A week in Tokyo

Japan has always occupied a parking spot in the curiosity section of my brain.  I have snippets of memories from when I've lived and visited the Land of the Rising Sun before but they are incomplete snapshots of what I am sure were incredible experiences.

I've been to Japan twice in my life.  The first, was when I was four and my father was studying at Yokohama university.  During our year there, I picked up on Japanese pretty quickly and it was a shame that I lost it all when I immigrated to Canada and English quickly trumped both of my previous languages.  That was also the first time I went to a Disneyland, met Mickey Mouse and bought his alarm clock, of which still functions to this day (a clear testament to Japanese engineering).  The second was back in 2005.  At that point, I was still a pissy little shit when it came to dealing with my dad after a decade of having a shaky father-son relationship.  He treated me, my stepmother and aunt to a trip to Tokyo and Ito, of which I sulked most of the way through because I was with my father.  When I look back on that trip now, I wince at how I ruined the trip for myself and likely for those who went with me.  This also shows that when you're 22, you still are not mature enough to act like an adult sometimes.

So when my uncle offered me the chance to go with him to Tokyo last week to help him out with some business he had to do there at the Do-It-Yourself Trade Show in Chiba (just east of Tokyo), I didn't hesitate to say yes.  With only a few days of commitment to the trade show, the rest of the time, I had to myself to wander the streets of Tokyo.

Just when I think I haven't gotten enough of temples and palaces, there's always room for more.  Senso-ji and the Meiji Temple were both on my must see list in Tokyo.  Both are Old World Japan monuments nestled in the hearts of Tokyo's busy neighbourhoods of Asakusa and Harajuku, respectively.

Senso-Ji Temple.

I've been to Asakusa before on the trip back in 2005 - a charming little district with the Senso-ji sheltered by the Kaminarimon Gate and a long path of small souvenir and snack shops leading up to the temple.  These tiny stores sell anything from cell phone cases to those annoying dangly cartoon characters that hang off said cell phone cases and one of the weirdest items, and ear wax picker.  The food is fantastic - mochi cakes and waffle biscuits are all made to take the form or the large lanterns that hang from the gates leading to the temple.

The temple is a hive of activity.  People stand in front of the large incense burner and wave the smoke that billows out of the furnace all over their body for good luck.  There are fortune cabinets all around the exterior and interior of the temple.  Give the metal tin a good shake and a stick with a number comes out.  That number matches a cabinet holding your fortune.  As with all fortunes, the user should really try not to buy into every word - I will apparently have good fortune at my current job and love life...neither of which I have at the moment.

Shake the metal tin, get your fortune stick
and get your fortune out of the
matching drawer.

The Meiji temple is a slightly different experience from the hustle and bustle of Asakusa.  This temple is surrounded by an expansive park with walkways the size of boulevards and trees as tall as apartment buildings.  On a sunny afternoon, it is the perfect escape from the blazing fireball in the sky.  (In fact, the weather during the week I was in Tokyo was so hot, I thought I was somewhere in the tropics.  It truly lived up to the promise of being the Land of the Rising Sun.)

I had the fortune of listening in on a performance of the Tyko drummer in the temple - with each strike of the large bat (I swear it was larger than a baseball bat) on the vat sized drum, the boom reverberated in your organs as it spread out across the courtyard and out into the gardens.  I wish I could share with you some photos and video of the event, but I was quickly stopped by a security guard to let me know that no pictures were allowed - quite the surprise in a land where everyone has their camera on them at all times.

Moving away from a taste of the old world to a completely new world attraction, I headed to the SkyTree communications tower to take a look at the tallest structure in Japan and the second tallest in the world - opened just in May of this year.  From the base, it looks like a microphone for Godzilla to sing karaoke into.  As much as I wanted to go up to the top to look at the skyline, there was an hour and 20 minute wait for it as a shipment of mainland Chinese tourists got there before we did.  I shook my fist in anger and decided to save it for another trip.

The Skytree.

I ended my adventures around Tokyo in the shopping district Ginza.  On the weekends, the street turns into a pedestrian thoroughfare, so it's neat to walk down one of the busiest streets in Asia or sit on one of the many tables and chairs set out for tired shoppers.  Ginza is the Land of the Rising Department Stores and luxury goods as far as the eye can see.  However, due to the recession, some mainstream brands have entered including the ever popular UniQlo which takes up a 12 story retail environment that made me slap down some cash when I really shouldn't have.

Finally, a trip to Tokyo is not complete without some delicious Japanese food.  I really just gorged myself on noodles and sushi the entire time I was there.  I did make it to some restaurants, but nothing beat the $8 - $10 CDN you can spend and get a feast at the local supermarket.

