Hong Kong - out the bus window -17th Oct. 2007

Images above were taken out of the bus window as we were touring around:
Tall buildings/air conditioners/side street/the bay/Hong Kong "Happy Valley" Race Track/the dead centre.

Hong Kong - Royal Plaza Hotel- 17 Oct. 2007

Today we left Mission Hills Resort for Shenzen where we caught the train to Hong Kong. Some of the group had been to Hong Kong before so opted to spend the day at Shenzen shopping. The rest of us followed Ben like a flock of little sheep.

Ben bought our train tickets and showed us how to fill out our departure from Shenzen declaration form (one side of the railway station) and our arrival declaration form to Hong Kong (the other side of the railway station). It feels very strange to have to do this in such a small space but we believe that the purpose of the exercise is to control who can and cannot enter Hong Kong.

Along the way Peter bought a plastic tennis racquet for Ben to hold up so that we could follow him through the crowds. (On closer inspection it turned out to be a battery charged electronic fly zapper).

We travelled on the train to Hong Kong and all managed to get off at the right station. Ben walked us to the Royal Plaza Hotel which was our Hong Kong base for the day.

There we met up with our Hong Kong guide and our tour bus that was to take us on our city tour.

Mission Hills Dinner -16th October 2007

After a nice day of golf on the David Duvall course we had time to return to the resort and check into our rooms. We were able to unpack our cases for the four day stop over at the resort. Some of us had a relax in our spacious rooms, others went for a massage before dinner.

We all met at the Garden Terrace Restaurant for dinner (by day it is the breakfast and lunch room at the resort). We were able to order 'western' style meals there and the steak was a popular choice after all the chinese meals we had since we arrived. We followed that up with delicious deserts and washed it all down with some beer and wine.

Ben was unwell with a stomach virus and was unable to do a presentation to the golf winners. We had a good night anyway & were looking forward to our day in Hong Kong the next day.


Images: Wal & Doug (having a beer for Wally Johnston they told me); part of the group at dinner; deserts; Ron & Di with their deserts.

Mission Hills Resort - our room 16th October 2007

After golf today we went back to the resort to book into our rooms.

We were scattered on various levels of the resort, but quite a few of us were on the swimming pool level which had a lot of renovations happening while we were there. That was unfortunate with the noise and paint & adhesive smells with the workers on the job 24 hours a day. The pool area was closed while that was happening. We were allowed to use the Members pool in lieu.

The rooms must be next for renovations as some of the rooms were musty. Ray & Wendy needed to change rooms as their room was effected by a problem with the air conditioning. The upper levels seemed to be okay.

Our room was quite large (see image attached) and had a balcony overlooking the Ernie Ells course which surrounds the resort. They also play night golf there and it is flood lit at night.

Images attached: The bedroom with twin double beds and a large bathroom. Very comfortable rooms.

David Duval Course, Mission Hills-16th Oct 2007

Today we played the David Duvall Course at Mission Hills. It was a beautiful course, not as difficult as Hillview but challenging all the same. Most of us had improved scores and really enjoyed the day. As you can see by the images the weather was quite clear and warm.

Our top scorers were Peter 38, Des 37, Robyn 36 and Doug 35.

Arthur had a par on the 4th; Jan Walker had two pars; Kay's caddie thanked her; Ben had an Eagle & also had to play in a pink shirt as he formed part of the girls team. It was a girls vs boys day and the boys won.

Images attached:

In the golf carts getting ready to go out on the course in the correct order;
The boys hitting off the first tee; various photos of the course; me with my caddie 'Judy' at the end of the day; Wendy, Georgina and myself, at the clubhouse getting ready to play; display to advertise the World Cup competition on show at the Clubhouse.

Leaving Sofitel Resort - 16th October 2007

Ben & Tony led us to the bus kicking & screaming. None of us really wanted to leave the resort. The only saving grace was the enticement of playing golf on the "David Duval" course at Mission Hills which was on our schedule for today.

Presentation night - 15th October 2007

Tonight Ben & Tony took us to a local restaurant for dinner. We had a presentation to the winners of today's players of the Hillview Course. Rod Fell had the best men's score of the day, the best men's team: Peter, Rod, Trevor & Warren. The mixed: Peter, Fay, Ray & Arthur.

Images attached:
The winners at presentation; some of us at dinner;our waitresses who were facinated with the camera and wanted their picture taken.

Entries in my journal for today: From the girl's shopping day - Margaret sat in the front seat of the taxi and told him how to drive them to the shopping centre; Maureen said that two young men said hello and a mother and daughter admired their blonde hair & fair skin; Margaret Andrews bought her own chopsticks; Di Beechey packed two odd shoes.