Hong Kong

I had very much looked forward to visiting Hong Kong. It was not on our original itinerary, but Sam and I had thought about going there for a long weekend. I mean, just the words, "Hong Kong," sound exciting and really cool. And whenever you see pictures of Hong Kong, you see this glitzy city on the bay with lights ablaze and excitement popping out of the photo.  Hong Kong was not quite what I expected. Hong Kong is a paradise for shoppers of high end stores like Louis Vitton who don't mind being out in the smog amongst rather rude and indifferent people.  Hong Kong:

My first real view of Hong Kong was through the fog or smog. 

We stayed in Kowloon where there was a nice park. Here we were on our way to the ferry that goes to Macau. We didn't get to go this day but did the next.

This is in Macau. Macau was a Portuguese colony and still has that feel.  It is very lovely and has little places like this that look European.  We found this little nook by chance. The stairs lead into a garden area with a fountain.

 

Near the ruins of St. Paul's on Macau.  Aren't my boys cute?

The ruins of St. Paul's seen from the old Portuguese fort.

The ruins of St. Paul's from below.

At the fort on Macau. There was a nice little tea shop at the fort where we had tea and cookies and delicious bread with butter and sugar. The old lady at the tea shop was so enchanted with Sam that she gave him a whole bag of cookies when we left. This was the beginning of Sam as an idol.  We found that in China the people love, love, love to see people with light hair (especially little ones). After Hong Kong, everywhere we went people wanted to have their pictures taken with Sam.  Being with Sam was like being with a movie star. We made our way slowly from place to place because so many people wanted to see, touch, have pictures made with Sam.

 

A view of the hustle and bustle in the market area around St. Paul's. A shopkeeper sought out Sam to feed him cookies from her store. :)

Graham checks out some of the local delicacies.

Searching for food we happened across a historical place, the Mandarin House. Evidently some Mandarin lived here in this mansion. It was beautiful and full of curves and arches and keyhole doorways.  Here you can see some of the arches inside of arches inside of arches.

Just inside the entrance of the Mandarin House. From here we walked to the old Portuguese section of town and ate at a Portuguese restaurant.  Macau is better known now for its casinos and gambling, but we loved Macau.  There were so many very old (1500s) buildings and forts to see. It was fascinating to see the remains of a Portuguese colony. It had kept its charm so much more than the British colony of Hong Kong.