Country Hopping…. Macau for the Day!

Nov 2nd

I woke up this morning extra early to skype with my dad’s side of the family- the 13 hour time difference is difficult but luckily every Sunday night is a big family dinner so it’s a good time to catch them all. It was nice to see their faces and get in a quick hello with everyone even though I was kind of groggy since I had just rolled out of bed.

Jess and I had high hopes of getting an early start on the day, but she’s coming down with a cold and I was up all night on facebook, so we both decided we should sleep a bit longer. We woke up at 10am (still early to me) and got ourselves ready for the day. We packed day bags and a change of clothes because we decided to leave Hong Kong and hope to the neighboring country of Macau (rumored to have great nightlife). Macau is known as the Las Vegas on the East, filled with lots of casinos and all sorts of gamboling Asians. The ferry terminal was about a mile walk from our hotel and we got a little lost, walking past the entrance. We arrived at 11:52am. Not really paying much attention to the time we looked around for a ticket counter. We were shocked as a guy ran up to us telling us we needed to run and catch the 12pm ferry. We went to pay but didn’t have enough Hong Kong currency and of course they didn’t take credit cards. We really wanted to make this boat and not wait around in the terminal so we got them to agree to take American currency. We had read online that this particular company offers student discounts but since we were so rushed they didn’t want to give it to us, we gave up arguing about the few dollars we’d save and grabbed our tickets and made it run for it. We had to clear customs which was actually easy and no line for once. We had a sweat going as we full on RAN to the boat. We arrived with only moments to spare and were among the last ones to board. The ferry was actually really nice, filled with big and comfy leather seats. I filled out my health form and customs forms and fell asleep within 5 minutes of being on the open water. I love the rocking feeling, and miss being on the Semester at Sea boat, it was a great nap! Jess felt a little boat sick because the ship did do a lot of rocking, I managed to sleep though most of it.

We arrived in Macau and decided to head to the cable cars- we’d had so much fun the day before why not try again? We paid the 50 cent ticket and jumped onboard. We were shocked to realize that this particular cable car ride was less than 2 minutes. I was kind of embarrassed we even paid to go on it, it probably would have taken us 10 minutes to walk up the steps. We laughed about how silly the whole idea was- there was only 6 cable cars on the whole cable and during the time we did a complete circle not a single other person went up or down.

While at the top we walked around and went to an old lighthouse that we saw on the map. Neither of us thought it looked like a lighthouse.

We decided that we mine as well get our money out of the round trip ticket so we took the cable car back down. We scared the employee at the bottom of the cable car who was sleeping when we jumped off the cable car. The poor old guy was probably not expecting a single tourist all day and then we jumped off laughing about the whole situation- I’m surprised we didn’t give him a heart attack.

We then walked around a historical path which is a trail that has all of Macau’s world heritage sites. We like seeing the old church which was in ruins.

Jess and I were both surprised by the Portuguese design and architecture here. Most of the buildings are Spanish looking and some have bight and clean Spanish colors.

I grabbed a quick sandwich at a local coffee shop and we were off to explore some more. Some how we drifted off of the walking trail but ended seeing the Macau tower which has a 360 degree observation deck.

 

It was a long walk which was kind of annoying because we could see the building but often times couldn’t get there from where we were- there was a lot of construction and heave traffic. Eventually we made it. On the top floor of the Macau tower there are extreme activities like bungee jumping and some other kind of jump where u are attached to a cord with wheels and you wheel down the building. We had a lot of fun watching this one guy get all set up and fly down the building. The views were great from the Macau tower, I really liked getting an idea of the setup of the island and I got to see how big it really is.

We decided to take a taxi over to the bar area near he MGM Grand and Wynn Hotels (same ones as Las Vegas). We went into the MGM and decided to spend $20Macau dollars (less than $3 UDS) playing this 10 cent games that I still can’t figure out. I wished that I had more experience because the craps and black jack tables looked very inviting. I’ll have to get my dad and Mumsie to take to me Foxwoods soon! I was surprised that the casino was much smaller than I expect. I mean, don’t get me wrong it was still big, but nothing compared to Vegas. Also the hotel was very much separated from the casino which I thought was interesting. I didn’t see any sort or show or entertainment going on or even being advertised. I was also surprised that Macau didn’t seem to have a “strip” that a noticed. Although I haven’t been to Vegas in a while now, I remember the strip that connected all of the hotels was so much fun with lots of shops and souvenir places. I also remember each resort having a great theme with tons of cool places to walk around and check out- I didn’t see any of that here. Maybe we missed it, but I thought Vegas was much different.

