Hello Macau

From the Central Pier in Hong Kong we purchased tickets for a TurboJet ferry departing at 10:45am. A one way single ticket from Hong Kong to Macau was HKD 164 (19€). 60 kilometres and one hour later we reached Macau at approximately 12 o’clock. At the terminal we withdraw some local Macau Pataca and headed towards the busses. A few stops away, we got off the bus and gave our host Olivia a call. We contacted Olivia through Couchsurfing.com and she gladly welcomed us to her and her husband’s home. We immediately sat down, had some great conversations and she helped us out with directions, what we should see and do, bus cards and even a local sim card. She definitely made it possible for us to get as much out of our day in Macau as possible.

Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 1550s. It was first rented as a traiding port, until it became a colony in 1887. In 1997 it was transferred to China. Macau is a collision of the Chinese and the Portuguese culture and architecture. While I knew I was walking around in China, it did t feel like China, not even Asia at all. All signs are written in Chinese, and Portuguese and the population is a mix of both countries. Macau is the richest and most densely populated region in the world. 636,200 people are living within 30,3 km2. How crazy is that? Macau became the world´s largest gambling centre in 2006. The economy of the richest city in the world is dependent on gambling and tourism, as well as manufacturing.

At first we walked through two local markets. The Red Market, and another market nearby (can´t remember the name). These markets are meant for locals, so you won't find a lot of souvenirs here. We continued by walking through a historical path, which can be described as the crossroads of China and Portugal. This path gives you an opportunity to explore the Senado Square, St. Augustine´s Square, St. Lawrence´s Church, A-Ma Temple and a few museums. During the day we had some Indonesian tourists who all wanted a selfie with us, so we decided that we also wanted a picture with them! I wonder what they tell their friends and family at home about us.  

After a historic day we took one of the shuttle busses that takes visitors to Taipa Island. Taipa Island is located 2,5 kilometres from Macau Peninsula. Most of the casinos are located on Taipa Island, and  is definitely the place to be if you want to gamble and/or spend some money. The island looks like a place that only exists in movies and not in real life. The lights, buildings, hotels, casinos… It´s overwhelming really!

When we arrived back to our host’s home, we enjoyed some Taiwanese snacks and tea. I also got some professional advice what to do and see in Taiwan, since Olivia’s husband is Taiwanese. How lucky am I? Our stay in Macau couldn´t have been better and a humongous thanks to our hosts. Taru and myself were sharing the guest room. 

Tian Tan Buddha

Our plan for the day was to visit Ngong Ping Village where you can see the Tian Tan Buddha (also called the Big Buddha). Since our hostel is located nearby Fortress Hill Station, the trip from our station to Tung Chung Station took approximately an hour. According to my research, early mornings during the week is the best time to visit the big buddha. However, when we arrived and started lining up, the queue was insane. For all future visitors, I highly recommend to book the tickets in advance. There is a special line for visitors with prepaid vouchers. We waited approximately 2 hours to get into a cable car, and later found out that you could actually walk through the hills for free. The Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car fee for a roundtrip in a standard cabin was HKD 185 (21€). The ride up to Ngong Village took approximately 20 minutes. 

The Tian Tan Buddha is a 34 meter tall bronze statue, which was completed 1993 and is located at Lantau Island in Hong Kong. This is a major centre for Buddhism in Hong Kong, but also a very popular tourist attraction.

On our way back, we had to wait another hour to get the cable car down. We had dinner nearby our hostel in a fast food restaurant called Yoshinoya. No, this is not a Hong Kongese version of McDonalds. You place your order, you get a bowl of raw veggies, meat, noodles and cheese. This will cook until it´s done and voilá! I must say, this is the most delicious noodle dish and fas food dish I´ve ever had. I also added chili and raw ginger! A perfect way to end another day in Hong Kong! 

Lamma Island - Temple Street Night Market

Our day was spent at Lamma Island. We took a ferry from the Central Pier to Yung Shue Wan. Lama Island is the third largest island in Hong Kong with an estimated population of 6050 people. There is a laid-back and relaxed vibe on the island with alternative and hippie lifestyles. This you will come across by observing the locals, the shops and restaurants. There are no cars allowed on the island (great!) and as we walked through some neighbourhoods we saw that almost every house had a little garden. We walked from Yung Shue Wan Village all the way to Sok Kwu Wan, located on the other side of the island. From here we took the ferry back to Hong Kong again. A round trip to Lamma Island costs approximately HKD 48-60. We also tried Dofufa (soft tofu, tofu pudding and soybean pudding). It looks strange, the texture was strange but in the end be both enjoyed it! 