All this from the supermarket for $8 Canadian.  That's some good eatin'.

So with all of these fun experiences, I plan on heading back to Tokyo in December with my friends Shelley, Marc and Jean to check out the nightlife the city has to offer...and also to get up early the next morning to see what the world famous fish market is like :D.

Olympics "I Believe" Song on repeat

I remember the first time I knew anything about the Olympics was in 1992.  I was in the 2nd grade and our gym teacher had us run around the gym pretending we were Olympic athletes.  Being the precious kid that I was, I decided being a spectator was my contribution to the "games."  

Even as a young child, I wasn't much into doing anything really physical.  I couldn't even dig in the sand without distain.

Then Lillehammer 1994 happened and I paid more attention to these games as Canada actually medals in the Winter games.  This was the year that Elvis Stojko unleashed the dragon and made figure skating two shades less feminine than it really is.  And my grandfather was very much into hockey, so I watched the tournament with him, and even though Canada won Silver, it was one of my favourite memories of childhood as I was able to spend so much time with my grandpa.


Through the years, Atlanta, Nagano, Sydney, Salt Lake, Athens, Turin, and Beijing were always fun to follow, but I never really LOVED the games until Vancouver 2010.  This time Canada was the focus of the games, and I was determined to go and experience the fun.  I was lucky enough to get tickets to the Gold Medal Men's hockey game, gambling on the fact that Canada would be in the finals.  The country was slow on the medal count, but the games finished like a fairy tale ending.  An overtime goal by Sidney Crosby to capture Men's Gold, the Canadian Olympic Team set an all time gold medal record by a host country at 14 gold medals, and some incredible tales of triumph from athletes like Joannie Rochette, who lost her mom before she was to skate, made you tear up like a 40 year old single woman watching Titanic for the fourteenth time on a Friday night with her cats.

Going buckwild after Canada wins in overtime.  One of my best moments of life ever.

I'll admit, for a time after Vancouver 2010, I was in a funk.  I wanted to turn on the TV to watch ANY sport that involved three medals at the end.  It could have been Olympic speed knitting and I would have watched.  I was so obsessed with the Olympics, I had the Nikki Yanokovski "I Believe" song playing on repeat on my iPod as I walked to work and pretended to move in slow motion like the people in the montages on CTV.  It made for a slow walk to work.

Just in case you haven't had enough of it...

So, when London 2012 crept closer, and I realized that I would be in Europe for the summer, there was no question that I would stop by this city to enjoy the games.  Thankfully, my friends Alex and Sandy have conveniently moved to this city, so free accommodations mean cheap Terence can spend more money on booze.  (And trust me, I have).


The Opening Ceremonies
After a day of walking around the city with Sandy and our friend Laura, we went to Canada House in Trafalgar Square to see what it had planned for the athletes.  We were disappointed to find that all they had for us were pins (we took them nonetheless) and they directed us to the Maple Leaf bar in Covent Garden.  We were joined by Alex, Phil (another friend from uni) and Phil's friend Jamie and we celebrated the Opening Ceremonies with at least 400 other Canadians crammed into the bar.  There were several moments of SHHHH! to try to listen to what was happening.  Other moments of laughter at the British sense of humour including:


- Free health care promotion (an obvious F you to Mitt Romney who was visiting and made some rather silly comments about the Olympic games)
- the Queen jumping from a helicopter with James Bond
- Three dozen Mary Poppins flying into the stadium


And of course, cheering for the countries as they marched into the stadium.  We cheered the loudest for Canada and Team GB, but as we got drunker and drunkier, we started clinking our glasses for Team Swaziland and Uzbekistan...haha...who comes up with these names?


Speaking of drunk, one of the highlights of the bar, was this couple from the West Coast.  The wife got hammered and started hitting on Phil and Jamie.  She tried with Alex, but Sandy shot her some Asian cuteye and she backed off.  They still stole our seats that we had occupied since 5pm.  Lesson learned, don't be nice.


However, we were unceremoniously all kicked out right before Sir Paul performed and people were losing their minds.  Very unCanadian like behaviour was displayed and we all went home with a bitter taste in our mouths - or perhaps that was from the vomit after nine pints of Strongbow.


Day 2 - 3m Women's Syncronized Springboard Diving
Our only ticket to the games was to the diving event at the aquatics centre on Sunday.  We were lucky enough to get seats to this event - little did we know that we'd be watching Canada get it's first medal.  It started with Canada doing really well, and in true Canadian style, we lost the lead and China, being the powerhouse they are, won Gold.  We were sitting in the nosebleeds but I truly believe our cheers reached all the way to the platforms 4,000m below us.

