Macau

We hadn’t been to Macau before so we decided to take a day trip to check it out. We weren’t too excited by the casinos, but Macau has an interesting history. Hong Kong was a British outpost, while Macau was Portuguese. And like Hong Kong, it was returned to the Chinese, ending European colonialism in Asia. However, as a Special Administrative Region (like Hong Kong) it maintains its own government, immigration, and currency. A waitress told us it was extremely hard to immigrate to Macau. Much easier to get into Canada, she said. Although the population is almost all Chinese, there are still signs in Portuguese.

The first battle was to get away from the ferry terminal on foot. Hong Kong is quite pedestrian oriented but the Macau terminal was surrounded by freeways. In hindsight we would have been better off to take a casino shuttle and walk from there but we didn’t know that at the time. We managed to find a pedestrian overpass and then a couple of pedestrian elevators (!) to get us into the older part of town. We encountered some lovely patterned cobbled streets and buildings with ornate metal railings reminiscent of New Orleans.

With a population of 650,000 in 12 square miles, Macau (aka Macao) is the most densely populated place in the world. But it wasn’t busy until we go to the tourist areas around the ruins of St Paul’s Cathedral and Senado Square. We had seen photos of the square with the old Portuguese buildings around it, but the reality was a flood of humanity, Chinese New Years decorations obscuring the buildings, and high end shopping (e.g. Rolex).

By this time we were getting hungry for lunch but had no idea where to go. My downloaded Google map had a single restaurant marked - Margaret's Café e Nata. We had no idea what was significant about it, but it seemed worth a try. We  circled it via iPhone GPS until we finally found the right back alley. The tiny takeout cafe had a big crowd around it. We queued up, still not knowing what we were getting into. The specialty turned out to be Portuguese egg tarts. I was expecting something savoury but they were actually sweet. I'm still not sure what the big attraction was!

We figured we'd better at least check out some of the casinos. In 2007 Macau surpassed Las Vegas for gambling revenue. But apart from fancy buildings, we didn't find much to get excited about. We managed to find a quiet spot for (expensive) coffee in the Wynn, where we also got a free shuttle back to the ferry. I took a few photos of the shiny buildings.



And the never ending window cleaning work.



And a few more building reflection shots from back in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong

Our first day in Hong Kong we planned to take the tram up Victoria Peak to go for a hike (good for jet lag) but the crowds were too much for us - we'd forgotten it was Sunday. So we went to the free public aviary and zoo instead. They were busy too, but not as bad.



I always enjoy walk through aviaries. It's a little harder to spot the birds than in little cages, but it's more natural and you don't have to try to photograph through mesh. And the birds are used to people so you can often get quite close.



Although it's verging on bigger than I'd like, I'm quite happy with the new Tamron 18 - 400 lens. The extra reach was great for the birds. It was a cloudy day and quite dim light in the aviary so I was definitely depending on the high ISO abilities of modern cameras.





Shelley complains that I wear drab colors (gray and black) that don't show up well in photographs. You can't say the same about her!



These two seem quite curious about me.



I like close up "portraits" of birds that let you see the details.



Walking through the park I was on the lookout for turtles in the ponds. At first I thought it must be too cool for them to be out, but for some reason they were all congregated in one small pond.



Of course, the water itself was also a worthy subject.



Unofficial resident of the zoo:



I'm not a big fan of cities, but the reflections catch my eye:





And just to prove that we did at least walk through the malls.



The next day we made it up to Victoria Peak for a good walk. The rhododendrons are just starting to bloom. (We're hoping to see more in Nepal.)



Only a few other flowers



And I managed to catch a few of the skittish wild birds





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Return to Hong Kong

We had a couple of days in Hong Kong on our way home, mostly to break up the long journey. We took the tram and enjoyed the walk around Victoria Peak again. The cool rainy weather was quite a change from the heat six weeks earlier.



We'd been to the zoo and botanical gardens last time, but we hadn't made it to the nearby Hong Kong Park. It's definitely worth a visit, with a huge walk in aviary, nice ponds and gardens, and even a decent restaurant





We also went a bit further afield (on the metro) to the Nan Lian Chinese Garden, which turned out to be well worth the visit. Of course, any place with lots of bougainvillea is ok with me :-)



They also had a nice restaurant (vegetarian!) which was tucked away behind a waterfall.



