We have been tour guides and hotel operators since last Monday evening when we met Mr Shallot’s mum, brother, our sister-in-law and their three children at the airport.

Aside from the Christmas festivities and a bbq, we’ve been to Disneyland, numerous markets (including Temple Street, Stanley, a wet and a computer market) explored Central, Causeway Bay, Admiralty, Wan Chai, the Peak, the largest seated bronze buddah in the world, and probably a few other places too that I just can’t remember right now.

For Christmas we bought the smallest turkey that we could find which fed ten people and still has given us an additional lunch and dinner. Unfortunately I was unable to find glace cherries so there was no trifle for this year’s dessert. We didn’t miss out on pavlova or pudding though.

Each night, Mr Shallot and his brother have been sitting down for their deep and meaningfuls intercepted with bouts of laughter which tends to result in not a lot of sleep, sore lungs / cheeks and a hangover. It’s made it a bit of a challenge for them on the following days with the early starts and the amount of walking that we’ve been doing.

Tomorrow afternoon we’ll again have an empty house waiting for our next houseguest – one of the best women. She’ll be here in late Jan / early Feb.

That is just enough time for me to catch up on some rest!