This morning saw Nick and I sleeping in (again!) late and rising for breakfast.  We honestly had every intention of waking up early and making the most of the day, but this is not what happened ha ha.

Instead, we were breakfasting at 9am to one of the most impressive breakfast buffets we have ever had the pleasure of enjoying.

The best buffet is still safely the Park Hyatt in Melbourne. The Cordis honestly had more variety but the quality was ever so slightly lower than the Park Hyatt’s offering. The ambience was also slightly more hectic and felt a little less sophisticated when compared to the Park Hyatt.

Now, before you think I found it lacking, I honestly didn’t!! This was attested to by my incredibly greedy inhalation of 3 plates.  The first I had was a plate of mixed cold cuts and fruit.  I then moved onto an offering of pancakes (my weakness – they had a machine which made little pancakes for my consumption) with a side of french toast.  I finished up with a slice of banana bread and a muffin.  Pretty disgraceful of me!

However, Nick, my darling Nick, as always had to upstage me.  He started off with a bowl of cereal, followed by a plate of hot breakfast foods like scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon etc, followed by a plate of fruit, pastries and cold cuts and then topped off by a plate of pancakes and hashbrowns.  That’s my man.

Now, before you completely disown us for our gluttony, we planned very much to use breakfast to get us through to dinner with maybe a small snack in the late afternoon. After all our redolent days lately, we had also decided to to get some physical activity in today and hence needed to fuel the machines!

Our plan today was to tackle Dragon’s Back hiking trail. All up, its about a 9km hike though its a very easy trail.  There were a few stairs (my nemesis!) but not so many that it took away from the stunning vistas the trail offered us.

We saw some great views of the city and the beach where we would eventually exit. Along the way, we saw some really cool little streams and Nick made a new lizard friend. We also saw a giant centipede on our travels though the picture might not be great to show him off – he was about the length of my wrist to elbow.  Would not be a happy camper if you found him in your bed.

Once we exited the trail, we found ourselves at a smaller village section of Big Wave Beach.  Here Nick took a little bit of a swim to cool down after the very hot and sweaty walk.  Cause I didn’t listen to my husband (who told me to bring my bathers) I had to sit on the beach in my t-shirt and jeans cooling down by sitting still.  I was completely jealous of him at this time.

We headed home soon after this.  Pro-tip for travellers to this area.  Don’t be sucked in by the offer of a mini-bus to get you from Big Wave Beach to the nearest MRT station. The minibuses looked cramped and hot and at HKD$12/pp a complete rip off.  Wait for the local bus to come.  Its air-conditioned, completely comfortable and at HKD$7/pp a much better option. It also comes every 15 minutes so its not like you have to wait ages.  The minibus has to be filled up before they leave and the bus that was offered to us was still empty as we were boarding the local bus.

We did stop to grab a small bite to eat before we headed back to the hotel but this was just a sushi pack that we shared along with a custard cream bun.  We also had an icy cold ginger beer to share which really hit the spot.  We ate these in our hotel room before gearing up again to head up to the poolside where Nick swum a few more laps and I enjoyed the poolside spa jacuzzi.

After this, I was really keen to check out the sauna and steam rooms.  These are gender segregated so we agreed that I would come and meet Nick downstairs again in our room after we had tried these out.  We correctly guessed that I would take longer than Nick.

I hated the sauna – the dry heat really made my skin feel tight.  By comparison, the steam room was exactly my cup of tea.  The wet heat made my skin feel moist and happy while the air felt like it was opening my sinuses.  I stayed in there for a good long while – two women came and went while I was still in there, soaking up the heat.  After this, I had a nice cold shower in the change room and then headed back down to meet Nick.

At this point, it was almost 7pm so we decided to go out for dinner. We had elected the night’s cuisine as being dim sum. Nick had found a place which offered an interesting variety of foods.

On the way, Nick was stricken with disaster as one of his trusty thongs broke.  It was literally ruined, the toe piece had just snapped and there was no way for him to walk in them.  Just as we were fearing he would have to walk barefoot on the street (a prospect that I was NOT okay with!) a lovely gentleman in a business suit approached us and, explaining he had seen Nick’s mishap, offered us a shoelace to hold the thong together temporarily.  This turned out to be a godsend and we were able to very rudimentally tie the shoe back together.  Nick could walk (slowly) and we luckily found a place not too far away to replace his shoes.

Dinner was a nice affair with lots of interesting food. I liked the pressed turnip cakes and the BBQ pork buns.  Nick also loved the BBQ pork buns and surprisingly, we both liked the dessert which were mango custard rolls.  A cold mango custard rolled in a sweet pancake with a chunk of mango in the centre.  The outside of the roll was covered in shredded coconut.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to turn in for the night.

Tomorrow, culture and another tour! Some museum and park sight seeing and then in the afternoon an exploration of the region’s speciality foods. Hope you’re as excited as we are!