Before I begin this post, I’d like your opinion. What do you
consider Hong Kong and Macau to be? Are they cities of China? Are they their
own countries? Are they somewhere in between?
To me, they are somewhere in between. They both have their
own governments, own currency, own passports, and you must go through separate
customs and immigration when you enter them, but they are actually considered
to be Special Administrative Regions of China. So they are like their own
country per say, but are still controlled a bit by China (in the past, they
were controlled for a bit by countries in Europe). Plus they are both just the
size of large cities. So to me, it is very ambiguous. I don’t know what to say
when people ask me what countries I’ve been to. Do I list off Hong Kong and
Macau? Do I say I’ve been to China? I don’t really feel like I’ve been to
China.
So anyway, here are the main facts about my trip. I left on
March 28th and came back on April 2nd. I was there 5 full
days (4 days in Hong Kong and 1 day in Macau). I went with my two American
friends Shawn and Diego. We stayed in Golden Island Guesthouse (a really crummy
hostel lol) on Nathan Rd. in Kowloon. Again, I used Peach Aviation to fly there
and back. I love how cheap it is!
We landed around 12:30 in the afternoon. We took a bus from
Lantau island (where the airport is) to Kowloon island (Hong Kong is split into
four main areas). My very first impression while looking out the window from
the bus was that buildings looked really different and the plants looked
tropical. Hong Kong is in the subtropics, so it made sense. It was so humid the
whole time we were there! Another thought was that Hong Kong’s currency was
really confusing! I never really understood it the whole time I was there! I
can’t really tell you if things were cheap or expensive unfortunately. I think
it was something like 100 Hong Kong dollars equaled about 13 U.S. dollars.
That’s basically the only thing I understood.
During the 40 minute bus ride was one of the times I
actually felt comfortable in Hong Kong haha! The second I stepped off the bus,
my brain pretty much exploded, and I was kind of overwhelmed with how different
everything was the whole trip…but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. So
actually, before I actually took a step off the bus, things got crazy. It was
taking me a second (literally just a few seconds) to get my luggage off the
luggage rack when we got to our stop, and the bus started to drive off before I
get off! Shawn and Diego were already off! I started to panic, and some girls
saw me. I don’t think they were from Hong Kong because they started yelling in
English, “Excuse me!” to the bus driver. I wasn’t really able to say anything.
The bus driver stopped again and let me off. I thanked the girls and got off
all flustered. I thought I was gona die.
The next step was to find our hostel. We knew it was on the
same street as we were on (Nathan Rd.: a pretty famous street), but we didn’t
know which direction or side. We had the address and just followed the numbers
until we found it. That part wasn’t too bad. The part that freaked me out
(remember, I’m still all wound up from being trapped in the bus) was all the
people scurrying around the sidewalk. People were moving fast, bumping into
you, not saying sorry/excuse me when doing so, and it was very difficult to
simply walk. All the while you are soaking in the strange atmosphere of a new
country. Nathan Rd. has a lot going on.
Unfortunately what I’m about to tell you was my first
impression of Hong Kong people, and by the end of the trip, although I can’t
stereotype and say everyone was like this, my impression mostly stayed the
same. As I was walking, I was pulling my mini suitcase behind me trying to
navigate around people without bumping in to them. Some man walked into my
suitcase, and I ran over his foot with one of the wheels. He was behind me so
it’s not like I saw him and ran into him. He could clearly see my suitcase and
where he was walking, but instead of pausing for one second to let me walk by,
he chose to walk directly into my suitcase. It’s kind of hard to explain, but
what I’m trying to say without sounding like a b*tch is that it was in no way
my fault. However, when I felt my suitcase run over something, I turned back
and saw the man’s angry face. I apologized genuinely and was met with the
dirtiest look…then he yelled at me in Chinese. I was shocked and horrified!
Shawn and Diego didn’t notice the incident, so they were getting kind of far
ahead in the crowd of people. So I ran off to catch up before I almost lost
them again! In any case, that was my first interaction with somebody from Hong
Kong. Their culture is so very different from my own. Ya, there are many
rude/unfriendly people in America too, but not to the extent I experienced in
Hong Kong. Maybe I’m a little biased too since I’ve been living in one of (if
not the most) polite country in the world for two years. Even when I go back to
visit America for Christmas, I feel shocked at how rude some people are haha!
We got to our hostel. What I had seen and read on the
internet was completely different than the real thing. The private bathroom
they advertised was private, sure, but it was literally a shower-head over a
toilet and sink. So every time you took a shower, the whole bathroom was wet.
We had to keep the toilet paper and our belongings outside of the bathroom.
