Hong Kong and Macau

So we spent two days in Hong Kong and Macau. Both these cities had only been given back to China in the last decade, having previously been owned by European countries (Hong Kong, UK; Macau, Portugal). The influence of these European countries was very obvious and to me, very welcoming! It made me miss home lots. I dont have time at the moment to write lots, so I'll just caption a few photos:

We had arrived later than planned as our train was a little delayed. When we got to the hostel we were told that the dorm beds had therefore gone, but she had a room for us 'still cheap'. We were taken to our room (we had to leave the building, walk to another block and go up to the 17th floor), and it was this tiny room about 1.5m x 3.5m, with just one bed in! We couldn't be bothered to complain, and anyway it contained us both pretty well.

Mo Han Temple. Spiral incense stick hang from the ceiling. It looked really pretty.

Hong Kong's light show.

View from the Star Ferry crossing from Hong Kong Island to Tsim Sha Tsui. The cloud never cleared up for the two days that we were there so we didn't take the trip up to Victoria Peak. The transport system in Hong Kong is great. They have an underground metro which is so easy to use, has air conditioning and is soo clean. The pedestrian crossings were so much safer too. The green man actually means 'you can walk without fear of getting hit by a car'. Every where else that I have travelled other than the UK, cars can still go through red lights as long as they are turning a corner. What nonsense!

We stayed in Tsim Sha Tsui. The place is littered with shops, restaurants, bars, etc. Its like a Chinese New York, and its so busy! The shopping centres are far superior to anything I've seen in the UK, but unfortunately everything was pretty much at UK prices.

To get to Southeast Asia we needed to fly directly there since our Chinese Visa's were taken away from us... and out of principle we didn't want to pay for a new one! Our flight to Bangkok departed from Macau, a city thats a 1hr boat ride away from Hong Kong. Macau is famous for its casinos...

The Wynn. Looks just like the one in Las Vegas, just not as grand.

One of the squares in Macau. It looks so European. I loved it! We got rained on quite badly in Macau so we had to make a mad dash around town to see the sights.

A pretty little street in Macau. Again, very European looking.

So at the moment we're in Bangkok and head north tonight on an overnight train to Chiang Mai... Keep you updated!