Hong Kong & an afternoon in Macau

First of all, Macau.

What stuck in mind? One word, casinos. They're not all located on a strip like in Vegas (I've never been to Vegas but that's what I imagined them to be) though. Macau is divided into three major islands; Macau, Taipa and Coloane, which are connected by man-made bridges and the casinos are mostly located in Macau and Taipa. Coloane is more like the quieter side of the three.

All the casinos are built inside unified complexes, huge ones, which houses the casinos, hotel rooms, food courts and shops.

I stayed in The Venetian, which was built to emulate Venice, as you may have guessed. The resemblance is uncanny! They have St Mark's Square, the canals, the gondolas, Ponte Rialto. The only differences are the air-conditioning and when I was in Venice I don't remember seeing outdoor food courts and Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Burberry and Chanel shops when walking from the Rialto Bridge through the escalator to St Mark's Square. Oh the water was crystal clear and didn't smell. *sarcastic rant ends here*

My friend took me around and showed me some other casino hotels; Wynn, MGM Grand and Galaxy. They're alright. She also took me to the Ruins of St Paul's Church. It was cool on many levels. I was told that they actually tried rebuilding the church ten times and every single time, it burned down. Maybe God doesn't like a church being built in a casino-infested territory? So after the tenth time, they stopped trying to rebuild the church but the facade never got burned down. It is now the symbol of Macau. Amen.

Food? The most famous snack is Lord Stow's Bakery's egg tart and I swear it was the best egg tart I've ever tasted. I'm not usually a fan of egg tarts but I was hooked on this one. My friend also took me to a Chinese Macanese restaurant for dinner and so I don't forget, the name of the place is Cafe Litoral, located really close to Galaxy. If you do want to go in the weekends, book ahead. It's pretty popular.

Ferry ride to and from Hong Kong was effortless. It took an hour each way though.

One more thing, the currency is Macau Pataca, abbreviated MOP. Where did the 'O' come from though? Shouldn't it be MCP or MPT or MPC? Here's the thing, HK$ is received everywhere in Macau (usually with a 1:1 exchange rate) but the MOP is only good in Macau. You can exchange it for HK$ but they will charge currency exchange rates. Cheeky! So make sure you spend all your Patacas before going back to Hong Kong.

So I was back in Hong Kong.

Note to self: don't visit Hong Kong (and Macau) in winter for photography. White skies and foggy days.

The whole MTR experience was awesome. First of all, the tap card system works. The Octopus Card works very well, it's cheap and you can even use it to shop in 7 Elevens. Trains run on time and I never not get 3G. Sometimes it would turn to 2G but most of the time anywhere underground I'd still get 3G. My only complaint is that the gates are too small for me with my sling bag on the side, but again I am considered XL in Hong Kong. Oh, and whenever you're on the escalator anywhere, the lazy line (my line) is on the right hand side, and they have this fascination of holding the handrails, so make sure you hold on tight.

I think my hotel has all-day housekeeping in action. No matter what time of day I past through the corridors, I'd always find their carts lurking around.

I met Bruce Lee at the Avenue of the Stars. It was just a statue but I met him, and fortunately he didn't kick my ass.

A Symphony of Lights is on every night at 8PM. Yes it's free. Come early, the promenade fills up really quickly.

The trip to Lantau Island was definitely memorable, not so much in a good way but still memorable. I started quite late that day and didn't expect it to be raining. MTR ride took about a half hour then it took me some time to figure out where the bus stop was. I asked somebody inside but was only told it was outside. Some help huh? The bus ride was an hour but didn't feel that long, maybe it was the winding road so we kept on turning all the time. When I got to the Tian Tan Buddha (it was big, no, huge!) it was raining hard and I was forced to buy an umbrella. Then it was challenging. On one hand I had to hold an umbrella and on the other hand I had to hold my camera because I couldn't just let my camera hang around to get wet not to mention taking photos and zooming in and out. I think I spent maybe an hour and a half at the Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery. So I got to the bus stop only to have to wait for another half hour because the current bus was full. Then it was another hour back to Tung Chung and another half hour back to Tsim Sha Tsui.

I also went temple-hopping. Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin - Tin Hau - Man Mo. The first one, a lot of fortune telling from a chim (bamboo stick shaken out of the box). The second was quite small and I wasn't allowed to take photos inside, so I stepped outside and snapped the inside. The last one was, for me, the most impressive and the hardest for me to find even though I have the power of Google Maps in my hands. It had millions (ok I'm exaggerating, but there was a lot) of coiling incense inside and I snapped like there's no tomorrow. Tried the beef brisket noodle soup at Kau Kee as recommended by a friend. I will come back again someday to try it with rice noodles and the curry one.

A visit to The Peak was disappointing. It was foggy! The Peak Tram was cool though. On the way back, it went backwards at a 45-degree angle.

I also spent some time just wandering around in Central and at one point I was just walking to the Ferry Terminal because I thought I might be able to get a glimpse of the junk boat with the red sails and everything. I was quite tired at that point and was standing at an intersection waiting for the red light to turn green when I turned to the left. The new Apple Store! Once the red light turned green, I went to the middle of the road, snapped it, and walked away just in time before the light turned red again. So I got to the Central Pier and wanted to have a look at the junk boat but couldn't find it, then I went up to the observation deck and I was at the ferry pier going to Tsim Sha Tsui which is where I was staying. So I tapped my Octopus Card and a minute later I was crossing the peninsula and reached my hotel in 10 minutes instead of walking all the way back to the MTR station.

Also explored the markets (not really). Flower market, bird market and goldfish market. All in Mong Kok. I really liked the bird market, the other two were so so.

What I loved most of all: Hong Kong's dusk, the crowds, the food (which I eat a lot of them in Melbourne, especially the congee and wonton noodles), the neon lights and the old Shanghai feel.

I'll come back again someday, some summer days.

Photos are online at my Flickr and also, if you want to have a look at some photos from my recent Bali trip, click here.

more travels

I haven't blogged and posted my recent trip to Bali. Not because I don't want to but because I didn't really like how the photos turned out to be.

On the upside, I will be flying to Hong Kong and Macau this coming weekend, so hopefully the photos would turn out to be awesome.

Stay tuned.