Hong Kong & Macau

The status of Hong Kong and Macau is very strange. Although technically part of China, they are called Special Administrative Regions (SARs) therefore keeping their own laws, immigration procedures, political/economic/social systems (much of which was inherited from the UK and Portugal when HK and Macau were handed over to China in 1997 and 1999). For example, we got our passports stamped at the border, the press is blatantly more liberal (BBC isn’t banned!), protests are allowed without the risk of arrest and torture (Falun Gong were holding a peaceful protest in Kowloon); and economically Hong Kong boasts higher average salaries than the UK and France. The Chinese dialect of Cantonses is spoken instead of Mandarin, and English is also spoken by many residents. Best of all: spitting is not tolerated!

Hong Kong is Asia’s most cosmopolitan city. It is very common to hear “copy watch boss?” or “tailor for you sir?” from south Asian men hanging around on street corners. We stayed for several nights in a building called Chungking Mansions in Kowloon (cheapest of the cheapest here but quite an experience). That place was like Little Africa with many African business men and migrants coming and going.

Our first night in Kowloon was actually spent in Eaton Hotel, which had great facilities, courtesy of Marie and Henri (Laure's mum and stepdad). We ate in a Lebanese restaurant surrounded by English and Irish theme bars in an expat district of Hong Kong. The meal and especially the wine was delicious (our first bottle of wine since leaving Europe) and it was great to catch up with Henri and Marie.

We dived into the history of Hong Kong in the Museum of History - probably the best museum we’ve both ever been inside. That night we ended up in a remote Youth Hostel near the huge bronze Buddha statue on Lantau Island. I got bitten 6 times in 2 minutes by mozzies before realizing shorts were not appropriate in this area. The rooms were like prison cells and consequently we ranked this hostel bottom of the league.

We enjoyed our first real hike on Lantau Island. Laure took advantage of her new wide angled lens to take even more impressive phots! Apart from taking a wrong turn and ending up outside a prison (“At your own risk”); and getting myself burnt by falling ash from incense in a temple (I did foolishly enter bare chested and got duly punished by the gods!), the hike was very pleasant.

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We will always remember Macau for the gorgeous meal we had there. It is famed for its own blend of Portuguese style food. We went there on a day trip from Hong Kong. It is not as populous as HK (450,000 people live in Macau, 6 million in HK) but it is expanding rapidly due to a boom in its economy (thanks to many happy and heartbroken gamblers- dodgy Communist Party officials included- using the enclave’s numerous casinos!) Macau isn’t as scenically beautiful as Hong Kong but it is does have a calm and relaxed atmosphere and we discovered lots of remnants of colonial architecture. The meal we had there was second to none and was accompanied by more tasty red wine that made our heads spin all afternoon!

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in the westernized enclaves of Hong Kong and Macau, it was a welcome break from the Chinese interior. We crossed back into mainland China to join Henri and Marie in Daya Bay next to Shenzhen for some rest, carounlothes washing, good company and French food before we were due to leave together for a 10 day tour around Guizhou Province.