This is with 55mm zoom.  We were still super far.

Alex, Sandy and I wandered around the Olympic Park afterwards and it's massive and quite impressive.  The weather was bipolar, so we got waves of sunshine followed by a lightning show and a downpour back to happy sunny skies within a matter of an hour.  Mother Nature must have been watching the Joannie Rochette story with her cats.


The Olympic Park is located in London's East end, notorious for being the shady part of the city, has been refurbished to be the most sustainable Olympic Park ever.  The stadium, Aquatics centre, Velodrome, football and hockey fields are all located in this park.  A big wildflower field also serves as a live TV venue for those coming in and out of other events.  Alex wore his Union Jack and I wore the Maple Leaf flag.  The spirit of the games made the Olympic Park into a grown up version of Disneyland where everyone was smiling and greeting people with "hello, how are you?" or a "woot!  Canada!!!"  The Olympic volunteers were so happy, I think they inhaled a bag of happy gas before starting their shifts.  Here are some selects from the Olympic grounds:

Wildflowers are present all around the park.

The orbit - telecom tower and observation deck.

Very Polka Dot Door.

The Velodrome.

One Eyed Monster Mascot.

The Stadium.

Jump for the Olympics!

We don't have any more tickets to any of the other events, but with the controversy of the empty seats at the venues, we might get another chance to go!  If not, anyone up for Sochi 2014?

One bite at a time - Eating my way through Europe

There's a scene in the movie Eat, Pray, Love, where Julia Robert's character, Liz, makes a simple Italian meal for herself and plants herself on the floor of her Roman flat, where she spends an entire afternoon just savouring each bite of her food.  This scene is significant to me for two reasons - the first, is that I just finished reading the book on my European travels (Sidebar: did anyone else find it really hard to get through the India part of the book?); and the second is that I had several of these EAT moments in Europe.

Don't get me wrong, I really liked the movie, but I can see how people were pissed that so much was missing from the book.  Definitely a rental.

From my acorn-fed jamon in Barcelona to the lasagna I had in Markaska, Croatia, to the (several) cheese and wine combos in Paris, I've gained two new friends - I've named my lovehandles "Carbs" and "Consequences."  (Those "C" twins are so evil.)

I stare at this photo when I'm hungry.  It's the way of encouraging myself to write a lot of award winning books, gain the income to hire the chef that made this award winning lasagna, and hire a trainer to work off the weight I'll gain from eating this for every meal, everyday.

I've had a great time in Europe so far - besides the excellent food, I've experienced so much in the past five weeks that have opened my eyes to the fact that I am still as not as well traveled as I hope to be, that there are still things I need to work (cough...communicating my feelings...cough) and that I can really get used to this life of just wandering from place to place and not doing anything.  Now if I can only find a way of making income out of doing nothing...


Traveling has also given me a couple of story ideas to tinker with and hopefully that will result in the income that will allow me to travel some more, which will result in more story ideas and more income...you see what I'm getting at here?  Sigh, it is hard not to get ahead of yourself when you have this much time on your hands to just dream.  (Insert the Bob Sinclair Love Generation song from the Lotto Max commercials here as I dream about my next vacation.)


There are several highlights of this trip (besides the food - wait, I said this already) that I can't wait to start blogging about in my following entries - they include:


- celebrating Spain's Eurocup win in Barcelona on Las Ramblas and watching people drunkenly climb the lamp posts and praying they didn't fall to their deaths, 
- meeting a seminary student on the train from Zagreb to Split, Croatia and talking to him about everything from politics to religion to Croatian reality TV for about four hours as our train was delayed by a fire on the track (no, not dangerous at all),
- waking up every morning to the sound of the Adriatic waves splash against our boat and then jumping into the clear blue waters after breakfast on my Split - Dubrovnik cruise,

Life is hard when you have to jump off a boat everyday.

- the most random Sunday I've ever experienced which included a Tim Burton-esque circus exhibit, followed by running into a random Brazilian drum band and random carnival rides that made my friend Lindsay and I sick.


Each place I've visited in the last five weeks have left quite the impression.  Portugal was a friendly destination where surprisingly everyone spoke English with you, because they are probably tired of foreigners butchering Portuguese or speaking to them in Spanish.  Spain was incredibly hot and a great place to meet interesting characters on our Trafalgar tour - including some older Aussies and New Zealanders who insisted that the Spanish speak English.  Croatia was relaxing after three weeks of bus tours and an eclectic mix of young Australians - there were only Aussies on this part of my travels, I was quite the minority as an Asian Canadian (or Canasian).  And well, Paris, it was all about living the life of a Parisien, so much so that I was even getting annoyed with the tourists and saying my "Pardon!"s with an annoyance that would make any local proud.