 

We walked past the area where all of the bars and restaurants were supposed to be but many of them were closed. Jess and I wondered if we were there during the off season or maybe because it was a weekday after a big holiday weekend? Regardless it was dead, hardly anyone was even walking around. We grabbed some dinner and headed back to the ferry.

We got back to Kowloon around 9:30 and got caught up with our blogs and pictures and headed to bed ready to take on our last day in Hong Kong!

Love,
Katie

Caviar Dreams…

Nov 1st

Jess and I slept in today which was wonderful. We got up at 11am, by far the latest we’ve slept all trip. We showered and got ourselves put together then decided to get going. We were both quite hungry and decided to grab lunch before getting on the subway to start on our daily adventures. We both were impressed how great the sushi was the night before and despite our efforts to try something new we somehow ended up back at the same restaurant, Sushi One. I enjoyed salmon, tuna, mango, and of course the caviar! It was equally as delicious as the day before!

(Salmon and Mango with Caviar)

We then hopped on the subway and started our journey to Lantau Island is which a small island right outside of Hong Kong that can easily be assessed by the subway. As we stepped on the train Jess and I both noticed this giant looking westerner. He happened to be with a couple of other guys. We were standing only about 5 feet away from them so Jess and I exchanged looks letting each other know that we were both curious about these boys. We listen to them talk amongst themselves for a few minutes and it wasn’t long before the giant one (he was 6’7 ¾ we’d later find out- huge compared to the small Asians) stuck up a conversation with us. They ended up being 5 guys ages 20-24 that were in the military and all on the same Navy boat (usually docked in Japan, but they were in Hong Kong for a few days and had some times off). They were heading to the same place as we were, so the 7 of us quickly became friends and we ended up enjoying each other company the whole day long. We arrived on Lantau Island and decided to do the famous Ngong Ping 360 cable cars to the top of the mountain. The cable cars reminded me of a gondola like the ones I take skiing, this particular one had a glass bottom which was a lot of fun. Our new Navy friends took lots of pictures pretending that they were falling, it was funny.

 

 

(we spotted buddha from the cable cars)

 

It was about a 25 minute cable car ride to the top, we got to see lots of great views, watch the locals fishing, and chat with our new friends. Many of them had never been outside of the country before joining the Navy and were very curious about our trip and all of the places that we had been in our travels. When we got to the top we walked to Tian Tan Buddha Statue which is known locally as “The Big Buddha” because its HUGE! We had to climb up a bunch of stairs to get to the top, but it was a lot of fun.

(long hike to get to the buddha)

 

 

(All the stairs we hiked)

(with our new friends)

From there Jess and I were determined to go to Tai O, a small fishing village nearby known as the “Venice of the East” which is on the South China Sea and is home to pink dolphins. At this point we were pressed for time, only have about 3 hours before the last cable car went down for the evening. We invited our Navy friends to come along and they seemed excited about the pink dolphins, they hadn’t heard about them before. We jumped on a bus for less than $2USD and went on fifteen minute fast and windy ride down to Tai O. We we’re all pretty sure that we were all going to die at some point on the ride as we weaved around people on bikes, mopeds, and even an ox or two, but we arrived safely. As soon as we got off the bus there were people wanting to sign us up for the pink dolphin tour, so we paid the $3USD and got in line. The boat sat 12 people, so it was fun that our group was all together and a majority of the boat. The ride was only about 20 minutes but I loved every second of it. We drove around the small water village where many of the houses over the water on stilts.

 

We passed lots of cute little markets and saw the locals going about their daily lives. Next we headed to the open sea. The boat ride was exhilarating as we bounced up and down flying over waves. I decided at that moment that I HAVE TO own a boat at some point in my life. I hope my name somehow miraculously moves up on the list and I get my dock slip in Perkins Cove sooner than later! We stopped about 1000 feet from shore and were shocked as the pink dolphins popped up right near our boat. We got to watch them for about five minutes. They were beautiful! A couple of times they even jumped out of the water, doing tricks for us! It was definitely the highlight of my day! After our boat ride we decided to explore the markets and walked around looking at all of the local foods.

