Hopefully I’ll have everything packed and ready to go! I have to be up in 3 hours or so because my Greyhound bus leaves at 6:15am. Fun! And no one likes a post of just text, so I leave you with a picture of a part of Vancouver!

Since this trip, I have taken over 1,200 pictures and already filled up my 2GB memory card. Not to mention the 256mb of my backup camera because I forgot to charge the battery of my main camera. Thanks to my uncle who “lended” me his 8GB memory card, I can take more pictures in my last week here in Hong Kong.

HK Harbour (to Central)

On Wednesdays, the museums in Hong Kong are all free, meaning we all went to visit the ones that were interesting. And this meant us walking for 5+ hours non-stop until dinner time. While I thought it was worth it, my feet surely don’t. It’s getting bumpy down there and hurting too. We took the tram to Shau Kei Wan to visit the Coastal Defense Museum, had lunch, then MTR down to Tsim Sha Tsui for everything else. We went to the Science museum, History museum, Chinese Arts museum and Space museum (lame) while walking along the broadwalk of the harbour. This is the rare instances where the fog (or smog?) doesn’t overwhelm the view!

We're from Canada!

On Friday, we headed to Macau for a visit. I haven’t visited there since I was a child, so I was due a visit to Hong Kong’s neighbour – an hour boat ride via TurboJet. Luckily I still had Gravol from the cruise to Mexico of last year; I was too lazy to take them out, or you can call it just in case. The boat ride was pretty rocky for me – a easily motion sickness person. We were in luck because while the weather was hot, there was no rain or storm as predicted. Macau’s main revenue stream is of casinos and it has over 30 of them already and 3 more are opening next month. I’m not sure where all these people come from who have the money to spend like that. Or that one person and his family own a lot of the casinos and buildings in Macau. I even got carded once even though the adult age is 18… not 21 like in US. Yay for me looking young? We also went to the Macau Tower, which was definitely less scary when standing on the semi-glass floors since we already got frightened from the Shanghai one.

Bungee Jumper from Macau Tower

But this tower does hold the Guiness World Record for highest bungee jumping place ever. And several tourists did try it out, for a price of $2,100 (MOP/HKD) each and it lasts for 4 seconds. I’d do it if I had that kind of money to spend, and wasn’t wearing my glasses that day.

That’s all for now as I look into how to book our seats because now apparently you can only do it online and 48 hours before your flight. And since our flight is at 12:05am, where are we going to find a computer to do so?! This does not make sense. It’d be easier if I was travelling by myself and it was one seat! We’re figure it out, there are free computers at the MTR stations and the last train is way past midnight… so we’ll pay to go in and get out, I guess!

West Lake in Hanzhou

So that didn’t really make much difference other than the sheer size of the lake. We went on a boat tour (the first of many) and the sun was unkind to the Hong Kong older ladies as they all pulled out their umbrellas to shield them away from the sun.

Shanghai was pretty special though since it is supposed to take over Hong Kong as China’s main financial district within 10 to 20 years. As we travelled either by foot or in the coach bus, we can see that there are construction sites everywhere for not only office buildings but also condominiums. Everywhere there are lands, there are cranes in place. These buildings also are growing taller as they all try to reach for the tallest thing around. The most famous of the buildings is the Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower. We witness this in the boat tour (the third and final one) to watch as the Shanghai skyline light up as the sky darkened.

Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower

As for the Tower, at first we didn’t want to go on it because it seemed like it wasn’t worth it as the admission now both cover going up and the museum, but since we weren’t going to come back to Shanghai any time soon, we decided to go for it. The view is pretty nice up at 241 feet but the best part was a few feet under in the level under. It was another platform that just opened May 1, where there are glass floors as the extension so you get a chance to stand on the glass and look down. Holy that was a different view. Pictures to come later because they ended up on the other camera as I forgot to charge my camera’s battery. (Grumbles)

But as I have guessed, 90% of the places in my trip had ‘hole in the ground’ for toilets. This is everywhere other than the hotels (room and lobby) and some places in Shanghai where the buildings are newer. It’s still pretty nasty, especially when some people don’t flush. Ugh, so I ended up holding my breath and kept my wandering eyes ahead and nowhere else.

Right now my parents and uncle/aunt are outside playing MahJong as usual, much like they did yesterday. And I’m totally having trouble changing the keyboard back to English instead of typing in Chinese, even though I pressed the EN key on the taskbar. Hmph. I wonder when they’re going to end because it’s already 10pm and they have work/school tomorrow while we don’t. And this isn’t Saturday back home where they end up playing until 4 in the morning!

