Gallery Hong Kong & MacauClick on one picture to view the whole gallery |
22.04.2008
Flight cancelled
“Have a nice flight” shouted the driver of the car rental shuttle after dropping us off at the international terminal of Auckland airport. Seconds later our eyes were scanning the huge board listing all departures, one flight was cancelled, flight Cathay Pacific CX 108 to Hong Kong, ours. Not good! Cathay Pacific employees at the check-in desk informed us that due to a taifoon in Hong Kong, the flight had been cancelled, with our plane still in Hong Kong. “Wait there, we will know more in about 45 minutes”. Well, after waiting...[more] Category: Hong Kong
23.04.2008
No visa for China?
Immediately after our arrival, we raced to “Chinese Resource Center” to apply for our visa for mainland China. The line was already very long at 08:00 am, one hour before the door opened and rumours were flying high. Everybody had a story or a concern about the latest changing visa requirements. It seems that after the heavy criticism on its policy in Tibet and the massive disruption of the Olympic torch carrier, China does not want individual travellers roaming all over the place! Our visa application was simply rejected, because...[more] Category: Hong Kong
24.04.2008
Hong Kong - A city of great contrasts
Arriving in Hong Kong was as much of a shock as a delight: after spending months on small Pacific Islands and in New Zealand with its sheer unlimited space, we were suddenly surrounded by skyscrapers, traffic jams and millions of people rushing around. We had not been in such a huge city since leaving Buenos Aires and truly enjoyed it, not even being bothered by the noise and air pollution, so far. Hong Kong is a city full of contrasts: On the one hand, it is full of ultra-hip shopping malls with luxurious designer stores, elegantly...[more] Category: Hong Kong
25.04.2008
Eating out in Hong Kong
How many restaurants are there in this city? This is what we truly would like to know. There is no type of food or price range that cannot be found, from basic restaurants serving huge dishes for 2 less than Euros to others where starters sells for more than 20 Euros! From the beginning, we tried to stick to small basic restaurants with a menu only in Chinese, simply to practice for the month to come… Often we had to decide by choosing from the pictures displayed in the restaurant. Up to now, communication has always worked, with...[more] Category: Hong Kong
25.04.2008
Po Lin Monastery & the Giant Buddha
“The world’s largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha sits serenely atop Ngong Plateau”… This is the official tourism ad for this place on Lantau. Do not expect a quiet place, this is a major attraction for both Chinese and non-Chinese tourists! But it is truly impressive. The Buddha was built in 1992 and financed mainly through donations. All the people who chipped in are remembered on the wall inside the big Buddha in different ways, depending on how much they donated. Visitors are invited to do the same: for no less than a 500.000 HK...[more] Category: Hong Kong
26.04.2008
A lucky day and more déjà vu
What a day! On Friday, Gilles discovered that Air New Zealand had reimbursed the tickets we had to buy twice because of the mix-up in dates crossing the International Time Line and Phoenix Travel Agency had our passports and visas for Mainland China ready in the afternoon. We had grown worried, since that same day the front page of South China Morning Post announced that from now on, visa applications have to be filed from your home country. On top of that, we ran into an American who was in the line with us on Tuesday, April 22nd,...[more] Category: Hong Kong
27.04.2008
Macau and its Portuguese heritage
Macau was our destination for the weekend and also our port of entry into Mainland China. The otherwise scenic one-hour crossing by hydrofoil from Hong Kong unfortunately was more like rushing through a tunnel of fog, the same kind of fog or smog that had blanketed Hong Kong throughout our entire stay. The “Chegada a Macau” is usually via ferry from Hong Kong. Already on the boat, less informed visitors are thrown into confusion by bilingual immigration forms in Cantonese and Portuguese. Only in 1999 did this speck of 28km2 on the...[more] Category: Hong Kong
27.04.2008
Macau - The new Las Vegas
Over a period of twenty years, Macau has turned into China‘s gambling paradise with huge casinos easily matching if not surpassing Las Vegas. In New Zealand, a couple from Hong Kong told us about “The Venetian”, named after its older sister in Las Vegas, that only had opened in 2007. So we made our way to Taipo Island not knowing what to expect. What we saw blew our mind, literally. The Venetian is a replica of the very city and what is most amazing, not badly done! The dimensions are mind-boggling: the second largest...[more] Category: Hong Kong
28.04.2008
Hong Kong & Macau - Summary & Budget
After we first arrived in Hong Kong and moved around for a few hours, we were worried that staying for four days might be too long. Well, we were so wrong, we loved every minute of our stay and this is equally true for Macau The only turn off was the difficulty and suspense involved in getting a visa for China. Looking back, it was quite funny, but being in thrown into a situation where all of a sudden all rules do not apply anymore was rather uncomfortable. We felt so very lucky to have this piece of paper in our passport,...[more] Category: Hong Kong, Budget, Summaries
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