Hongkong to Cork, Ireland   24/8/2009         

Tai O, Hongkong

Tai O turned out to be very interesting. It is a genuine fishing village, full of stilted houses connected by a labyrinth of raised paths. It is a bit voyeuristic really, as you can see into most of the houses and in fact you actually walk through some of them. The people were very friendly and helpful, as were the people in Hong Kong, even though it is a busy, bustling city.

Blarney Castle.

Surprisingly, slept quite a bit on the 12hour flight from Hong Kong and after negotiating about 25 kilometres of corridors at Heathrow to the Air Lingus terminal, we finally arrived in Cork, Ireland.

Cork is a service town with some fine buildings remaining from it’s time of prosperity as butter exporters during the late 18th century. There is a fast flowing tidal river through the centre.

We visited Blarney Castle, 8 kilometres out of town - a very romantic ruin in lovely grounds. Declined to kiss the stone. We have enough blarney already!   Anyway, it‘s full of hundreds of years of other people's saliva.