When you brushed your teeth and used the toilet (which by the way you had to
sit on sideways because the wall was right in front of the toilet and there was
no room for your legs) your feet got wet because the floor was never dry. They
provided toilet flip-flops, but they looked like they had been used a 100 times
without ever being washed. They were covered in hair and stuff. Anyway, I
shouldn’t complain too much because even though the website made it seem
different (which I suppose nowhere would ever try to advertise themselves as
bad), the place was so cheap. You really do get what you pay for I guess. Plus,
Hong Kong is a compacted and crowded like Japan, so of course rooms are small
unless you want to pay a lot.
After we got situated at the hostel, we were starving! So we
ventured out to find some food. So let me explain Nathan Rd. briefly. At first
I thought Nathan Rd. represented what all of Hong Kong was like, but eventually
I found out later that that wasn’t true. I would say Nathan Rd. represents a
very cultural side of Hong Kong. My first impression was that Nathan Rd. was
filthy, rundown, and crazy...which is kind of true. There were some creepy
things going on. For example, I saw a net/bag full of moving frogs outside a
building (like 50 frogs). They were probably going to be eaten. L Also, restaurants kept
open buckets of live fish on the sidewalk outside their entrance (I suppose
they kill them as needed). I didn’t see this with my own eyes (THANK GOD!), but
while we were walking, Shawn saw a fish jump out of a bucket on to the
sidewalk, and a man walking by just kicked it. How horrible?!
.JPG) |
| Nathan Rd. (Daytime) |
However, by the end
of the trip, Nathan Rd. kind of became my favorite area. Like I said, there’s a
lot of culture to it. It’s full of traditional shops and restaurants, there are
some Chinese style parks off the road, and street markets nearby. It didn’t
seem so commercialized or like it was catering to tourists (although it is
pretty famous, maybe for those reasons).
.JPG) |
| Nathan Rd. (Nighttime) |
We randomly found a restaurant off the street with pictures
of food that looked good. We were all so hungry that we didn’t really care much
about where to eat. We walked in and were pointed in the direction of a table.
English is weird in Hong Kong. It’s considered a national language, but not
many people really speak it. We were often spoken to in Chinese (Cantonese to
be specific). I think many people can
generally understand what you are saying in English though. Cantonese is the
dialect of Chinese they speak in Hong Kong. If you don’t understand, some
people know some Mandarin and try to say things to you that way. The only time
I was ever spoken to in English by Hong Kong people was when they were trying
to sell me something. Shawn studied Mandarin for like a year I think, so that
helped us out a couple times. We pointed at what we wanted in the menu. I don’t
eat meat, so I ordered a plate of fried tofu and some rice. Shawn and Diego
both got some sort of beef noodles. The picture in the menu showed the fried
tofu on top of some vegetable, but when they brought it out, there were no
vegetables, so it ended up being kind of hard to eat because it was so salty
and fried. Having the rice helped though.
After filling our bellies, it was still early (maybe about 4
pm), so we decided not to waste the day and tried doing some sightseeing. This
was when we experienced the subway system for the first time aka the MTR. At
first it was a little confusing because we knew we had to get “Octopus Cards”
which are like the cards in Japan that you put money on and swipe when you go
through the ticket gates. Oh, and finding the subway entrance was kind of hard
too. There are signs that say “subway” with an arrow, but they just lead you to
underground paths for crossing busy streets. The symbol for actual train
subways was different. After we figured that stuff out, subway stations became
kind of like my safe haven because they were one of the only things I was
actually familiar with and understood since they were kind of like Japanese and
Korean trains. We took the train from our station (Jordan Station) to East Tsim
Sha Tsui Station.
.JPG) |
| Hong Kong subway station. |
*Some random notes. 1) Escalators are like super speed in
the subway stations! It’s kind of fun and scary at the same time. 2) The noise
crosswalk lights make is different from Japan. In Japan, it only beeps slowly
when it’s safe to cross. In Hong Kong, it beeps constantly but really fast and
loud like an old rotary phone when it’s time to cross. 3) Hong Kong is so
international! There are people from all over everywhere! You can’t tell who is
who (which I actually enjoyed in contrast to Japan’s severe homogeneity). These
notes are just to help emphasize the fast-pace, busy atmosphere I’m trying to
illustrate.
