After all the arranging and planning to meet this old friend of Vickie's, I ended up cancelling with her. I met my two friends later on that day and they were leaving the following morning. They had bought me a flight and I really had no choice but to get on that plane. I hope I can get a refund for the bargain deal I had managed to grab in Hanoi. What a bother!!! We had booked our flight with Royal Brunei Air....Who?!!!! Okay, so it is one of the wealthiest and smallest countries in the world but the airplane?? Sounded a tad dodgy to me! What about their saftety record??? Forgetting about our forthcoming flight, we took a ferry across to the island and then a bus to Victoria Peak for a view of the city. It was quite spectacular.

Hong Kong....A T-shirt in one of the night markets said it all... THE BIGGEST CHINESE TAKEAWAY!!! The handover countdown wrecked my head to be honest. I thought it would never arrive...the blasted day. Newspapers went to town on it all. CNN had a great few weeks of playtime out of it. Tourists went in their hordes...record breaking numbers all getting to HK before the chinese made their mark on the place. People talked about Hong Kongers rushing to get out. Democracy was under threat!! But the day passed and so far the only things making their mark are the empty hotel rooms and restaurants. Tourists are staying away, no longer interested. The official Tourist Organisation concocted a ONE HUNDRED DAYS OF WONDER...different concerts and events every day during the 100 days after the handover.Well, as one tour official said, "It's turning into the hundred days of disaster after disaster!" So that's the lowdown on HK!! YOU need to be rich to have a good time of it! NOT a budgeting, backpacking, moneywatching person like myself. I got the hell out before they got my credit card out. It is a shoppers dream of all dreams. As they say - if you can't find it in HK, you don't need it.

The following morning we were bound for Brunei en route to Bali. The flight was grand although we were a bit nervous when they said a prayer before lift off. A strict Muslim country is Brunei. Alcohol is strictly forbidden. No freebies on this flight. After a boring three hour stopover in Brunei, we arrived in Bali, Indonesia. SUN, SAND and SURF!!!! My time is up here, I'll get back to you soon. I'm really enjoying life as a beach bum but tomorrow we leave for a mountain region to do some climbing and check out a volcano or two!!!!

Hope I won't fall in.!!

Take care,
Ita