03:00 is a godforsaken hour, and it's raining, freezing rain! blown on a thin, searchingly cold wind that steals through our ridiculously thin coats and chills us just as it blows sheets of cold rain into our faces as we wait to get on t6he 03:45 shuttle to the airport.  The desk clerk at the hotel, flawlessly polite, tells us

"your shuttle is arrived" and bows deeply and does not lift her head until we are out of sight, I doubt we'll encounter such service standards again, anywhere.

Haneda airport is........another bloody airport, Hong Kong express, another bloody airline, it's cold on the aircraft, despite there being food on offer we've bought a couple of sarnies which we eat and try to catch up in some ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ's

Hong Kong looks vast in the approach, the airport seems ruthlessly efficient and we're spat out of the immigration process and over to a shuttle bus desk in minutes, then led to our bus for a transfer that takes over an hour as we negotiate an endless gridlock of traffic.

Well! the hotel room is really nice, we actually have a great view across the bay to Kowloon from the room and compared to Japanese hotels the room itself is really big.  On the other hand after all of 6-7 hours away from japan I already miss an electronically warmed toilet seat, which plays music or rounds of applause before washing your nether regions with warm water and drying them with warm air dryers, I doubt I will ever be truly happy again!

We've plunged out into the mealstrom that is Hong Kong.  It's huge, baffling, noisy, very exciting.  Blundering across the town in search of some memory cards for the phone we stumble through endless markets and Malls, cutting through endless streams of people.  Mission accomplished we get some dinner and give the hotel bar happy hour a try. As usual, over priced and therefore devoid of atmosphere, we give up and get an early night.

We're using t6he metro to get around.  armed with a fare card which we top up, like oyster in london we actually find the underground  a breeze after the experiences in Japan, tokyo kyoto and osaka to name just 3 of the more horrific.

The tram up to victoria peak is a must and the views from the summit are incredible.  Across the city to Ngong Ping, a huge cable car which frankly doesn't pay you back for the interminable queuing made worse by an insistence on selling a thousand different vouchers all of which need a new queue!  Across to Kowkloon for cocktails in, apparently, the highest open air bar in the world.  118 floors up (an ear popping 100 floors in 60 seconds in the 1st elevator) it is a simply staggering place.  Our waiter is from Surrey (Dave) and he knows we're winging it amongst all the beautiful young things, he makes sure we get our $HK160 pints of Kronenberg! and we sit and watch Hong Kong light up.

With Hong Kong you actually don't need to go to any "sights" the place is the attraction.  I, never in my life, truly expected to take the Star ferry from Hong Kong to Kowloon.  We make the return ttrip 3 or 4 times over our 3 days here and each time it's such a joy.  Pulling out into that huge, huge harbour surrounded by every kind of seacraft from junks to super tankers to huge cruise liners, all the bustle and brashness of life mirrored on that amazing strip of water.  I love, love, love it!

Every night Hong Kong stages a music and light show at 8pm.  The incredible array of sky scrapers, the ships and sky are a canvas for lasers, spotlights and lighting effects on a mind boggling scale.  The approach of Christmas has done no harm to the inspiration behind the displays as buildings are wrapped in paper, opened to reveal gifts, sprout christmas trees or santa, with sleigh, glides across one tower block after another in perfect silhouette.

So confident are we now in our ability to cross the metropolis that we refuse all offers of shuttles and transfers from the hotel and take the trains across Honk Kong to the airport for our flight to Hanoi.  It's been a whistle stop tour and in truth we'd like to have stayed a little longer.  While it's a frantic place, it's pretty well organised.  For myself, I'd happily cross the harbour on the star twice a day for a week or so and not get bored.