Our first stop was The Avenue of Stars. It’s a famous place
which is kind of similar to Hollywood Blvd. Also, it’s right on the waterway
that separates Kowloon island from Hong Kong island. The skyline is gorgeous
here. However, on this day, the fog and/or smog was really bad. Pollution is a
huge issue in mainland China, and cities are covered in a constant cloud of
smog which often blows over to Hong Kong and even Japan sometimes! Anyway, I
don’t know whether it was smog or just fog, but you couldn’t see the skyline
very well. We enjoyed seeing the handprints of famous Chinese actors and
actresses in the cement. We saw some interesting sculptures too. This area was
very touristy, but fun.
.JPG) |
| Jet Li's hand-prints. |
.JPG) |
| Bruce Lee statue. |
After that, we explored the area a bit. The area in East
Tsim Sha Tsui was very upscale and cleaner than the Nathan Rd. area. We looked
for a place to simply have some tea or coffee and take a breather since we were
so exhausted from traveling, finding the hotel, etc ., but in this area, there
was nothing except stores like Prada, Gucci, and so on. So we gave up, and
decided what to do next.
The thing we were looking forward to the most was going to
The Peak, so we decided to try going there next. The Peak is a place that is
supposed to have the best vantage point of the city. You can see all the big
buildings on Hong Kong and Kowloon island. You can take a tram up to the peak.
We waited in line for 30+ minutes. The tram ride was supposed to be part of the
attraction, but it wasn’t anything special really in my opinion. We had fun
laughing at how steep the angle was going up, though.
When we got to the top, we were so very disappointed. The
fog/smog that I mentioned earlier was so thick that you could hardly see
anything! It was night time by now, so we were hoping to see the city all lit
up, but instead we felt like we were in a different world up in a cloud. We
paid and waited all that time for nothing. We weren’t sure how the weather
would be on the other days of our trip. It actually was much clearer on the
other days. We were just unlucky to have chosen to go on our first day when the
visibility was at its worst. We had to wait a long time to go back down too
after seeing nothing. If one good thing came out The Peak, it was that we
stopped for a snack before heading down. We got toast with condensed milk on it
and Hong Kong milk tea. Hong Kong milk tea is a thing. It’s known for its strong
taste, and strong it was! It was like drinking coffee. I really liked it. So
that was the end to our first day. We went pretty hard.
.JPG) |
| Hong Kong milk tea. |
The next day we went pretty hard too! In the morning, we met
up with two of our fellow Osaka JET friends who were also traveling in Hong
Kong at the same time. We met them in the Causeway Bay area of Hong Kong island
to eat dim sum. Maybe it’s better to
just Google dim sum if you don’t know
what it is, but if I had to explain it myself, I would say that it’s many small
portions of various foods shared by everyone at the table. It’s mainly eaten
around brunch time and consists mostly of several kinds of steamed dumplings
and buns. As someone who doesn’t really eat meat (except for seafood), eating
in Hong Kong was difficult at times. Many dim
sum items contained pork. I tried to avoid eating anything with meat in it,
but I know there was a few times where I did. :/ Anyway, it was really nice to
meet up with our friends and have a meal with them. It was my first time to
ever eat dim sum. There were some
things like vegetable dishes and noodles that I really liked. The place we ate
at actually had one Michelin star. It’s called Din Tai Fung. According to
Shawn, there’s a branch in Japan. Also, he said that this place is more of a
Taiwanese dim sum place rather than a
Chinese one. I don’t really know the difference, but I guess in more
traditional Chinese places, they bring the food around on carts, and you point
to what you want.
.JPG) |
| Osaka JETs unite! |
After the meal, we went our separate ways. We decided to go
to the Ladies Market. The name is a little misleading. It’s a street market
that sells all sorts of things, not just stuff for ladies! It was one of the
highest recommend markets. It was my first time to ever go to a street market.
They soon became one of my favorite things about Hong Kong. One of the biggest
parts of street markets is haggling, something I’d never done before. I’m kind
of timid in these sorts of situations, so at first I didn’t like haggling, and
I was afraid to do it. By the end of the trip, I got used to it and was able to
get people to lower the price considerably on some things. It was kind of fun.
We found that you could bargain at many other places in Hong Kong as well, not
just the markets. One of the funniest incidents was when Shawn went to convert
some money. He saw the exchange rate on the sign of a vendor (there were
currency exchange stands all over), and it was not a very good rate. The worker
saw that he looked, and when Shawn started to walk away, the worker called out
to him, “I’ll give you a discount!” So Shawn got a better rate. We were
laughing at the fact that he got a discount on money hahaha!
