Hong Kong is only 2 hours flight from HCM, so I had to go.  I had been there once before when flying back from Europe in 2003 for one night and at that time it was crazy.  I was interested to know what I would think of it now.  View of Hong Kong flying in.

I got the subway from the airport to my hotel and I surfaced at about 10:30pm on Thursday and was greeted by a 7-Eleven and men drinking beer.  I then walked along the street that my hotel was on and was swamped by Indians wanting to sell me handbags, watches, accommodation and the occasional drugs.  This was a culture shock.  I finally found my accommodation and relaxed in my room.

The next day I woke up and headed for Victoria Peak.  The main feature other than the view is the cable car.  I took the star ferry across and had a bizarre conversation.  I was sitting looking at the view and behind me in a Texan accent I hear “is this the red bus?”.  Excuse me, is this the red bus?”.  I worked out that this person was talking to me so I turned around and said the only thing logically possible “this is a ferry”.  He then waved tickets at me and I said that I think he is in the right place as I have seen other people with those tickets.  He asked if I was a local and I said that I live in Vietnam and then he asked if I was from England.  As you can see this was an interesting conversation and adds to the stereotypical view of an American.

I was planning on going up the cable car however I somehow found myself on a double decker bus heading up the same hill.  I almost threw up on the bus due to motion sickness, it is becoming a theme here in Asia.  At the summit, there were big changes from when Niels and I were here in 2003, they have a massive viewing platform now.  The day wasn’t so good for viewing so I didn’t hand around but made use my selfie stick.

I made sure I took the cable car down, man it is steep. The guys in red are ready to pick up the bodies that don’t make it down:)…

From there I wondered around and enjoyed the parks and walking along sidewalks that were even, no motorbikes and generally orderly.

I had dumplings for dinner and then went to the water front to watch the lights and then on the way home I saw a wedding and the groom winked at me, seriously.

The next day I decided to go to Macau, a former Portuguese Colony and about an hour ferry ride from Hong Kong.  On the way it started to pour down.  I arrived and took a bus into town.  The architecture is wonderful.

The ruin on the right is of St Paul’s. It was a shame that it was raining as it made it harder to get around and enjoy the views.  I then went to the Macau Museum on top of a hill.

I then found a New Zealand Shop and stocked up on chocolate fish and Griffins Ginger Nuts then caught the ferry back to Hong Kong and managed to resist the temptation to go into the numerous casinos in Macau.  Back in Hong Kong I ended up in an Irish Bar and watch the Wallabies vs the Springbok and then Manchester United vs Manchester City.

With my last day in Hong Kong and I went to Star Avenue.  It was funny, when I mentioned to my friends in Ho Chi Minh that I was going to HK, they mentioned this.  It was interesting walking around all the movie stars’ hand prints

Jackie Chan at big hands and you know what they say about big hands…….. The statue is Bruce Lee.  It wasn’t until I looked at the photo afterwards that I saw my legs were doing a mirror image.  I think this is very clever.

From there I caught a taxi to Sky 100, 100th floor inside viewing. While waiting, I had fun with the free app.

It was a great view.

And I had some more fun.

I had a wonderful time in Hong Kong, I ate a lot of dumplings, chocolate and hot chocolates, did some shopping and relaxed.  I found Hong Kong quiet after Ho Chi Minh, yes a weird thing to say but it is true.  People seemed to be busier here, less similes and more serious.  I will be back.

A couple of things I noted that were different to Ho Chi Minh:

• They drive on the left side of the road which is right.  They drive on the right side on the road which is left.  No, they drive on the correct side of the road which is the left hand side.  Now that wasn’t confusing was it
• You have to ask for plastic bags when you buy something and you have to pay for them
• It is quiet, yes, it is still noisy, but still quieter than HCM, not beeping scooters
• Even though they drive on the left hand side of the road they still walk on the right hand side of the pavement.
• They walk a lot faster than Vietnamese here on the street
• You can use Pay Wave
• Cantonese and English (British accent) is used for all announcements.  I finally knew what was going on.