Golden Week Trip to Hong Kong and Macau

Golden Week is a holiday made up by the Chinese government a few years ago to boost the economy. It apparently does its job, because 68+ million people travel then.

I'm glad we avoided that madness since we had already booked tickets to Hong Kong--we'd been told that it would be necessary for my visa (it wasn't).

Hong Kong was amazing. Ready for a zillion photos?


I loved the tiny little Airbnb place we found. It honestly didn't need to be any bigger. I like efficiency like that. And being in a place where I liked the decor really boosted my spirits, interestingly.




The streets are lined with shops full of weird things pulled from the sea.




This temple was pretty cool, but the smoke from incense drove me out after less than a minute.




The hilly streets reminded us of our neighborhood in San Francisco.





Huge banyan trees are allowed to grow on a lot of walls.




Michael couldn't stop taking pictures of restaurants that looked cool.




The tourist map we'd picked up at the airport was no good, and we didn't have cheap internet available on our phones, so we were very glad to find these consoles available for 15 minutes of free internet in the subway.




It was a miracle! People followed directions (mostly). No one pushed to get on the subway.




Parks and streets were obviously taken care of.




We waited in line to get on the Victoria Peak tram for a long time. Guess what? No one almost died of claustrophobia. I didn't get stared at. What is this politeness?





Up the mountain we went . . .




Until a great view started to emerge.




This is what we saw from the viewing area of Victoria Peak. Wow.




This is what people saw when they looked at us while we were up there. ;) The fog/smog makes it look cold, but both of us were fine without jackets.




This is the view in the other direction!





Someone obviously very well-off got quite the hot spot for a home. Having people looking at them when they're out on the deck might not be so fun, though. Or maybe they like to be conspicuously rich?




It is somewhat ridiculous how much time Michael and I spent exploring grocery stores. Sometimes it's exciting to see baking supplies and cheese and cute little pots, okay? And they had cheese!




This is a horrible photo. But maybe it can show you just how steep part of the Victoria Tram railway was.






Quite the city.







Michael was excited to see that the LDS church made it onto the subway map.




We saw proof that church back rubs do indeed occur all over the world.




Michael finally caught me in the act of crunching leaves. I can't help it.




Hong Kong Mormon Temple.




Wong Tai Sin Temple--that sign probably says something about not touching, but apparently everyone else ignores it, too.





Very ornate, with respect for Taoist, Buddhist, and Confucian traditions.




The Wong Tai Sin Temple is especially well-known for granting your wishes--a process called "kau cim." First, you get a cup full of numbered sticks.




Then you kneel down and shake them while thinking of what you desire. I hope it wasn't too intrusive of me to take pictures of these people.




Whichever stick falls out first is your fortune. You take it to one of these booths, and pay some money, and these professional fortune-tellers will help you know what will happen.




Unbelievably and beautifully detailed. Can you imagine touching up the paint?





There was also a garden and a pond with coy fish and turtles.
















I'm aware that a lot of people love Hong Kong for its shopping, but after walking through a short section of the markets, you start seeing the exact same stuff over and over again. At least these scherenschnitte cards were really nifty to look at. And hey, the people didn't yell at me as I walked by like they do in Shanghai.






No tipping in Hong Kong. The bill came with the food.




Big, fancy stores. I knew exactly what I wanted to buy, and I finally found it . . .




but this woman was wearing it. I should have asked her where she got it; I have done so much googling trying to find something similar, without luck. Maybe I'll get it made at the fabric market.




Anyone want some duck?







This guy will cook it up for you in his street restaurant.




Every thing at this place felt kind of old and grimy, but the food wasn't too bad. The real problem was the smoking that was gagging me. I had to keep escaping out into the rain to breathe.







The next day, we took a ferry to Macau. I got a little seasick.




As soon as we arrived in Macau territory, we both received text messages saying something like, "Welcome to Macau. Don't litter or you will be fined immediately." And indeed, the streets were wondrously clean, and the garbage cans showed obvious signs of smokers following the rules as well.




We didn't realize how tiny Macau was until we got on a bus and then realized that we only needed to go one stop. It was raining a lot, so although this area may be teeming with tourists on most days, it was a ghost town for us.




This is the Technology Museum. We didn't go in, but we appreciated the cool architecture.




Not too much farther down the coast we came to the statue of Kun Iam, the goddess of mercy. I love the idea of a female deity and was anxious to find out more about her inside. But there wasn't really anything about her. So I sat down to take advantage of the free wifi and find out more. Look here to see what I read.



 
 A close-up with one of those artsy filters Michael likes.





We waited and waited for a bus that never came before we decided to start walking. Eventually we ran into buildings that looked like this. It's amazing that I even got one picture of the casino part of Macau, because it interests me so little and I was tired and done by then.




More proof that Macau is more organized: people actually wore helmets and stopped at stop lights!




Senado Square was just more shopping, but the cool Zebra-ish mosaic cobblestones and the Portugese influence were fascinating.








