Zo Zoree M,sieu

As you can see by the date above, it is two weeks since this Blog has been updated. I am thankful to the staff of the Abbey for allowing me the time on their computer. We applied for our mobile phone and internet connection on 26 Apr. The phone was organised immediately. The internet through France Telecom has been a different matter."About a week" they said. We went into Carcassone yesterday, 6 May, to be greeted by a Gallic shrug and upturned palms " I am zoree M,sieu, per'aps een one weeek....eet eez ze technician you zee". Well, we shall have to just wait and see. To catch up a little then:

Sun 23 Apr.

An early morning start to find our way to the YMCA in downtown Hong Kong to begin our 'Land Between' tour. The New Territories lie between the Kowloon Hills and the boundary with mainland China. Over a centruy ago, this area was entirely rural. It still has a rural look and beauty about it yet it is an enormously diverse suburbia full of contrasts blending traditional customs and modern ideas. Our first stop was the Yuen Yuen Institute which is a very large complex of temples representing Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist contributions to society. A lot of worship and incense burning was going on but to us, the most dramatic was the main temple where the three statues sit side by side. If only Western religions could worship side by side, even within the one religion, the world would be a better place. On now to Tai Mo Shan, Hong Kong's highest mountain which, we are assured, provides great views of the city. It was very misty however, the real excitement was a wedding party with the bride in a traditional red outfit. As we came down from the mountain we passed the old British barracks now manned by the very soldierly looking Red Army military. We visited the 'Fanling Walled Village'. It was an extremely overcrowded affair with streets (?) less than a metre wide. Surprisingly, most of the tenants cars parked outside were Meredes, Volvos, Lexus etc. Were we missing something here? Ancestor worship is practised here and complete houses are set aside as ancestral halls. A little further on we saw the boundary town of Shau Tau Kok on the Chinese mainland. Over the mountains and on our way back we saw the Bride's Pool Falls and the Sam Mun Tsai fish farming zone where the farmers live on the boats under which the fish breed in cages. This very worthwhile tour culminated with an excellent banquet in a restaurant overlooking the racecourse.

Before we leave Hong Kong I have to say I was too harsh on our accomodation. The staff were first class, the food good and the room was clean. At the price we paid we got a good deal. Better, I think than the many thousands of Chinese who live on an average wage of $11,000 HKD per month and whose extended families share heavily subsidised one room government apartments of around 15 sq mtrs. With no social security system, life for many in this ostensibly prosperous city is demanding.

We hoped that our British Airways flight to Heathrow would provide better than the Qantas effort from Australia. It was worse! The drama of getting my earphone adaptor proved unnessary as BA planes have a single plug connection... grrr. After 12 hours flying we arrived in England.

Mon 24 Apr.

No airport at 0540 looks good but to be honest, the efficiency with baggage collection, immigration and customs was excellent, as it was also at Hong Kong. No long waits anywhere. We caught a bus to Gatwick and spent 9 hours in the BA equivalent of the Qantas Club before our BA flight to Toulouse where we arrived at 1600. The pick up of our brand new Citroen Picasso was uneventful and overnight at the very comfortable Sofitel Toulouse was very welcome.