Last day in Hong Kong

We had a really good nights sleep and got up for 7am to go on an island tour. After breakfast we were collected by a minibus and a tour guide called Michelle (definately not her real name). It took nearly an hour to get under the river to hong kong island and start the tour due to the traffic. According to Michelle rush hour goes from 7am in the morning till 10pm at night, they try hard to discourage car ownership by putting a 100% surcharge in new vehicles but it still is failing. Just to bore you but the HK economy is in such a good state they held a budget while we were out there and everyone was given money back in either months without paying taxes, hand outs and free rents!

Anyway away from the politics and back to the trip. We drove up the hills until we came to a tram station. We then took a tram up a hill side that Michelle assured us was a 27 degree angle but felt more like 90 degrees. It took about 10 minutes to reach the top, unfortunately it was foogy but still some amazing views as you will see from the pictures. What amazed us more at the top was a full shopping arcade, not just an odd shop but about 40-50 including a macdonalds. We could also see the china sea from the other side the peak.

From the peak we were taken to a harbour where the famous Jumbo floating restaurant is situated and the boat people live. We took a tour of the harbour. From there we were taken to a jewellery factory, if they were cheap prices then the real prices would be silly!

Finally we went down to the sea and walked around a local market and had lunch.

We arrived back at the hotel for 3pm and had to pack and be out the room for 4pm. We went for a long walk back around all the shops and side streets and again found another market (the one we couldn't find on the first night.) We bought a few bargains but most of the stuff was cheap or fake crap!

We got back to the hotel and dcided to try the hotel buffet, I am glad we had not found it before for two reasons, firstly it was very expensive but secondly because we would have put on stones in weight. It had italian, chinese, japanese, american etc.etc. It also had the most amazing dessert section, probably 40-50 desserts, including a chocolate fountain. We finally prized ourselves away and got ready to leave. Our airport transfer taxi arrived early and we set off to Hong Kong airport.

The airport was an airport we sat in the lounge and flew on time.

I am writing this from Brisbane airport, we have 6 hours to wait here, we had hoped to go into town and get our first feel of Aussie life but they wouldn't let us as we are transit passengers so instead here we are updating the blog and watching the world go by. Next stop New Zealand!!

Hong Kong day 2

Had a good nights sleep apart from being wide awake at 3am (thats the same as being at home!)

Alarm went off at 7am and we both fell back to sleep till 8am, we were going to do the gym oh well fitness will have to start in New Zealand. Went for breakfast which was amazing it caters for so many different tastes, you could have anything from a full rice meal, to bacon and eggs , to cakes and cookies. We went for the healthy fruit option.

We had booked a massage for each of us, well I have heard of people having massage experiences and I (andy) definately had one!!! A chinese mand walked all over my back and he wasn't the lightest person, he also had to stop half way through to cough his guts up! but at least he did wash his hands. We both felt much better after.

We walked to the ferry port and took the Star ferry to Hong Kong island, we then waled through all the tiny streets passed all the antique shops and along the worlds longest escalator till we got to an incense filled temple. We even lit some incense just to pollute the atmosphere some more. We took the tube back to the hotel for another afternoon siesta.

We were booked on around the harbour cruise in the evening, this was good but very chilly. As the sun went down and the lights went up the lights from all the buildings was amazing. We finished the trip just in time for the 8pm light and laser show.

We decided as were in China (well Hong Kong) that we should try the Peking Duck even though we are vegitarians, unfortunately it was very disappointing and the meal not as good as the previous night, but we can say we did it.

Back to the hotel for midnight. Tomorrow is transition day to New Zealand and we are on the road for nearly 24 hours so no more posts for a couple of days, probably be Sunday before you see something new.

A & C

Hong Kong

The journey has began after a very stressful and argumentative morning we were collected at 1pm and driven to the airport. A really good journey we arrived an hour earlier than expected. The great thing about business class is we could also drop our bags off early and enjoy the facilities of the lounge.

We had a glass of wine and a free lunch (does such a thing really exist?) and then explored the shops. We walked down to the plane and started chatting to a 79 year old man flying out on his own to then travel back for a month on the Aurora. Unfortunately he thought it would be his last trip due to the high cost of insurance but what a trip. We both said we hoped we were still travelling the world when 79 years of age.