That’s all for now. Hope to travel to Macau soon! I haven’t been there since I was about 4 years old.

Up

Traveling to Hong Kong means that I will be needing to read Chinese and speak Cantonese 24/7. That is totally different than what is going on here. The only time I speak or read either is when I’m with my parents; the rest of the time is me reading, speaking, and writing in English. So yes, my level of fluency in Chinese deteriorated immensely since the last time I went back. This will be interesting. My relatives at least weren’t going what the beep when talking to me. More than likely my Chineseness will come back out when I get back and get used to thinking of words in Chinese instead of translating it from English back to Chinese.

Chinese Neon Light Banners (from muddum27)

I remember last time I was even watching the English channels (and got yelled at by my grandma) just to get some English in me (or that there weren’t anything else good that was on after the drama shows were over). Or that was when I finally watched an episode of Doctor Who then got sucked into it after I went home. Good times.

Down

The only time you would see a lot of high-rises and skyscrapers is when you head to Downtown Vancouver. Condominiums only started to shoot up in the sky in recent years, and even then their heights are limited to 20-30 (rarely up to 40) levels. And considering the amount of two-level housing in Vancouver, its sightline is plentiful.

Up

Busy Streets (by brianholsclaw)

Maybe I lived in Vancouver for too long, and suburbs mean zero people in the streets, but Hong Kong has that ingrained feeling of busy everywhere you go (or at least along the MTR line). The later the evening/night, the more people come out onto the streets – even on weekdays.

Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok (both also on the MTR line) are usually the two of the busiest places in terms of shopping and just general hanging out. If you walk down Nathan Road (which connects the two districts? cities?) together, you’ll hit all the main shops and eateries. The walk takes maybe 2 hours or 3, so make sure you have plenty of time since this is meant for a leisure walk, not needing to get somewhere on time. I’m definitely looking forward to this part of the trip. Somehow we always end up at a McDonalds… and its awesome ice cream.

Down

Smog (from Magalie L'Abbé)

The downside to all the people and skyscraper is the smog that covers Hong Kong ever so often (more often than not). Even on a sunny cloudless day, the harbour between Central and Tsim Sha Tsui has a light covering of gaseous thing. While it is not fatal, to those who have respiratory problems are advised not to go outside during the peak hours. And the sightline is awful, especially when you go up to the Peak and look down. All you see if a thick smog while it’s still sunny.

So I bring you a countdown to the Ups and Downs of Hong Kong every day until next Tuesday. In no way is the countdown ordered by yays and nays, just whatever popped up in my head first, but since today is the first day, these two are probably pretty significant.

Up

Bubble Tea & Food (from lchangfang)

Cheap food! Despite the availability of all these snack foods in Vancouver, it seems like every time I buy something to eat, I get ripped off. Yes, I know that the living standard is so much higher compared to Hong Kong – if you’re earning more, you’ll spend more on the same foods. Considering I’m spending the same money on cheaper food. It’s cheaper in the end.

I chose a picture of bubble tea because while you eat all the food, you need something to wash it down. The price range of bubble tea goes from $2.50 for standard milk tea to $5.00 of mixed drinks (+ tax). Looking at the picture, it’s $4.00 HKD, which puts  the drink is currently below $1.00 – even if the drink is smaller, buying two will still be cheaper! Then there’s all the fastfood places, egg puff things and fishballs. Flipping through Flickr finding a picture made me all hungry for any kind of food.

The downside of this is that I end up spending way too much on food. At least I’m eating more for less!

Down

Hole in the Ground (from kahunapulej)

While there is an up, there is a down. Since the ‘up’ contains food, the ‘down’ has to come out somewhere. Unlike most of the washrooms in Canada and United States, the ones in Hong Kong are not that nice at all. If you’re not a squatter, at least you can stick stacks and layers of toilet paper. Well, there is another style of toilets – hole in the ground!

I tried to pick the least disgusting picture because even I got sick from looking at it. Best tip: hold your breath, do your thing, and go go go. And hold it in until you go to a shopping centre. I know it has gotten better in shopping centres and restaurants. But in smaller food places and the older areas, they haven’t upgraded their toilet systems in decades. So, hole in the ground it is! Not to mention half the time the washrooms are dark and creepy, with ‘liquids’ all over the ground. But I’ll stop there.

So there’s my day one of counting down to Hong Kong. I think those two are probably my biggest ‘up’ and ‘down’, so yes I guess this list is ordered from most important to lesser important.