Day 1 - Hong Kong

We finally made it to Hong Kong after a long and claustrophobic 13 hour flight. George was able to sleep most of the way. I, on the other hand, could not wait to get off the plane. Actually, we got in an hour early so I say we were pretty lucky. After arriving, we navigated the bus system to find our hostel.

Hong Kong by night

After being haggled by numerous aggressive Indian men trying to sell us everything from hotel rooms to "copy watches", we finally found the right building. The ground floor felt straight out of a scene from blade runner and we felt incredibly out of place and lost. Finally we found the hotel office and were shown to our room which is about 6 by 10 feet. I think my horse's stall is bigger than this. If I reach my hands out I can touch both sides of the room at the same time! Our bathroom is about 2 feet by 3 feet and you could take a shower, go to the bathroom, and brush your teeth all at the same time if you wanted.

Our hotel room is quite small!

We were up early the next morning and went out to find some food. We were planning on coming back to the hostel after breakfast, but we just started walking around and ended up on a ferry to Macau, which is a peninsula on mainland China, about an hour ferry ride away. Macau was formally under Portuguese rule and is now known for being the Las Vegas of the Orient. It is the only place in China you can gamble. We ventured 61 stories up the Macau Tower and enjoyed lunch at a restaurant that rotates around as you eat, so we got a full view of Macau. The Macau Tower also has the world's highest Bungee Jump but it was too expensive for us to try.

Macau Tower

A crazy person who bungee jumped off the tower

The view from the top of the tower

After lunch, we headed over to see the largest casino in the world, called The Venetian. It is exactly the same as the American version, only is larger, more people, and smells like cigarettes.

The Venetian is the same as the American version

We took the ferry back to Hong Kong that evening and ended up getting off at a different ferry dock and then had to take the subway. We have almost covered all the different forms of transportation! Not really knowing what stop to get off at, we got off way to early and walked for about an hour back to our hostel. Things are still in English here and we still manage to get lost. Not sure what will happen when there is no English to help us!

Fiona