The garden is managed by the Chi Lin Nunnery next door.



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See also Shelley's last post on Hong Kong

Hong Kong 3

Despite it being a tourist trap we enjoyed riding the Ngong Ping 360 cable car up to visit the Tian Tan Buddha. It was another smoggy/foggy day so we didn't get great views, but it made for some moody photos.





It was a little cooler up there, which was a welcome relief. There were tons of people and all kinds of junky tourist souvenir shops. But there was also quite a nice tea house, which for some reason was empty, so we enjoyed a quiet respite from the hordes.



Another way to avoid the crowds would be to hike up. There's a good trail but an awful lot of uphill in this heat. There are lots of trails on Lantau island, including a 70 km loop around the island. Despite being so close to millions of people the hills are quite empty and natural. If I had to live in Hong Kong (god forbid!) I think I'd be heading over here to escape the city.

The heat and humidity here has been wearing. I always say I like the heat - as long as I can sit in the shade with a cold drink. But walking around here, especially uphill and especially in the sun, is too much. I guess you'd get used to it but I can't imagine living here. Of course, they'd say the same about our winters but at least you can dress for the cold. Not much you can do for the heat other than sweat, copiously! And then you get to freeze every time you go into air conditioning. I can never understand why people set the AC so high you need a sweater. But it seems universal in hot places.

People here have been very friendly and helpful. And most people's ability to speak English means you can actually communicate. Whenever we puzzle over a map or look lost someone will stop and ask if we need help. As much as we like to figure things out on our own, it never hurts to get pointed in the right direction.

Hong Kong has been an interesting experience but I'll be glad to get away from the crowds and the malls! Next stop Kathmandu.



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Hong Kong 2

I was all ready to buy a membership (as is my habit) at the zoo & botanical gardens but it turned out to be free. They had quite a few birds, a few monkeys, and a few tortoises. Unfortunately, it wasn't good for photography since they were all in wire cages and none of the aviaries were the kind you could walk through. So I didn't take many photos, but we still enjoyed wandering around.

When we were watching the tortoises a small rodent ran out and stole some of the tortoise food. I said "look at the mouse". A small girl standing next to me said "it's a rat". Thinking I would educate her I said "it's quite small so it's a mouse". I should have known better. Her father said "Actually it is s rat, it's my area of expertise, that's why she knows." When I looked closer I saw that it did have a rat like head. And the father informed me it's the ratio of the head to the body that helps determine which it is. Learn something every day. Including not to assume you know more than small children!

Beside the lower Victoria peak tram station we had noticed a World Wildlife Fund building. Inside they had information about the Mai Po Nature Reserve that they manage. It's a ways out of town (in the New Territories) but we decided to visit. If nothing else navigating the transit system would be an adventure.

To make it easier to pay fares we bought "Octopus" cards. You can add money to them and use them to pay for transit. The advantage is that you don't have to keep buying tickets. They also seem to be accepted at quite a few stores as well.

Thank goodness that in Hong Kong the signs are in English as well as Chinese. If we were in mainland China getting around would be a lot more difficult!

It took about an hour to get there. The trains were quite crowded (i.e. standing room only) even though we were travelling the opposite direction from all the people commuting into town to work. The last stretch was by taxi. I was glad that the WWF website had provided taxi directions in Chinese (and that I had saved the image on my phone) since the driver didn't understand us.

We were feeling quite proud of ourselves for making it out there, until we found that you couldn't go into reserve by yourself, and the upcoming tour was only in Cantonese! Having come all this way we figured we'd better join the tour. In the end the tour leader was nice enough to give us the high points in English. One of the reasons you aren't allowed to go in on your own is that the reserve is on the border with mainland China which might as well be a different country. We could see the border fence and the buildings of Shenzhen in the background.



Given that it was supposed to be a good time of the year for seeing birds, there didn't seem to be a lot of them around. And the ones we did see were common and familiar - grebes, cormorants, ibis, egrets, and herons.



The lotus flowers were beautiful:



I always look for lizards in tropical countries but I hadn't seen any so far. I asked the tour guide and she said they have lots of skinks and geckos. Sure enough, a few minutes later I spotted a skink.