The flight to Hong Kong was long but uneventful we both slept some of the way, watched a few films and drank the obligatory glass of champagne. We arrived at Hong Kong at 2.20pm, 8 hours ahead of the uk and was collected by a dirver in a merc. He drove us the 45 min trip to our hotel for 2 nights the Kowloon Shangri-La.

A really nice hotel we went straight to our room and although both felt so tired decided to stay up we went for a walk and went for lunch at a Susi bar, we had approx 6 dishes and total cost was nearly £4 (it costs that for 1 dish in You Sushi in Birmingham!).

We then went down the pool for a swim and a jacuzzi. When we returned to the room the maid had left a pot of china tea, you can see the basket in the pictures. We then decided to be brave and ventured out up the Nathen Road, the big shopping area. Apart from being stopped every 10 yards and asked if we want to buy a suit or fake watches it felt really safe. We were trying to find the street market but walked for miles without finding it.

We were feeling tired so decided to brave the underground system, wow how amazing is that, so clean and the trains are so long, must be 1/4 of a mile long.

Finally to finish the adventure we found a chinese restaurant (not hard in Hong Kong( and had a wonderful meal. We collapsed in to bed at 10.30pm a great first day.

The beginning or the end?

We have just returned from our trip to London and UPW 2008. One last sleep before the real travels begin!!!!!!!!

Going back to UPW where it all began two years ago seemed a bit strange, it was great to do the firewalk on Friday and all 8 of us (including Brian and Sarah, our accountant and his wife) came through it unscathed.

On the Saturday we went to a few sessions but then went into London for a meal.

On the Sunday only Carol and I went into transformation day and was really shocked and surprised, we got much more out of it than we thought. It was great to see really how far we have personally travelled over the last two years and what we have achieved. It was even better to set more goals and targets for the future. Tony, as usual was awesome and I am sure this was again a more spiritual day than previous events?

It was wonderful to meet up with Megan, Lee and Paulette from DWD group 36 (what a team!).

The Sunday night ended with a mass water fight being led by Tony himself. Carol and I got soaked as you can see from the photos. You can visit our online photo album follow the link to the right

The next post will be from Hong Kong

love and hugs

Why the trip

The story behind this trip goes back over 2 years when we were both introduced to the power and influence of Tony Robbins. If you know nothing of this man then go and visit http://www.tonyrobbins.com/ or ask us and we will lend you a book or DVD.
We attended one of his events called unleash the power within (UPW) with 10,000 other people at the Excel Centre in London. we knew little about what we were throwing ourselves into other than that the Friday night started with a walk across hot coals and we quite fancied that. I (andy) did say that you would not get me up dancing, yelling or hugging others like the Americans do -little did I know!
The fire walk was amazing and I (Andy) happily admit that weekend changed my life, without boring you with all the details it made me realised that the only limiting factor in my life was me and if I could conquer that i could do anything.
During the week they push an event called the mastery university which is a series of courses one of them being a course called life mastery. This is held in either Scotland or in Tony Robbins own resort in Fiji. We set ourselves the challenge that we would do it in Fiji but only when we could afford to travel business class all the way there and back.
Four years on, here we are and the trip is booked and paid for, but it has grown in size to the 6 weeks it now is.

To really go the full circle this blog will start with UPW 2008 at the Excel Centre in London with 10,000 others. On this occasion we are even taking a couple of our business partners with us,Tom and Pete (the P and T in P.A.T Electrical) http://www.patec.co.uk/. The conicidence was too much to miss it, we finish there on the Monday night and start travelling on the Tuesday to Hong Kong.

The adventure will take in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Fiji, where we wil do the life mastery course and then go on to do a brand new course called the oneness blessing https://www.onenessmovement.org/index.cfm?, this is the first time it has been held outside India and the new centre opens whilst we are their (again too much of a conincidence to miss). We then fly onto Sydney before going to Singapore and returning to the UK on the 9th April.

We hope you find it interesting , we wil try and update it regularly and put lots of photos on. We will have our computer with us everywhere and you can continue to emails us on andywest4@gmail.com or carolwestt66@gmail.com or post your comments on here.

Finally this seems the appropiate time to thank you all, our friends and family, without your support and you riding this rollercoaster with us this trip would still only be -just a dream.

Love
Andy & Carol