What makes life so great at the moment is that my European adventures are not over.  There's still the London Olympics and Scotland and all of its foggy glory left to experience!  


It's not hard to keep saying to myself - fuck, I'm so glad I decided to take this break.

Taking the time to have a meal outside

A guy I used to work with used to love eating his lunches outside during the summer time.  There was once I joined him at his favourite spot near Yonge and Bloor, where we used to work.  It was in a small parkette near a firehall and a condo, a quaint little square that obviously had caught the attention of others as it was packed.  During my entire time there, I wondered, how was he able to do this everyday?  And more importantly, why am I not doing this everyday?


It wasn't until I quit my job back in February that I was able to truly appreciate eating a meal outside.  Granted, I didn't do this while I was still in Toronto - it was still pretty fucking cold outside, but I did more of that in Taiwan, where it was 25 - 30 degrees Celsius everyday.  I sat on a Starbucks patio, or a bench in my local park, or just a busy walkway in downtown Taipei - it was just good to eat, reflect and people watch.  


So apparently, this has been the best day in London for a while - it's been raining like mad lately, so with the sun out, I decided it was a perfect day to walk around and eat breakfast outside.  

What it looked like outside my hotel window this morning.

I indulged my inner nerd this morning and decided to go to the British Natural History Museum.  Well, it was also a cost effective move as the admission is free.  Grabbing a croissant and a lemonade to go, I headed to the museum which is only a 10 minute walk away from my hotel.  This was my first time at the museum as the last time I was here, we didn't have a chance to go inside and look around.  When I turned the corner and saw the building, I was just mesmerized.   Everything about it was impressive - the gates, the colours of the facade and especially the lush green lawn that surrounded the compound.  

A perfect place for breakfast.  

Sitting there for an hour was a bit of a challenge and something I still need to work on, which is slowing down.  I inhaled my food (likely because I was hungry) rather than savouring each bite.  I did think to myself after 15 minutes, so what now?  All the other times I had sat outside for lunch, I was either eating with someone, reading something or surfing online.  With none of these options available, I had to start training myself to sit back, observe, and enjoy the surroundings like these fine people below. 

A small part of me wonders why I didn't do this more often when I was working...

I encourage everyone to take some time out of their day to sit outside and have a meal.  Don't make the excuse that you can't do lunch because of work, well, there's always dinner.  Have a picnic, sit on your balcony or find a park bench or any bench for that matter and feed your stomach, your senses and your soul.  Trust me, it really gives you perspective on what really matters out of your day.

Final Day in Hong Kong

It's very comforting to know that there's always a Starbucks near with wifi, a cool beverage and comfortable seating to rest your weary, walked to death feet.  Surprisingly in Hong Kong, where everything else is super cheap, especially the food, a Starbucks Iced Coffee is just over $3 CAD.  But hey, for a small reminder of home, it's kinda worth the deal.


I decided to have a bit of a quiet day considering how much I've done over the last three days in Hong Kong and Macau.  With my flight being midnight (and of course, this time, I am sure of when my departure time is...), I had pretty much a day to kill, and it was time to explore a bit more of the Kowloon side of this city.  

It's no surprise that the day has been perpetually cloudy (see the exhibit above).  It's been pretty much like this for the entire time I've been here.  However, walking along the Avenue of the Stars this morning, having this cloud cover really helped because in this climate, you can either fight the humidity or the sun, not both.  The Avenue of the Stars is located on the Kowloon waterfront with a gorgeous view of Hong Kong Island.  Hong Kong, the Hollywood for Asian cinema, has its own mini walk of fame with the most famous icon being that of Bruce Lee's statue - in honour of the king of Kung Fu cinema.  My advice, get there early - like 8am early as tour groups start rolling in around 930am and to get a clear shot of the statue sans mainlander tourists, you're looking at at least a 10 minute wait if you want them to clear out.

Hiya Bruce.

After the stroll along the promenade, it was time to visit Kowloon park, located conveniently beside Tsim Sha Tsui (or TST) station.  This park is so big, it even has it's own McDonald's stall selling iced drinks and ice cream.  Smart.  

Kowloon Park Art Piece.

