I flew from Wuxi to Shenzhen in Guangdong Province (广东省）and then travelled by taxi to the border, it is much cheaper to do it this way, as a flight to Hong Kong is counted as an international flight. Luckily, at the border I could get a coach to Hong Kong which went to Lam Tin (蓝田, where Clare lives!
In Hong Kong we visited all the tourist sights, we took the tram to the top of Victoria Peak and the Star ferry across Hong Kong Harbour. We also bet on the horses at the amazing Happy Valley Race Course and went to Lamma Island, one of Hong Kong's beautiful out-lying Islands (which has no cars) for Grave Sweeping Festival (清明节), where Clare's father's ancestors come from.
If I had not been with a Honger I don't think I would have been able to have found so many wonderful places in Hong Kong! An example of this is such as finding the best places to eat (which doesn't mean most expensive), like in Aberdeen, HK's famous fishing town, where we eat at a small restaurant serving fish ball soup, where the last HK Governor Chris Pattern ate! Or amazing, historic temples. Clare your family were so lovely and kind! I am very grateful! 呵呵
From Hong Kong, the former Portuguese colony of Macau is only about 40 minutes by high-speed boat. Not needing a visa, we decided to go and check it out!
Arriving in Macau was as bizarre as arriving in Hong Kong. As soon as you arrive in Hong Kong, you can feel the British influence. They dive on the left, and the Chinese drive on the right, the street signs look British, there are British shops and lots of foreign ex-pats. Hong Kong really feels and looks different to mainland China. The same was true with Macau. Immediately you could feel the Portuguese influence, it was not just the signs written in Portuguese, but the tiled pavements and old colonial buildings. The cultural side of Macau was amazing, and the food was really good too.
Macau now has the world's largest number of casino tables, and in the evening we hit the casinos. We headed for the biggest one at the Venetian Hotel. As well as having a roulette tables, thousands of slot machines any other game you could imagine, it also had a canal and a shopping centre! An amazing place.
We only went to Macau for a day trip and went back to HK in the evening. When I was little, one of my favourite programmes was Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days. I have always wanted to copy what he did, and by going to HK, I have been able to do one part of that!
