Hong Kong and Macau

2nd trip - Hong Kong
The only reason I wasn't in tears when Libby left (the last of the St Kilda crew) was the knowledge that I would be seeing Ken soon, one of the first St Kildarians that left us in Melbourne.

On arrival in Hong Kong Simon and I were greeted by Eva (another St Kilda buddy) which was a huge surprise as we thought she had returned home to Hungary. We all stayed with Ken's family, they have an awesome apartment in the mid-levels and a terrific view of the city.
On the first night it was Ken's parents 30th wedding anniversary and they were so nice to invite us out to dinner at a lovely restaurant. On this night I had my first experience with Mango bao, a hongkee desert. So yum!
We took the ferry to have a look at the city by night, and returned home to catch up on lost time. We played mahjong til 5.30 in the morning, hoping to catch the sunrise but no luck. By this time we were being ridiculous and went to bed.
Throughout our stay, the WTO meetings were taking place in Hong Kong and we tried hard to get a good view of the demonstrations but the security was too tight. Fair enough tho, it seemed pretty dangerous on TV! We did manage to glimpse tame demonstrations in the city centre, with the Korean farmers playing drums and singing songs.
Bulan (also a St Kildarian) joined us from Singapore over the weekend which was excellent. She was almost as excited as Simon about the yumcha.
One night we were joined by Yowie, an old friend from IH Melbourne for dinner. That night we went to Lamma Island by ferry and had a seafood meal...it was YUMMMM.... The last time I saw Yowie before HK was 2 years ago in Singapore. Who knows when we'll meet next!

Basically the whole time we were in Hong Kong, we ate yum cha, frequented desert houses, played mahjong, hung out with friends, and went shopping.

3rd trip - Macau
Before Bulan arrived, Ken, Eva, Simon and I went to Macau for the day. Didn't really have too high expectations besides Portugese food and casinos. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Macau is actually a lot more than just casinos and working girls. We managed to see the sights, visit the casino that started it all in Macau, see some girls at work, eat more, and chill out.