Hong Kong and Macau

Remember that time I went to Hong Kong? Never forget. That was good times. Finally getting around to talking about it!

So I really wanted a vacation. I considered Okinawa and Thailand and Hong Kong, and decided on Hong Kong because I've wanted to go there for ages, it has a Disney park, I know someone there, and I thought - as lovely as Okinawa would be - that I should travel in Asia outside Japan. Best decision ever! Hong Kong was incredible!

To fly cheaply, I ended up having a long day of travel. Left super early to get one of the first trains, which ended up being unnecessary as the train I needed to get to the airport didn't start running until a bit later, so I sat in the transfer station for ages. And then got through ticketing and security and immigration super fast so had a lot of time to sit around in Narita as well. Slept a lot on my flight to Taiwan where I had some hours to kill in the Taipei airport. I was not impressed! The area where I was seemed dirty and super ghetto.

Was much more impressed with the Hong Kong airport which is gorgeous and, like, everything you want an airport to be. Transport in Hong Kong is really easy (and really cheap!), so figuring out the trains I needed to get to my hotel was no problem. I stayed in Yau Ma Tei, which isn't a glamourous neighborhood, but which was super convenient. My hotel (Dorsett Seaview Hotel) was much nicer than I had expected! The Temple Street night market was a block away and the Tin Hau Temple was across the street. I was so exhausted my first night that I just ended up getting a sandwich from 7-Eleven and crashing.

The next day I went to Disneyland! Hong Kong Disneyland is so small! Like, adorably so. The castle is a little baby castle! So cute! They're in process of expanding, but at the moment, you could probably hit every attraction twice in a day and still have time left over (the lands they have are Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, and Main Street). I loved it though. It reminded me of California a lot, especially when I first walked in. It just felt lovely and familiar. I really enjoyed Space Mountain, the Festival of the Lion King show, and Small World (they have the Disney character additions which I hadn't seen yet as we don't have them in Tokyo - I was so skeptical about that addition, but I ended up quite liking it). And the merchandise! The merchandise was amazing, so much better than what we have in Tokyo. It was also fantastic to be there during the 5th anniversary so I could enjoy special merchandise and parade and decorations. The castle was especially lovely at night with a special illumination thing. It was just a lovely Disney day!

The next day I took a glass-bottomed cable car to Ngong Ping on Lantau Island. So touristy, but that was fine! What I wanted to do there was visit the Tian Tan Buddha and eat at the Po Lin Monastery, and I did both. The Buddha is very big (34 meters tall) and very bronze and at the top of a very long flight of stairs (268 steps). He's also a pretty recent Buddha, completed in 1993. I spent a lot of time up there, enjoying how serene and peaceful he was, having a look in the museum below him, and looking at the lovely view. Afterwards I went down to the monastery. The temples at the monastery were beautiful and my favorite that I visited (I love temples in Japan, but I wasn't actually very fond of most of the ones I visited in Hong Kong and Macau - they were beautiful, but the incense was overwhelming). But the main reason I went there was to go to their vegetarian restaurant. It's a set meal (although you have a choice of regular or premium; I chose the second which meant I got their specialty mushroom soup instead of soup of the day), and it's amaaaaazing. The soup was some of the best I've ever had, and everything else was just super fresh and simple and delicious. There was no way I could finish it all, so I had the great pleasure of boxing it up and having Chinese take-out in China! Wandered around the touristy shops after, enjoyed some gelato (really lovely since it was a super hot day), then headed back to the gondola. There was an outlet mall near the train station, so I did some shopping before heading back to my hotel.

I spent the next two days with my friend Emma. It was nice to see her and so nice to have a local to show me around! I went so many places I wouldn't have gone on my own. We ate a lot of super delicious food - before I went, everyone who had been there told me how amazing Hong Kong food was, and they were right - and super randomly went to the air and space museum and had some photoshoots and did karaoke and took ferries across the harbour and went to the Peak. I was so happy the Peak worked out! My first two days in Hong Kong were sunny, but it was pretty cloudy and rainy the rest of the trip. We'd intended to go the first day I met her, but we couldn't even see the Peak because of the clouds, so it wasn't worth it. Luckily it cleared up the next afternoon! We went up during the day and came down when it was dark, so we could enjoy the gorgeous city view both ways!

