Hong Kong and Macau with Ivano

From Yangshuo, we travelled via Guangzhou towarads our final destination Hong Kong. In Guangzhou, Ivano managed to get a room with his own sauna, which was fun using.

Since all of China was moving that week due to their national holiday, Hong Kong was packed. Yet, soaking in the atmosphere there was amazing. Such a melting pot, and yet with lots of greenery, skyscrapers that take your breath away next to a little buddhist temple. A real mixture of old and modern meeting nature. Also, it was lovely visiting high quality museums again. Lee (and Ivano) were both very happy in finding their colonial food products, such as Vegimite and Pickled Onions (both an aquired taste).

On our day out to Macau we took the ferry there, and Ivano was very generous (once again) treated us to a superb portugese meal in the old part of Macau called Taipi. There, one really feels like being in Southern Europe thanks to the lovely architecture and the many western faces. It was a very nice experience indeed! Afterwards, we went to one of the many casionos. Did you know that Macau has recently overtaken Las Vegas as the gambeling capital? Unbelieveable, but true. We preferred to spend our money on cocktails. Ivano had his best Bloody Mary yet. So far, so good. By 2 am we got very tired and wanted to take the ferry back. There is a 24-hour service, so we had decided not to book in advance to give us more flexibility. Arriving at the ferry terminal, we are told that all ferries are booked until 5.30 am. We were all close to passing out, but luckily Ivano kept a cool head, and asked if there wasn't any other way. And since it is [nearly] China, there was! Ivano bought the 4 VIP tickets that can only be sold together and treated us to the most luxiourious boat trip ever. Lee managed to sell the fourth ticket on to somebody who looked as if he had won (or lost?) a lot of money and wasn't bothered to spend another fortune on that ticket. Happy End!