoor buddha. Beautiful views from up there and it was a long nice ride. 60% of Hong Kong is reserved so it's very green though one can see the sky scrapers on the other side of the island.
We also went into a monastery temple with statues made of gold. Amazing how the decorations were all made out of shining gold and beautiful orchids in pots all around the statues. I didn't find out whether the orchid had any symbolic meaning.
Afterwards we parted ways with Rhonda and Zack while Brad took us to the Stanley markets. We found out our team got in this morning to their hotel. Brad showed us the rugby jersey store which had jerseys for different teams for a reasonable price. We bought some Samoan jerseys for our nephews at home. We bought a few things around the shops which was value for money really. Some nice things there. We went to the hotel to meet our team to say hi and wish them luck for the games. We were invited by the manager to come to a function in which the Samoan delegation would be at a day later. After seeing the boys we went to dinner at a Mongolian restaurant down town which was really nice. They had good food. One could choose from raw meat, seafood, veges and different sauces and then the chefs cooked them up. So if one chose wisely one got a nice meal otherwise it was a chunk of something or other! I chose safely should I say so had a lovely meal and ate lots of seafood and pork!! Went home from there tired from the long adventurous day.

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