Day 5 - Hong Kong to Beijing

Have to head to the airport around 10:30, but had a little while before departure, so decided to check out the Flower Market and Bird Garden.

MTR down about 3 stations with no problems. Flower Market is really only a street that is lined with flower shops - nothing special to look at, but where at home could you buy a dozen roses for a few dollars?!

At the Bird Garden, locals bring their pet birds down in their cages, and hang them from hooks so the birds can catch up on the feathery news while their owners chat about human stuff, or so I am reliably informed.

Strolled back along Nathan Road for a few blocks, then caught a bus back.

Packed and checked out, just in time to get the shuttle bus to the Airport Express. We are very impressed with the public transport for the airport. At the Airport Express, you can check in for your flight, get seat allocation, and check your bags. You then travel by train to the Airport, and don't see your bags again until you arrive at your destination. Cost -about $Aud18 for the two of us.

Found our way through the airport without any problems, only to find our plane delayed for over an hour. Flight was fine, in at Beijing, cab to hotel. Only problem was that the driver didn't know our hotel, even though Errol had the name and address written in Chinese that the had printed from the net. Driver had the right street, but first stopped and tried to put us out blocks from the hotel - he had to ask another taxi driver for directions!

Did a quick freshen up, as we were now much later than we had hoped. Walked off down to check out the Night Food Market - famous for skewers of delicacies such as: scorpions, centipedes, silk worms, crickets, snake, plus many slightly more edible things. Suddenly we found we weren't that hungry. We had been given a meal on the plane about 4 - 4:30. At one stall the little scorpions were actually still wriggling........ Yuk!

Exhausted, shower, sleep.