.JPG) |
Watermelon juice with bubbles at the
Ladies Market. |
After checking out that market for a few hours, we went to
check out another famous market called the Night Temple Street Market. It was
actually very close to our hostel. Since it was only dusk when we arrived, the
market wasn’t completely set up yet. We decided to go search for dinner and
then go back. We found a noodle place that had a lot of vegetarian options, so
I was pleased. I got noodles and baked spring rolls. Something kind of funny
happened at this restaurant, but before I tell you, I want to mention some
things about restaurants in Hong Kong. First, they don’t often give you napkins
at restaurants. Sometimes they are hidden in this drawer that’s connected under
the bottom of the table along with silverware, though. People often beckon you
to come inside if they notice you are looking at their restaurant. However,
their way of telling you to come in is to simple shout “sit down!” at you in
English. Not only in restaurants but everywhere in general, people are kind of
pushy and loud. They stare at you without remorse. They don’t bow to you like
in Japan and Korea. In restaurants, they will often just kind of throw your
stuff down on the table without looking at you. In Korea, it was like this at
some restaurants as well. You kind of get used to it.
.JPG) |
| Night Temple Street Market at dusk. |
Anyway, back to the funny incident. First of all, I expected
people from Hong Kong and Japan to look mostly the same (maybe some fashion or
hairstyle differences). I can’t tell where a person is from by just looking at
them. However, one strange thing was that I hardly saw any attractive men in
Hong Kong whereas in Japan, I can’t step outside without seeing beautiful men
everywhere lol! I thought it was strange. I can’t really say exactly what was
different about people in Hong Kong, but obviously something must be if I
couldn’t find any cute boys…and believe me, I was looking! So at this
restaurant, a young man walks in with his parents. I immediate turn to Shawn
and Diego and start freaking out. I said, “Oh my God! It’s the first hot guy
Chinese/Hong Kong guy I’ve seen! They do exist!” After a few minutes, I heard
the young man start talking with his parents…and they were speaking Japanese!!!
Bahahahahaha! I swear, there has to be something about Japanese characteristics
that I like, but I can’t put my finger on it! So ya, that was funny.
After dinner, it was about nightfall, so we went back to
check out the Night Temple Street Market a little more. We by chance ran in to
our friends from the morning again which was funny. The Night Temple Street
Market was a little different from the Ladies Market in that it sold some
questionable things. There was a section that had nothing but stands of sex
toys and drug paraphernalia. It was funny because all these old ladies and
whatnot were tending the stands. xD
Since we were
disappointed about not being able to see the night skyline clearly from The
Peak, we decided to try going to the Avenue of Stars again instead to see the
night skyline. The weather was much clearer this day. When we got there, it was
absolutely beautiful! We could see clearly, and we got a spot right in front.
It was pretty crowded. I think this was my favorite moment of the whole trip.
We sat there for a while and just stared in awe.
.JPG) |
| The whole skyline. |
.JPG) |
| My favorite section of the skyline. |
The plan after this was to go party in Lan Kwai Fong. We
heard that Lan Kwai Fong was the area to go to if you wanted to go to bars and
clubs. It was by far one of the strangest places I’ve ever been. Once we got to
the station, we walked behind a foreign couple up the stairs. One was wearing
like a tutu, and the man had hair extensions clipped to his shirt?? We just
thought it was some random weird people, but when we approached the two main
streets that make up Lan Kwai Fong, there was craziness everywhere! To be
honest, I was looking forward to partying with some native Hong Kong people,
but instead I was met by a sea of white people on the streets wearing
ridiculous costumes. I’m not sure if it was a special occasion (I heard there
was some sort of rugby match happening in town) or if it’s like that every
Saturday.
.JPG) |
| The heck? |
.JPG) |
| Party in the streets. |
My first impression was that everyone was an old, obnoxious,
drunk foreigner, but I knew that if we started drinking too, then we could
probably enjoy the atmosphere. So we went to a bar and got a few drinks and
snacks. I had a frozen strawberry daiquiri for the first time in a while. The
food was western style as well. This area really did cater to foreigners and
tourists which made me wonder where native Hong Kong people like to party or if
partying is a part of their culture or not. After that bar, we went to 7/11 to
buy cheaper drinks to drink on the street. We started to meld into the atmosphere…a
little bit. The fat old guy wearing nothing but tighty-whiteys was still kind
of disturbing. We took “syringe shots” they were selling on the street. We
thought they were jello ones like at the last place, but they were much
stronger…and not jello lol. We decided that we were about ready to try out a
club. We went to one called 7 Heaven. I walked up and asked how much the cover
charge was. The man looked at me and said, “Free.” I wonder… ;) Maybe it really
is free though haha! We got in, took shots (they were sooooo expensive! We
figured out that it was about $10 a shot!). The music was pretty good at first
and there was a mixed crowd of people. We had fun dancing for a bit until
things suddenly changed. The music became all Indian songs, and before we knew
it, everyone in the place was Indian except us. I don’t have anything against
Indians. I really like the Indian people I know, and their food rocks my socks,
but the music wasn’t my style, and we started to feel out of place. So we left.
