WE ARE HERE

After an uneventful and very full flight, we arrived at our hotel in Hong Kong for the next 4 nights.  It is very adequate and actually very nice.  We have a lovely view of the harbour and we were just so very happy to finally lay down.  Neither of us was able to get and sleep on the 13 hour flight.  So to finally arrive at our destination – we were more than ready for some well deserved rest.  Tomorrow will be soon enough to begin to get our bearings and have our first look around this metropolis!

Our sleep last night was rather fitful but still invigorating!  We opened the curtains in the room and gazed upon the spectacular harbour!   Lots of mist to stop me from getting the exact picture I was hoping for - but such a great location this is for our Hong Kong visit. 

We had breakfast at the café down in the lobby area.  The prices were quite good and we enjoyed a western breakfast before setting out on a walkabout.  We made it down to the pier and decided to take a ferry over to Macau for the day.  We were rushed along by a ticket seller to hurry to the desk as the ferry would be sailing in 15 minutes. After paying our fare, we proceeded through the gate to go through immigration ….. aren’t we still in Hong Kong, China?  Anyway we are ready to pass through when we were stopped because we hadn’t brought our passports with us – they were still back at the hotel.  Crap!  So a taxi ride back to the hotel and then a taxi ride down to the pier, passports in hand, we were able to board the hover craft for our one hour trip to Macau.  At least we were out of the hot and humid and in an air conditioned and comfortable vessel.  Next stop Macau!  

The Ruins of St, Pauls

It is very hot and humid here - but we expected it would be.  We were very glad for the air conditioned malls to help cool us off.  In approaching a tourist desk, we saw a fellow offering a tour of Macau.  It sounded like a good idea to take an impromptu ride and see the sights before trying our luck at the casino.  What a lucky find!  We were too late for the hop on hop off bus so we had our own taxi driver to take us around for 4 hours.  We were able to get out at several stops and take pictures or walk about – it was a great way to see the sights.  Sometimes it is nice to just let the day take you where it wants to and you end up with an unexpected good adventure. Today was one of those days where we had only expected to see casinos, but were treated to more of the sights, tastes, smells and sounds of Macau!

The Galaxy Casino

Our last stop on the tour was at the Venetian Hotel – no….not in Vegas – but in every way it could have been!  There are 50 casinos in Macau – Hard Rock, The Sands, Wynn, Studio City, Parisian, The Galaxy, MGM and City of Dreams – just to name a few of the bigger ones.  The casinos have hundreds of baccarat tables – but finding pai gow poker or blackjack was very difficult!  There is more to tell, but I am going to end it here and get to bed.  It was long and tiring day and I need to get to sleep.  

So tomorrow morning I will continue on.