Hong Kong n Macau !!

Hello wonderful readers this is my first blog, and I want to share my experience of a recent trip to Hong Kong and Macau. We (my husband and my brother) departed from KLIA to Hong Kong in february, which turned out to be a bonus for our trip. We spent 2 nights in Kowloon and other 2 in Macau.At Hong Kong International Airport we were guided to take  train, which connected to the city, and there was a common bus stop with free shuttle service connecting to all the big hotels in Kowloon. What I loved most about the plave was the weather(16degrees) and the local transport all over with an easy connectivity. Here are few pictures of the day 1 exploration, little less because next day was prebooked for Disneyland, and we had to get up early, which is neve when you are on a holiday,but required.

                     Image captured form my phone, the twilight looked so beautiful I cdnt help :p

               Room view from Sheraton, level 14 showing the skyline and Harbour Bridge at Kowloon !!

Morning was so cold and hazy, that reminded me I had not packed much of woollens which I would be needing to survive this weather.We had breakfast at Ya Kun Cafe at Tsim Sha Tsui, our home for 2 days, oh the cafe served delicious Kaya Toast and coffee. Soon we left for Kowloon station to board the MTR to Disneyland via Sunny Bay. It was easy to get tickets, but the train was crowded, may it was always like that or may be it was because of the approaching Chinese New Year(CNY). About 30 odd minutes we reached Disneyland and Gosh it looked like some sale was going on, with thousands of people walking like tiny ants over a cherry.

Picture I clicked from MTR to Sunnybay station, from where we had to interchange for Disneyland Resort Line.

            This adventure park is a huge property built on Lantau Island, seperated from Hong Kong.

          Image only depicts 3 percent of the populationat at Disneyland that day.

               Thats me and my hubby clicked backwards my younger brother Adi.

Around 2 we had covered most of it, according to the map they provided at the ticket counter. I really enjoyed the Fantasy Land where I met all the famous Disney characters and clicked pictures with them. Disneyland has 7 sections - Main Street, U.S.A, Adventureland,Fantasyland,Grizzly Gulch,Mystic Pointand Toy story land. Its a fact that its a kids place, but I cant deny even adults can become kids there and revive their childhood memories.

The most thrilling ride was ......,and to keep people energized at all times the place has cute stalls of Popcorn and Cotton candies scattered all around, alot of cafe's to grab quick lunch. We had 2 long hours untill the most talked about Paint the night parade, wherin all disney characters walk dressed up in attractive costumes,firewroks and muscial shows, and all the phones were dead. :(

Though legs couldnt be felt anymore we made sure to pay a visit to the Harbour bridgeand view th beautiful skyline of Hong Kong from there. The view was breathtaking, awesome and chilling at the same time with lights and names being displayed on most famous buildings of Hong Kong. After relaxing for sometime we went in search of a nice place to eat, which ended up being an Indian restauarnt, though it was pre-decided we would not eat Indian food at any cost, but the tiredness and hunger over powered all rules.
The area near our hotel was happening, with streets full of luxury brands,clothing,pubs and famous street food loved by Chinese people.We also paid a small visit to Ladies night market and bought some souvenir for us and loved ones.

I took this picture from the ferry leaving Honk Kong towards Macau, it looked too awesome not to capture.

Day 3 - Macau a crazy,lively,sleepless,vibrant,glittery,hub of casinos so called 'East Las Vegas'. We left for ferry terminal, hardly 10minutes from our hotel, and my hubby got us Super class tickets in Turbo jet, it took an hour to reach Macau. I must mention I loved the hospitality of the staff, we were serveda bowl of noodles,hot dog,muffin and coke.

This bridge was the clear signal that we had reached Macau, while my partners in crime took a quick power nap.Even i felt a bit of sea-sickness so I just kept my eyes closed for some time.
Immigration clearance at Macau hardly took 2minutes,thereafter we got the Hong Kong dollars exchanged to Macanese Pataca, and saw the long que of people who looked greedy to hit a jackpot for the CNY. Macau also had free shuttle service to all the hotels and casiinos(33 in all), we joined the long que for The Venetian Macau. Longest que was for Grand Lisboa we wondered the reason, could only figure it out after we the madness in there.

