It is Sunday and this afternoon we check out at 12 o'clock and we have to come back to the hotel at 6 o'clock to be picked up for the airport. Our flight is at 10.30 actually.

I've got a cold and after a slight work out in the pool talking to a lecturer from Cleveland who is hosting students on a study tour of China. I then decided to catch a bus into the harbour in Kowloon and it was interesting because I knew which bus to catch but didn't have to pay the driver because I mucked around so much with the currency he let me get on for free.   I got off at the last stop and then I was bewildered by the shops it was like an airport transit area in Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok with all that designer shops everywhere.  There were promotions of this and that with lots of Chinese people with flyers to give you and they just ignored  the old lady on a walking stick. There was a stand among the other displays which had a large JW prominent.  One lady gave me a sweet smile.   I guess that she knew that I knew what the JW stood for.   I decided to go to the shops because I thought it would be more cosmopolitan I guess it was but not how I thought.  I wanted a chemist shop (or a pharmacy or drugs), a banana and hopefully a toilet.  Well I asked information for the pharmacy he didn't know what I meant so I went through the list and eventually he asked his colleague and she said Watsons.  He had no idea what I wanted but must have thought I was an alcoholic.  He told me me to go to  the second floor and I found Watsons. I thought that I  was lost in translation as it was a wine shop.   I went back downstairs and couldn't see any signs to the toilet no fruit shops of course because it was all Sony  and Toshiba and Samsung and Gucci and all the rest of it.    I went outside and turned right, away from the harbour and the berthed princess liner and there was a Watsons that was like our Priceline or Chemist Warehouse.  I went in and the pharmacist didn't really want to hear my explanation of going to the bottle shop and I explained my situation and decided to get a mask for the the plane.   I don't think I'm contagious but I don't want to catch anything else because my mouth is open all the time. I've bought 10 apparently and lozenges for the cough.    I wanted some Vicks or some eucalyptus but of course I knew I wasn't in Australia so I went back and they found the pharmacist again and I  settled for Tiger Balm.  I remembered years ago when I was in Singapore they said it was like Vicks.
I gave up looking for bananas and toilets! I walked past all the activity seeing the occasional white tourist.  Passing a model dressed as a bride finding the perfect stop for a photo.   Past the girls in lacy dresses and shopping bags.

There was a police presence in one area as I think a politician had just left.  There were barricades and journalists.     I was trying to catch the bus back at this stage. There were buses everywhere at the terminal I saw the 721 I wanted so I followed it and suddenly I was going down an under pass.   I went back to the bus terminal. I saw a sign that said visitors centre and I walked and it didn't appear.  I went past the Jehovah's witnesses again and found the tourist bureau the assistant had a tablet and she looked it up and yes the 721 did go to Metropark hotel and yes this is where you catch it.  No you don't have to go down the underpass.    Yes you have to go this way and this is what the building looks like when you catch the bus and it was all on her little tablet wow.  I know I should have called a taxi as  by this time I was exhausted.  But it was the principle of things.   I caught the bus and the driver couldn't understand what I wanted the lady behind me helped me and she said it's 12 dollars or 15 dollars and I had 10 and fumbled for change.   She said to put the 10 in his shute and find a seat.  She said that he knew I had short changed him. She told him where I wanted to go and that he would stop for me. It was a fair distance and he stopped and shouted out but I'm sitting there unaware because I can't see any signs of my hotel.  She came charging up to me.... this is your stop... so I got out and sure enough it was just a few few streets away so that was enough for 1 day.  However my cold got freshened up in the rain I think.   I got really cold. But eventually warmed up. It's all good though.  

You're not allowed to turn the aircon off  and Wendy adapted it for me.   I had layers on and my beanie  all night.  I had some chicken soup for dinner and slept quite well and today is another day.

Wendy and David caught a taxi to the ferry terminal and a ferry across to the waterworld.  That has pandas and different water displays and activities.   So they had a lovely time and they got back about an hour after I did.

I think they had made the right decision as they had had an experience the night before going into Kowloon with the hotel bus, but the bus wouldn't pick them up on the way home!  So they decided that they would just go by taxi and not try to get the bus.

 I wasn't offered the shuttle bus when I went up to the desk I was told to just catch the bus and I said what if I get lost you should get a taxi then.   Wendy and David did the right thing but today is another day.

 I'm hoping to go to SoGo today, my favourite shop in Singapore when I went there once and hopefully Kowloon park in the few hours while I'm waiting for the shuttle bus to the airport.