Macau & Hong Kong, China - Part 2

Thursday morning Yuly prepared a gorgeous breakfast of a fresh fruit plant and a toasted English muffin with fresh mango (Carmen - I have the recipe from Yuly, it's AWESOME) for Karen and I on the balcony. Karen went off to work and I did some yoga. I headed down the hill, checking out the little shops, peeking down the lanes and generally was in a state of absolute wonder. I caught a taxi and went off to the ferry terminal, where I took the ferry to Macao.

It was a gorgeous sunny day and after about an hour the ferry arrived in Macao. I did not really have much of an agenda, so I did the touristy thing and hired a rickshaw bicycle driver to take me towards the colonial center. The old man was impressive, I was actually tempted to have him sit in the back and I would pedal but then I paid him about three times what a taxi would have cost me so I guess we were even.

I walked past the glitzy casinos to the historic district. It was so odd to see the street signs in Portuguese and Chinese (Macao used to be a Portuguese colony). If it were not for the Chinese writing, I almost felt like I was in some little European town, winding streets, plazas, colonial architecture - it was gorgeous. I strolled around, did a little shopping, saw the fort and the old cathedral, had an egg tart (like warm egg custard in a flaky pie crust - yummy!) and eventually walked back towards the pier and past all the casinos. A bit of a strange mix of it all.

I got back on the ferry and went for a Hunan Chinese dinner with Karen and her friend Eva. Dinner was truly fantastic - I am not generally a fan of "American" Chinese food, this food was different, better and left no heartburn! Also, getting complemented on my chopstick utilization by a Hong Kong Chinese lady was pretty cool - guess all my sushi lunches have paid off!

After dinner Karen and Eva suggested I go across to Kowloon to visit the Temple Street night market. Eva was kind enough to get me to the market via the MRT (subway). This area was amazing, tons of neon signs, tons of people out, busy, noisy but amazing to walk through. I did a little shopping in the market (one will notice this recurring theme in Hong Kong) and got back on the subway at about midnight and went back to Karen's. After several weeks of being in by 11pm, this was a long day. Hong Kong really never seems to sleep.

Hong Kong, China - Part 1

Wednesday I flew on Emirates from Bangkok to Hong Kong to visit my friend Karen, who I met on the surf retreat in Bali. After about two and a half hours flying we approached Hong Kong, it was sunset and the sun was hovering just above the horizon and all these misty little islands poked out of the South China Sea. It was positively dreamy. I made my way through Immigration, where they greet you with friendly smiles and give you orange gummy candies. I collected my bag and made my way to the Airport Express train to get into central Hong Kong, where Karen met me.

Somehow Karen and I had a small mix up on my arrival date, she had a cocktail function to go to, so I changed my shoes, put on some makeup and jewelry, Yuly (Karen's housekeeper) collected my bags and off we went. Karen and I went to a swanky restaurant in the IFC (International Finance Center) and had drinks with an international crowd of insurance, finance and real estate people. Talk about surreal, here I am overlooking Hong Kong harbor chatting with some heavy hitting movers and shakers.

Karen and I left the suit and tie crowd, got some dinner and had a chat. We ventured up the hill and decided to get one last drink on our way home. We stopped in at a bar called Soho Junction, where Karen and I were customers 4 and 5 respectively of this bar that had just opened. We sat down with 1,2 and 3 - an Australian guy, a French guy and an Italian guy. So there we were the five of us taking pictures, chatting and having a grand time together along with the Nepalese owner and the Nepalese bar back. We had a great time. Soho is one of my favorite parts of New York and I think I may love the Soho of Hong Kong even more. A mix of old and new, East meets West, all without the stuffy attitude.

After our drink, we hiked up the hill (Hong Kong is not for sissies or stiletto heels) and settled in for a good night's rest.