We decided we were over the weirdness of Lan Kwai Fong…plus it was getting
expensive. So we headed back.
.JPG) |
| Jello shots in syringes. |
Going to bed drunk is not good, so we stopped at McDonalds
first to get more snacks lol. I had something called a “Rice Fun Wrap” which
was actually pretty good. Shawn ate this thing called the “McPepper” after he
ate his his first burger haha! He was like choking because it was spicy. For
those of you who don’t know, Shawn is a human garbage disposal. He can eat so
much! I can’t remember the details exactly, but I remember having really
dumb/vulgar conversations while eating. The other highlight of McDonalds was
that there was one worker who was actually kind of cute…however, I think I
thought he was cute more so because of the little Chinese greeting he said when
you walk up to the register than his appearance lol. Anyway, that was another
jam packed day!
The next day our main plan was to go to the New Territories
to see the 10,000 Buddha Monastery. The New Territories is one of the 4 major
areas of Hong Kong. Shawn looked up a famous dim sum place to eat at before going (Shawn was obsessed with dim sum and wanted to eat it for every
meal lol!). This day was a Sunday, and we had heard that on Sundays, all maids
in Hong Kong have the day off. They all get together and have little parties.
We headed towards the city hall where the dim
sum place was, and on our way, we could see tons of maids partying.
Basically they just laid pieces of cardboard or blankets on the ground and ate
and played games on top of them. It was interesting.
.JPG) |
| Maids partying it up on a Sunday. |
When we got to the city hall, the wait was pretty long, and
we had already gotten a late start to the day since we partied the night
before. Plus it was a far trip to the New Territories. So we decided to just
grab some food in Hong Kong station. Hong Kong station was so nice!! We didn’t
find that many cheap restaurants inside, so we just had some things from
Starbucks. After that, we headed to the monastery.
This day was the most humid of all. When we got to the
monastery, we found that we had to climb many stairs to get to the top of the
mountain where the main part of the monastery was. I felt pretty gross by the
end, but we made it! So by the way, this was by far the weirdest/funniest
temple-like place I’ve been too. On the way up, there are these large
Buddhas(?) that have the craziest faces. They all look like they are drunk or
high or something. We had a fun time laughing and taking pictures of them.
.JPG) |
| So strange...and amusing. |
When we reached the top to the main buildings, it was more
legit feeling. I would definitely say that Chinese and Japanese temples are
quite different. Although there are some similarities, I would say a Chinese
temple resembles a Japanese Shinto shrine more than a Japanese temple. The
colors and materials are more vibrant and gaudy. Shawn and I had a mini dance
party the top of the pagoda there.
That will always be a good memory.
.JPG) |
| At the top of the mountain. |
We headed back to Nathan Rd. after our day trip to get
dinner. Much to Shawn’s delight, we found a really good dim sum called Kung Fu Dim Sum (lol) near our hostel. And much to
my delight, I found one genuinely attractive Hong Kong guy here. He was one of
the workers (he was speaking Chinese, so I’m assuming he was from Hong Kong).
That dinner was really good, and the place had a nice clean atmosphere compared
to some of the dumpy places we ate at. It started to downpour while we were
eating (it had been raining off and on basically our whole trip), so we decided
to get dessert at a dessert shop next door in hopes that the rain would die
down a little. We shared a mango ice thing. It was so good!
.JPG) |
Inside Kung Fu Dim Sum. It had a really nice
atmosphere. |
.JPG) |
| Dim sum. |
Unfortunately (well actually I didn’t really mind), it was
still down-pouring when we finished. So the guys ran ahead a bit to get back to
the hostel faster. I told them I wanted to stay outside and watch for a bit.
The thunder and lightning was awesome! Last summer for whatever reason, it
didn’t storm in Japan. My first summer in Japan, it stormed hard a lot. I
really enjoyed watching the storms, and I was looking forward to seeing them
again last summer, but when they didn’t come, I was really disappointed. So it
had been over a year since I saw a good storm. I hope they come again this
summer!
Our next day was Macau day! Sorry, I know this post is very
long…but I have a lot to say and explain! From Hong Kong, Macau is just a ferry
ride away. I think it took about one hour. It was my first time to be on that
long of a boat ride on the ocean. I don’t like water, so I was a little uneasy,
but it was fine. The motion of the boat kind of made me feel sick at first, but
I got used to it. The boat itself was quite nice inside. Nicer than a plane and
more spacious.