It was a great day and although there was still some tourists around it definitely wasn’t as busy as the cable car area, it was nice to get away. We then attempted to grab the bus back to the cable cars only to find out that we had missed the last bus. We had less than an hour at this point before the last cable car went down for the night, so Jess and I started to get a little worried. We tried to get the locals to call a taxi for us, but no one seemed to want to. About 10 minutes later one finally came. We tried to pay him extra to let all 7 of us in at once, but he refused. Jess and I and two of the guys jumped in and headed back to the cable cars. The taxi driver ended up going back for the other 3 guys so we grabbed a drink and waited for them to arrive.

The 7 of us took the glass bottom cable car back down the mountain. At this point it was dark out so we got a nice view of the lights which was fun.

 

We were all getting hungry and ready for some drinks at this point. They boys had a curfew and needed to be back on the boat by 10:30pm so we didn’t have much time. We headed to LFK again to the same bars we were at the night before. We had some appetizers and grabbed some drinks. We chatted some more then decided to relocate to dance away our last few hours. The bars were a ton of fun! They weren’t as packed as the night before which was nice because we could actually move. There were a lot more westerns (or perhaps maybe the same amount as the night before with far far far less locals). The Navy boys were crazy dancers, Jess and I enjoyed watching their break dancing moves and dancing with them as the threw us all around the dance floor swinging us and twirling us. It was easily one of my favorite days of the whole trip! We gave them our email addresses and contact information, I hope they stay in touch. We said our goodbyes to the Navy boys and headed back to the hotel. I spent the rest of the night trying to get caught up with my blog and uploading pictures.

That’s all for now.

Love,
Katie

'Cause this is thriller, thriller night

Oct 31st

Happy Halloween! We knew that we had a full day so we were up at 9 and out the door by 10am- pretty early for us! We hopped on the subway and headed to the main island of Hong Kong, a quick 2-stop ride. I grabbed a muffin on the way out of the subway,  and we were on our way. Our first stop was at Victoria Peak. I had  failed to realize that Hong Kong is so hilly. We walked about a mile from the subway to the bottom of the peak and took the very touristy tram up to the top of the mountain.

I was stocked that at times the tram was at a 27 degree angel to the horizontal. I said a prayer that the tram would keep going and not all of a sudden roll backwards. We safely arrived at the top and entered the Sky Terrace, an eight floor glass building with amazing views of Hong Kong and Kowloon!

It was so beautiful we spend a good hour just looking it was wonderful! We got lots of great pictures!

 

 

 

We took the tram back down and from there we walked towards the escalators. The escalators run daily (different directions at different times) mostly up mountains to help people get to and from work and their homes because it is so hilly here. Before arriving we grabbed a quick bite to eat at a trendy sandwich and smoothie shop called the Mix. We continued to walk and found the escalators.

 

We were amazed as we rode them up how they just kept going and going for miles. It was nice to bypass tons of stairs, especially because we both feel like we’ve climbed millions of stairs already on this trip. We discovered lots of fun areas with restaurants , bars and cute little markets. We made a mental note and vowed to return before we leave Hong Kong. Our last major tourist stop of the day was at the Happy Valley Race Course. We attempted to walk in, but a guard wouldn’t let us go on the main entrance. We walked around the building and found an open door. Being adventurous we went inside and hopped on the nearest elevator. We rode it to the top floor, the doors open and there were about 5 guys working at a restaurant waiting to get on the elevator. They were definitely shocked seeing us Westerners. Confused looks were exchanged, and we quickly pushed the close door button on the elevator and we were off. We stopped at a different floor which happened to be another restaurant that was more formal. There were several wait staff that were setting up for what looked like a wedding, we pointed towards the balcony and they nodded, allowing us to cut through their dinning room and take some pictures.

