Part 17: Day Trip to Macau

Part 1: When You Wake Up at 3 AM for a 6 AM Flight…
Part 2: Only 18 Hours to Go
Part 3: How to See Angkor Wat
Part 4: The Many Faces of Bayon
Part 5: Trees Galore!
Part 6: Cambodia’s Floating Villages
Part 7: View from the Top
Part 8: The Children of Cambodia
Part 9: When Politics Ruins Your Plans
Part 10: Biking with Monkeys in Thailand
Part 11: Welcome to Hong Kong!
Part 12: Exploring Hong Kong by Day
Part 13: Exploring Hong Kong by Night
Part 14: Climbing the Mid-Levels
Part 15: View from the Top of Lantau Island
Part 16: Oh Tai O!

Note: This is the final Asia post, just in time for my trip to Peru tonight. It’s only taken me six months to finish this trip report. Go me.

We debated whether to go to Macua. Macau is a former Portuguese colony about an hour from Hong Kong by ferry. Known for it’s gambling, it’s often called the Las Vegas of the East, but not as fun. Since we had already been to Vegas, we wondered if there was really what to see. But we had explored much of Hong Kong Island and we were open to something new.

Macau is an independent territory. So you must show your passport and go through customs both ways.

 

 

Macau is a mix of modern new hotels and vestiges of its colonial past. Both are pretty in their own right.

Like the water show at the Bellagio in Vegas, the Wynn Macau has its own version. It’s not worth a trip to Macau just for this but it certainly is pretty.

And then of course, you have the requisite sunset picture.

Verdict: Macau was a pleasant day trip, but while I would go back to Hong Kong in a heartbeat, I have no desire to go back to Macau. I’m not a huge gambling fan, and Las Vegas has everything Macau has and more — plus it’s in English!

Part 16: Oh Tai O!

Part 1: When You Wake Up at 3 AM for a 6 AM Flight…
Part 2: Only 18 Hours to Go
Part 3: How to See Angkor Wat
Part 4: The Many Faces of Bayon
Part 5: Trees Galore!
Part 6: Cambodia’s Floating Villages
Part 7: View from the Top
Part 8: The Children of Cambodia
Part 9: When Politics Ruins Your Plans
Part 10: Biking with Monkeys in Thailand
Part 11: Welcome to Hong Kong!
Part 12: Exploring Hong Kong by Day
Part 13: Exploring Hong Kong by Night
Part 14: Climbing the Mid-Levels
Part 15: View from the Top of Lantau Island

After our morning visit to Ngong Ping and the Big Buddha, we took a bus down the mountain to the western edge of Lantau Island to a small sea-side fishing village, Tai O.

Tai O is poor. There’s no nice way of saying it, and the change from the bustling wealth of central Hong Kong is stark. But Tai O is also beautiful in its decline, especially at sunset. The native Tanka people built their homes on stilts, much like the floating villages we toured in Cambodia. We jumped on an overpriced tour boat to get a view from the water. It was worth it.

After our boat tour – on which we saw whales! – we strolled around the town. I love this shot.

Why not use a hanger to hang your dead fish? Seems like a perfectly good use of a hanger to me.

And finally, my favorite type of photos: sunset pictures. But can you blame me? Look at these!

Part 15: View from the Top of Lantau Island

Part 1: When You Wake Up at 3 AM for a 6 AM Flight…
Part 2: Only 18 Hours to Go
Part 3: How to See Angkor Wat
Part 4: The Many Faces of Bayon
Part 5: Trees Galore!
Part 6: Cambodia’s Floating Villages
Part 7: View from the Top
Part 8: The Children of Cambodia
Part 9: When Politics Ruins Your Plans
Part 10: Biking with Monkeys in Thailand
Part 11: Welcome to Hong Kong!
Part 12: Exploring Hong Kong by Day
Part 13: Exploring Hong Kong by Night
Part 14: Climbing the Mid-Levels

Seeing the Tian Tin Buddha (AKA the Big Buddha) on Lantau Island is another popular Hong Kong tourist attraction, kind of like seeing the Statue of Liberty when you visit New York City. It’s not necessarily the most riveting activity, but it’s the sort of thing you have to check off your tourist must-do list.

So how could we not go?