I fully intended to go to Macau the next day, but that ended up being super fail when I got a slower start than I meant to, got distracted by Jackie Chan-related things once I got to the station I needed, and got a bit confused about where the ferry terminal was. Gave up and just had a wander around Central and Tsim Sha Tsui, went back to the hotel and enjoyed room service, and then went shopping in Mong Kok later. It was a relaxing day, which was actually probably good after being super busy every other day.

Succeeded in going to Macau the day after (my last day there). Macau was so interesting, but I wish I'd had more time! It took about an hour by ferry to get there and ages to get through immigration because it was super crowded. Once I got through, transportation was confusing and it's so touristy and loads of dodgy dudes are trying to get your attention. Did not enjoy! Took a free shuttle to the MGM Grand and then set off walking away from the Vegas-y area. There were a few walking tours in my guidebook, and I picked one that looked interesting. And it was! Once I got away from the casinos, it was still pretty touristy. But so cool! Macau was a Portuguese colony until 1999 and, like Hong Kong, is a special administrative region. The architecture! There are gorgeous churches (I especially liked St. Dominic's) and so many of the buildings look so European, but the Chinese language is everywhere (there's a lot of Portuguese writing, but almost no one speaks it). It's a fascinating juxtaposition. Eventually I got away from the touristy areas for a bit; it was nice to see other neighborhoods! Really enjoyed eating egg tarts, which are pretty famous in Macau. Visited A-Ma Temple, a Taoist temple, which was beautiful but, again, had too much incense! Had an adventure getting back to the ferry terminal! It would have been a really long walk, so I decided to take a bus. However, English is not so prevalent in Macau. Particularly outside the touristy areas and especially not on the buses. Because of my Spanish knowledge, I was able to understand the Portuguese well enough to figure out which bus I needed, but it turned out to be going the wrong direction and I ended up at the border with mainland China instead of the ferry terminal! Oops! Got on the right bus and ended up in the right place. Had some dinner and headed back to Hong Kong. I got a premium ticket for the ferry which meant that I was upstairs instead of down, I got free juice before boarding, free water when I boarded, and free beer (super glam Pabst Blue Ribbon, haha) during the trip. Could've had free food as well, but I'd just eaten. Did a bit of shopping in Tsim Sha Tsui when I got back and enjoyed the nighttime harbor view one last time before heading back to the hotel and trying to fit all my souvenirs in my suitcase!

Went to the airport early so I could have lots of time for shopping and breakfast. Had PROPER BREAKFAST. Hash browns and eggs! Amazing! One of the (many) things I loved about Hong Kong was how I could find every kind of food I can't find in Tokyo. Stores too! If only Hong Kong had Target, it would be pretty much perfect.

Was so sad to leave! Had another layover in Taipei, this time in a really lovely part of the airport, so I was left with a much more favorable impression of Taiwan than the first time through! Got to Narita too late to get the train I wanted, so ended up having a frustrating time getting home. Took aaaaaages.

Anyway, I still miss Hong Kong! I loved everything about it! It's just a lovely place. There are so many islands and green bits and it's gorgeous, and then the really urban bits are just so cool. So many buildings are so tall, and it's beautiful at night. And there are places to sit everywhere! And rubbish bins! Two things that are difficult to find in Tokyo. The shopping was so good (and cheap!) and the food was so good (and cheap!) and the transportation was so good (and cheap!). And people were so nice. And, although it was kind of culture shocky at first - I kept wanting to speak Japanese as it has become my language of being-out-in-shops-and-such - it was pretty nice to speak English everywhere. I just really loved the Hong Kong atmosphere. It's really exciting and international and alive, and I really really didn't want to leave. I will definitely return!

Enjoy the pictures! Above: me in Tsim Sha Tsui, Temple Street, Mickey, Po Lin Monastery, crossing the harbor, St. Dominic's Church, and the nighttime view. Below: entering Disneyland, the castle, the parade, the Big Buddha from a distance, one of the statues that circles the Buddha, gondolas, the Peak tram, Jackie Chan's handprints, random Hong Kong lights, the Senado Square in Macau, the Ruins of St. Paul's, and incense at A-Ma Temple.