I saved the afternoon for museums as they were in close proximity to one another and all had free wifi and air conditioning.  There are three points of interest here:

- The Hong Kong Museum of Art
- The Hong Kong Space Museum
- The Hong Kong Cultural Centre


If you're stuck for time, the latter two can easily be avoided.  The Space Museum was ancient with exhibits from when I was a child visiting the Ontario Science Centre for the first time.  I guess it's a commentary on our progression as a race on space travel.  We've stalled in our progress to put people into space.  With the shuttle program coming to an end last year, it's so sad that the passion we had for space travel when I was a kid in grade school has started to fall by the wayside.  

The HK Space Museum - a sad commentary on our progressions with space travel with horribly dated exhibits.

My walking tour ended with a stop at the Kowloon docks where you can catch a ferry to HK Island, which used to be the main form of transportation before the MTR, now it's mostly a tourist pursuit.  At the docks, you'll find the HK Cultural Centre - a quick pit stop for air con and then head outside to take a photo with the famous clock tower.  Sneak in one more photo of the view of HK Island.  It's worth it.

Clock tower.

I've seen that Junk ship before at Stanley Point!

I've been really impressed with this city - four days was a perfect amount of time to take in the sights, sounds, tastes and the nightlife.  It was great to meet up with friends that I haven't seen in a while and even better navigating a city (well, two if you count Macau) solo but feeling like you were a pro.  I guess I'm a bit seasoned now traveling on my own.  A friend once asked me, "doesn't it get lonely being a solo tourist?"  It does get annoying at times that no one is there to take a photo for you, but what I love about being by myself in a foreign place is that I dictate everything - where I go, at what time, what I eat, what I spend.  Nothing makes me happier than being a super control freak on vacation.


Of course, there's always a downside to every place you visit - HK is the less hygienic cousin of Singapore, with random water droplets falling down on you as you roam the sidewalks (just don't think about it, and if one gets in your mouth, it's time to take that Immodium).  HK is a good place for only a couple of days - not an extended stay unless all you want to do is shop.  And there are some social problems that you notice that get to you - including the shocking amount of seniors who pick out of garbage cans and beg on the street.


I'm lucky I've gotten to see some of the major ports of call in Asia like Taipei, HK, Singapore, KL and Saigon.  Each have their own personality, grit and polish.  Of course, I'm biased when I say that there's no place to me that beats Taipei.  It truly has become my home away from home.


This ends my Asian journeys for now, until I go to Japan and Korea with a few friends in the wintertime.  Can't wait to see what Tokyo is like in the winter.  So for now, zai jian Asia and hello Europe!

Ni Hao, Macau!

This is what it looked like when I left Hong Kong this morning.  Having gotten up at an ungodly hour (6am) to catch the 830am Turbojet into Macau, this sudden downpour was not making me a happy traveler.  Looking at the forecast for Macau as I left the harbour, there were calls for thunderstorms.  Fuck.


The good news was, once we had reached Macau's ferry terminal, the downpour was merely a light drizzle.  Being light on my feet, the goal was to make it to immigration before the mainland Chinese tourists got there (Remember boys and girls, when going to Macau, you must bring your passport).


The port is a wealth of information - not only can you get a great map that highlights a historical walking tour of the main peninsula (see my recommendations from that walking tour below) but the money exchange desk is not busy at all and gives a better rate than on the HK side.  All you need if you're doing one day in Macau is approximately 300 - 400 Macau Petacas (approximately $50 CAD).

After hopping on the bus, head for the southwestern part of Macau's main peninsula (the other two parts of Macau are not worth going to unless you're visiting family or want to gamble because that's all that's there.  You'll start at the Ama Temple (highlighted above).  Get there early as the Chinese tourists are all there as of 930am and take the best photo spots, as again, highlighted above.  This temple is actually older than the city of Macau itself and houses all three main Asian religions in here as inspired by the people who lived in the area.

Macau's rich naval heritage comes from a combination of the Chinese and the Portuguese.  Throughout the city, you'll find artwork, like this Junk boat above on the pavements.  There are stars, moons, fish, mermaids.  

The Jesuits make quite the mark on this place as they were the initial people who colonized the area for the Portuguese.  They were also responsible for educating the local population (thanks to one Jesuit Priest named Marco Ricci).  They then converted everyone to Catholicism and the impact of that are found throughout Macau as one famous church after another (most dating back to the 15th century) can be found.

The Portuguese are also responsible for the colourful facades and the Mediterranean style architecture found in places like the Senado Square, now mostly a shopping district, it was the cultural centre of old Macau.  Here, you'll find tourists up the ying yang, but locals also congregate and shop. 

