All with a pinch of salt...

On Friday I finally braved the fortune tellers of Temple Street and had a palm reading. The result that (apparently) I am very stubborn - I like to argue my side of a debate; I will have a career change at 28 (and apparently I will be at home in the world of finance); I like to travel, but as my travel line is faint I may prefer to stay at home; I will marry between 31-34 and have three children, two boys and a girl....

All taken with a pinch of salt and a healthy dose of raised eyebrow. It was certainly an experience that's for sure.

Prior to this most outrageous (or not) of occurrences was the long weekend thanks to the Mid-Autumn festival and National day. On Saturday we lit our lanterns:

Sunday was spent first glorying in the lie-in and the knowledge that there were three days of no work. Eventually I wended my way to Cheung Chau, a small Island near Lantau from which you can just see the power station on Lamma in the distance. There are no cars on Cheung Chau' (bar the ambulance-come-police-come-fire service vans that are as dinky as the island they are on. Cheung Chau is a lovely chilled island with more seafood than you can shake the proverbial stick at. You can hire bicycles on which you can ride round the island and see the caves, the rock carvings, the mini great wall and the multitude of temples. Having only done a fraction of these I will have to go back and do the rest.

Monday was a day of lazing and meandering that concluded in fireworks (loud according to the wee boy on his daddy's shoulders!):

And Tuesday was spent in my favourite of palces, Stanley!

One of the highlights was finding one of the throwbacks to British control:

Though this was a lovely weekend it has been tinged with tragedy. The ferry crash near Lamma Island on monday night has now claimed 39 lives and the latter half of the week was a period of national mourning. The light show was suspended out of respect for those who lost their lives and the shock is dissipating into a swift moving police investigation. Hong Kong is a place known for it's safety, it is rare to hear news of such disasters from here. Lets hope we don't hear of any more!