I'm not quite sure what this one means. Do I ride in the taxi or stand on it?
just in case I'm overcome with the need to spit.
Line for the elevator, Chungking Mansions, Kowloon, Tsim Sha Tsui.
The YMCA, come on and sing it...YMCA!
Just off of the Golden Mile of Nathan Road
Eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival
Hong Kong Island
The Avenue of the Stars Kowloon. It's like Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
couple buying glow equipment to celebrate the mid-autumn festivities. It's 1am, and entire families are out watching the moon and having picnics. Amazing.
Hong Kong
more people watching the moon over Victoria Harbor
These photographer stations are all over China. You can stop and get your photo taken for very little money at any famous or beautiful site.
Family with their glow accessories.
Hong Kong has both government issued money and bank promissory notes from a couple of banks. They use the hong kong dollar, pegged at 7.7588 to the US dollar.
Victoria Harbor and Hong Kong Island
on the ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui (tip of Kowloon) to HK Central.
double decker bus from Central Ferry to St. John's Building Peak Tram Station - to take the tram to Victoria Peak.
Still have my parasol. Very useful.
The Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation corporate headquarters.
line to board the peak tram.
Wax figure of Jackie Chan. I really hope that he gets paid for all of the use of his image in China and Hong Kong. There's a Jackie Chan gym in Kowloon.
the tram
a stop along the route. steep much?
the final stretch
Hong Kong in the foreground, then Victoria Harbor and Kowloon
doesn't it look like a painting?
view from the Sky Terrace at the tram terminus
Amazing. I really want to work in Hong Kong at some point in my life. It's even more impressive than Manhattan.
it was a bit windy
view over to a path down from the peak.
inside the sky terrace building.
path up to the actual peak.
gorgeous. it was quite hot and humid, but with a good breeze.
view of and from the south peak.
Flutterby.
magical.
Dog park on Victoria Peak
there's a mandatory $5000 fine for smoking where it's not permitted, and a $1500 fine for either spitting or littering. Hong Kong dollars, but still.
Victoria Peak Garden
Sky Terrace from below.
Inside the tram.
Back on the ferry again.
Inside Chungking Mansion. It's a huge tenement building with 5 17 story tall towers consisting of guesthouses (flophouses) and curry joints. This is the first floor which is a mall divided into many small businesses.
The second floor of Chungking Mansions is also a mall and is mostly given over to curry restaurants and small shops. The smell is unique to 36-44 Nathan Road - curry, sweat, garbage and spices.
There are usually 3-4 budget guesthouses on each floor (3-17 of each tower). These are occupied by immigrants in search of blue collar jobs.
stairwell, block A.
De Luxe. The "guesthouses" are warrens of 6-7 tiny rooms with dorm beds and 20 year old pallet mattresses. The heat and the stink are incredible.
On floor three, you can get out onto the roof of the mall and see the towers of blocks A-E.
Scary thought: a flat in this place can go for 2 million HK dollars. a bed for the night starts at $50HK and goes to $360.
red carpet runners drying on the roof.
back at the elevators for Block A. The one on the left serves the even numbered floors and the one on the right serves the odd numbered floors. Figure 80-100 people live on each floor at any one time. Each elevator only holds 5-6 people and is very very slow. The wait can be as long as an hour to get up to your floor.
line to get into Louis Vuitton. Kowloon.
Ferry Terminal at China Hong Kong City.
woman eating a loaf of bread. An entire loaf, just biting into it.
She doesn't seem to be enjoying it.
view from my room at Hotel Lisboa, Macau.
ahh, luxury. air conditioning, television, a king sized bed.
that tower in the distance seems to be calling to me.
lobby of Hotel Lisboa.
Macau.
It's just like being in Vegas. They even have a Venetian here! It's just opening and is an Taipa Island off of the Macau peninsula.
Huge ceramic bowl with 9 dragons. Amazing that they were able to fire such a large piece.
i'm feeling an overpowering urge to jump!
61 stories tall. the Macau Tower.
Site of AJ Hackett's commercialization of the concept of jumping off buildings and bridges.
this is the control panel for my shower at Hotel Lisboa. It took me a half an hour to figure out how to turn it on! complicated, but fun.
the observation deck of the Macau Tower.
view from the observation deck of the tower
view down from the observation deck
hmm...the skyjump looks fun.
the guys that i'm trusting with my life.
only 233 meters down. i could probably make it without the harness.
look out below!
when I got to the bottom, I thought, "I want to do that again!!!"
landing platform. the sky jump starts slowing your free fall about 15 stories above the ground, but you still hit with a bit of a thud.
I'm very fond of that tower. I jumped off of it twice! The second time, backward!
from the bus to Coloane Island.
my balcony at Pousada de Coloane
my bedroom
and the piece de resistance, my two person jacuzzi tub.
Cheoc Van beach, Coloane Island, Macau. That's China across the bay.
Two expat ladies and their kids eating pizza.
the buses have large digital spedometers that start beeping if the driver exceeds 55 km/hr.
Taipa at night, from one of the bridges.
Macau
the tower from the center bridge. There are 3 bridges connecting the peninsula of Macau to Macau's two islands, Taipa and Coloane.
my view in the morning.
the pool
if you are ever in macau and are looking for a good romantic getaway, look no further!
Hac Sa black sand beach.
statue of A-Ma looking over Coloane
lifeguard getting a good stretch.
beach camping in Macau.
plane flying in to Macau airport.
gardener tending the square in Coloane Village. These disney-esque animal figures light up at night.
i love the symbol for: don't touch, or you'll be electrocuted.
Market at Coloane.
post office
bakery. The center rack has Portuguese egg tarts. YUM. I was literally drooling while eating one. Delicious.
The square.
the terrace at my hotel.
Massage chair at the ferry terminal.
view of the first bridge from the ferry terminal
the airport express from Kowloon Station to Hong Kong Int'l Airport on Lantau Island.
cemetary, from window of airport express train.
Terminal 2, Hong Kong Airport.
Taipei Airport, relaxation center with massage chairs.
Taipei Airport media center, with 4 television stations and 3 free computer terminals.
me getting on the plane
that would be the happy-sad grimace because this flight is to San Francisco. I'm home!
sunset over San Francisco, coming in for a landing at SFO
