I'm not sure why the anticipation of getting into a V8 car and onto a race track made me very nervous but it did. Maybe it was because I hadn't driven a manual for a while and stalling in front of onlookers would be extremely embarrassing or perhaps it was the fear that I would be driving like a geriatric compared to everyone else. 

Nevertheless, I turned up to the racetrack. Unfortunately, because it had been raining in the morning, there was quite a long delay as they needed to dry the track before getting through all the people that had been booked for the day. The waiting definitely wasn't good for the nerves. 

After a couple of hours, I finally got to the training room where an instructor would basically tell you what to expect. After telling you some basics, he showed us a map of the track and told us where to brake and what gear to be in at every point. It was a lot to remember and getting on the track was even more daunting.

Once the training session had finished, we were able to suit up. Then we had to pose for our photo in a staged car, which seemed very fake as it wasn't even the car that we were driving. We then had to choose whether we wanted to drive a Holden (the Australian version of Vauxhall or Opel) or a Ford. The rivalry between the car makes in Aus seems deep rooted. I ended up in the Holden line as it was much shorter and I didn't really care. 

 The car that I was to drive pulled in and I walked onto the track only to be greeted by a smug looking technician. "Nervous?", he asked. "Shut up", I thought. Then he managed to settle my nerves a little by telling me not to worry. He then helped me into the drivers seat and I found an extremely energetic instructor next to me. As I pulled away (without stalling), the tension lifted and as I realized that the instructor would scream instructions to me all the way through, it was pretty easy. Even easier than normal driving on the road as I didn't even have to look behind me as the instructor would do all of that.

Wan Chai
Although Wan Chai has a reputation for bars, clubs and nightlife in general, if you're in the market for computers or gaming, then this is the best place to come on the island. For computers, you have the Wan Chai Computer Centre and another cheaper computer mall at 298 Hennessy Road (just called 298). Be warned, a lot or piracy rings operate out of 298. For gaming, the shopping centre at 188 Wan Chai Road is your best bet and again, pirate shops (not the eye patch and parrot type) is prevalent there.

Causeway Bay
This is shopping heaven with shops for all tastes. Times Square situated at one end, with 9 floors of shops and 5 floors of restaurants (if my memory serves me correctly). You then have lots of ground floor shops around the whole district and Sogo, a huge Japanese department store. There are also more restaurants than you can count here. 

Now let's move on to Kowloon:

Tsim Sha Tsui
Very much like a combination of Central and Wan Chai, this can be seen as a luxury shopping district but with a seedy side too. There is a huge shopping arcade next to the Star Ferry, called Ocean Terminal which also leads into Harbour City where you can spend days if you wanted to visit every shop.

Mong Kok
A friend of mine once said that you could buy anything you wanted here, and I believe it. As soon as you arrive here, you'll be surrounded by shops and this is the home of the infamous Lady's and Jade Markets. If you want car accessories, this is the best place as well, around Nelson Road. There is a huge mall on Nathan Street just for phones and phone accessories. People also come here specifically to buy sports shoes as there is a street full of them. The best thing to do is to start at the junction of Sai Yeung Choi Street South and Argyle Street (exit D2 on the MTR) and walk down Sai Yeung Choi Street South. If you get sick of the heat, head over to Langham Place Shopping Centre, with a good selection of shops and restaurants.

There are other places you can shop but these are the main areas to get you started. I'm pretty sure that you'll be sick of shopping if you do them all in a short period of time. If you want more specific advice, leave me a comment and I will reply as best as I can, but for now all I can leave you with are my good luck wishes for you on your shopping expedition! ..and remember, if you forget to buy anything, there's always the airport!

Wan Chai, an infamous district in Hong Kong, is home to The Wanch, a small bar hidden in a back street. I've never been there on any night apart from a Monday, because it's only on Monday that they hold the open mic night. For those unfamiliar to the term, on this night, you can come with your band or whoever you want and take the stage for half an hour.

Although the equipment isn't the best, the crowd is always lively and the night is usually busy (albeit only with other bands and their friends) and it's always a laugh to get up on stage and perform. Make sure you get there early-ish to get your name on the board, otherwise you'll be waiting around for other bands to finish before getting your own turn (I failed to take this advice last time and didn't start playing until midnight).

I'm sure that there are other places in HK with open mic nights but the Wanch definitely has a lot of character and you're sure to have a blast doing a mini-performance there.

If stunt car driving, motorcycles, fire and Jeremy Clarkson is your thing, then this is definitely for you. Having watched many episodes of Top Gear on TV, the BBC team have managed to capture the magic of their show in a live environment.
From the moment, the lights went down, I was captivated! The show started with clever acted out live advertisements and then going on to stunt car driving and stunt motorcycles. The live show even incorporating some of the elements of it's television counterpart, such as a challenge of making a car. The team also came into the audience to make fun of Audi drivers. In fact, there was quite a high level of audience participation and, along with a pair of 3d glases, people were handed a sheet with 'hot and cold / left and right' sides that could be used to vote or drive a car on screen. The computer apparently being able to pick up the colour of the side of the sheet that the audience was showing. I did find this a bit gay but I give them an A for effort!

In under 10 minutes, my girlfriend and I were in wetsuits and snorkels and being led to the water. It wasn't quite what we expected as it was a large pool with murky green water in it. With some hesitation, we got into the freezing water with all the rays. The sharks were in the next pool and we thought we start off with what we thought would be the safer option.

It was definitely fascinating to have different types of rays come and brush past you. Once we were comfortable with the rays we went to the shark pool. We were told that the sharks wouldn't try to eat us unless it was feeding time. We weren't as brave in the shark pool and soon I got the man to start feeding time.

We were given gloves and tongs to feed the sharks, and we instructed to hold meet in the tongs and hold them just above the water. The sharks would then come up and suck the meat. We had to keep our hands out of the water so that they didn't suck up our fingers as well.

Following all of this, we finally got out of the pools, out of the wetsuits and dried off. The people had put on a barbeque and treated us to a lovely bbq fish and salad. It was quite an interesting experience and if you're in the vicinity, I would recommend it!

It was peaceful up there.. or it would had been if my girlfriend wasn't screaming in front of me. We were 80 feet in the air being dragged along by a boat, so I suppose it was an appropriate time for screaming. "Act tough, baby", she said between yells, to which I replied "you're the one that's screaming"! Hmm.. perhaps I was too.

We'd travelled down to Port Stephens for a weekend and Parasailing is something that Mel has always wanted to do. For me, I was still unconvinced, especially on an overcast day with spits of rain. Nevertheless, we were speeding off on a boat with 3 other couples. Soon we were far enough away from shore that leaping overboard and swimming back was not an option. We decided to go first and the crew threw the parasail into the wind as we were strapped into the harness and soon we slowly ascended into the sky.

The boat was soon a speck in the distance and I was contemplating whether or not we would survive if we fell into the water from that height. I tried to convince myself that we would be fine whilst vaguely recalling a "myth-busters" episode that proved the contrary.

Much to our relief, we were soon descending, although we found it odd that we weren't getting any closer to the boat. Then the realization that they were lowering us into the water dawned upon us. As our feet touched the water, that's when we really were screaming but the captain soon pulled the boat into full throttle and we were launched into the air once again. Haha.. very funny.. Captain.

We found the experience exhilirating and would recommend it. The worst part was waiting for everyone else to go as it was freezing on that boat. My advice.. do it on a sunny day and act tough, baby!!