When we got to Macau and went through customs and
immigration, we had to figure out how to get to where we wanted to go. There is
no subway system in Macau. Macau is home to the biggest casino in the whole
world, the Venetian. It’s modeled after the one in Las Vegas I believe, but
it’s bigger. There were free shuttle busses from the ferry terminal to the
Venetian, so we hopped on one because we thought it’d be worth checking out.
Plus we wanted to be able to say they we gambled in the biggest casino in the
world (well at least I wanted to be able to say that!). I would’ve made my
great-grandmother proud! :D All I did though was put 10 Hong Kong dollars into
a slot machine and lost lol.
The Venetian was really cool inside. It was designed to look
like Venice, Italy inside. There were parts that made it feel like you were
outdoors.
.JPG) |
| This is indoors. |
The one thing I heard that you must do in Macau was eat egg
tarts. So that was one of my main missions. They had an egg tart stand right
inside the casino. So I got to eat egg tarts right away. They were good. J
.JPG) |
| Hey you, you delicious little thing you! |
Macau at a glance was very different from Hong Kong even
though they are so close and the people speak Cantonese. Macau was ruled by
Portugal for a while, so even though not many people speak it, Portuguese is an
official language in Macau along with Cantonese. In Hong Kong, Cantonese and
English are the official languages (Hong Kong was ruled by England for a bit).
The influence from Europe was much more prominent in Macau. The food (not all
but some), the architecture (again not all but some), and signs written in
Portuguese made Macau feel very different like we weren’t in Asia. There were
some areas that had an Asian feel, but along with the areas that were all high
end casinos, it basically felt like we were in the west. The country/city
itself was much cleaner than Hong Kong (perhaps due to the fact there are so
many high end casinos everywhere), and the people seemed friendlier in general.
Anyway, after playing in the Venetian, we wanted to go to
the main downtown area of Macau that has a mix of Asian and European
architecture. We took a taxi to Senado Square. Macau’s islands are connected by
these really long, terrifying bridges. I closed my eyes when going over them.
We kind of just wondered around aimlessly. We got to see really cool historical
looking buildings, large casinos (inside and out), some old dilapidated
buildings, and areas that were nothing but shops with like Rolex watches and
expensive things. We learned that their purpose is for people who run out of
money at the casinos and need more. They go to these stores and sell their
valuables for cash.
.JPG) |
| Western-style building. |
We decided to take a break and chill in a Malaysian restaurant.
We had a snack and used their free wifi because we were actually waiting to
meet up with Shawn’s friend from college who is from Macau. The plan was to
meet up for dinner after he got off of work. He picked us up in front of a
casino in the evening. When the sun went down, all the lights of the casinos
came on, and it was so cool! I’ve never been to Vegas, but I feel like after
seeing Macau, I can put off going for a while. It was pretty incredible.
.JPG) |
| Casinos all lit up. So cool! |
Shawn’s friend was really nice, funny, and great at English!
He picked us up and drove us to basically every nook and cranny of Macau and
showed us around. He even brought us to his home, and showed us inside! His
grandparents were so cute! :3 His apartment building from the outside didn’t
look like much, but inside it was really big and nice! The molding, furniture,
and whatnot was very European style.
I will explain some of the things Shawn’s friend (I’m not
using his name for privacy reasons) showed us and said. He had a lot of funny
catch phrases:
Phrase #1: “It’s so disgusting.” He said this when referring
how the Galaxy casino used to only be lit up in yellow lights, but now it
changes colors like red, blue, etc. He only likes the yellow lights, and said
that installing all the lights to changes colors was very expensive, and they
use a lot of energy. Haha!
Phrase #2: We would often say to him, “You know so much!”
because he knew basically every detail and all the history of everything in
Macau. When we would say this, he would say, “Because it’s so small.” He made
jokes throughout the whole time about how Macau was so small and boring.
Phrase #3: “That’s so mainland.” There were certain areas
(the more Asian style areas) that were all lit up with bright advertisements in
Chinese for restaurants and jewelry stores. He said that it looked like
mainland China, which is apparently a bad thing. He said the lights are used to
draw peoples’ attention.
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| Apparently this looks like mainland China haha. |
Phrase #4: “Such a waste.” He said this not only in
reference to the use of electricity by the Galaxy casino, but also when he
mentioned that in Macau they use drinking water to flush toilets whereas in
Hong Kong they use sea water. We just chuckled and said that it was the same in
America too.
