Instead of talking about my essentials for December, I am going to review what I was up to. For the first half, I had uni and exams (worst time ever) and the second half was spent in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong's transport system isn't much different from London's but it is a bit better (air con on buses and trains, yes!) and more punctual. They use an 'Octopus card' as a travel card and it isn't dissimilar to the Oyster card we use in London. Hong Kong were using the Octopus long before London started using the Oyster though!
This Octopus card ended up being quite essential during my two-week stay.
During the flight there, we flew over a part of China that was really beautiful:
I promise that the above picture was taken over China and not over another part of the world!
The airport had some amazing Christmas decorations:
As did an area of Tsim Sha Tsui:
Here was the view across the harbour while I waited for a Star Ferry:
Hong Kong is quite often seen as a financial hub with many tall and shiny buildings but where my dad is from, it is really quite rural and has an authentic 'village' feel to it. On one of the days, we had a vegetarian brunch with my mum's side of the family and the next two pictures show the area that we had the brunch at. It was a really amazing and beautiful area.
I will do a post on some of the food I had whilst I was in Hong Kong but until then, here is another picture of the same area. Can you see some high rise buildings in the far distance? I loved how tranquil this place was (it's called Ping Che for anyone who is interested).
In complete contrast to the village areas of Hong Kong, Harbour City Shopping Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui had a few 'observation decks'. I took advantage of one of them to take this picture:
And so it was, two weeks passed by really quickly. I saw a lot of family and friends and apart from the ridiculously cold weather (it felt like it was colder than the UK!), I had an amazing time. With there being an uncertainty as to when I'll next be able to visit (holidays will be scarce for the next four years for me) and as I hadn't been back since the summer of 2009, it was nice to be able to see some familiar faces and places.
On the last day, we had breakfast at the airport:
And before we knew it, it was time to head to the gate where I snagged myself a window seat in order to take this picture. The shadows in the background are actually mountains and although it looks very bright and sunny, it was still quite deceivingly cold that day!
Whilst on the flight back to the UK, I opened my window to a view of the sunset:
All in all, my December was hectic and I felt exhausted after it all (but in a good way!). Not only did I see a lot of people and eat a lot, I also had the pleasure of attending a wedding of my cousin's daughter. It was truly an amazing night and I will most likely blog about the food at the very least (a Chinese wedding banquet is very different to one a Western one).