What's that old expression? “The best laid plans of mice and men... something, something, something”...?
Whatever. Plans change. Hong Kong would be no different. I originally was thinking of spending about 4-5 days there, but Lonely Planet has a funny way of showing you ever more cool things to do and explore. In this case, it was Macau, another former colonial outpost, and fast becoming known as the “Vegas of the East”. I just hoped that they focus on the cool (Wynn) and leave out the cheese (Circus Circus anyone?)...
Even after my welcoming night drink fest, I had the best of intentions of an early wake up to tackle a hike up Victoria Peak, but my liver had other ideas and sneakily persuaded my body to sleep in.
When I finally DID get up, first order of business was to hit up one of the tailors that the city's famous for. Getting shirts custom-made... it's nice. Real nice. No longer quite as cheap as they used to be, I found a well-regarded tailor (thank you Google!) and got hooked up with three shirts. Not cheap, but the quality was excellent, and what the heck – I'm only in Hong Kong once.
Next? After checking out the more famous side of the harbor, I took a walk 'round Kowloon. It's a lot grimier and more of a working district, with less of an emphasis (if any) on high-powered finance. But, just like Hong Kong Island, it surprised, with a gorgeous and remarkably empty Kowloon Park, and the poshest of posh Penisula Hotel.
Another ferry ride took me to the Wai Chai district, anchored by a truly massive convention center, complete with windows seven stories tall and suspiciously similar to the Sydney Opera House...
I headed up out of the center, through some really cool fish and veggie markets tucked down back alleys. I even got my first 'gwai loh' comment, as I politely asked a lady if I could take a picture. An emphatic grimace and shake of the head was one thing, and the muttered “gwai loh” made me grin. (Gwai loh = ghost foreigner)
Next stop? I popped into another of the tiny parks that pop up in Hong Kong Central. There were a bunch of old guys playing a mysterious board game involving round discs...
Checkers? Nope, after realizing after five minutes that I had absolutely no idea of the object, rules, and even the name of the game (found out later it's Xiangqi), I moved on to check out the Jockey Club in Happy Valley – site of the only legal gambling in Hong Kong. Given that Hong Kong-ites (Hong Kong-ians?) love to gamble, race day is supposed to be ludicrously nuts and I wanted to get my few bucks in on the action.
The stoopid race schedule didn't cooperate, so nothing was on, but it was pretty interesting walking around the inside of the track, which plays home to the rarest of treasures in Hong Kong – space for athletic fields, smack dab in the midst of stunning views of the districts nearby.
I had a couple of false starts the rest of the afternoon. After taking the double-decker street tram back downtown...
… I ended up missing closing time with a famous dim sum restaurant by 15 minutes. Curses. I did get asked to join in the photos of a Chinese wedding party nearby, but shyness and the fact that I was dripping sweat in the 90 degree heat made me sheepishly decline.
Reinvigorated by a blessed blast of AC and a walk in a mall, I headed back up the Mid-Levels, bound and determined to hike to the top of the Peak... only to get foiled by the thick, thick fog that would have made my quest for views rather pointless.
What to do, what to do? What else besides take advantage of any one of HK's many Happy Hours – in this case, a few drinks right by the escalators. I ended up chatting with two Americans who were taking a break from teaching English in Shenzhen in China, which worked out great since they gave me lots of tips about navigating successfully.
An easy night back in Kowloon let me get up nice and early for my long-overdue hike up Victoria Peak. In this case though, my lack of motivation led me to substitute tram for hike, and a much faster 10 minute trip up. Result!
Still, we did get some amazing views as we trundled up, only to find the top covered by fog. It was a little spooky being above the teeming city, with no sound or sights, and I decided to wait out the mist a bit with an oh so manly berry smoothie break at a coffee shop seemingly on top of the world.
Waiting wasn't really doing much good, so I did the Peak circuit walk instead, and success! The sun peeked out, shining on dew drenched spiders in their webs. Best of all? It was flat, flat, flat...
Heading back to Kowloon, I grabbed my things and caught a fast ferry to Macau where I found myself staying in a....a... well... shithole of a hostel. Sigh. Such a shame after the great Hong Kong Maple Leaf – the only things this one had going for it were price and location (former brothel in the former 'red door' district - if walls could talk...), smack in the old town. Paper thin walls, grimy bathrooms, and pretty much everything else nasty made sure that I'd be spending very little time here outside of sleep!
With only an afternoon, I did a quick walk 'round the well-preserved old city, where the marks of the Portuguese founders can still be seen...
… before heading to the main plaza and the shell of the St. Paul's church, a 16th century masterpiece whose front facade is all that remains.
On a classier note, I got to duck into the Wynn as well, with its own water fountain show and its rather impressive line up of Rolls in the driveway:
...before heading across the several kilometer long bridge to the Ilha du Tapa, site of the newest of the casinos, starting with a near-carbon copy of the Venetian. Near-copy to be sure, but much, much bigger!
As far as gambling goes, the casinos were pretty cool, with all the bells and whistles. There was something different though...
I mean, sure, there were odd games, and a serious fixation on Baccarat, but after a few minutes, it hit me – the atmosphere was completely different. To the mostly Chinese crowd, gambling is a SERIOUS business. Smiles were rare indeed, and even alcohol was pretty scarce; I wasn't sure if that was by regulation or more likely choice, as they didn't want anything to distract them.
All told, I was glad I came to check out Macau, but a day was enough and I scrapped my plan to stay another night. Enough of this, I couldn't wait to go explore mainland China.
And, to finish on a complete random note – this was the beer I least expected to see in Asia, let alone Macau...
No comments:
Post a Comment