Let me start the last installment by saying I’m tired. I’ve spent nearly three days on this report, and as much as I enjoy it, I’m ready to wrap it up. It’s not so much the writing, but rather the picture process that I despise. First I have to upload them to my computer. Then…
Continue reading: Trip Report: Hong Kong and Macau
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I love HK too, but I haven't been there in 6 years. I was in Macau about 20 years ago when it was a sleepy Casino town. I guess Macau has become the Vegas of the East now. Thanks for sharing. Great job on the trip report!
HK is probably my favorite city in Asia, but I think you really missed out on what Macau has to offer. I'll agree that the casino stuff has gotten out of control - on LAX-HKG last fall I nearly thought I had woken up somewhere over Nevada when we flew over Macau. Nonetheless, if you go south from all the casino mess, there's quite a bit of stuff to see and do. There are many beautiful churches, squares, houses in bright colors, all with a fair amount of Portuguese influence. There are narrow streets with great Macanese and Portuguese restaurants and shops, plenty of less developed areas, old forts and tons of other stuff - even beaches if that's your thing. It isn't big enough to keep you busy for days on end, but there's definitely a lot there besides the casinos and the downtown that you can see by car. In fact, I pretty much never use a cab there except to get to/from Taipa and Coloane - if necessary I might use a bus though. There's a lot to see on foot. Otherwise, nice trip report.
Matt,
That's the feeling I got. Frankly we were tired when we got there from walking around in the scorching HK heat all day, so just decided to stroll around the area near hotel, which was around most of the casinos. We were very disappointed by that for sure. It was the next morning at breakfast that the table had a sheet with all of the cool stuff to do. By that time we were already all packed up and looking forward to HK. I guess I'll give it another try in the future, although it did seem like many of the non-gambling areas were tourist traps as well.
Lucky, if you prefer natural beauty rather than the glitzy skyscrapers, next time when you return to HK, you may want to go to Sai Kung Peninsula where you will find the true beauty of the countryside.
Thanks KT, sounds great! I once did a tour called "The Land Between," and we went to some of the fishing villages, so it sounds like this might have been it, or maybe this was a different one, I'm not sure. Sounds very nice though, definitely worth visiting on my next HK trip.