DAY 33 - Hong Kong (Day Two) 30/06/2005
Unfortunately our hotel had not been very helpful and we would not be able to get visas to go to China. We instead booked another half-day bus tour taking us to the New Territories. In was in the afternoon so we walked around the wharf area and had lunch at the YWCA (quite a flash hotel). We experienced more monsoon downpours and finally gave in and bought some cheap umbrellas. To think we went 30 days in wet Britain and never conceded to the rain. The monsoon caused accidents and made our bus run late.
The bus took us to see Kat Hing Wai, an old walled village housing the Tang Clan women, the banyan wishing trees and to the Chinese border. Again we were given a running commentary of life in the New Territories.
The temple was interesting, but unfortunately lots of do's and do
n'ts, including do bring your own toilet paper and don't wander over to the old ladies hostel. Which probably wasn't on the cards as a flash flood was happening.
The old walled village belonging to the Tang family was also interesting 
especially how they could possibly get their furniture in such small alley ways. (See photo below,( yes its still raining)) The old ladies pose for a photo when not playing cards and demand money, however I can’t see Women Weekly paying thousands for these models so we give the photo opportunity a miss.
The Banyan wishing tree is a no go because the weight of the oranges attached to the notes have caused the branches to break so now you peg them on a board for a small sum. Then when you are gone they recycle the oranges etc. and take the notes off the board for the next suckers.
The most interesting thing to Roger was going to the Chinese border.
We walked up a hill (in the rain) and looked out over the border to the large Chinese city of Shenzhen. This was fascinating to Roger who had stood there over 20 years ago and seen only rice fields, now these is a mega city full of high rises.
The bus then took us for the mandatory jewellery factory tour which we forfeited and slept in the van.
That night we ventured out and had a traditional Hong Kong meal at a slightly upmarket restaurant. The waitress didn't speak much English especially when it came to explaining the nibbles were straight chilli (fried).
The rest of the meal was great and we were only slightly embarrassed that we ordered entree for dessert. Nobody told us it was a Chinese style menu that you read back to front.
