BY KES

Since the weather is going to change to thunderstorms I didn’t want to waste the second sunny day and the chance to hang out by the amazing rooftop pool at the hotel. So that’s what I did. But first I enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the hotel as well. Pancakes, fruit, omelets, spring rolls, toast, yes my apatite had come back aging after a day of stomach ache.

I spent all morning by the pool but by lunch I decided it was enough, and I went to Causeway Bay in the east part of HK. Finally there I thought to myself if I was a idiot who wanted to walk around in the crowded streets a hot day as this. Ironically one of the first shops I see is IKEA. Surprised to se an IKEA in the middle of a city and just because it is IKEA of course I had to check it out. It was the smallest and most crowded IKEA I’ve ever visited, and I felt so nostalgic when I came to the food store in the end. But I didn’t buy anything because I don’t really miss any Swedish things, yet. After the short visit at IKEA I went to Victoria Park. To be honest, it was not too much to see except for the fun part of watching people.

I new the yacht club was supposed to be quite close to the park, so I walked to the harbor, but they were building a lot down there so I ended up on quite narrow passages and quite suspect roads, when I finally saw a sight about the yacht club I was so hot and tired I just wanted to find my way out of this mess and find a nice café for a cold drink.

Next on my list was the exhibition center, which is HK’s answer to the Sydney Opera house if we talk in terms of architecture. To be able to get there I walked on a road that only had interior design shops. Kitchen shops, bathroom shops, light shops, flooring shops and so on. Its quite funny because I’ve realized that HK is quite often organized so the same kind of shops are at the same place. When I finally reached the exhibition center I was quite disappointed about the architecture but I found a great art exhibition.

Now I’m back at the hotel and I can certainly see that I have been out in the sun, I’m close to a tomato… Next time I need to put on double sunscreen. 

Jenny 

So after a lovely night out with the girls last night, I slept in for quite a while. Missed the hotel breakfast so I went out in the street to see what I could find. Luckily enough I found a bakery not to far away from the hotel. They had a lot to choose from but I left with mango pancakes and a coconut bread, both were delicious! Whiteout really having a plan, I strolled down to the harbor. Just by the river bank they have a memorial park of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the revolutionary person who is a little bit of the reason why I’m going to GZ. I’m going to study at his university. It was a very pretty spot and families were playing around in the grass around the big statue of Dr. Sun Yat Sen. I was thinking by myself, wondering why all of these people were out in the park playing on a Thursday.

I walked by the bank, until I arrived at the Ferry terminal for boats to Macao. I thought for myself, why not? And jumped on the next ferry. It took one hour and it was freezing cold because of the air conditioners. In Macao I could just walk from the terminal into the city. It resembles Las Vegas quite a lot, and looks quite dull in the bright light of day. Although the colonial buildings from the Portuguese era looked very pretty in their bright colors. When I finally got into the city center that’s when I understood it was a public holiday for the Chinese people. A lot of smaller shops were closed and some blocks were all empty of people but when I came into the touristy parts it was totally crowded. People everywhere! After fighting myself through some tight alleys of people I needed a break and found a little Starbucks. It felt silly, but sometimes you just need something familiar and peace. So with a cup of chai latte in my hand I could sit down and relax a little bit.

After the little break I had some new energy and went out in the town again, now the darkness had fallen and the city looked a lot more fancy. Thousands of Chinese people were now accompanied by thousand of led lights. It was like a circus. Fun to see, but felt quite done with Macao and all the people so I decided to go home again. Back at the ferry terminal, the economy class tickets were sold out until 23:00. So if I didn’t want to wait for 3 hours, I had to pay a premium price ticket. This was of course due to the fact that the place was packed with Chinese people on public holiday… It was not a hard decision to make, I paid the double price for a ticket and got to board a ship within 30 min. During the boarding procedure two Dutch guys approached me telling me I looked so confused. They seemed quite nice in the beginning telling me a lot about HK and so on, but when I told them I was going to GZ to study they begun talking a lot of shit about the place and bragged about their fancy banking jobs in HK. Hopefully it wont be as bad as they say, but I cant help but wonder… 

Jenny