Hong Kong and Macau

So for Chinese New Year I decided to join the mass migration and go on a little trip. Downside? Chinese New Year is similar to school holidays back home in that travel firms hike up the prices to extortionate amounts. I left it a bit late to book anywhere but it got to the point where it was cheaper for me to fly back to the UK than it was to go anywhere within a 5 hour flight radius of Shanghai. Flights to Japan are normally about 200 pounds, they were 900.

There was one place closer that had relatively cheap flights (about 200) so off I went to Hong Kong. It was on my list of somewhere to visit, so I was excited, but at the same time I think I could have done with a beach trip.

I decided to spend 2 full days in HK and then a day in Macau as you can get the ferry there from HK. For those not familiar with Macau, it’s similar to Hong Kong in that it’s technically ‘owned’ by China but is classed as a ‘Special Administrative Region’ as it used to be a colony. Just as we handed back Hong Kong in 1997, Portugal handed back Macau in 1999. It’s also known as the Vegas of China as the biggest draw, apart from some of the World Heritage Sites, is the casino strip.

The first thing that surprised me was that my flight to HK was empty. Given the ‘mass migration’ tag I expected there to be a lot more people but I had a whole row to myself. Getting through immigration at HK airport though was another story, took ages!

My initial impression of Hong Kong was that it is a cross between Shanghai and Singapore. As with Singapore you can still see the British influence, English is widely spoken, the cars drive on the ‘right’ side of the road, the public toilets aren’t holes in the ground…But it has a much more metropolitan feel which makes it like Shanghai. But the air is better, it’s not as crowded, and you don’t have to fight your way onto the subway every day!

One thing I didn’t actually realise until I started researching that Hong Kong is actually made up of a few islands- Hong Kong Island, Lantau and Kowloon being the biggest. I was staying in Causeway Bay, which is on Hong Kong Island and fairly central to everything. As in Singapore, the metro is clean, efficient and easy to use which made getting around really simple.

The biggest disappointment for me was the weather. When I told people I was going to Hong Kong, the reaction was ‘go to the Peak’ ‘go to the high bars to see the view’. Sadly, the weather was so bad (misty and drizzly) the whole time I was there that I went to the Peak, and couldn’t see a bloody thing. Such a waste. Also, due to Chinese New Year a lot of the markets were shut/reduced so I don’t think I got the full effect.

I did do a lot of walking. I tend to seek out the ‘older’ sights rather than pretty skyscrapers, probably because I work in a pretty skyscraper and I’m surrounded by some of the best in the world all day long. So I spent a lot of time visiting temples and parks and nunneries, which was beautiful, and surprisingly not that busy. It was really nice to see all the temples decorated for Chinese New Year, and see everyone doing their blessings and prayers. But I still smell of incense.

Considering that apparently HK is normally busy during CNY, I didn’t think it was that bad, but maybe I’m just used to the madness of Shanghai by now. The only real queues I saw were the ferries to Macau and for the cable car which takes you to the Big Buddha (world’s biggest apparently, which I’m pretty sure I saw in Koh Samui…), which I did on the second day. Luckily, I had pre-booked and paid for a cable car ticket, which I was grateful for once I saw the queue. A very helpful guy told me I still had to queue, which was approximately 2.5 hours to buy a ticket, and then another 2 hours to get in a car. Once he realised I’d pre-paid, I walked straight past the queue, straight to a ticket window, and 15 minutes later I was in the air. There is also an advantage to travelling solo sometimes –as a ‘single rider’, I got my own express queue on the way back and didn’t have to queue at all! The downside of that is you’re generally crammed in a car with a whole family, all of whom are taking pictures with their selfie sticks and clearly talking about you…

So, temples, Buddhas and incense, and then Macau. As I mentioned, the queue to buy tickets for the ferry was about 2 hours long, so I went to the ‘Premier’ queue which was 20 quid more expensive but I could get on a ferry straight away. Well, not quite, as I had to go through immigration again, which I have to say in HK is almost as bad as Heathrow in terms of how long it takes. So I actually missed my designated boat, but they put me on the next one.

I was disappointed that there was nowhere outside to stand, you had to be inside which was a bummer as I wanted to take photos. Not so bad on the way there, but on the way it was a catamaran, which meant I spent the entire time trying not to be sick.