So now I’ll tell you about some of the things/places he
showed us. He took us to this one area (sorry for not remembering the names of
all the areas… since we were driving a lot, I wasn’t always aware of where we
were). Let me restart...he took us to this one area that had the most famous
egg tart place. The bakery is called Lord Stow’s. Diego actually found a branch
in Japan after our trip. We got egg tarts and homemade gingerade to share. Yum!
The place was in a very rural area near the waterway between Macau and mainland
China. I got to look across the water and actually see the mainland! The area
had a very nice feel. It was kind of run down and there were stray dogs, but it
felt like a very rural town in like South America or something (if I had to
guess from what I’ve been told about South America). Diego is from Peru, and he
said it reminded him of home a lot. It also had a very ocean-y feel.
Next he took us to these weird western style homes on the
ocean. Most of them were uninhabited. They had a very eerie feel like they were
haunted. He said they are really big and nice, but no one wants to live in them
because the feng shui is bad.
He also took us to the beach. Macau beaches have darker sand
than what we are used to. It was really nice to see, hear, and touch the ocean
again. From the shore, we could see the home of the President of Macau’s 4th
wife haha! So many random facts! He also pointed out a Korean restaurant from
the car that is owned by Kim Jung Un’s brother…wtf?!?! Apparently Kim Jung Un’s
brother was living in Macau but has now fled.
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| Kim Jung Un's brother's restaurant... |
Lastly, I will tell you about the dinner we had. We ate
traditional Cantonese style food. There are Portuguese and Portuguese-Chinese
fusion foods in Macau as well, but they are very meat-y. In any case, this was
my favorite meal the whole trip! Kung Fu Dim Sum came in second place. In
America, when I eat Chinese food, I love to get sweet and sour chicken. I
couldn’t find that in many places in Hong Kong so I wonder if it’s an American
version of Chinese food. One thing I could find though was sweet and sour
shrimp. It was what I was excited to eat the most. So at the restaurant, we
ordered several dishes to share, one of them being sweet and sour shrimp. I was
very pleased! We also had some fried fish, soup, noodles with shrimp eggs on
them, shrimp shumai, vegetables, etc.
Yum!
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| Deliciousness! |
I really enjoyed Macau. I didn’t really know what to expect,
but it wasn’t like anything I imagined. I had so much fun this day, mostly
thanks to Shawn’s friends showing us around. It’s always nice when you go
somewhere and can actually meet and speak with someone native to that area. I
would enjoy going back to Macau some day. We took the ferry back to Hong Kong.
It was pretty late. I think we got back around 12:30 am. We missed the last
train to our station, so we took the train as far as we could and used a taxi
from there. Taxis in Hong Kong are a lot more reasonably priced than ones in
Japan.
On our last full day in Hong Kong, we got up, grabbed
brunch, and headed to Lantau island to see the big Buddha at Po Lin Monastery.
On the train ride there, I sat next to a woman who started talking to me. When
I told her I was going to see the big Buddha, she told me her her uncle was one
of the architects of the Buddha. That was kind of neat.
To get to the monastery, you must take a cable car/gondola
thing. There might be another way to get to the monastery, but the cable car is
definitely the most convenient and quickest way. I have never been on anything
quite as extreme as this cable car. It’s about a 30 minute ride I believe, and
you are way up high with the next hub thing way off in the distance. You are
just handing on this cord in the sky. It was kind of creepy, but once you are
over the mountains, it’s really pretty. In the cable car, we got to speak with
a real monk from the monastery. He spoke English very well, and he was actually
Vietnamese. He was so nice and friendly, and we all enjoyed chatting with him.
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| Just a little creepy. |
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So I didn't realize that they were trying to get the monk
in this picture when taking it, but I'm glad they did!.
I was attempting to make an, "I'm scared" face due to the height. |
When we arrived in the village, it was a little different
than I expected. Yes, the monastery area was very traditional with temples and
whatnot, but the village area was very modern and touristy. There was even a
Starbucks! I guess the monks have it good haha! There were a lot of cute stray
dogs running around in this area, too. I
guess I’ve grown up seeing only stray cats and never dogs, so I was intrigued.
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| Hello cute little guys! |
The monastery itself was very pretty. I’ve noticed another
difference between Chinese and Japanese temples is that Chinese temples have so
many beautiful potted flowers while Japanese temples go for a more natural look.
The big Buddha itself was pretty cool, but I’ve seen two big Buddhas in Japan,
so it wasn’t as shocking to me as it might have been to other people. Plus, the
weather was pretty crummy.
We were planning to go visit a fishing village near the
temple on this day as well, but we didn’t have enough time, and the weather was
being difficult. So we ended our little trip in the monastery by getting bubble
tea and shopping around the sweets shop.