I'm also a fan of praying mantises so I was pleased to see this one:

In the evening we went down to the pier to watch the laser light show. It turned out to not be the best viewpoint but we still got a chance to see some of the night lights.



The escalators (the longest in the world) run downhill in the morning for people going to work, and uphill the rest of the day. They transport a steady stream of people.



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Hong Kong

On our first day in Hong Kong we decided to head up the Victoria Peak Tram early to beat the crowds. Tons of police everywhere but our walking route did go by Government House and the US Consulate. Maybe also related to the Occupy demonstrations, although we didn't see any signs of that.

It was a fun ride up the tram. We walked around the Victoria Peak loop (about 3 km) which was thankfully mostly shaded. Can't really beat the heat by getting going early since the overnight low was +28c. We enjoyed seeing and hearing all the birds. Hong Kong is on a bird migration path and also has quite a variety of habitats so there are lots of birds around. This little guy was using his sharp beak to poke holes in the base of the flowers, presumably to extract the nectar.



There were also some good insects. One quite bizarre one with a giant "horn" and colourful wings.



And lots of giant spiders, some of the biggest I've ever seen. (Shelley's hand is closer to the camera so if anything the spider is bigger than it appears here.)



Lots of different plants and trees, a few of them flowering. And great views onto all the sides of the island. I'm not sure how whether it was smog or fog.



It never did get as busy as I'd feared at the top of the tram. So far Hong Kong overall hasn't been as people packed as I expected. Busy in spots but nothing too crazy.

We had lunch with a view and then headed down to do some sight seeing. We checked out the architecture of the HSBC building and wandered by all the high end shopping, ending up back at the airport express station since we wanted to figure out our departure. You can actually check in for your flights downtown and check in your bags up to 24 hours ahead. This will work well for us as we have to be out of the apartment in the morning but our flight doesn't leave till the evening.



Mostly because it was the only place that wasn't full we stopped for a drink at a fancy TWG tea place where we had tea infused lemonade and tea infused ice cream (both very good). They had hundreds of kinds of tea, starting at about $12 (cad not hk) per pot and going up to $20 or $30 - as bad as wine! They also had tea infused macarons but we didn't try them so I'm not sure how they compared to Michelle's.

Our apartment is in the trendy Soho area where there are lots of little bars and restaurants. We had a glass of wine before supper at Staunton's wine bar. And supper was at Herbivores, a cute little vegetarian place that only seated about 12 people, mostly at one long table. We enjoyed the lentil stuffed portobello, despite the waiter telling us it was nothing special and trying to talk us into other options.

The forecast thunderstorm finally arrived as we were eating and there was quite a downpour which luckily had mostly ended by the time we left. Sadly, it didn't seem to cool things off at all, if anything it only raised the humidity (if that's possible!)

Although there is a ton of shopping, coffee shops are in short supply. There are a few Starbucks around, and a local chain called Pacific Coffee. And don't go out too early - none of them seem to open till 7:30 or so.

General impressions -

A lot of people, not just walking around, but the multitude of huge apartment buildings.



So much shopping! Miles and miles of malls. Who buys all this stuff? Why? I admit I'm biased and tend to avoid malls and shopping, but this seems over the top! Although, I have to admit we took advantage of the mall air conditioning more than once to cool off.

I love the little walkways and stairs and escalators and the rest of the unashamedly pedestrian infrastructure. There are still cars and busy streets but there are an awful lot of people getting around on foot.

And lots of parks and trails and exercise stations. Even some specifically for seniors.

Remember I said there weren't as many people as I expected. Well Kowloon fixed that notion. Nathan Road was crazy and Kowloon Park, a supposed quiet spot in the area was almost as busy. It was fun to take the historic Star Ferry across, but we were just as happy to ride it back to the relative peace of Central. (Relative being the key word.) Afterwards we realized that one of the reasons for the crowds was that it was a national holiday. We also saw groups of the Occupy democracy protesters, which appeared peaceful but we stayed away, not wanting to take any chances of getting tear gassed or something.

one of the Star Ferries

One of the busiest stores was the Apple Store in the IFC mall. It was jam packed with people every time we went by. iPhone 6's were flying out the door. And curiously, there were people out on the walkway selling iPhones out of suitcases. Were they legit? Where did they get them? Why would you buy one on the street right outside the official store?



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