Hong Kong . . . why haven't we been here before?

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As we said goodbye to mainland China, we were quite excited about hitting Hong Kong. Its been one of those places that we have always thought we should visit but never actually made it there. Needless to say, it didnt disappoint!

We were fortunate to have our friends apartment in Tai Hang for two weeks while Todd and Anna were cat sitting an apartment on Victoria Harbour. That means full use of a couch that hasnt been worn by a million backpackers before us, a toilet that we can freely flush the paper without worrying about clogging the pipes, cable TV that has familiar programs and not just Li Na highlight packages (Thanks China TV!!!), fast internet and of course, being able to walk around carefree in our underpants!

Looking back and thinking about all the things we did in Hongkers, it doesnt feel like our blog could do it justice. We had unbelievable experience, due mostly to the fact that Todd and Anna were incredible hosts. We have included a few things that we got up to in the two and a half weeks we were here, talking about everything would be to difficult to remember!!!

One of the highlights was visiting Macau. It is an awesome place, that effortlessly fuses East and West. There is enough Portuguese influence to make you feel like your out of Asia, enough Chinese influence to remind you that there is some tastey Char Siew just around the corner and enough casino's balanced with secluded beaches to either celebrate your roulette success or flaunt your financial position!!! I wonder why more people that we know haven't gone to chance their fortune on the tables?

We stayed at the Westin in Colane which is an island void of casino's and a very local vibe. Shuttle buses run every half hour from here into the other two islands and are a very easy way to get around.
We did a pub crawl, nay, casino crawl, visiting all the big properties and for some reason the pokies and Caribbean Stud Poker were keeping us ahead and we managed to pay off this side trip with the proceeds. The Venetian is just like the Venetian in Vegas, complete with gondola rides and Sistine Chapel inspired roof art, the Wynn is a very impressive building and had a tank of jelly fish illuminated with purple lighting and the MGM commands an impressive position on the Macau skyline. We saw a casino that looks more like a Chinese den (Lisboa Casino from memory), a few middle of the road properties and at least one high end (Grand Lisboa maybe?) that didn't appreciate our clothing (thongs, trucker cap and boardshorts not good enough for you mr bouncer?) and denied us entry. In any case this quickfire power tour of the casino's has given us enough reason to head back.

Shek-O and the Islands
Who knew that Hong Kong has some amazing beach spots that are ideal for a quite beer watching the sunset? Not us anyway! One of the most memorable days in HK was sitting at the back beach right next to Big Wave Bay on Hong Kong Island, paying $20HKD for a beer (maybe the cheapest in HK??) and eating a BBQ whilst watching the expat and local kids frolic in the water. Its a favourite of many expats and local's alike and this became the most perfect day- good weather, good friends and cold beer. Get yourself there if you're ever in HK, its worth the taxi fare.

Happy Valley Racecourse
A quintessential HK experience, Happy Valley is the place to go on a Wednesday night. We positioned ourselves next to the San Miguel tent, 60 metres from the finishing line, and spent the whole night talking to a bunch of backpackers and expat pilots who took us out to Wan Chai afterwards (against our better judgement!). It could've been the jugs of beer, the humidity or the company but one thing that is certain is that betting on nags is as hard in Asia as it is back home- especially when Kiara likes to play exotic multi's . . . . or maybe that was Jez?

Cigaros Cigar Lounge
When you travel around for an extended period of time and live out of your backpack, you appreciate the spontaneous things that help you enjoy a relatively cheap but extended afternoon in comfort. We were doing a spot of shopping (well Kiara was and Jez was holding the bags) and we stumbled upon a cigar lounge across from Times Square. Not too sure why we were looking 4 floors up but lucky enough we were and thought that a good way to balance out the clothes shopping was to indulge in a Montecristo #4. So we went past the money changer, took the stairs up past the salon, walked around the fishing and tackle shop, said hello to the construction workers who were renovating the shops on the third floor and after a fair sized quest found Cigaros. Now this place was quite a find, not only could you smoke a stogie in comfort, but you can have a private room to watch a movie with unlimited green tea. So after a couple of fat ones whilst watching Red Riding Hood, we had successfully spent 4hrs doing not much at all for the price of a couple of Cuba's finest. Perfect!

We tried our darndest to scratch below the surface and find some 'off the beaten track' stuff in and around Hongkers. So after a bit of internet surfing we found out about a couple of 'hidden highlights' or lesser known sights. One of which was the Lan Tau waterfall. We had sketchy directions from the internet that told us to catch a bus from the pier, get off at the temple, take the path on the left of the carpark on the right . . . blah blah blah. Vague as the directions were, our posse of four tried to find this thing and after a MTR ride, two bus trips in opposite directions up and down the hill and finally a 6km walk in the blistering heat we found ourselves empty handed. Maybe it was the directions, or the lack of rain not turning the waterfall on or something else, but even the monks were absent from the temple so we couldnt even ask for advice! Maybe another time Lan Tau Waterfall, maybe not.

The other place we were chasing was a property called Sea Ranch. So the story goes that a property developer in the 80's had a project that was 'kinda sorta' completed but was tied up in the courts all through the 90's. Apparently, the resort is unfinished but there are a few people living at Sea Ranch and you need an official invitation from one of the few residents to get there. Well an official invitation wasnt going to stop us and we hit the peer trying to get a wallah-wallah or flat bottom boat to take us on the journey across the bay. After a bit of negotiation we thought we had a deal to take us across the harbour and after all of 5 minutes we realised that the dodgy cats at the pier were taking us for a tour to nowhere and we abruptly stopped the charade, with Sea Ranch in the distance, the sun setting and a place that we'll visit in a time in the future. We asked around to find out if anyone knew anything about this place and funnily enough, nobody seems to know anything about it. The only loose piece of info we got was from an expat who thought it was a RnR place for one of the political parties in HK. Loving the fact that this is a mysterious place that isnt well known by many people. An adventure for another time perhaps?

We have ticked a few 'firsts' off on our bucket list along the way, including learning to ride a motorbike, tackling paddle boarding, eating some different foods (but not dog!!), and visiting some amazing places. So with this in mind we changed our plans and instead of heading back into China we decided to explore the Phillipines instead with one major objective- to go scuba diving for the first time. Excited, we boarded the plane to Palawan.

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Photos

Todd and Anna
Class Couple. 'nuff said!

Last Night in Hongkers
Magic evening. The next day the typhoon hit but we we on our way to Palawan.

Lan Tau Waterfall Posse
Couldnt find this mysterious waterfall, so it stays as mysterious as it started.

Macau
Reminded me of that movie 7 pounds- but its pretty cool to have a jellyfish tank in the foyer.

Macau
Brilliant place, plenty to see and do.

Karaoke Kaos
We took over a whole bar with out of tune karaoke singing. But the locals loved the size of this binge session!!

Macau
The precursor to beginning the discussion on scuba diving. . . . sneaky.

Comments

[Kellyansapansa]

I'm so glad you guys loved HK - it's one of my favourite places in the world and after three visits I'm planning to go back at the earliest opportunity. I guess you weren't adventurous enough to try a dried lizard on a stick though - I'm pretty sure it would have rated a mention if you did! Macau is pretty cool, Andrew came second place in a poker tournament when we were there.