After Senado Square, head to Macau's landmark photo - the Ruin's of St. Paul's.  Built in the 1600s, the cathedral, the largest in all of Macau was destroyed by a fire.  Only one side of the building was spared which has miraculously now been turned into the most popular tourist destination of the city.  Don't forget to go in and walk up the walls - here's the view of the Macau Skyline from the other side.

After all that walking around, it's best to have some time to think.  While it's not on the historical tour path, the Jardin Luu Lim Ieoc is a must go destination.  With a large coy ponds and several pagodas to rest, it's a perfect break to mark the last quarter of your trip around Macau.

The coy pond in the Jardin.

Tourist Tips and Tricks:

- Take the ferry from Kowloon's China Ferry Harbour Terminal - with Turbojets leaving every half hour, and taking only an hour to get there, this is a really convenient way of getting to Macau.  The cost should be about 166HKD or $25 CAD

- On the boat, take the time to fill out the immigration cards (offered at the concession stand).  Do one for both Macau and for your return to HK since you can't get up to take pictures anyways.

- Once you get to Macau, go to the departures floor to check the times for the return ferry.  Make sure to leave before 530pm, as that is the last ship to leave at the daytime rate (saves you about $2 or $3 CAD)

- You can also change money on the departures floor.  Better to do it in Macau than in HK as it's a better rate.

- On the ground floor, you'll find a Tourism Office with free maps - take the blue covered "Macau Tourist Map" with a photo of the Ruins of St. Paul's on it.  It's a smaller map than the other one (green cover) provided and it has a great historic walking tour route.  

- Stick to the Macau peninsula for the sights - there's nothing really to see across the bridge on the other side.

- Take the # 10, 10A or 28B bus to your first destination on the walking tour - Ama Temple.  This was a great walking tour guide as it allowed you to go to the furthest point and walk back from there.  There are some points along the way that you don't need to see - here are the ones I found to be the best.

Terence's Walking Tour (with timing):

(1) Ama Temple (10 minutes by bus to get there - 5.20 MPC to get there)

(2) Maritime Museum - right beside Ama Temple

(3) Moorish Barracks (5 min walk uphill from Ama)

(4) Lilau Square (5 mins)

(5) St. Lawrence Church (7 min).  You'll want to go inside, you can't take pictures, but it's still cool to see.  Take a water break here as well.  The heat gets to you.

(6) Dom Pedro V Theatre, St. Augustine's Church (4 mins)

(7) St. Joseph's Seminary and Church, Sir Robert Ho Tung Library (1 min)

A devout parishiner prays before Mary at the Seminary.

(8) Senado Square (10 mins) - take a rest here.  There's a Starbucks for some much needed iced coffee and air conditioning.

(9) Holy House of Mercy, Lou Kau Mansion are all near Senado Square - mostly photo ops

(10) St. Dominic's Church - go inside and take photos (5 min)

The alter at St. Dominic's.

(11) Ruins of St. Paul's (10 mins) - stop by Koi Kei Bakery for Portuguese egg tarts.  2 for 14 MPC or $2 CAD.  Honestly, I don't like egg tarts and I couldn't stop eating these.  Buy some for breakfast the next day.  Also, go up the face of the side of St. Paul's - great picture of the city below.

Mmm...egg tarts.

(12) Na Tcha Temple and Old City Walls (2 mins) - right beside St. Paul's and a quick photo op.

(13) OFF THE TRAIL - Casa Garden, Protestant Cemetery (20 mins roundtrip back to St. Paul's) - you can forego this part if you want.  It was okay, just some rich guy's house.  Take a rest at the gardens for water.  No need to stop for a washroom - you've sweated out all of the liquids.

(14) Mount Fortress - right beside St. Paul's - you'll want to spend at least 30 mins to an hour here admiring the view of Macau.  There's plenty of benches to rest your already tired feet.

Ready...Aim... The view from atop Mount Fortress looking at the Hotel Lisboa.

(15)  Jardin Lou Lim Ioec (20 mins from St. Paul's) - a great place to sit by a pond and reflect and take in the soothing sounds of the crickets and secada beetles (I dunno if that's what they are called, but maybe I'm just thinking of Neil Sedaka...who knows).

(16) Tap Seac Square (5 mins) to admire the old colonial architecture.

How can you not love buildings with this much colour and personality? @ Tap Seac Square

(17) Cross the street to catch the #8 or 12 to the Macau Cultural Centre (3.20 MPC or $0.50 CAD)

(18) Walk across the street after getting off the bus and go to the two photo op points of the Science Centre and the Kun Iam Deity statue.