Macau was…strange. I got off the ferry and the only transportation options seemed to be a 2 hour long queue for a taxi, or a bus to one of the many casinos. There was a ring road and a harbour and not a lot else. I saw a covered walkway heading to a casino which seemed to be in the direction I wanted to go in, so off I went. The upside of walking bloody miles is I think I got to see the ‘other’ side of Macau – which looks a lot like Hong Kong, apart from the Portugese street signs. As I’m not that fussed about gambling, I decided to make my way to the UNESCO World Heritage sites, of which there are a few. As I meandered down deserted side streets with closed shops and no people, I started to wonder if I’d gone the wrong way. And then I saw this….

…and these…

It would seem because I walked instead of getting a cab, I came to the show from the back! Anyway, so once I’d seen the ruins, walked round the fort and headed through the melee of people taking selfies, I walked round the Heritage Centre, fought my way down one of the most crowded streets I’ve ever been on, and made my way back to the harbour. Again, as I decided to walk, I managed to walk past a lot of the casinos and also saw the Macau Tower (which I did not go in – see my previous point about skyscrapers). I then headed back to HK, just in time for the New Year’s Fireworks before collapsing in my hotel.

So all in all, a good trip. Next on the list – Hangzhou, Suzhou, Guilin, Beijing (again), Xi’an, Seoul, Pingyao, Zhenjiang, Nanjing, Tokyo, Kyoto and Beijing again! It’s going to be a busy few months!

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

A couple of weeks ago it was Chinese New Year, which meant we all got a week off work. The official year this year is Year of the Goat, or Sheep (no-one can seem to agree).

Things I learnt about Chinese New Year:

1.    The start of Chinese New Year marks what has been called the ‘biggest annual mass migration in the world.’ Approximately 2.8 billion people leave China’s cities and head anywhere else, either home to be with their families, or on holiday somewhere. Shanghai Daily reported that on the last day of the holiday, over 9.4 million rail trips were made, as well as 73.6 million road journeys. To put that in perspective, it’s like everyone in the UK (including London’s population doubled) hitting the UK’s roads all on one day.

2.    It’s loud. Fireworks and firecrackers are said to ward off evil spirits, so firecrackers at 7am are the norm for a week. That was fun.

3.    There are different spirits/gods/themes for each day. For example the fifth day is the ‘Day of Wealth’

4.    Red is worn and used everywhere to bring good luck and prosperity

5.    Traditional red paper lanterns and decorations adorn houses for the same reason and to ward off spirits

6.    Cash is king. No-one gives gifts, actually they give Hongbaos which are little red envelopes stuffed with cash

7.    Burning incense is the thing to do when you visit temple at Chinese New Year. The smell is still in my clothes

8.    Shanghai is super quiet. This year more so as it normally has lots of lantern festivals and New Year events, but they were all cancelled due to the stampede which killed over 30 people on the Bund on New Year’s Eve. But even without that, the shops are shut, the streets are empty and you can actually get a cab.

9.    Air pollution gets worse due to the amount of firecrackers and incense being burnt!

A Weekend Expedition

My New Year’s Resolution – one of many – was to do more touristy things, both in and out of Shanghai. In other words, don't lie on the sofa all weekend, binge watching Youku and ordering Sherpas. This weekend, I put that into action and went on a little expedition – to the end of Line 9! 

So, Shanghai has a metro system like any other big city, which I have spoken about at length before. And similar to London, the lines go right out into what could be considered suburbia and beyond and it can take hours to get from the start of one line to the end. When researching things to do in Shanghai, there are a few things that come up time and time again, and two of them were out on line 9, so I thought I’d set off early, and do both of them in a day.

The first of these is Qibao – which is an ancient canal street in the suburbs. One of the interesting things about Shanghai is that on the outskirts of the city (1-2 hours’ drive from downtown), there are lots of water towns. And water towns are essentially a little bit like Venice – lots of canals instead of roads, pretty bridges, ancient architecture etc. Qibao is like that but on a much smaller scale – there’s a canal, some ancient architecture, some pretty bridges and there’s also a temple and a pagoda and some side streets with lots of market stalls and food vendors. 

