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It’s a shock to the system to say the least.

Returning from the Sun in Sydney and Australia and the erratic sunshine in Hong Kong.

I returned to a glorious day , I thought wrongly heralding the start of Spring and then overnight , snow.

What’s that all about ?

All good things come to an end and I would like to say thanks to all my wonderful hosts throughout this whole journey. In no particular order.

Dave Ward & Family

HKH & Family – After many years of badgering I made it.
If I ever win the lottery , I want a coffee machine like yours.
Cheers Big Guy , good luck with the next step of the journey. I’ve never been to India.

Guy – The Third Brother

The DYRMS Class Of 1985 Sydney Massive.
Lawrence , Julie & Max K
Kevin & The Family S

Kato San – The Scuba Ninja – The Legend

Alex B – The God That Started It All Off – Nic & Finn

Thomas K – The Funniest German I’ve Ever Met – Fact

Other mentions must go to HKLand for hosting me at the HK7’s , CBRE for ‘ The Naive Zebra Jungle Theme Party ‘ , KPMG , Gavin Hastings , Victor Ebugu and numerous other Rugby celebs who took the time to say hi.

Martin for hosting the best seafood party @ his magnificent restaurants on Jumbo.

Cathy F , all too brief.

Peace Out.

 

 

For Jason And Family

The Monastery was initially a small temple constructed by three buddhists in 1924.

Tian Tan Buddha is a large bronze statue of the Buddha, completed in 1993, and located at Ngong Ping, Lantau Island, in Hong Kong.

Also known as the Big Buddha, it is the world’s tallest outdoor seated bronze Buddha.

The statue is located near Po Lin Monastery and symbolizes the harmonious relationship between man and nature, people and religion.

It is a major center of Buddhism in Hong Kong, and is also a popular tourist attraction.

The statue is named Tian Tan Buddha because its base is a model of the Altar of Heaven or Earthly Mount of Tian Tan, the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.

It is one of the five large Buddha statues in China.

The Buddha statue sits on a lotus throne on top of a three-platform altar.

It is surrounded by eight smaller bronze statues representing gods or immortals.

The Buddha is 34 meters high, weighs 250 tonnes, and was the world’s tallest outdoor bronze seated Buddha prior to 2007.

It reputedly can even be seen as far away as Macau on a clear day.

visitors have to climb 268 steps in order to reach the Buddha, though the site also features a small winding road to the Buddha for vehicles to accommodate the handicapped.

The Tian Tan Buddha appears serene and dignified.

His right hand is raised, representing the removal of affliction.

His left hand rests on his lap in a gesture of giving (dhana).

The Buddha faces north which is unique among the great Buddha statues. (All others face South.)

In addition there are 3 floors at the bottom of Buddha: The Hall of Universe, The Hall of Benevolent Merit and The Hall of Remembrance.

One of the most renowned features inside is a relic of Sakyamuni, consisting of some of his alleged cremated remains.

There is a huge carved bell inscribed with images of Buddhas in the show room.

It was designed to ring every seven minutes, 108 times a day, symbolizing the release of 108 kinds of human vexations.

For Jason And Family

Stanley is a town and a tourist attraction in Hong Kong, China.

It is a peninsula on the southeastern part of Hong Kong Island.

It is east of Repulse Bay and west of Shek O, adjacent to Chung Hom Kok. Administratively, it is part of the Southern District.

The proper Chek Chue refers to the village town but Stanley generally refers to all the surrounding areas of the peninsula after the beginning of British rule and native Cantonese name Chek Chue became synonym to Stanley.

Legend has it that the notorious pirate Cheung Po Tsai was active in Stanley. That is why the district became known in Chinese as Chek Chue (local dialect for Bandit’s Post).

There was once a Cheung Po Tsai Cave near the Tin Hau Temple west of Stanley, but the cave was filled in the early 1950s.

After the annexation of Hong Kong in 1842, the British made Stanley the temporary administrative centre, before moving it to the newly founded Victoria City (present day Central) on the north shore of Hong Kong Island.

Stanley was the location where British and Canadian troops made their last stand before surrendering to Japanese troops during the Battle of Hong Kong in December 1941. Stanley Fort, the former British barracks in Stanley, is now occupied by the People’s Liberation Army.

This change followed the handover of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China in 1997.

it’s like the Masque of the Red Death…..As the markets swoon and jobs are lost, the carousing goes on.The demographics of Hong Kong have been skewed over the past week with an influx of middle-aged white men – virtual strangers for the rest of the year who have been making token, and extremely brief, appearances in their local offices. Many have creatively concocted business trips that coincide with the rugby event.

At the preliminary rugby dinners earlier in the week, Hong Kongers were mortified at the sight of 40-something gweilo gentlemen dancing together, singing along with pride to It’s Raining Men, in ebullient displays of bonhomie usually confined to the more bohemian districts of San Francisco.

To the Stadium….where getting in was worse than entering the former Iron Curtain. The gestapo working as front-house security were binning inflatable plastic hands that kids were trying to bring in, with no more explanation than “No, no, NO!”. Shame on you Hong Kong Stadium for making kids cry. It’s not illegal for children in a free society to carry an inflatable hand – irrespective of the slogan it carries.

The executive level greeted us with a flourish of themes, costumes and freebie handouts, but making our way between the investment bank boxes we also got a feeling that the party was somewhat apparently less rowdy than in previous years.

Perhaps this had something to do with the fact that the coveted box passes were harder than usual to come by and that some boxes were only possible to get into if you were lucky enough to be on a pre-determined guest list[ Like Me ….. ].

For people in the outdoor areas of the boxes, the absence of Sweet Caroline in between the games may also have played a role as there appeared to be less spontaneous dancing and singing going on this year.

Inexplicably this long-term crowd favourite was played only once in two days.  

Whilst at the HK 7’s I bumped into my old boss from the training team on holiday watching the HK7’s.  

Just For Junya – The Nihon Team doing Sumo

Big Dilemma In This Match :Who Do You Support ? – As a Brit V.Hard

The fella dressed as a chicken of course , this was one of just 1000’s of outfits , photographers dream , I decided to watch rugby instead.Alas it was over too soon but I saw the hallowed ground that Chris Redman made his own .

2 Hours to get through customs immigration and get to HKH House , but nevertheless I’m here.

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