Hong Kong and Macau

Hong Kong is a bustling city mixed with tall modern skyscrapers and old tenament buildings. It is also a lot more expensive than Beijing – comparable to New York City. Having to spend the equivalent of $40+USD on a meal rather than 40RMB was a bit shocking at first. While there are some cultural institutions like the Hong Kong Museum of Art, we did not do a whole lot here except shop and eat. Much like Singapore, the city is filled with shopping malls galore and restaurants. It was extremely commercialized, with huge, flashy signs everywhere. Many of the signs stick out perpendicular to the buildings so oftentimes, much of what you see is just a chaotic jumble of signs everywhere.

Qin and I stayed in Causeway Bay, a major shopping area on Hong Kong island. While waiting for her to arrive, I walked around and visited some of the more touristy sites on my own. I saw the Golden Bauhinia – a sculpture symbolizing the return of Hong Kong to China – by the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center along the waterfront, and St. John’s Cathedral. I also saw some of the old British colonial buildings on the island. Being a pedestrian in Hong Kong is very confusing. Besides the fact the streets are not straight, there are also a lot of pedestrian footbridges but it is not always clear how to get on to them or where they lead. In the Central area, the main business district, footbridges connect almost every building, and to get from point A to point B often requires going through buildings. It was so much easier to just follow Qin, who worked here for several months, and Malcolm, who is from Hong Kong.

Qin and I took the tram up to Victoria’s Peak for a view of the harbour on Friday. It was beautiful but a bit scary because you can actually see the layer of pollution in the distance from up there. Many people say that Hong Kong has gotten really polluted recently and rivals Beijing in that matter. We then went to Kowloon across the harbour where we shopped in Tsim Sha Tsui and Lady’s Street (where all the bustling street stalls are) in Mong Kok. At night, we walked along the promenade and then saw the sound and light show by the water. The buildings across the water had flashing lights that were coordinated to music. The new Batman movie was also being filmed but we did not actually see any of the film crews.

We ate at a Thai place for dinner one night (supposedly one of the best in Hong Kong), a local Cantonese restaurant called Zen for lunch on top of Victoria’s Peak the next day, and had sushi for dinner that night. Although everyone raves about the food in Hong Kong, I though the meals were good but not fabulous. We must not have been going to the right places. But seafood here was indeed extremely fresh. The Cantonese does not believe in eating dead seafood. It must be alive just prior to being cooked.

We went to Macau by ferry Saturday morning. The ferry was definitely no Staten Island ferry – instead, it was set up like an airplane on the inside with cushy assigned seats. We did not realize this and when we got to the terminal around 10:30, the next available ferry was at 2pm. So we walked around the Sheung Wan area of Hong Kong – the older and more traditional part. We meandered through Western Market and up little streets each specializing in a different dried good. There was a bird’s nest street, a dried ginseng street and even a dried seafood street. We shopped at the local candy store which carried different candies from all around the world. When we finally got on the ferry later, it got us to Macau in an hour. While the ride over was a breeze, customs was absolute chaos with long lines and angry hoards of shoving people so typical of China.

Macau is an even more interesting mix of new and old than Hong Kong. On the one hand, it is a World Heritage site filled with charming, old Portuguese colonial buildings and churches. On the other, it is also the most profitable gambling center in the world (the Chinese do love to gamble), filled with gaudy, mega-casinos. As such, Qin and I hoped on a shuttle and headed to the newly opened Venetian. The huge monstrosity (it’s got a man-made canal with gondolas!) joined a venerable group of already opened casinos like the Hotel and Casino Lisboa (truly hideous looking!), the Sands, and the Wynn with more along the way. Cotai Strip, the strip of land between Taipa Island and Coloane Island, where the Venetian is located, will soon become the new Las Vegas of the East. Multiple casinos are planned for both sides of the road that goes down Cotai Strip, including an underwater themed one, as well as several high-end hotels including the Four Seasons, the St. Regis and the Conrad.

We visited Taipa village where we sampled and purchased hand-made almond cookies that Macau is famous for. They are seriously absolutely amazing – they just melt on your tongue. Definitely just as good as the box Kelly gave me when she visited Macau earlier this year. We also tried some of the other little cakes and pastries – all were really yummy. We ate Portuguese food at a little Portuguese restaurant in the village for dinner, then headed to the Westin where we were staying at the tip of Coloane Island. The resort is beautiful but relatively far from everything.

Qin left early the next morning but I walked around Macau peninsula to see the main sites, including the Ruins of St. Paul. Although the streets curved every which way up and down little hills, it was impossible to get lost since at every street corner, there were signs pointing out how to get to each of the sites. I loved the beautiful colonial buildings although it was too early so I did not get to go inside any of them.

A ferry ride took me directly to Hong Kong International Airport later that afternoon, where I did not even have to go through Hong Kong Customs. They had little mini-check-in areas for all the airlines where they had your boarding passes waiting for you. It was so amazingly efficient. I left and came back to a cold, foggy Beijing, and no hot water again. It was so nice and warm down south…