Last day in Hong Kong

Well it had to come - our last day in Hong Kong.

I gave Thibault some time to himself by heading off to the National Museum in the morning. My wait for the Tube in the morning would be so much more tolerable if the view was the same as from the Star Ferry waiting to cross to Kowloon.

 Admittedly the ferry probably is a bit busier at 8am than 10am

 A damp start to the day - the clouds were visible coming down over the mountains

The museum was bit of a disappointment. The main exhibition was about Chinese artists in the 20th century going to France. Essentially to my eye they fell into two groups. Those who painted still in a Chinese idiom, and those who painted just like the French. In addition to standard galleries they mocked up a Paris cafe, which was quite a nice twist.

Much of the rest of the place seemed to be between exhibitions. They seemed to have a lot more in store than on display. And the air-conditioning was again quite vicious.

Oddly while I was there a school outing appeared, but from some school for the mentally handicapped. This seemed somewhat bizarre as the kids showed no interest in any of the exhibits (kids of any sort rarely do) and their one-to one minders spent most of the time either trying to keep them quiet or prevent them rolling around on the floor.

Anyway, not a patch on Shanghai Museum.

 So that left me to await Thibault for lunch, taking in the views of course. No hardship there.

After our final lunch together it was off to our final bit of sightseeing - The National History Museum. A bit of a hike to reach this, but some decent gardens on the way to relieve the heat and struggle  on the pavements.

This not very prepossessing edifice contained the museum. Don't be put off by the exterior. The interior covers the history of the colony, from prehistoric to modern day. Its very interesting. Honest. Lots of variety in presentation. Top marks.

 Even covers natural history.

 We returned to the hotel to enjoy our last night doing something suitably decadent. When we booked the hotel I think we were both swung a bit by the rooftop swimming pool. It just felt so decadent to go for a swim on the 30th floor with the sun going down over the city. In all honesty, this was another of my holiday highlights. Thibault and I just seemed to have a nice chat about life, the universe and everything while cooling off (well actually the water was so warm I am not sure we cooled much), the city spreading out below. Just brilliant. A nice way to spend our last night - well along with dinner afterwards back along the bay, at a Korean restaurant - my first Korean meal - followed by a beer at one of the bars in this lively district near Central. Made me realise how lucky I was. How many other 50 year-olds enjoy this?

So that only left departure from Hong Kong's spacious (and scenic) airport, and the end of a wonderful holiday.