It’s about 7 stops from the French Concession so not too far, and I went relatively early (about 1030am) as I was warned it gets busy – and the main streets certainly do. There’s one street that is just food stalls, everything you could ever think of on a stick, basically, and it was so busy I had to fight my way through to the end, which I wasn’t expecting at that time in the morning! Once I turned off the main street though and headed towards the temple, it was a lot calmer. The temple and pagoda were really interesting – pictures below. It was 5RMB to get in (about 50p) and was definitely worth it. I was the only laowai wandering around, but there were some older Chinese people. Inside the temple there were 5 or 6 statues or shrines. Some of them had altars, and all of them had cushions at the base for people to kneel on. I observed a number of people coming to pray/say their respects at each of the statues, some leaving money or fruit or flowers on the altar too. In the courtyard they were also burning sticks and leaving them burning which I’m guessing is a tradition – probably because we’re so close to Chinese New Year. 

So, from the ancient to the new…and weird. Second expedition of the day was to Thames Town, which is a suburb of Shanghai, based on an English town. It’s basically what Chinese people think England is like. The story goes that a few years back, the urban planners decided to make outlying suburbs based on other places around the world. So we have Thames Town, there’s a fake Sweden and possibly even an Eiffel Tower somewhere at the end of one of those Metro lines. I looked at the map of where it was from the subway and it didn’t look that far so I decided to walk…and walk…and walk. For about an hour until I found it. The walk itself was weird, it felt like you weren’t in Shanghai at all. For someone who spends most of her life inside the Inner Ring Road, it was strange to be outside – I imagine it’s how people from London feel when they venture outside of the M25.  I saw people playing football, a carousel outside a supermarket, people washing cars – typical suburban stuff I guess. Finally I came to a giant lake, where there were loads of older Chinese guys fishing, and just on the other side of it I could see a church spire so I headed that way. 

And stumbled into what was a cross between Suffolk, London circa 1901, and Milton Keynes. The place it reminded me of most was Lord Farqad’s place from Shrek. Mainly because it was deserted. By that I mean not completely deserted as this is China, but there were very few people around. Those that were, were all in wedding parties. It would seem that Thames Town is the place to come to get your wedding photos taken, particularly outside the fake church in the middle of the town square. I must have seen six of seven brides wandering across the lawn being followed by a photographer.

Other highlights: cobbled streets, mock Tudor houses, red phone boxes, old Victorian lampposts, a bar made out of a tram, what I’m pretty sure was a statue of Winston Churchill, and a ‘corner shop’. It was all so bloody British that I have expected a gang of youths to be hanging round outside the corner shop drinking cider and smoking cigarettes they’d bribed someone to buy them.

All in all, a very bizarre experience. Some pictures:

The one where I can’t think of even a remotely interesting title as it is January and I’m tired..

Picture the scene: I dragged my bags wearily out of Pudong airport, feeling the effects of no sleep and 11 hours on a plane next to a drunk Scotsman. I managed to get into a taxi really quickly, and for once, the driver seems to be travelling at a reasonable speed, with caution. About 20 minutes in, on the freeway, he starts to slow down and speed up in turn quite irrationally, flinging his right arm across the passenger seat, as if to secure something there (there’s nothing there). He starts shaking his legs and slapping his face. I ask him if he is OK and he says yes. Two seconds later, I realise that the reason he is doing all of this is because he’s falling asleep. We’re doing 80mph on the motorway and he’s asleep. And yet, when I banged the back of the plastic partition and shouted at him, he smiled and laughed like everything was fine.

I spent the next 25 minutes of the journey watching his eyes in the rear view mirror, freezing cold as I opened all the windows, listening to what can only be described as Chinese opera on full blast, to keep him awake. I have never been so frightened in a taxi in my entire life.

This actually happened to me last week. Welcome back!

Being home for nearly 3 weeks was fantastic. After a couple of days, it honestly didn’t feel like I’d left. The strangest feeling, as it always is, is realising that life goes on when you’re not around. Which of course you know, but hearing friends talk about things you’re not invited to because you’re not there, does give you that little pang. What was different this time was that I was getting it for the stuff my friends were doing in Shanghai too, not just for my friends at home.

It was so good to see so many people too – and for those I didn’t get round to, I’m truly sorry.

So my New Year’s Resolution still stands – see more of China and the surrounding areas – which hopefully 

will lead to some interesting blog posts.

Happy New Year!