Introduction

Late last year, we went on a quick, 6 day getaway to Hong Kong and Macau. Somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, albeit, didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I unfortunately again woke up on day 1 with the flu that left me bedridden on day 2 unfortunately! Either way it was a new place to see and we still had a good time. It was also really good as I didn’t know much about the history or geography of the region, so along with reading about it, as well as the historical fiction novel Taipan, I learnt a lot.

The view from Victoria Peak

The Star Ferry - one of my favourite things, as well as a harbour cruise on a junk, gave us great view of Hong Kong Island as well as Kowloon

Nan Lian Garden in Kowloon

Kowloon

View of Hong Kong Island from a rooftop bar in Kowloon

Drinks at one of the many bar/restaurants in the old police headquarters and prison

The remnants of the walled city

To the surprise of absolutely no one, car spotting was one of my favourite activities to do. This 911 SC was probably my favourite find.

Macau

We took (the really fast) ferry over to Macau. We stayed at the Parisian, modeled off Paris. I found it all slightly disconcerting. It’s strange, and I can’t quite pin it. It’s like someone’s dream of Las Vegas. Everything is so fake, but so close to the real thing (London hotel, The Venetian, The Parisian). The 7/8 size Eiffel tower tops it off. It’s like this hidden away Vegas that no one in the west has heard of, but to the rest of Asia is the real thing. The suburbs around the strip too, where it looks like suburbia in Europe, all the in the backdrop of these 10 thousand room hotels, but with authentic Portuguese food.

We caught the bus back to Hong Kong to fly out, where we went on the new causeway, which we really enjoyed. Lots of great sights.

Our hotel at night

The inside was.. a lot.

One of the highlights off the trip for me was the night we spent in Taipa, walking distance from where we stayed, about 30 minutes. We ate at a great Portuguese restaurant, and went to lots of bars. Honestly it felt like we were in Europe.

Opposite our hotel was The Londoner

Macau Old Town, massively crowded, with some very old Portuguese buildings.