Hong Kong Macao 2018

Hong Kong Day 1, 1July:

We arrived close to noon. We got to the tiny Metroplace Olympic Hotel: this was probably the smallest hotel I’ve ever stayed in. My mom and I were too tired to do anything after having our lunch and we slept until dinner time.  We went to East Tsim Sha Tsui and had dinner at Shang Palace in Shangri-La with my high school friend Belinda and her family. It was lovely seeing her beautiful toddler Natalie, who has huge expressive eyes and a loud voice! Tried walking around the harbour at night but it was undergoing some renovation and the Avenue of Stars had disappeared!

Macao Day 2, 2July:

The ferry from HK to Macao was very booked out because our visit coincided with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day long weekend holidays. We got to Macao around 11:45am. It was raining initially and the rain was gone in the afternoon!

We visited Venetian Hotel, Taipa village, the Galaxy Hotel in the Macao Island. Saw lots of political slogans when we walked past the China Military Exhibition Hall. Then we went to Macao Peninsula and did the Heritage Walk to Holy House of Mercy, Senado Square, St. Dominic’s Church, Cathedral, Lou Kau Mansion, Ruins of St. Paul, Mount Fortress, etc. At night, we went to the Grand Lisboa and ate in a Portuguese restaurant in the streets nearby.

It was great until the return trip to HK. The return ferry was very sold out and we got the time of 12:15am. At 10pm, we could not find complimentary buses to the ferry. The taxis were refusing to take us to the ferry until we got a police officer to help. The ferry’s air-conditioning was too cold and there was a long cue at customs back in HK. To make matters worse, and we didn’t know we had to fill the arrival cards and I lined up a second time after filling the form... And the taxi driver driving us back to our hotel kept cursing “diu” more than 20 times when I gave the hotel address in English because he didn’t understand it. I didn’t get to sleep until 3:30am!

Hong Kong Day 3, 3July:

Managed to go to Noah’s Ark today: I like it but not my mom. I guess it’s a good place for people to bring little children to. There were actually live animals in the ark museum! Initially I thought the toco toucan were fake motorised robots! There is a Christian feel to the themes and values being promoted by the park. When I watched the movie about humanity bringing destruction to the earth, I actually cried!

In the evening, we went to the airport to meet up with the CPM Hong Kong team to go to Israel. We had time to eat at Tsui Wah restaurant in the airport before checking in.