(19) Walk back to the same bus stop to catch the number 3A, 10A or 12 back to the Harbour to leave (3.20 MPC)

Stop 18 - The Macau Science Centre.

Kun Iam looking upon the city of Macau.  She thanks you for walking about 20 full kilometres today.

All in all, this tour took me from 10am - 130pm to complete.  Not bad for almost 4 hours of continuous walking.  Bring a 2L bottle of water - I drank it all by stop 16.  The turbojet does not take you back to Kowloon Harbour, rather, the Macau Harbour on the HK side.  

Macau is a must see - and a great way to collect a stamp for your passport.  Easy and fast to get to, super cheap if you're just going to walk around and take in the sights!  You don't even have to book a hotel!

First Stop - Hong Kong. AKA Eat, Pray, Shop.

Ni hao, Buddha. @ Lantau Island

When I was planning my European adventure, I decided to have a brief pit stop in Hong Kong before kicking off the two month roadshow.  I had been to Hong Kong only once, when I was a five year old kid.  Needless to say, I remember nothing from that trip.  It just so happens that when I visited Hong Kong at that age, the Tian Tan Buddha that you see in the photo above wasn't even built yet.  (Fun fact: it was completed in 1993 - kinda takes the "WOW" effect away from it as I had always thought that it was some ancient monument.  Still, it's pretty fucking awesome.)

Since Cathay Pacific's hub is in HK, it just made sense to have a brief repose - 4 days, 3 nights before my 16 hour flight to London.  HK is incredibly convenient transportation wise (and cheap).  With $1 CDN = approx. $7 HKD, my budget of $200 CDN is likely to last me the entire time here (with a side trip to Macau).  


I had gathered several suggestions from my friends about what to do with my time in HK, some of them involving friends that now live here.  My sample itinerary for my four days started shaping out like this:


Day 1*: Lantau Island, Dinner with Raquel
Day 2*: Bus out to Stanley Point, Afternoon around Central HK
Day 3: Macau and Mong Kok Night Market
Day 4: Kowloon Park and Museums, Avenue of the Stars, Dinner with Sadella before my midnight flight (I wrote a secondary post to cover this part of my journey)


*Travellers Tips located at the bottom of this post.


My dad, after hearing about my spending four days in HK, asked, "what is there to do there besides shopping?"  He had a point - the shopping culture around here is crazy, which I found out during my walk around Admiralty and Causeway Bay today.  Being the traveller with many more places to go, shopping was at the bottom of my agenda.


Getting into HK midday, I decided that Friday afternoon was probably the best time to avoid the big tourist crowds at the Po Lim Monastery.  The trip out to Lantau from Kowloon takes about 40 min on the MRT (subway) and then you'll have to take a cheap (approx. $18 CDN) gondola ride to the Po Lin Monastery, which takes another 20 mins.  Given my love for gondola rides (as seen in my previous blog on the Maokong Gondola in Taipei), my excitement was palpable. 


The views from the ride were amazing.  What's great is that they give you a map with tips on points on the ride in which you get the best views for photos.  And they weren't lying...here are some of the great snapshots I took:

The buildings here are painted with bright colours.  Nice touch.

On your left, you'll see a stunning view of Lantau Island and the clouds that top the mountains like whipped cream.

On your right, you'll see the sea.

Once you arrive, you're greeted by a recreation of an old Chinese village with stores like Starbucks and Subway for those not eager to try the local cuisine.  Pretty easy to bypass this area and head to the Buddha.  Along the way, do stop and enjoy some of the arts and craft stores.  There was a huge mask outside of one that I had to take a picture of.

You'll soon come across a gate with a path lined with 12 statues - each of these statues are a guardian of an animal on the Chinese zodiac.  At the end of the path, there's a sign that causes no confusion of where the Buddha will be.

There's about ten flights of stairs for you to take to get up to the Buddha, not for the faint of heart, I saw one man huffing and puffing his way up while a monk, who was definitely in his 80s, marched right past him with the speed of a teenager.  Now that's devotion.


Once you're done with the Buddha, and it's easy for the trip to get cut short due to the fog that rolls in to make the entire area look like heaven, or a scene out of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, head to the Po Lin Monastery for some quick snapshots of the amazing temple and even light some incense outside.

As the fog rolled in, I was expecting to see some ninjas fly out of the sky.

Burn some cool smelling incense.

The alter in the temple.