From the pier we headed to the Temple Street Night Market. There was everything from souvenirs, street food, paintings, sex toys and weed pipes. Very interesting!  We decided to have dinner nearby the market before heading home . The restaurant was so cozy, the food was amazing and the owners were lovely. Such sweet people and I hope we will have time to  eat there again before leaving Hong Kong! A very nice day  in Hong Kong with Taru! 

Sky100

Our, or my first day in Hong Kong was spent with walking around the area, a little shopping and just exploring the city. Not much shopping, except for a new memory card for my camera. I wish I could return to Hong Kong someday with empty bags, a lot of money and just shop until I drop! We also had lunch at a random restaurant. I found it funny and a bit annoying how so called "sales men" came up to us and everybody basically asking whether we want to buy "real" rolex watches, bags etc. We walked through the Garden of Stars. Bruce Lee was the only star we knew, unfortunately. In the evening we got up to the Sky100 to overlook the Hong Kong skyline and to enjoy the sunset. Oh man, that view!

Hello Hong Kong

After the security check in Beijing, I had to give away my portable charger for some reason. I arrived to Hong Kong last night att 22:40pm. I had a wonderful experience with a new airline, Dragon Airways. Great movies, food, everything was on point. Overlooking Hong Kong from the air made me so excited. From the airport I took a bus, A11, which took me straight to my hostel. Taru already checked in a few days ago and from now on we will travel together for approximately 2 weeks! I checked in at Yesinn@Fortress Hill. Our room was very tiny. We are sharing a room with 6 other people, which seem to change daily almost. What I immediately noticed when arriving in Hong Kong is that everybody all of the sudden speaks english. I already got so used to Beijing, so I just assumed that there will be a problem with communication everywhere. But not here! Here are some photos of the hostel, now we will head out to have a look at the city.

Bye Beijing

My time in Beijing has been amazing. Not did I only travel to a new country and a new city that I have never visited before, but I also met some great people and had some delicious Chinese cuisine. This was also the first time I´ve travelled somewhere completely alone without knowing a single person at the destination and I´m so happy for this experience.  

Starting with the Chinese cuisine. I had really low expectations thanks to the Chinese restaurants in Finland and what I have heard from friends who visited China. The restaurants in Finland are not serving proper Chinese food and my friends apparently have bad taste or chose the wrong restaurants because Chinese food is so tasty! You can easily get a proper meal from 10-40 yuan (1,30-5,50€), depending on whether you order something by yourself or share with friends. 

The city and everything in it is humongous. The attractions are huge and require time at the attraction as well as getting there. If you thought travelling is about relaxing or not doing anything, if you are in Beijing you will definitely have to walk a lot.

What I thought was strange, but was also prepared for, was the fact that the locals or Chinese tourists taking pictures of western tourists all the time. I´m totally fine with taking pictures with people, I´ve done that during this trip, but that moment when you see someone taking a video of you or a photo of you without asking is just very uncomfortable and awkward I think. I really don't know how to behave I usually just act like I don´t notice even if it´s really bothering me. This might be something that you get used to.

The spitting is so gross, but I can understand why they do it. The spitting part itself is fine, but the sound they do before make me sick. The air in Beijing is terrible, which I came across the first two days here. The smog is covering the sky, makes it harder to breathe, and you might be coughing a lot. I´m happy because I didn´t experience any cough (might be since I was sick in Korea due to the yellow dust from China). From Wednesday until today the weather has been excellent. A little bit chilly but the air quality was great and I could even see the sun! The smog blocks the sun completely. The coughing and spitting has to do with the air quality, so hopefully you can forgive them.

Another strange, gross, but funny thing is the toddlers. I just think Asian kids are the cutest, so precious. But here in China, at least Beijing, they are not using diapers. What? How does it work then? Well, they are wearing open-crotch pants! If you are interested, you can Google this, but the sight is just hilarious.  

After a crazy mad week, I could definitely see myself coming back to Beijing. What I was missing on this trip was probably more interaction with local people, but this is a hard thing to achieve since I don´t speak Chinese, and almost nobody speaks English. It could be a great place for an exchange semester, or why not stay a year and study Chinese. Beijing and China, the time has come to an end and I will leave you all behind and say see you soon with a video.

