Discovering Hong Kong & Macau

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Hello everyone and welcome to Hong Kong! Sorry we’ve been lazy these days. It must be the fact that we haven’t seen a ray of sun for 3 weeks. And it’s boiling hot in London!!! Why!? Ggrrr. Hong Kong is, to my liking, much like any other modern capitalist crowded full-of-adverts city in the world, only with Asian signs/characters and Asian people. Obviously, it’s impressive to watch countless buildings, some very original and striking, against a background of mountains and vegetation. It’s like NY has been rebuilt in the middle of the jungle, and has been taken over by masses of people. It’s been invaded by thousands of hundreds of Asians and foreigners (us) – and that makes it vibrant and hectic, but also a bit annoying. I won’t go over the list of human sounds and acts that I witness every day, which drive me up the wall. Let’s just say this is just like Shanghai in that sense. I guess we have different concepts of how to behave in public. I wonder if when Chinese are in Europe, they think we’re running out of manners too. We are in the Kowloon Peninsula and everything interesting happens around a street called Tsim Sha Tsui – we keep on calling it ‘Ching Chong Chui’ because for some stupid reason it sounds similar to us! From here we walk around and explore the area. It’s much more modern than Shanghai (although apparently not so big) and more westernised. Interesting fact: China has been under English dominion since 1841 – Hong Kong’s administration was given back to China in 1997. Not so long ago, therefore it’s only normal to see numerous ‘foreigners’ – people that live here or work here. From Kowloon we head to Central Hong Kong. For this we need to take the tube, which goes under the sea. Scary! Once in ‘Central’ we choose a route and just walk around admiring the architecture and some local parks. But for the most part, it looks like Canary Wharf in London. A big area full of businesses, banks mostly, and businessmen/women rushing around, busy buying their lunch by now. We find our way to the IFC (Intl. Finance Centre) tower – from its 55th floor we get a wonderful view of the island. There is also a baby eagle sitting right outside the window, which reminds me we’re in the middle of nature – not the other way round. There is also an exhibition on Chinese Currency through history. It’s interesting to discover the Chinese traded with Mexican and Spanish dollars as well as their own currency in the 19th Century. Once the English took over, they introduced sterling as well. In 1937, China was invaded by the Japanese (until 1945) and by the end of the invasion, HK’s population had fallen from 1,600,000 to 600,000. Unbelievable. Lunch is at the park – like any other business person, we buy some ‘Pret’ lunch and attempt to eat it in a nearby park. We end up (literally) running around as bees come after us. It was nice though  On our way back ‘home’ that afternoon, unintentionally we walk through the Gold Fish Market (apparently they give good luck) – there are numerous shops selling puppies, fish, birds, turtles, reptiles, insects – anything! So much for keeping the competitor away!! The Flower Market is also very nice and smells beautifully. The next day we decide to go back to HK island and explore another area we didn’t get to see the first day. It’s called Admiralty – and it’s pretty much the same as Central. Good news is: we had a great lunch at a Thai Place. Salmon Crispy Salad, if you must know! From here we find ourselves something else to do – our first mission in the morning was to visit the Buddhas temple, close to the airport. The queue was so long that we gave up; lucky us, we’re staying in HK during the only ‘holiday week’ in Autumn! Our second objective, the afternoon plan, was to visit the HK History Museum, which is ‘closed’ for no apparent reason. Mental note: check the sites before you visit them, you may find it’s closed or it’s peak-time. We choose second best, which is the Science Museum. Sorry to complain, but it’s made for kids!! I’m sure if one has children, this is very interesting, but although we played some games and took funny pictures at the ‘Mirrors section’ – it wasn’t really worth it. Well, we did learn something interesting: the current world population is approximately 6,967,667,488 (of which 1,3 billion are Chinese and 1,2 billion are Indian). WOW!
Today has been much better though: we took the Ferry to MACAO. Macao was under Portuguese dominion from 17th Century until 1999!!! Not so long ago at all! As soon as one steps out of the boat, it fells like another place. We’re no longer in China, we’re back in Spain! It reminds me of some Sothern cities in Spain, and the unmistakable colonial architecture in South America. It is curious and unique to see signs in Portuguese and Chinese – the strangest combination. We come across several catholic churches which could have easily been confused for European ones. There are ruins of a fortress, with a Museum at its centre (and an interesting exhibition on Dr Sun Yat Sen, who initiated the 1911 revolution, ending feudalism in China), a theatre, the ‘Mandarin’s House’ (largest private residence in Macao, very beautiful and owned by an intellectual whose name I can’t remember!) as well as a crowded temple we picture from the distance. On the streets we taste the AMAZING Portuguese Egg Tarts (our hungry stomachs welcome them fervently!) and a bit of ‘laminated meat’ – literally, it’s beef or pork flattened or compressed and totally delicious. We end our day at Macao tower (233 metres high) – wonderful views once more and an offer to sky-dive, which M almost succumbs to. Arrg! I’d be too scared. The view from up there made my legs tremble! To end our adventures today, we get lost on the way back to the ferry. Bus stops only exist on one side of the road in Macao, so whenever you see one in a map, remember: it doesn’t mean it runs both ways!! Ferry ride back a bit bumpy.
Tomorrow, or after tomorrow – more!!
PS: thanks to anyone who’s reading, and thanks for all your comments!!
M’s Perceived Hypocritical Ironies
1) In the science museum, they advertise the fact that the world is undergoing serious pollution. They have a gigantic picture of a nuclear power plant located in Scotland, of all places, as an instigator of pollution. I find this ironic, as China is currently the biggest polluters of mother earth. Surely they must have pictures of polluters in China that they could use instead!
2) Watching the BBC news in Asia, I was surprised to hear, that they are contemplating scrapping the human rights act in Britain. Does this mean they will stop telling the Chinese that they need to sort out their own human rights?
3) It’s funny how Britain has returned Hong Kong to China, even though the millions of people here were against this, but they won’t return Gibraltar to Spain, on the pretext that the 26000 Gibraltarians wish to remain British! It must be because of the commercial agreements they have, which proves that they don’t care about the people at all!
B & M

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