  

There was no horse races going on obviously, but the center of the race track was filled with people playing tennis, running, and doing lots of different outdoor activities. It was a neat place to check out. We were impressed with the territory that we covered and decided that we needed to rest up for Halloween, so we headed back to the hotel. We made a stop at the grocery store where we both stocked up on granola bars and I bought a sewing kit to mend my bra which is somehow falling apart, maybe from the washing machines here? 

We got back to the room and slept for about an hour and a half. We showered and got ready to go out. I attempted to sew my bra which was quite a challenge because I haven’t tried to sew anything since 6 grade home-economics when I had to sew a stuff animal and practically failed the class because I was so bad. It was quite an experience. We were ready by 7pm and decided to grab some dinner near our hotel. We ended up two streets over on Ashley street at a place classed Sushi One which has conveyer belt sushi. It was fabulous. I am starting to LOVE sushi-- dad be ready to get some with me when I get home! The sushi here was also priced depending on the color plate it was on, all of my favorites (mostly the salmon) is the cheapest which works out well for me. I had lots of unique pieces that I hadn’t seen before. I had salmon with mango in several different forms. I really liked when the Mango was cut into thin pieces and was used as the “roll” part in place of the sushi (although I do admit its slimy and very hard to eat with chop sticks). I also had salmon with caviar which was great! I didn’t think that I liked caviar, but I found myself wanting more and more. We left and both agreed that it was one of the best meals we had on the whole trip.

Feeling very full we jumped on the subway and headed over to Hong Kong to LFK. Lan Kwai Fong is a street that my friend Ami recommended in Japan.

Boy was she ever right, this was the place to be for Halloween! As we stepped off the subway we were stuck in a sea of people and dragged along streets zig-zagging all the way to LFK. It’s a good thing we wanted to be going in that direction because there was no way possible that we could have gone in any other way- the crowd was intense but a lot of fun. We grabbed Smirnoff Ice drinks from a street vender and followed the crowd with drinks in hand.

We were shocked that only a third of the crowd was actually dressed up, the others were like paparazzi and snapping pictures left and right. Jess and I had decided earlier in the day that we weren’t going to dress up and we seemed to fit in with the majority of the people. The locals did snap pictures with us as we walked by simply because we were foreigners, I made funny faces and made the best of it.  We spend the whole night hopping in and out of bars and walking down streets to find more and more people doing the same thing. We found it funny that we basically spend the whole night walking.

We’d popped into bars and danced for a few song and replenished our drinks and were on our way to the next happening spot. We got were annoyed by the amount of people and barricades set up to control the crowds, but chalked it all up to cultural differences and made the best of it. It was definitely a Halloween like no other, we had a lot of fun and will remember it for years to come! We headed home after midnight and happily hopped into bed exhausted after a full day in Hong Kong!


Love,
Katie

They say that Hong Kong is where east meets west… I think its more like where China meets India.

Oct 30th

We got off the train as fast as humanly possible and headed to our hotel. It was actually remarkably easy to get from the bus terminal to our subway stop which is was a miracle because we were tired, sweaty, and in desperate need of a shower. We quickly realized that in Hong Kong there are about 15 different exits to every subway all alphabetized which is interesting. Most exits are labeled fairly well, but it still creates quite a challenge. We exited the subway at Exit K. No sooner did we get to street level and we were bombarded by Indians trying to sell Gucci and Prada handbags. Jess and I were in no mood for shopping and continued to follow the directions that we had printed out. As soon as we opened the paper and paused for a second to figure out where we were going we were surrounded by people claiming that they worked for the hotel and wanting to bring us in every direction (aka to their store where we could buy every handbag under the sun). We were annoyed but ignored them and kept walking. We were even more confused when we got to our hotel, or mall, I should say. Our hotel is in this place called “The Mansion’, which happens to be an old huge building (which of course happens to be under construction) with maybe 200 venders and stalls on the ground floor selling everything from Indian foods, to electronics, to grocery and even  (you guessed it) designer handbags. Confused and still annoyed that we were being bombard by sales people we continued our trek. The mansion has about 10 different sets of elevators, we needed the ones in ‘C block” which of course is the back of the building. We pushed our way through the crowd and got to the long line leading up to the elevator. After about 20 minutes we finally got on the 6 person tiny elevator, only to realize that we had gotten on the “even” side elevator and we needed to get into another line for the odd number floor. We even talked to a guy who said he waited over 45 minutes to get up to his room. It is quite interesting. I’ve never staying in a place like this before. We finally got to the reception desk which somehow happens to be the same reception desk as 6 other hotels which are located in the same building (something else I don’t quite understand) and checked in. We were then brought to our room.

