Hong Kong

I'm going to be in and out of Hong Kong alot as the city is a destination as well as a hub for my future travels. Hong Kong is very much like New York City. Very cosmopolitan. If you have money, you can enjoy the city very well. If you don't...., well you enjoy being there but working harder to stay afloat. For those who don't speak any Chinese, Hong Kong is very easy to navigate given the British influence. I stayed mostly on the Kowloon side in this stopover.

I was housed in the Intercontinental Standford Court hotel in Kowloon. The hotel seemed a little bit older and smaller than the Grand Hyatt in Guangzhou. Given the space constraints and history of the city, I'm not surprised. The breakfast buffet was good, definitely catered to the Western taste.

The transit system in Hong Kong is amazingly fast as are the people movers. I don't think any city in the world can beat the speed and efficiency of Hong Kong's system. People around here don't mess around. I enjoyed walking around the city and taking in as much as it can offer. Visited the "technology" area to look for deals (didn't find much) and got to eat some local foods. It seems that people her never sleep as I visited a swap meet-like area at 9 pm. Even took up a friend's tailor tip and got a suit made.

As it was almost nearing the moon festival, alot of shops and restaurants were hyping it up. Even Western chains such as Haagen-Daz and Starbucks offered their own versions of moon cakes. Of course, ever curious, I bought some to try. I was pretty impressed with the quality of the products. I'm also surprised at the popularity of Starbucks....(not that I'm a coffee lover but there has to be better stuff than Starbucks!)



As I was in Hong Kong on my birthday, I decided I should try and head over to Macau and have a taste of what Chinese gambling is all about. I've heard of their famous local hotel casino, Hotel Lisboa (?), and wanted to see how it compared to the Vegas branded ones in Macau. It is a very different kind of atmosphere, something similar to downtown Vegas. The Wynn and Venetian made the area more upscale but Macau pales in comparison to Vegas.

All in all, I like the city but it isn't on the top of my list of repeat visits.

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