 My camera has fooled me. The quality on my camera looks very good while looking at the pictures, but now looking at the video, the quality sucks. I think I might buy myself a new memory card for my camera so I can create videos with better quality. I apologise!

Beijing Zoo

So my very last day and last hours in Beijing was spent at the Beijing Zoo. Since I´m in China I wanted to see some panda bears. It would be lovely visiting Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Center for example, which is the most popular, but I will have to save that for my next trip to China.

I took all my bags and headed towards the Beijing Zoo. The entrance was CNY 14 (1,9€), and I left my bags next to the entrance for CNY 10 (1,3€). I haven´t been to a zoo for many years, so I thought since I´m here I could give it a try, and what a disappointment.

When I entered the area the park was beautiful. The park has lakes, waterfalls, and is just calming in some way. I would love to have a picnic here and just enjoy. Beijing Zoo has a diverse collection of animals, around 450 species and 5000 animals. The area is huge; you could walk around for many hours, especially if you have children.

However, as lovely and amazing as it may sound, this was one of the worst experiences I´ve had ever. I knew that it was going to be crowded, so I will not complain about that. It´s one of the biggest zoos in China so of course there will be a lot of visitors. This is not what made me frustrated. There are signs everywhere that says: “No knocking on the windows” and “No feeding”, but what do you think is going on? I was surprised since there were no staff/security around to make sure the rules were followed. The Chinese visitors are feeding the animals with whatever they got in their bags. Some people even bought carrots, salad, and dry noodles, which they were feeding the giraffes and zebras with these. This just made me so angry and I almost wanted to scream! If there is a sign and thousands of signs where it says not to feed the animals, why does people still do it?

I must say this was the last time I ever visit a zoo. Ever! I´m so disgusted and I really don´t have anything else to say about this experience. I took a few, and a very few photos that you can enjoy!         

Three Legged Frog, Beijing

Lets start my analysis. I know, I should be enjoying my vacation and not think about "work related" things, but I just can’t help it. As I´ve been working with customer service since I was 14 years old, and today working at the Front desk at several hotels, it just comes naturally that I notice certain things.

I´m good when it comes to reading maps, but this hostel was definitely a challenge to find. I asked for directions from many locals, but there was definitely a language barrier or they did´t know about the address/hostel. But luckily I found it, The Three Legged Frog, and could check in. I didn´t get a warm welcome, not a smile just a rude “PASSPORT”. Also during my stay whenever having contact with the guy at the front desk, he didn´t seem happy to help. He was busy with watching some Chinese dramas I guess. Well I didn´t come to Beijing to become besties with the guy at the front desk so that´s just something that I have to ignore. I had to pay 100 yuan as a deposit, which seems to be a normal thing here. On my last day when I left the hostel, the women working was very helpful and friendly!

I received my key and went straight to my room. The room itself was OK, I´ve seen worse. The room is a shared dorm with space for six men or women. During my time the room has been freezing cold but luckily there is a heater/AC, and even hot water in the shower. The lockers were adorable and all little signs in the room and around the hostel are marked with a frog. The best part is definitely the courtyard. At the moment it is a bit chilly to spend time there, but I can imagine how cozy is can be during the summer.

In general I must say that the location of the hostel is excellent, since it´s nearby many main attractions in Beijing such as Tian´anmen Square and the Forbidden City. The Legation Quarter is also a few hundred meters away and so is the Dashilan Shopping Street. The hostel is nearby the Qianmen Station, located on subway line 2. There are many main attractions located on line 2, and also the transfer station to the Airport Express. The location of the hostel couldn´t have been better. Although the location is great, taxi drivers won't know where it is, so I suggest that you try to show the driver the address, and If he doesn´t know where it is, just advice him to leave you ate Qianmen Station and walk from there.  

If I would ever come back to Beijing, I could see myself coming back to this hostel, or at least chose a hostel in this area. The Three Legged Frog is located furthest away from the main street, so I might choose a hotel closer to the station next time. In general I´m satisfied with my stay. It´s been easy to get new friend, especially when travelling alone. Here are some photos!

The last picture is amazing and I want all of you to remember the last 2: Please DON´T flush your Hopes and Dreams!