High Speed Ferry to Macau

Thursday afternoon one week ago I went to the ferry terminal and went to Macau by the high speed ferry within one hour. The was smooth and nothing special at all. The ferry is closed, hence you’re not allowed to go outside. In essence you’re just sitting at your place for one hour. After a walk through the downtown of Macau I met my host Yen Yen. She is a really amazing person as she travelled for about 2.5 years all around the world. So we had something to exchange and she told me for example some scared stories from her visit from Russia. But also some other nice ones from central and south America.

The bridge of the new road from Macau to Hong Kong

This offshore wind park is between Macau and Hong Kong so essentially part of mainland China

I have no idea why there is a Boeing sign on the side of the ship

One of the largest casinos on Macau peninsula

An old building on the way through the city

This is one of the largest streets in Macau peninsula, but in the evening the traffic calmed already down

Star Ferry Hong Kong

Wednesday evening one week ago I wanted to go for the popular nightly horse race in Happy Valley, but as I was a bit longer bouldering, it turned out that I’m already too late to go for that event. But before I went to bouldering I got some Hong Kong fastfood at Joy Hing roasted meat. That’s probably the cheapest Michelin rated meal you can get in Hong Kong. But actually I have to say, I got at some other fastfood restaurants better roasted meat. Roasted meat is quit popular in Hong Kong.

So as I was late we headed to the Star Ferry at the Kowloon side. Nowadays it’s not really necessary to take the ferry due to the MTR, but it’s pretty cheap and a nice experience to sail across the Victoria Harbour to Hong Kong Island at night. Afterwards we took a short walk through Soho before we got a German wheat beer in Lan Kwai Fong. But not in the bars with all the black bouncers. It was just interesting to notice these kind of accumulation in LKF.

Hong Kong exhibition centre looks like a large turtle

City Excursion Hong Kong

Tuesday noon a week ago Caz, Adam and me went to a typical Dim Sum restaurant in Hong Kong. We took various types and after this delicious lunch we were all pretty full. The advantage of having lunch together is that we cn order various types of dim sum. If you go alone you only can taste some of them. And dim sum is typically only served fur breakfast and lunch but not in the evening for dinner.

Afterwards I took the tramway along Hong Kong Island which is pretty cheap for one ride (far less than the MTR), but you have it even for longer for the same distance 😉. So bring your time with you, as these pretty old trams are not the fastest, but the world’s last double-decker tramways. I prefer the view from the upper deck, the same as with the buses. In central in got off the tram and went to the IFC mall. The shops inside the mall had for sure nothing on offer which fits my needs, but on top of the IFC mall are some public seats, which were officially not served by the adjacent restaurants. So I just set down, looked over Victoria harbour to Kowloon on the other side…and wrote for the rest of the afternoon some postcards.

In the evening Jojo came over and we wanted to go up to High West Peak. In order to be “faster” we decided to take a bus to Victoria peak, as it’s cheaper than the cable car. But unfortunately the bus was in the traffic jam and in the 3nd it took more than one hour to get there. We started our walk and the enlightened Hong Kong Island was beneath of us and after about one hour we reached West High Peak. As it is less known, only a view people are up there to take pictures, compared to Victoria Peak which was totally crowded, but the view is not less spectacular.

Double-decker buses and tramways are just common in Hong Kong due to the restricted useable space

Quit old style of the trams, but pretty cheap

Thanks god Merrill Lynch was saved with US tax money in the Lehman crises, otherwise I wouldn’t got that car on the photo 😏

IFC tower number 2…aah, how I like all these investment banker with their business model. If they have a good deal, they take the money, if the deal is bad, they need to be saved by tax money. In the end they always win…just too big to fail.

Typical traffic situation on Hong Kong Island…traffic jam

On top of the IFC mall, just enjoyed the view…

…you even have a special view to Lamma Island and the three chimneys. No it’s not a ship, but the coal fired power plant. Somehow all the AC’s has to work all day and night long.

Light show in Hong Kong

One week ago we went to the light show at the public pier in the evening near Tsim Sha Tsui. There were lots of people, all heading for the first row. It started at 20 o’clock, but after all, it didn’t last longer than 10 minutes. And I have to say it was not very spectacular at all. After that we headed for some food and I had my first hotpot. This one was really very tasty.

The scenery at its own is impressive, even without additional…

Excursion to Lantau Island

Saturday one week ago Jojo offered me again to stay one night at her place. So we met at the Shek Kip Mei MTR station to spent the evening together. Before we went to a local restaurant we walked up the Garden Hill just behind the Youth Hostel in order to enjoy the view. Afterwards we got some dinnernand wanted also to grab some dessert, but unfortunately the Chillazy Dessert was already closed.

On Sunday morning one week ago I headed to my next host Caz. She lives in a shared flat with three other people in an industrial building. This was really a lovely experience to stay there. Adam who is the main tenant did once a hitch-hiking trip from Berlin to Hong Kong and wrote also a book about his experiences in that 200 days. Even it was in Chinese, the book and the pictures gave a good impression about his experience.

In the afternoon Caz and me went to Mui Wo at Lantau (yes again for me). Here we waited for her friend Thora, another CS, because she unfortunately missed the ferry. We had a walk along the beach, as both were already wearing swimwear, but they start to refused to get into the water. After a bit of searching we finally reached the waterfall. As it was already late, we didn’t start walking to Discovery Bay. Instead we headed back to the ferry pier and took a walk through the town, before we took the ferry to Discovery Bay. There are living lots of expats and it felt also a bit like a tourist spot than a living community. We checked out the real estate prices, and especially I was a bit of shocked…Damn compared to that, Munich is a real bargain.