Hong Kong for Joss' Graduation

As most of you know Joss completed the final units of her degree at Macquarie whilst studying in Tokyo at Sophia University. This meant that during the year we were living in Tokyo her graduation ceremony would take place. Not wanting to miss her graduation but with a return trip to Sydney not terribly appealing, Joss did some investigation and found out that she could graduate in Hong Kong. This meant she would be able to make the graduation, with the added bonus of being able to have a long weekend Hong Kong (HK). Joss' parents Jan and

Grant also made the trip over.

Thursday night (8th) we caught a flight to HK, and we made our way to our temporary home for 4 days: Butteryfly on Morrison at Causeway Bay. After arriving quite late we headed out to grab some grub. First impressions of HK: hot! And the food even hotter! We stumbled across an alley way with tables and chairs set up at midnight with heaps of locals eating cheap but tasty food. Being a bit daring we tucked into some local style prawns, which ultimately ended up swimming in chilli before being devoured.

Picture from our hotel room - although not taken during the night we arrived obviously

Friday (9th) was spent getting acquainted with HK and picking up some very stylish robes for Joss. After some tasty air conditioned lunch we headed on the ferry to Kowloon for a bit of wandering and window shopping. After returning back to our trusty hotel we headed out to dinner at Red Pepper, a lonely planet recommendation that was close by. The food was delicious, and despite what one might expect, the food was at a palatable level of spicy (Joss' parents can also agree).

On the way to the hotel we stopped off for a drink at a nice outdoor bar in Causeway Bay.

Dinner at Red Pepper

Saturday (10th) we were greeted with what the locals must say was a lovely morning, but what visitors like us could only describe as bloody hot (PM: in fact i would use more expletives but this is a PG rated blog). However we battled on and headed up to The Peak for a sticky beak (and a drink). For those who have witnessed the views there is not much else to say as you know how impressive it is, for those who haven't have a look at the photos, although they still don't do it justice.

The view from the top of the peak

And us, just to prove we were really there

After a relaxing visit to the Peak, we got ourselves together for a night time cruise around the harbour to see HK's impressively show off at night with a coordinated light show. It was an hour or so cruise with some

spectacular sights, again refer to the photos. After the night cruise we went to a local dumpling restaurant close to our accommodation for yet another great meal, this time at Jan and Grant's recommendation.

The lights of HK

Sunday (11th) brought to us the main event - Joss' graduation at the Grant Hyatt ballroom, a very impressive venue for a graduation! It has to be mentioned also that Joss was the only Caucasian person donning a cape, and the last to graduate! Afterwards we headed for some celebratory drinks and dinner. (Although it has to be mentioned that we tried to make it celebratory drinks with yum cha, but arrived just as the yum cha was finishing, much to our frustration!)

Before the ceremony

Joss with old mate

Drinks after the big ceremony

Monday (12th) was our final day and we finally got to do some yum cha at the airport. It was a branch of a famous yum cha restaurant from HK city. It was of course delicious and a great way to finish off a busy and exciting weekend.

Egg tarts with birds nest (the nest is essentially sparrow spit), which tasted like a sweet jelly.