Explosions by Emma

Yesterday we got the MTR (an underground train) over to Kowloon to go to some of the huge shopping malls that Hong Kong has. Only my Dad had any luck with buying anything. Megan and I had much more luck at the 'ladies market', where we bought some souvenirs and presents. The market was packed full of people. As we walked round, it felt like we were going round in circles, as lots of the stalls had the same things. I have learned to negotiate with the stall holders at markets, which has saved me lots of money. Don't try this at Tesco or Asda....it just won't work!! In the malls, there are lots of decorations for Chinese New Year. This is the start of the year of the horse.

Our friend Avinash said that he thinks I must have been born in the year of the monkey because he says I am like a cheeky monkey.

(The one on the right is the cheeky monkey!!) Later on, we headed to the Indian restaurant which Avinash had organised for us back on Hong Kong island. The man showed us to our table on the outside deck.

The lights from the skyscrapers were glowing and sparkling, and we could see right across to Victoria harbour, where the fireworks were going to be going off.

We had something to eat then went to stand at the edge of the deck to get the best view. At 8 o'clock, the fireworks started. We had to wait 17 hours to see the fireworks in Sydney, but the fireworks for Chinese New Year were much better. Did you know that the Chinese invented fireworks? You could tell they knew what they were doing!!! The fireworks went on for 20 minutes. My favourite ones were the ones that looked like flowers. Others looked like someone had thrown 1000 bags of glitter in the air; it looked like a big fruity burst of colour. Afterwards I closed my eyes, and I could still picture the fireworks.

We thought the fireworks were a great way to end our trip. When it was time to go, we said goodbye to Avinash, and headed back to our hotel. Today was awesome. We are just about to go the the airport to head for home. I feel sad that the trip is over, but I am also happy to be going back to see friends and family. I hope I remember this trip in the future. We have had a brilliant time; had some great adventures, and saw some amazing things- I feel very lucky. I have enjoyed having Megan with me; it wouldn't have been as much fun without her- we have had a 'lol' of a time. This will be my last blog entry.....for now!!!

Hong Kong - bye, bye big trip!!! (Megan)

Over the past four days, we have been in Hong Kong for Chinese New Year. This is like our new year celebrations, but it is the lunar new year. In Hong Kong there are loads of massive skyscrapers. There is a point where you can go up to the top of a mountain and see a huge chunk of Hong Kong. We got on a bus to take us up to the top, called the peak. As we sat on the top of the bus, I couldn't see the road, so I kept on thinking the bus was going to fall off the road. When we got to the top, we walked up to a viewing point.

There was some binoculars at the top, so when we looked through them we could see for miles. There was even a building that we zoomed in on, and we could see all the detail on it. The city was coated in an amazing coat of mist; it was so pretty. When we had finished looking at the view, we headed back to take the tram. It was a very steep hill to go down, and we were worried that the brakes would break. The views were breathtaking.

When we got to the bottom, there was a MASSIVE queue to get on a tram up to the peak. We visited a few shops on the way home. Whilst we were in Hong Kong, we kept on visiting our friend Avinash, so that night we went to an Italian restaurant with him. The next morning, we went on a walk to a place called Victoria Park.

There was loads of exercise machines, so Emma and I spent ages on them. There were quite a few statues in the park. Emma kept posing. :).

Once we had finished our walk, we met Avinash and and got on the star ferry to go to the mainland.

This is where the new year parade was going to be performed.

We headed over to get some dinner, and then went to wait for the parade to start. We got a very good spot. About 5 minutes before the parade started, some little floats came round. We kept on seeing the number eight. It is supposed to be a lucky number for the Chinese. There were lots of bright floats with loud music. They were very pretty. There were also dancers, musicians, people on stilts, and people juggling fire.

This year is the year of the horse. Once the parade had finished, we headed back to the hotel. As you may already know this was our last blog. I hope you have really enjoyed reading them. I am really sad to leave, but am really excited to be seeing everyone again. We have had an amazing time, and we've done lots of things that I will remember for the rest of my life.