So after all of this walking around (the whole trip there and back took about 4.5 hours), I was one hot mess.  That's the thing with being a tourist in Asia, you're constantly sweating and need to take at least three showers a day to keep from looking like a melting candle.  A quick shower and change at my hotel and I was out to meet a friend from Toronto.  What was supposed to be a dinner (at a great, but eclectically decorated restaurant known as Satay King), turned out to be a night of dart playing at a local bar where I met my friend's new friends from the UK - Chinese people with British accents are so fascinating!  We drank until 2am, which, from what I hear is early by HK going out standards.  God, I'm old.

Satay King's weird interior decorator had a Moroccan themed style with full sized statues of famous people and pirates.  Here I am with Obama.

With that partying, I had slept in until 10am today.  One of my friends Rachael had told me to take a double decker bus to Stanley Point and spend a couple of hours walking around out by the bay.  It was worth the trip - $6 CDN was all it cost me, round trip for some amazing views of the waterfront and the south point of Hong Kong island.  Here are some of the points of interest:

The rocky pier that people write their names on (mostly couples - gag me.)

Blake Pier

Repulse Bay Beaches.

I met up with Raquel again in the afternoon and headed to the shopping districts of Admiralty and Causeway Bay to see what my dad was talking about.  The malls here make the Eaton Centre in Toronto look like a shitty strip plaza with a Biway.  Pacific Place had the most incredible washrooms ever - no wonder the line ups were long to get in there - with wood panelling and classical music, who wouldn't want to stay in there to rest after a day of shopping?  Time Square didn't disappoint either - big department stores like SOGO have set up shop and the mainland Chinese were there shelling out the cash.  During lunch at a great noodle place, the table beside us had bags upon bags of merchandise.  I could tell by their accents they were Shanghainese, which made me wonder why they would come all the way to Hong Kong just to shop when Shanghai has a pretty impressive shopping district of their own.  Oh, mainlanders, you can never understand them.

Noodle soup which I ordered that was supposed to contain beef, but came with mushrooms instead.
Best not to ask questions.

Time Square - feed your consumerism.

Pacific Place - I rate the washrooms here a 14 stars out of 10.

That brings an end to two of my four days in HK.  Headed to Macau tomorrow for what promises to be a day filled with walking, historical monuments and Portuguese food and drink - a great preview for what I can expect when I actually go to Portugal next Thursday.


And with that - I bid you all a good night.


TRAVELLER'S TIPS:
** Note: Costs are all quoted leaving from Kowloon's Yau Ma Tei Station.  If you're staying on the HK side, costs might go deviate by 7HKD as the MTR pricing to cross the bay is that amount.


Getting to Tsim Sha Tsui - EAT
- Take the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui (otherwise known as TST) 4 min by MTR, or 4HKD - just over $0.50 CAD
- Head out gate B2 - you'll end up in shopping and eating Mecca
- I recommend walking one street down and over and eating at Satay King in Camvaron Plaza (5th floor) near Cameron and Camvaron intersection
- Try the Ribena and Green tea drink and eat the glass noodles with beef curry and try the naan like bread with yellow curry dip.  A meal between two people shouldn't cost more than 200 HKD or less than $30 CAD.
- Take pictures of the decor and post your funny comments to Facebook.


Getting to Lantau Island - PRAY
- Take the MTR to Tung Chung Station (35 mins by MTR, 16 HKD or $2.25 CAD)
- Exit at Gate B, Head towards Nyong Ping 360 Cable Car (past the bus depot)
- Head up escalators to the paying platform (note the payment centre at the bottom of the escalators are for the buses only, NOT the cable cars.
- get in Non-Reserved line up - 125 HKD is a roundtrip ticket ($18 CAD)
- must see are the Buddha, Po Lin Monastery, there's a Starbucks with free wifi near the cable car exit if you need it.


Getting to Stanley by Bus - SHOP
- Take the MTR to Admiralty Station (10 min by MTR, 11 HKD or $1.75 CAD)
- Exit at Gate B, exit the station and walk right to the #6 bus stop.  You'll know you're there when you see Pacific Place and large office towers across the street.  
- Take the #6 or 6X to Stanley (7.90 HKD or $1.10 CAD to get there)
- Sit at the top of the double decker on the left hand side window to get the best views and picture taking opportunities 
- Get off at Stanley Market (should take 50 mins depending on traffic)
- If you like shopping, spend time at the market, if not, head to the Promenade and to the left you'll have the beach, to the right, you'll have Blair pier and a Junk Boat cruise.  There's also a food area near the pier for you to stop and eat either at a restaurant or at Starbucks (again for the free wifi).  A number of restaurants are situated along the pier overlooking the water - they are pricier, but worth the view and the people watching opportunities.