CHINA TRAVELS - Chapter 1 - Hong Kong to Macau
Ah, a blank page. A breath of fresh air. A chance to throw all of my latest adventures into a bundle of words that can’t even come within an inch of what the experience of travelling China was truly like.
(Oh, and FYI, when I say travelling china, I mean a TEENY EENY minescule part of China that was still a real honour to be able to see.) Of course, seeing this small amount of the overwhelming yet breathtaking place has only reinforced my lust to see and travel more and more.
During our China travels we saw:
- Hong Kong (this was our starting point) *disclaimer: I know Hong Kong isn’t mainland China but I still want to include it in this post!
- Macau
- Guilin
- Yangshuo
- Guangzhou
I have decided to do two blog posts about my travels in China. In this first blog post (Chapter 1) I will write about Hong Kong and Macau, because ya gal’s seen and done too much on this trip to cram it all into one post. (I don’t want to bore you too much y’know.) Then in the second post I will write about the rest of my journey which I absolutely loved.
Hong Kong
Before I moved to Hong Kong, my exact words were “I could never live in Hong Kong.” After the unexpected move, I then went on to say “I can handle this, but I would definitely never go to China.” Well…there seems to be a reaccuring theme that goes against me, but always somehow works in my favour in the end.
I’m a very stubborn and stand-off ish kind of person, but I’m slowly learning to say yes more and embrace new opportunities, no matter how wild or scary they may first seem.
For Christmas, my boyfriends family came to visit us in Hong Kong. We ate spicy ramen, visited a pretty art gallery, drank endless amounts of wine at lavish rooftop bars and explored the hustle and bustle of the Temple Street night markets. (A top place to grab a bargain).
Having family visit was also the perfect opportunity to take a trip to Victoria Peak (the MUST-SEE-VIEW of the beautiful Hong Kong cityscape.) After 6 months of being an expat in Hong Kong, I had shocked myself at never paying The Peak a visit, but I’m so glad I finally did. The views were insane and it’s one of the most popular places in HK to get that insta-worthy tourist shot. We hitched a taxi up to the top of the Peak and just walked around the top. I think you can actually walk all the way up to the top but we’d had a long day already so the taxi was our go to option.
We also had the chance to check out a super cool Hot Pot restaurant in Causeway Bay. A Hot Pot restaurant is where you order your own veg and raw meat, choose your soup base flavour and cook it yourself at the table. It had such a cool vibe and the staff were making their own noodles in front of you by swinging them in the air. (I can’t even explain this, but still…v v cool.)
We have more time in Hong Kong and will be doing lots more together, but we managed to get quite a lot done before we moved on to our next destination.
Macau
On Christmas Eve we planned to spend a few days in Macau, mostly known to be the “Las Vegas” of Asia. It’s super close to Hong Kong so I dashed straight from work, jumped on a ferry and an hour later found myself in the place that proudly presents the largest Casino in the world. Wow, big moves. EAT YOUR HEART OUT VEGAS.
Macau impressed me in so many ways. It’s all you could imagine and more. Dazzling bright lights, tourist attractions that make you want to squirm inside but still draw you in anyway, and an atmospheric buzz that constantly gives you a feeling of excitement and anticipation.
We stayed in the Grand Coloane Hotel, which overlooked a quiet and peaceful beach. The hotel, like the name suggests, was very grand and the perfect place for a city get-away. It was such a huge space, with our own balcony and BATH TUB. (This is like, unheard of for most places surrounding Hong Kong) so the excitement levels were pretty high. The hotel is a resort, so it’s a wonderful place to relax and enjoy the facilities such as the swimming pool and hot tub. (Yes please.) It was also spacious and comfortable to spend our Christmas morning, eating yummy breakfast and swapping Christmas presents. (*NEWSFLASH* I got a MacBook Air which I’m over the moon about! Thankyou very very much Lukey!)
We dined at the Sheraton Hotel on Christmas Eve, which was a buffet including delicious turkey, vegetables, oysters, lobsters, grilled meats, sauces, potatoes, and an array of tasteful wines and spirits. Not to mention the FREE wine the hotel gifted to us to take home with us. If you ever find yourself visiting Macau, I would highly recommend eating at the Sheraton Hotel restaurant ‘Bene’. It was unlimited food and drink for $500 HKD, (around 50 GBP) and was 100% worth every penny. Amazing value for money. (And friendly staff too!)
After our bellies were full and our hearts merry, we had a look at The Parisian and the Venetian attractions. They were so pretty and the music created a fun and happy atmosphere. We spent a lot of time in the Casino’s, hoping we would have our own version of the classic chick flick movie “What Happens In Vegas” and be walking home with a big fat cheque with the paparazzi following us. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but we still had a great time trying.
My favourite part of the trip to Macau was the show we went to see called The “House of Dancing Water” and WOW. I was blown away. We all were. This show was an acrobats based show, mainly over water. However the engineering of the floor meant that it could turn from water, to solid ground, to a stage… all pretty much within seconds. I can’t even put into words how incredible this show was. I would 100% tell people to go and watch it if they can! (They also do this show in Las Vegas and Dubai) so whack this on your bucket list guys! It had live music, beautiful costumes, motorbike stunts, dancing, gymnastics, charming waterfalls and so much more. The talent that the performers had was just unreal. After the show we had our Christmas Dinner at a Teppenyaki Japanese restaurant. I’m not a huge fan of this style of food, but it was still interesting to watch the chef cook it all infront of us.
If you ever do fancy visiting Hong Kong then making a trip to Macau is definitely a great idea. Even if you do what we did and pop over for a night or two, it's still plenty of time to embrace the city. I will definitely be going back to Macau as there’s probably so much more to explore and venture to! You can also use the same currency (HKD) in both HK and Macau, so it’s a convenient trip to see both.
It was a truly special Christmas. Different, but one of a kind.
Let me know in the comments below if you have ever been to Hong Kong or Macau! If you have, what did you get up to?
Keep your eyes peeled for Chapter 2 of my China adventure! I can’t wait to share it with you all.
Claire ♡