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| The main hall of the monastery. |
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| Big Buddha. |
When we got back to our area, we went back to the hostel for
a little break and to prepare our luggage for the flight the next day. For
dinner, we decided to go back to our favorite Hong Kong restaurant, Kung Fu Dim
Sum! The cute guy wasn’t working that night haha! We enjoyed a feast. After
dinner we walked around the Night Temple Street Market once more to blow what
money we had left (Diego went back a little early, so it was just Shawn and I).
Some weird things happened during this time. First, a pipe burst under the
ground and water was spewing up from the cracks and creating basically a
rushing river in the streets. It was kind of entertaining to see how people
attempted (and often failed) to cross it. Next, I bargained with a lady for a
nice wallet. I was down to my last bit of cash, and I only had 80 Hong Kong
dollars to spare. I asked how much, and she told me $150. I told her that I
only had $80. She was all like, “No, no. It’s nice. It’s real leather. How
about $130?” She put it in my face and made me smell the leather lol! I was
like, “Sorry, I really only have $80.” Then she said, “Ok. Ok. For you, how
about $100?” Since I was telling her the truth, I just yelled, “Sorry! $80!” She
gave in and said, “Ok, $80. You’ll remember my special price!” Hahaha! I guess
I really will remember.
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| Flood in the street. |
The last weird/funny thing that happened was that a lady on
the street tried to coax us in to her dessert shop. The funny part was that it
was the same place where we got the mango dessert before, and Shawn and I were
planning to go back anyway to share a taro flavored one. We were actually
heading there to eat it when she started calling to us. So we humored her, and
made her think that she actually convinced us to go haha! She was like, “You
want dessert? It’s so nice place! Sit
down! It’s a famous place!” When we agreed to go she said, “Oh, where are you
from? America? Oh, it’s nice place!” We asked her what her dessert
recommendation was just for the heck of it, and she pointed at several things
in the menu, and was like, “This. And this. And this! Ask the workers inside,
they know!” Hahaha! I loved how everywhere you went they were just trying so hard
to get you to come into their place, and they’ll say basically anything. It was
a good ending to our last night. By the last day, I had really grown to like the
Nathan Rd. area.
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| Taro ice! |
They next day we flew back to Japan. For the first time
since I started using Peach Aviation, our flight was really delayed due to
weather. It was a pain in the ass, but whatever. We made it home fine. To me,
Hong Kong was a very different kind of trip. It was the first time I went
somewhere just for the heck of it to see what it was like. Also, it was the
first trip I went on where I often felt stressed. At first I wasn’t crazy about
Hong Kong, and even when it was time to go back to Japan, I felt relieved.
However, after returning to Japan, my line of thought is different. There were
parts of my trip I really liked. Of course I loved Macau, but as for Hong Kong,
the time we sat and stared at the night skyline was a very good memory, and I
can honestly say that I felt super happy and comfortable at that time. Another
thing I really enjoyed while I was there was the street markets. There are also
things that I didn’t realize I liked until I left. For example, I thought it
was fun to try dim sum. Although it was
crazy and weird, Lan Kwai Fong was actually a fun experience as well. Perhaps
the most rewarding thing was getting to learn about a culture completely
different from anything I have ever experienced. Seeing how people acted and lived
in Hong Kong, although it’s not my ideal, was very interesting. After we
returned, Shawn sent me a link a few days later called, “31 Reasons We Should
All be Living in Hong Kong.” I’ll post the link at the end. Somehow, looking at
thins link, even though it had only been a few days since our return, was
really nostalgic. It was at this moment when I realized I had a really good
experience and gained more than I knew. When I look back at this trip, I will
see it in a positive light.
Endnote: Perhaps you may be wondering where I plan to travel
next. Of course there are a few places left in Japan I plan to hit up, but as
for overseas, there is only one place left that Peach goes to that I haven’t
been to yet, Taiwan. Sure, there are other countries I’d like to go to more
than Taiwan (and Hong Kong for that matter), but Peach makes it really feasible
to travel. If I were to go to somewhere I really want to go like Beijing,
Thailand, or Singapore, then I wouldn’t be able to go to lots of other places
like I have been doing. Depending on how long I stay here, maybe I’ll be able
to squeeze one of those places in (even though I am dying to go back to Korea
again haha). I will have to save some money after this last trip, but
tentatively I am going to try to go to Taiwan in the winter. I’ve heard many
good things about Taiwan. Again, I don’t know too much about this country, and
I will be going in with basically a blank slate, but that’s a good thing,
right?
31 Reasons We Should All be Living in Hong Kong:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/140121/31-reasons-love-hong-kong
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