Plus, the trip to Lantau is an easy half-and-hour subway ride. Just take the orange line until the last stop. Once you leave the subway station, you won’t be able to miss the massive cable cars that carry passengers high above the water to the top of Ngong Ping. For far less money, you can hop on a bus as it winds it way up the mountain, but riding the cable car at least once is another tourist box begging to be checked off.

The views were beautiful, all be it, slightly nausea-inducing.

You can see the Big Buddha right away. It is 112 feet tall, perched on a stand that is exactly 268 steps above the ground.

Ngong Ping is also home to the Po Lin Monastery, built in 1920.

We fulfilled our tourist duty and climbed up the 268 steps to to the top of the Buddha. The views were beautiful.

If you’re not into Buddha or monasteries, you can also check out the Wisdom Path. A pleasant 15 minute walk takes you to a sculpture of giant wood columns arranged in the shape of an infinity symbol featuring the words of a famous Buddhist classic called the Heart Sutra.

Part 14: Climbing The Mid-Levels

Part 1: When You Wake Up at 3 AM for a 6 AM Flight…
Part 2: Only 18 Hours to Go
Part 3: How to See Angkor Wat
Part 4: The Many Faces of Bayon
Part 5: Trees Galore!
Part 6: Cambodia’s Floating Villages
Part 7: View from the Top
Part 8: The Children of Cambodia
Part 9: When Politics Ruins Your Plans
Part 10: Biking with Monkeys in Thailand
Part 11: Welcome to Hong Kong!
Part 12: Exploring Hong Kong by Day
Part 13: Exploring Hong Kong by Night

 

I didn’t understand what the Mid-Levels were until I experienced it for myself. But I will try to explain it to you. The Mid-Levels are essentially a very, very long outdoor escalator running north to south through Hong Kong’s Soho’s neighborhood into Central. Behold, a map:

Since Hong Kong is built into the side of a mountain, walking up and down can grow tiresome. So Hong Kong built a series of escalators and moving sidewalks to transport residents into Central’s busy business district. The plan was to build two escalators – one going north and one going south, but after many delays and cost overruns, the second escalator was never built. As a result, the escalators run downhill from 6 am to 10 am to accommodate commuters heading to work, and uphill from 10:30 am to midnight.

Behold the Mid-Levels:

Part 13: Exploring Hong Kong By Night

Part 1: When You Wake Up at 3 AM for a 6 AM Flight…
Part 2: Only 18 Hours to Go
Part 3: How to See Angkor Wat
Part 4: The Many Faces of Bayon
Part 5: Trees Galore!
Part 6: Cambodia’s Floating Villages
Part 7: View from the Top
Part 8: The Children of Cambodia
Part 9: When Politics Ruins Your Plans
Part 10: Biking with Monkeys in Thailand
Part 11: Welcome to Hong Kong!
Part 12: Exploring Hong Kong by Day

We loved Hong Kong by day, and we loved it just as much at night. There are plenty of lights, plenty of night markets if you’re looking for cheap trinkets and souvenirs (not really), and tons of fun for those obsessed with nighttime photography (totally and unapologetically guilty).

Here are some of my favorite shots from our night adventures. This is the entrance to the Temple Street Night Market on Kowloon. I was literally sitting on the floor with my mini tripod… the things I will do to take a picture…insane!

These pictures were a lot of fun to take. As we strolled through Wan Chai, I stumbled upon a pedestrian island in the middle of a busy street, which turned out to be the perfect place to take pictures of Hong Kong’s night traffic.

As we walked east from Wan Chai, we hit Causeway Bay, the place to go for hectic local nightlife.

See if you can find The Boyfriend in the picture below. He is the guy in the middle in the grey sweater, graciously carrying my hot pink backpack.

And finally, we finished our trip to Hong Kong the way we started it: With a trip to the Peak at night. Turns out, taking night pictures from the Peak without a full standing tripod is extraordinarily difficult. These pictures involved some seriously impressive balancing maneuvers.

Part 12: Exploring Hong Kong by Day

Six months after the big Asia trip, I’m scrambling to finish my trip reports for two reasons: 1) I leave for Peru in two weeks. 2) A friend got married this weekend and is off to Hong Kong for his honeymoon. He is looking for travel advice, and my advice will come in the form of a blog post. So here goes.

