To continue where I left off. The main reason we booked the Vietnam cruise was to visit George and Yangtze in their new place, Zhuhai, in mainland China close to Hong Kong, without suffering jetlag. However, having arrived in Hong Kong (Kowloon really, over the water from Hong Kong Island), the cruise was not yet over.
After lunch we had a tour of Kowloon, including the Kowloon Walled City Park, with ‘olde worlde’ rooms showing what life would have been like in the 1930’s and 1940’s; the Chi Lin nunnery, a very peaceful garden with the most amazing trees (including Buddhist pines) and rock formations; and Wong Tai Sin, famous for fortune-telling. You could either try it yourself with 99 sticks, one of which would be interpreted for you, or go to a booth for a full prediction. We didn’t have time to do more than look around so I don’t know what lies in wait for me.
Back on ship for our final night, not a gala dinner in case people wanted to explore on shore. JD went to watch the nightly light show. We packed our bags, as they had to be outside the cabin by 0700 on our final morning and we didn’t fancy setting that early an alarm. These organised holidays rarely allow you a lie-in.
Having made sure our luggage was on the right bus (one case did try to fly back to the UK a week early but we spotted its label), we had one final tour before saying goodbye to the new friends we made. Off to the famous Peak Tram, up to the Peak in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side, so the view was somewhat obscured by the mist. Having been there about 20 years ago, it was interesting to see the development that had taken place in the interim. A Madame Tussaud’s at the top plus lots of fast-food joints, all of which we ignored.
Back in the coach, we drove around to Stanley, an old fishing village, on the south side of Hong Kong Island, where we walked along the seafront, then on again to Aberdeen, another fishing village, for a sampan ride around the houseboats of the fishermen.
It’s reckoned that this style of life (fishing, not tourism) could be gone in 20 years as the fishing becomes less and less lucrative for individuals, plus their offspring don’t want to follow them. We understand that a large number of itinerant workers live there, no one knows how many as they are obviously reluctant to be counted when a census takes place.
https://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/place-to-go/travel.guide-stanley.html
Our last official meal was back in Kowloon, a dim sum lunch in a restaurant that looked as though we should be celebrating a wedding. Most people were flying home afterwards, but we were meeting G&Y to spend a week catching up with them.
They joined us at our Hong Kong Island hotel and we had dinner back on the Kowloon side, so we could all watch the light show before eating. Having spent the last fortnight on different boats / ships, the famous Star Ferry from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon was a must: we could see it below our hotel windows, but the route to it was somewhat convoluted, having to go along the side of the hotel, up a long staircase to the overhead walkways, over the dual carriageway, then work out which was our route down again. This took about twenty minutes. We decided to take a taxi back, which also took time as they had to go through one of the tunnels under the water then snake to and fro, to approach the hotel from the correct direction.
The next morning, the other three went off to explore our surroundings. I once again decided to relax in the hotel lounge, I’m glad I did as it was Easter Sunday and approximately 20,000 Filipino workers came out onto the streets to celebrate. There was a band playing and people dancing in the streets (in the rain). I was visited by the Easter Bunny so definitely worth staying behind.
We took a car over to Zhuhai in mainland China where G&Y are living. This involved going out of Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region), through Hong Kong passport control and customs, over the 55 km longest bridge in the world and through China passport control and customs on the other side. I think we might have caused a bit of confusion as I did not need a visa (having an Irish passport) but JD did (having a British one). Eventually they decided we were harmless and let us through. G&Y merely got out of the car and walked through.
The flat G&Y have is too small for visitors so they accompanied us to our rather swish hotel before we said goodbye. We’re glad they did as otherwise we’d not have been able to confirm our room, due to JD having forgotten his credit cards, me forgetting my PIN and the hotel not accepting Apple Pay. (I might have previously mentioned JD forgetting his cards).
We seemed to be the only non-Chinese in the hotel, also the oldest, as there were many families gathered for Easter and the annual tomb-sweeping festival.
https://www.chinahighlights.com/festivals/qingming-festival.htm
JD and I had an informal dinner in a barbecue bar, eating lots of courses but no noodles or rice. As a snack we had ginkgo nuts, never seen them before but I think they should be good for our memories.
We then managed a lazy day, no early call to see the sights, skipping breakfast for a really tasty brunch of various dim sum. For dinner we decided to wander over to the sister resort along the seafront, promising International and seafood buffets. At seven o’clock we were the first to arrive, in fact we remained the only ones. The buffet was definitely closed and the menu was definitely international, as in burgers, pasta and pizza. Unfortunately, the waiter was not, speaking only Mandarin (or possibly Cantonese), so we communicated via the wonders of modern technology and a translation app on his phone. Nevertheless, we had a reasonable meal of seafood spaghetti followed by tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole. It did rather remind us of Subic Bay (post 75 of 23rd February 2020), where the food also arrived in random order. We had been advised that the Thai restaurant in the same building was good so we decided to find it for reference: it also had one couple dining. We found a delightful bar overlooking the sea so had an after-dinner cocktail.
