Hong Kong and Macau

So we arrived in Hong Kong last Wednesday at 5:30pm-ish local time, into decent warmth which made a biggest difference having been in England 12hrs before. The flight itself wasn't the best managed to get a couple hours sleep but nothing more, flying in economy obviously means no legroom but compared to other airlines we have flown with Virgin was no match, shocking in fact.

Anyway we arrived finally grabbed our bags and went straight for the airport express, a train that would take you to Hong Kong Central in 25mins, from there we took a cab to the hotel where we are sure we were over charged, but being foreigners what can you say. Our hotel was situated on Hong Kong Island, between causeway bay and wan chai MTR, On arrival of the hotel we were greeted by friendly and helpful staff, and the room was decent aswell, 23rd floor over looking 'happy valley race course' and Hong Kong city.

Lisa's brother Pete was traveling the other way from Sydney- London also with a Hong Kong stopover, and was in the city the same time and as his hotel was round the corner he came over for a chat before heading back to his to sleep, me and Lisa were hungry and took to the streets to find some food, being in HK obviously the majority of food sources was chinese, but it isn't like Chinese you get at home, locally their not afraid to advertise more than you need to see on a menu, e.g a cooked chicken with its head still attached, and chicken and goose claws. Avoiding that we opted for honey stewed pork, boiled rice and tap water, which wasn't bad and filled a hole.

Day 1- the first full day came around and myself, Lisa and Pete were heading to Lantau Island home of the the 'The Big Buddha' and the 'Po Lin Monastry' and the best way to experience it was to take a cable car to the island. Not realising booking online in advance would have enabled us a shorter line we had to queue in the standard no ticket line, which took maybe a little less than 2 hours, but once we got on the cable car we had a 15min ride all the way to the island, where we had panoramic views all around, steep climbs and crossings over water. The island itself was peaceful and the Big Buddha really was big. So like most tourist we took 100s of pictures then headed back for the cable car. 

That evening the three of us headed for some Dim Sum a local favorite then headed over to kowloon across the bay to watch the 'Symphony of lights' we travelled across on a 'star ferry' which cost 2.50HK which is only 20p, we stood with all the other locals and tourists on Kowloon's public pier and watched a 15minute light show displayed by all the buildings on Hong Kong island. It was a peaceful setting but wasn't as spectacular as we was led to believe. However the bright lights of the city scape was spectacular and was a highlight of the trip.

Day 2- the 2nd day was here and we based the day around taking a trip to 'the peak' famously known for its views of Hong Kong boasting the highest point on the island. It was only me and Lisa that day as Pete had already been so he spent the day at museums. There is a number of ways you can travel to the top but we went for the popular tram ride that felt almost like a rollercoaster as we started heading uphill. It was that steep Lisa was complaining her spine was digging into the seat. Once we reached the top we headed inside the 'Sky Tower' and to the very top where we was welcomed by sick views of the whole city. We spent around 30mins taking in the sites and taking pictures then went for some lunch. We had abit of a treat as there was a 'Bubba Gumps Shrimp company' resturant just one floor below the top and we had window table so was able to carry on enjoying the views over Hong Kong. 

After we got back to level ground me and lisa spent the rest of the afternoon walking roung HK park, which had its own bird aviary, we spent abit of time in there then sat around the lakes in the centre. 

We then headed back to the hotel where we met Pete for a final catch up before he had to fly home.

 Once we said our goodbyes pete left and we headed into the city to take an MTR to Kowloon and upto Jordan to visit the 'Temple Street Market' famously known for haggling and buying fake knock off gifts. After walking half of it we soon realised that most the stalls were selling the same thing, iphone cases and shit paintings. We carried on walking to the end then got the MTR back to central on hk island. When we got back we walked to the well known 'escalator' which takes you all the way from central to Soho. As it was a friday night it was filled with many workers grabbing a drink after their shift and there seemed to be more westerners than anyone else. It's almost felt like a bar street that you find in popular European holiday places. We found a bar selling Rekorderlig and went straight in (gotta love a strawberry and lime cider)

Day 3- On the 3rd day we woke up very late, i turnt the alarm off around 10ish then woke up at 2pm lol. However the day was dedicated to a day trip in Macau which is famously known for being China's Vegas. The only real transport available is the TurboJet ferry which cost us about £50 each return and we departed that from 'Sheung Wan' which is at one end of the island line MTR. The journey itself was only 55mins so we were in Macau within no time. 

Upon arrival we found that all the casino hotels had free shuttle buses that would take you to and from all of them. But me and Lisa took the no.32 bus first that took us to Macau tower, we got inside and headed for the ticket desk, but once we got there Lisa started complaining she was hungry so we aborted that and got a bus back to the centre. There we found a pizzahut a decent change to what we had been eating. Once we were full up we started walking to and from all the casinos and dabbled in abit of gambling on the slots in the 'Grand Lisboa', 'Wynn' and the 'MGM' we won fuck all but only gambled 60HKD which is only around £5 haha. When i think now was hardly even worth gambling. Anyway time was getting on and we grab the free MGM shuttle and went back to the ferry terminal. We arrived back at the hotel in HK at about 12midnight, and i had arranged with the famalan to skype and we spent about 30mins catching up and it was nice to see all their faces :)

So now its Sunday and im sat in a pizza express in HK international airport writing this post looking out onto the landing strip and parked planes. We spent our last hours in HK with a walk to 'Victoria Park' but when we got there it was rammed with some sort of fair so didnt bother to stay long, we headed back to the hotel and got a cab straight to HK station to catch the airport express. 

Looking back at the 4nights we stayed, I would safely say I really enjoyed HK e.g. taking in views of HK Island at night, the Big Buddha and the peak but there were some things that started to grind on me, like most asian countries the locals enjoy street food, and in HK it seemed every corner had a food stall, and each one was cooking the same things so the smell of it started to really get to me and everytime i walked past i had to cover my nose with my tshirt as i always thought i was going to throw-up. Fuck knows what they were even cooking but it looked rank! Another thing was that some Chinese people have terrible habits and would publically pick their noses and wipe it anywhere they can hahaha! They also ate food hurrendously and alot of men like to 'hawk' which is basically bringing up flem, there was even signs in central saying "no hawking" But for me that was as far as the negatives got and the positives most defiantly over weighed them. 

So now with an hour before we board our next flight for Sydney i am extremely looking forward to a new place where of course we shall be spending a year travelling and working. CAN'T WAIT!!