This hotel room is smaller than any hotel that I’ve ever stayed in.. even in NYC! Its smaller than my close in OGT and the bathroom is smaller than the closet in my bathroom… its quite a site. The room has two single beds and about a 4 foot by 3 foot spot of open space in the center of the room. There’s a small TV on a shelf that hangs over Jess’s bed and the window sill is my night table. We were both shocked by the room, but after getting off of the train we were thrilled to have our own space no matter how small it is. Wanting nothing more than a shower I volunteered to go first. I grabbed my shower stuff and headed into the bathroom. I was shocked to see that the shower was missing. It was just a small (3 foot by 3 foot) area with a toilet and a sink. With some careful investigation I soon learned that the shower was actually the white box located above the toilet and that the there it s small hand-held shower head that we can use to shower. There is no where to even hang the showerhead- it literally needs to be held the whole time. It was quite an interesting shower, it definitely takes much longer to do anything when one hand is occupied by holding the showerhead.

It was about 4pm by the time we cleaned up and felt ready to face the world again. Since I didn’t have a single clean shirt or even a clean pair of socks I threw on my cotton dress and we headed to the ground level venders and found a laundry mat. We had three hours to kill before we could pick up our laundry so we decided to get  lay of the land by walking around.

I must set some things straight about Hong Kong. Its an island and were not actually staying in Hong Kong, we’re staying in Kowloon which I consider to be part of Hong Kong even though it technically isn’t. Hong Kong is two subway stops away and easy to get to. Kowloon is just as happening as Hong Kong. As we scooped out our area we realized that we were surrounded by restaurants and shops of all kinds. We were excited that our location was so great! We next crossed the street and low and be hold found out that our hotel is a two minute walk to the Avenue of the Stars which is much like the starts on Hollywood Boulevard with the actors name and handprints.

We were both excited and really felt the rush of the big city when we saw all of the huge buildings across the river in Hong Kong. I had forgotten how big it is, and just seeing it bought back lots of excitement!  We continued to walk a bit further and got to the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront promenade and checked out the Star Ferry and some of the boating options. Jess and I both have had friends who have told us that we have to see the Hong Kong light show, and when we were poking around we learned that it happens every night at 8pm. We decided that we should grab our laundry and watch it happen. We figured it was be a good way to end our first night in the new big city. We grabbed dinner at this fabulous Chinese (because apparently I can’t get away from China) restaurant right around the corner from our hotel. I had the best sweet and sour chicken of my life. Heaven. We rushed back to the laundry mat with minutes to spare before they closed for the day and decided to drop our freshly cleaned clothes in our room. Waiting for the elevator was a process, but luckily we were able to drop it off and make it to the light show before it started. The  light show was amazing. Every huge building is light up with bright neon lights and about 20 buildings participate in the actual show which consists of the building turning their lights on and off to music as well as having high strength lights shine from the tops of the building looking like light-savors.
 

 

Its unbelievable. I cant even imagine how much it must cost these businesses to put on a show like this ever night. We loved it! It was so beautiful to sit right on the Avenue of the Stars with our legs dangling over the pier above the water and watching the lights in Hong Kong dance on the water. The weather was perfect, 70 degrees with a slight breeze off the water, so refreshing. The light show lasted about 20 minutes. It was still pretty early so we decided to go to a restaurant close to our hotel that specializes in crapes. Turns out the place is a small chain that started in Japanese (which makes sense because we saw crapes everywhere in Japan and never did get to try one). I had more of a sundae with vanilla ice cream, corn flakes, and chocolate syrup.

Jess and I were exhausted and headed back to the hotel to organize all of our stuff. We spent about 2 hours looking at maps and guidebooks and planed out our next 4 days in Hong Kong. We got to bed early ready for a fresh start in the morning and were ready to take on Hong Kong sites by day and Halloween by night!

Bye for now.

Love,
Katie.