We had been told that we could get a golf buggy between the two resorts and, as it had started to rain, thought that sensible. We took the lift down to floor one but that was all bedrooms. Floor two was where we’d arrived (and eaten): no chance of a buggy there. By this time, we didn’t want to walk back as most of the lights had been turned off (it was gone half past nine by this stage). Getting back into the lift, and reading the floor details, we went up to floor five and found a buggy. With hindsight this should have been obvious as our hotel lobby was also on floor five. I don’t think we can blame the cocktails for that slight confusion?
The next day I took it easy and read a book while JD went for a walk along the sea front and met another westerner, from South Africa. He was trying to hire a bike. The following day G showed us around and told us that different rules apply to different items. He can sometimes use a vending machine to get a bottle of water, but some only work if you are a registered Chinese resident. I found trying to use my Mastercard or Apple Pay didn’t always work either.
We drove to the Zhuhai Opera House, shaped like two clam shells. I had an ice lolly to celebrate. I really should start a business for UK tourist sites (or sights?), I’m sure they’d be popular.
The Opera House is not open unless you’re going to a concert, so we wandered around outside. The two of them went for a stroll around the island and came across a ‘live insect museum’: surely a zoo or insectarium? Meanwhile I sat and watched people swimming off the manmade Giant’s Causeway and had my shoes cleaned by youngsters trying to sell me the product.
We met Y after she’d finished work and went to their flat then had a Chinese meal in the mall next to their block. An interesting quirk in mainly Southern China is that they provide no napkins but a box of them on the table that you buy. We brought one home as a memento.
The next day G and JD went off for more exploring, discovering a museum telling them about the local history. I stayed behind and alternated between the hot tub and pool to try and ease my aching bones. Late in the afternoon we visited the factory where Y works in marketing. They manufacture model cars for Formula 1 and other races. We were unable to take photos as it’s all very technical and competitive and secret, so I’ve given a link to the website. The scale of the factory was unbelievable, thousands of models and different sizes, from 1:400 to 1:8, plus helmets. Who buys all these model cars? You can if you want to, but only one size or from eBay etc.. The rest are sold to specialist sites and companies.
https://www.sparkmodel.com/en/home
For a change, we then had a meal in a Portuguese restaurant, preparing for a trip to Macau. Most odd not to be using chopsticks.
Macau is an experience. We did not bother with the casinos, after the ones we’ve seen previously they are a disappointment, being full of slot machines and no glamorous men or women in evening dress strolling around (see Post 77 of 9th March 2020). We had to have a special car that was allowed to take us there and once again had the passport / customs / passport / customs experience.
On arrival we wandered around for a bit then went to visit the Eiffel Tower (situated next to the Moulin Rouge) and British House of Commons, as you do. JD and G walked through Venice to get from one to the other, but Y and I shared a taxi and managed to upset the taxi driver so much he drove off before we’d even closed the door behind us. In the HoC we had afternoon tea, served by Mad Hatters.
There was a very definite Alice in Wonderland theme, Y sat in a teacup (unfortunately not a revolving one as you see in fairgrounds). As surreal as London (see Post 126 of 26th September 2021).
On the way back, the border experience was more exciting than before. Our driver did not speak English but that was fine as we had G&Y with us. As on previous occasions, they got out to pass through as foot passengers and we continued, car doors and boot open for inspection. However, having presented our passports, our driver was diverted off to the side. She parked and offloaded us, beckoning us to follow her. This we did until we came to a lift in the middle of the car park: she signalled we needed to get into it. Fortunately (obviously?) it only had one stop where we had to walk through passport controls (literally, two seats next to each other, one on the Macau side and one on the China side). While all this had been going on, our driver contacted Y and we could see her waving at us from the China side. On arrival in China (mere seconds later), she asked us if we’d seen G. No, why? He had gone back into Macau to find us. His visit must have been the shortest in history!
After the excitement of visiting yet another country, our last day dawned. We had noticed, in our hotel, signs for Porsche and mentioned it to Y. As she used to work for them, she knew all about the event that was happening and got us ringside seats. We were VIP guests, with pit lane passes and provided with our own Porsche to join in the parade of over 200 Porsche enthusiasts around the race track.
Once the races had finished, JD and G both had the opportunity to experience ‘hot laps’, in one of the race cars with a proper racing driver. I think it was enough to make JD realise he hadn’t missed his calling when he was younger. He said going into the first corner and the driver suddenly slamming on the brake was nerve-wracking.
On a calmer theme, we wondered about this zebra crossing: in case you decide not to cross the road after all?
George and John's boating trip no longer 