Victoria Peak, Hong Kong
Guangzhou, Hong Kong, & Macau
China Trip: Day 13
Got up really early this morning for a flight south to Guangzhou(Canton) and a city tour. At this point I'm realy tired of tours. The good news is that it's warm down here. It's around 80. The tour guide took us to the Chen Clan Academy where we saw some Cantonese architecture and folk art. Next we drove through some of the markets where people buy some of their food. I saw lots of strange animals for sale in the meat markets. It's the Cantonese people down here that are said to eat anything on four legs except for the table, and anything that flies except an airplane. Then we stopped at a pharmacy market and got to walk around. This was interesting. We got a lot of stares, but I got to see all the bizarre things that people where shopping for because they believe these products have medicinal purposes... live scorpions, ginseng, turtles, dried snake skin, flies, etc. Next we drove around Shamian Island and viewed old British and French mansions built in the 1800s. Next we had some Cantonese food for lunch, this is the style of Chinese food that is usually found in the US. It was pretty good, but Sichuan food is definitely my fav. After lunch we went to a porcelain "factory" (I hate these shops), and then to the park to a tea shop. The tea shop was cool, we had a tasting of some teas. My favs were ginseng tea and jasmine tea. Then we were off to the train station for our 1 hour 40 minute train to Hong Kong. The train ride was nice. I would have preferred to take the train around China instead of planes, but there wasn't enough time. We had to go through immigration and customs because we were leaving mainland China and entering Hong Kong. Hong Kong has been part of China since 1997, but they still have the freedoms they had while under British rule guaranteed to them for the next 50 years. One Country, Two Systems. They also have a different currency, the Hong Kong Dollar. Chinese people are not allowed into Hong Kong without permission from the gov't, and even if they did get permission, most would not be able to afford to go. It's pretty sad. As the train arrived in Hong Kong, I could tell instantly that I was going to like this place. Lots of lights, huge sky-scaping highrise apartment buildings and hotels, people everywhere. After checking into the Kimberley Hotel in the Tsimshatsui area of Kowloon, I went out for a stroll. It turns out that my hotel is in the biggest shopping district of Hong Kong. There were shops and people everywhere. A mix of people from all cultures, not just Chinese. Many people spoke English. Noone stared at you like you were some kind of freak. And noone was after your money. This place is the absolute opposite of Mainland China and I am already considering moving here.
China Trip: Day 14
Today we had a half day tour of the city, and I kinda wish I skipped it. First we took a bus up to the top of Victoria Peak to take some pics of the city, then we went to the fishing village of Aberdeen, and then we drove through the Repulse Bay area, where rich people like Jackie Chan live, on our way to Stanley Market. Finally the tour is over. I have a day and a half of free time in Hong Kong! I went back to the Tsimshatsui to spend the rest of the day exploring the shopping area. This city is a lot like New York City. Only with taller apartment buildings. I don't think there is any other place with such a high concentration of Chinese Restaurants and Clothing stores. I ended up purchasing a sweater at Gap-like chain store called Giordano.
China Trip: Day 15
My last day in Hong Kong... what should I do? I decided to leave. Since I'm here I decided to visit Macau, the former Portuguese colony that has been part of China since 1999. I took a ferry from Kowloon to Macau and had to go through the immigration and customs deal again, because like Hong Kong, Macau has a completely different system and also a different currency. Many Hong Kong residents go to Macau for the casinos since they are not allowed in Hong Kong. The ferry ride was very nice. My economy seat was like a first class airplane seat. The trip took about 70 mins on the high-speed boat. I couldn't see much scenery because the water was splashing the on the window and the ride was kinda rough. I got off the ferry and walked to the city center. The people of Macau are similar to those in Hong Kong but instead of speaking English and Chinese, they speak Portuguese and Chinese. The city center is very nice... old european-style building painted in bright pastel colors. I did some exploring and then headed back to the ferry terminal. On the way, I decided to stop at the Macau Grand Prix Museum, but it was closed for renovations. The Macau Grand Prix is a very famous Formula 3 race that has been running every year since 1954. I just missed this years race by a couple weeks. Previous winners of the race include current Formula 1 stars such as Michael Schumacher, Takuma Sato, and David Coulthard. Instead of taking the ferry back to Kownloon, I took a different ferry to Hong Kong Island. This one wasn't as nice as the other, but it was a smoother ride. I ended up in the Central District, another big shopping area. The malls in Hong Kong are quite strange. Many of them are in narrow office buildings and on several floors, there might only be a few shops on each floor. Others are run along entire streets and are connected to other malls, so you can easily get lost. The most manageable for me was Pacific Place. My legs were getting tired so I hopped on a subway which went under the harbor and back to Kowloon where my hotel was. The subway system seems to be quite efficient. I rested for a little while and then went out to the Temple Street Night Market which my tourbook said was supposed to be really crazy at night. It wasn't so I left. Since I hadn't eaten any food from street vendors in China to try to avoid getting sick on my trip, I figured that since this was my last day, and I was in Hong Kong, I could try something. Everyone was talking around with these balls on a stick, so I decided to try one. It turned out to be fish balls dipped in a spicy sauce and it was really good. I went back three times to get more. They cost HK$8.00 (US$1.00). They also had bottles of sugar cane juice. Mmmmm. I didn't get sick.
link to this post