                                                                  Macau tower

                                                             The Venetian Macau

Pictures of Macau,from the bus- clearly shows nobody on roads coz all the people are inside                  Casinos trying to change their luck.

I cant explain in words the architecutral design and interiors of The Venetian, so I would let the pictures do that job for you all.

 Seemed like each image was telling its own story, and I could just stand and gaze at its beauty and praise the workers who brought this to life.

 A floor above Casino was this,a false sky creation and all the famous luxury brands like - Rolex,Chanel, Louis Vuitton,Dior,Steve madden,Versace etc etc.

Venice looks exactly like this, atleast to some extent as we have seen in movies and pictures, Yes it   was beautiful, plus you could actually pay and take a ride on that boat for sometime.

This is the exit lobby of The Venetian and so beautifully designed and maintained through the years that it still looks so fresh.
After this we left for Wynn Macau, and my hubby got lucky there on slots though he is a champion of the roulette,but this was his day, happily we reached Grand Lisboa. MGM, Starworld, Sands Macau and Galaxy Grand got covered until we left the other day.

                                              Last pictured clicked of Macau from the ferry !!


Day 4 - Dedicated to sight seeing of Hong Kong and night was planned to see the CNY fireworks from our view on 14th floor, for which they had charged us extra 1OOHK dollars. We hired a taxi from the hotel to Stanley market, an old Portuguese style place, and I was excited to go and shop there. But for the time I didn't want to miss the mountains,sea and curvy roads which led us deep into the villas and finally Stanley market. We could spot a lot of Australians and expats from different parts of the world, shopping and taking walks with their partners or few with dogs. After clicking few pictures and buying some stuff at not so cheap rates, we settled for lunch at an Italian Bistro and ordered Pasta, breads and beers to go with. The weather was getting colder and awesome, I dint want to leave that place, but we had to for Times Square (not NYC), famous for shopping of all budgets.

                                   A local trying to cash a fish for his dinner @ Stanley beach !!

                           I love this picture, but I lost those Prada's to a cabby in Times Square. :(
                           Makeup - Mac, Coat - random store, Sling - H&M

Well that was an instant pose smiling at my love in my new boots which I bought in Hong Kong and the most comfortable yet sexy H&M stretch trousers.

                                                    Shoppers @ Times Square !!

All that could be seen were tall buildings, broad/narrow curvy roads and lots and lots of people....

These pictures were clicked when I left Hong Kong on a ferry and could still see such wonderful views.

The Victoria Peak, which we couldn't get tickets for due to some 400 people in line, and we had friends coming over to out hotel for the dinner !! It is 428m high and gives a 360 degrees view of the whole town, on my list for the next trip to HK.

                          The clock tower @ Tsim Sha Tsui, kowloon standing tall (44m) high !!

Ok, I need to show you this picture of people gathered since 2pm for the CNY fireworks that were going to be held at 7pm, there was no place to walk on the Harbour bridge and all the roadways were blocked, mostly banned all vehicles to manage the hassle afterwards. I guess we made the right decision to watch it from our room.

Shot almost similar to what was on the Daily newspaper the next morning !! It was viewed by lakhs of people, about 25,000 crackers were used to put up this show. Wonderful it was !!

Loved this thing, I could see people sitting on floor with their stock of drinks and snacks for the night.

Finally we came back to hotel,walking more than we did everyday, and picked some wine, beer and chips on the way to keep us busy until the fireworks end. One of my hubby's old friend who stayed at Kowloon, came along with her wife, so we all saw the spectacular show, clicked pictures, made videos and talked. I'll try to join my chip videos and make a better one for you all, till then check out my little story and a short video on @Google+.


I will quickly give you all some tips if you are planning HK soon :-
 1. Use local transport, trust me its way better than taxi and cheaper as well.
2. Visit Disnleyand, its fun for both kids and adults
3. Harbour bridge, Avenue of Stars at Kowloon - you will thank me for the skyline view it has.
4. The Victoria Peak, Times Square, Stanley market at HK to get souveniers.

Hope you liked my blog, let me know your views about it and if any questions feel free to comment below.

Love Kanchan
xoxo