With Nothing But A T-Shirt On...

At this point in my trip I’m sure you’ve all seen me sporting the same t-shirts over and over again (and probably squinting to read what it says). I can’t believe I’m already two weeks in and I haven’t mentioned anything about my shirts. Before leaving the states I was given the brilliant idea to make a “resume T-shirt” and sport it around during my trip (the idea came from my mother, a real go-gether who’s always thinking of creative ways to get me off of her payroll). Everyone at the Oarweed was a huge help, giving me great ideas about what to include and what to cut out as well as the wording in my objective.

(Front)

 

(Back)

  In the end, the design portion and creative aspect was all put together by Shaun Dever (a great friend and coworker at the Oarweed….who has a great design eye and is a real pro with the computer). I tried to pick bright & catchy colors (bright blue and green) and got 7 pieces printed (6 t-shirts and a sweatshirt). These are essentially the only tops I’ve brought along with me on the whole trip. The shirts have been great so far. They are a good conversation starter! As for jobs, no offers yet, but we’re still at the beginning of the trip!

Love,
Katie

She Took A Midnight Train Going Anywhere…

Oct 30th

Although it was much easier to get on the train in Shanghai than Beijing, everything else was much worse. Our cabin was literally 5 feet by 7 feet. It was approximately 12 feet high, which gave us each about 3 feet of space in between bunks. The bags were stored beneath the bottom bunk and at our feet. Climbing up and down was quite a challenge. There was no door  or even curtain to close our cabin off from the hallway.

I was worried that my stuff might get stolen all night long, but I managed to fall asleep hugging my passport and it was still with me in the morning. The beds were narrow, no more than 2 feet wide. The light were automatic in our section of the train. They went off at 10pm and came back on at 7am. This was fun, especially because the overhead light was approx 5 inches from my face, a great wake up call. All of these factors combined made for a very unpleasant ride, but what made matters worse was that we were the first room right next to the smoking area. The whole train ride there was constant filtering of cigarette and cigar smoke seeping into our room, getting into our bags and clothes and filling our lungs. It was horrible. Of course we were stuck in a room with snorers and coughers. It was a fun night. We managed to fall in and out of sleep all morning (though we had planned on sleeping straight through and being so rested and rejuvenated the next morning-- this clearly didn’t happen).

We were finally rudely woken up by some of the train employees by banging on our bunks. She gave our tickets back to us and motioned for us to get down from the top bunk. As we climbed down we questioned what we should bring, our passports? Our wallets? What were we doing? Were we going somewhere? Was it safe to leave my valuables? During this time the train came to a stop. Maybe we were going through customs we thought. It was still about 2 hours before we were due to arrive in Hong Kong. It took us about 20 minutes of standing outside of our cabin in the cramped hall before we figured out that the train staff was changing the sheets on all of the beds. Jess climbed back up to our beds and grabbed out valuables and we decided that we would venture and try to find some breakfast. We had to walk through 5 train cars before we found the dinning car. We grabbed a seat by the window and pondered the menu. We decided to split the western breakfast (2 eggs, toast, and coffee) I don’t like eggs and Jess doesn’t like toast so it worked out perfectly. We attempted to order, but the waitress motioned something that made us believe that they don’t cook while the train is stopped. We sat and wait and waited, still thinking someone was going to come look at our passports. Finally the train started moving again. We attempted to order breakfast, but the waitress said no, that they had stopped serving breakfast. We ordered two coffees and a bowl of white rice. The rice was so bland and boring. I asked for some soy sauce and got another no. Did I mention how much I love China? We finished our coffee (I left most of my rice untouched) and went back to our cabin with the hopes of new sheets. No such luck. We gave up waiting in the hall way like we were supposed to and both climbed back into bed. I think just to spite us, they let us get comfortable and just about drift back to sleep when the train staff came banging again and made us hop down. It took about 15 minutes to change the sheets on all of the 6 beds. After we climbed back to the top and waited for another hour or so before we arrived in Hong Kong. We gladly got off the train and said a prayer that we never have to do that again. In the future I’ll splurge and spend the extra $40 to have a bigger room with more privacy and security. I was glad to be done with China and moving on to Hong Kong!

More to come soon.
Love,
Katie