Part 1: When You Wake Up at 3 AM for a 6 AM Flight…
Part 2: Only 18 Hours to Go
Part 3: How to See Angkor Wat
Part 4: The Many Faces of Bayon
Part 5: Trees Galore!
Part 6: Cambodia’s Floating Villages
Part 7: View from the Top
Part 8: The Children of Cambodia
Part 9: When Politics Ruins Your Plans
Part 10: Biking with Monkeys in Thailand
Part 11: Welcome to Hong Kong!

We loved walking around Hong Kong and seeing the different neighborhoods change across the island. Hong Kong is extremely safe (and crowded), so we had no qualms about exploring by foot by day and by night.

Our very first day took us through Hong Kong Park, located right next to our hotel. It’s not Central Park, but I fell in love with it just the same. It’s beautifully decorated, peaceful, and of course, extremely photogenic.

Our trip coincided with a flower festival in Hong Kong Park. I thought it was the most amazing thing ever and HAD to take a thousand pictures. The Boyfriend thought it was just a bunch of dumb flowers.

Hong Kong is a city of layers. Roads are built over roads; walkways tower over highways. You can walk for blocks underground through the city’s subway system. And of course, there are the sky scrapers towering over you everywhere you look.

This is my favorite Hong Kong building – the Jardin House.

We wandered through a street market in Causeway Bay. The fish were still alive and hopping around, which, if you look closely, you can see in the photograph.

Just a funky looking temple in Causeway Bay:

One of Hong Kong’s many street markets:

One of the fun things about Hong Kong is the constant variety – kind of like New York City. One block is different from the next. Each neighborhood has its own personality. You have modern skyscrapers overlooking dilapidated neighborhoods, natural getaways in the middle of an urban jungle, old-school temples next door to high-powered banks…etc. This was a temple we stumbled upon in Sheung Wan, a north western district on Hong Kong Island.

HAVE I MENTIONED YET HOW MUCH I LOVED HONG KONG????

Change of Plans…

After weeks of trying to squeeze in a side trip to Angkor Wat from Bangkok, we reached a decision point. Either give up on visiting one of the most impressive religious sites in the world or bite the bullet and change the trip. It simply didn’t make sense to go from Bangkok to Siem Reap to Hong Kong because of the limited number of flights out of Siem Reap. So we bit the bullet.

We added two days to our trip and will now be flying from New York City to San Francisco (United), to Seoul (Asiana) to Siem Reap (Asiana). It is a long trip but it will all be in business class and we were able to squeeze the entire trip to Cambodia into a single award for a mere 60,000 United miles per person and a total of $57.60 in fees. Since I do not have status with United we had to pay a $200 change fee ($100 per person) but I put the charge on The Boyfriend’s Platinum Amex (after designating United as his airline of choice) and am hoping Amex will pick up the tab.

Our new trip to Asia:

Our entire trip from start to finish:

We plan to spend two days in Angkor Wat, which people say is not enough but it will have to do. We will hop a short hour-long flight to Bangkok, spend four days in Thailand and then off to Hong Kong.

We are two weeks away and I am psyched!

 

Around the World in 14 Days

Our next big trip is in the works.

[Pause for jubilant cartwheel.]

After our trip to Paris and Brussels last New Year’s, The Boyfriend and I both agreed that it was time to move on from Europe. Not that we have seen everything we want to see – not by a long shot. But we are ready for something new. Different. So… we are going to Asia.

[Pause for jubilant cartwheel.]

Yes. Asia. In business class. We leave New York in late November for Bangkok, via Frankfurt. We’ll spend some time in Bangkok and the surrounding areas, and then head to Hong Kong so The Boyfriend can marvel at the tall buildings. And then, we head home via Vancouver.

I was mapping out the trip the other day, and I realized: HOLY CLICHE BATMAN, WE ARE LITERALLY GOING AROUND THE WORLD! How cool is that?

Around the world in 14 days!

Here’s how the award tickets break down:

I used 120,000 United miles (a combination of United miles and Chase points) to book two business class tickets to Bangkok via Frankfort from New York City. We fly United to Frankfort and Thai Airways to Bangkok. The cost in dollars: $70.

I used 140,000 British Airways avios (thanks to the American Express 35% bonus transfer) to book two business class seats on Cathay Pacific. I’ve read many a blog post about Cathay’s wonderful business class seats and I’m excited to try them out. Cost: $320

Asia, here we come. Off to turn some more cartwheels…