The famous ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral.




We walked around this old fort on a hill (Monte Fort?) that is close to the ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral. The night air was nice, and the lighting mysterious.








The bus we got on to go back to the ferry terminal had a screen that displayed the speed of the bus. Cool.





Just one more reason to admire Macau--this station had pretty much any kind of phone plug you could ever need, and people felt okay leaving their phones there. Just a few days earlier, I was thinking that this should be a thing at most transportation hubs, and even on buses and such.




Back in Hong Kong, we decided to stop at a dessert shop. I tried durian for the first time. What a weird fruit. It is heavy, hard, and spiky, and it grows on trees. Doesn't that sound dangerous to you? What most people notice about it in the markets is that it smells bad. Once again . . . food that smells bad but tastes good (I liked it). There was also sago pudding with burned rice stuff (my words, not theirs) and Mango deliciousness (also my wording).





And, of course, we met up with Michael's dad's friends. They are everywhere in the world. I talked to the woman on my right about her Mandarin courses for a while before I realized she was the author of a book that Joseph had given me. Nice!




The first Airbnb we stayed at wasn't available for our last few nights, so we had to switch to this one, which was great! It was also tiny, and even more cleanly decorated.




If only our bathroom in Shanghai looked like this.




There's even a kitchen!







I wouldn't mind living in such a small space as long as it has such calming decor.




I'd considered making the hike to the Big Buddha, but the tram was spectacular. This was one of the most memorable parts of the trip.




There's Buddha.







This is the local version of the Bodhi Tree, where Siddartha Gautama experienced his awakening. This is another good place to ask for your wishes to be granted.




12,968 kilometers to New York.





Big Buddha contains walls and walls of memorials to deceased loved ones. Again, I hope taking this picture wasn't intrusive. Those are fresh fruits and flowers that are brought to honor ancestors.




More female deities, backed by a huge mountain hidden by the fog.








Tai O Fishing Village was so interesting and made for some beautiful pictures.






I know this picture is really dark, but for some reason I like the contrast with the one washed out by the sunset.







So that's where pearls come from.





95% of everything in the village was pieced together like this. It's crazy to think that these places stay above the water. A lot of the people run shops out of the front room, which seemed too intimate to me. I didn't feel comfortable sitting at someone's table while grandpa watches TV and a little kid runs around. I guess I see the kids being raised in their parents' businesses in Shanghai as well, so I'm getting more accustomed to that.







These pallets are used for drying fishy stuff in the sun and boy, was the smell strong.






There was garbage everywhere and the tiny houses seemed full to the brim with junk. Michael and I talked about how garbage disposal is a big expense for such a small place that is pretty secluded, and how it's hard for people to let things go when they don't have much. We even wondered if that's a Chinese tendency in general.




Michael convinced me that I needed to try all three varieties of this jello stuff, and now I've forgotten the flavors of all but one: sesame. It was firmer than American jello--firm enough for the woman serving it to cut it out of a huge pan and flop it into this dish. Not bad, but probably not something I might crave at some point.




The next day, we took a bus that was supposed to take us to Repulse Bay. Like in Macau, we misjudged how big Hong Kong is and got off the bus too late, so this may or may not actually be a place called Repulse Bay, but it turned out to be just fine with us.






Yes, I've gone a little Chinese with the umbrella since arriving in China. I had to in this case because the sun was so overwhelmingly intense.














Next stop: Ocean Park.




Roller coasters, yay! After being seasick on the ferry and having not been on a roller coaster since the times when I didn't have a lot of stomach issues, I was a bit scared. Luckily there was a really old Dramamine pill in the bottom of my backpack.






Half of the amusement of the roller coasters was the incredible view.




No matter how many times it was announced that no umbrellas should be used on this ride, people continued to try to stay dry on a ride that is obviously supposed to get you wet . . . there were people paying to squirt from above. I thought that my light hair would make me a conspicuous target, but I didn't get any direct sprays, so either it wasn't as conspicuous as I thought, or the people spraying were bad aims.











It started getting dusky around 5:30. We knew the park closed at 7, so we figured we still had some time to make it to the last big roller coaster. I finished up at the pirate ship ride (you know the one) and we headed there, only to find out that the rides close at 6, so we missed it! How disappointing. I guess they figure that the park doesn't really close until they get everyone down the mountain and off of the official property (which is admittedly a huge undertaking).





At least there were some cool water and light shows near the exit.







To top off a great day, we had some really nice Indian food.





More grocery gaping shopping.






Beautiful Japanese store called MUJI.




One view on the way to the airport.







Michael took artsy pictures of the airport ceiling.




Heading back to Shanghai was tough. I wasn't ready to get back to sidewalks cluttered with junk, getting nearly run over by scooters, the shoving on public transportation, living in ever-present gold, men making horrible sounds before launching spittle onto the ground, enduring stares, and experiencing VPN-induced internet slowness. At least Hong Kong re-energized us a bit--I'm still determined to find more things that I like about Shanghai.