Grand Escapades
Travel Photography & Travel Experiences of Africa, South America, the Middle-East & Asia
Hong Kong’s Skyline – View from Victoria Peak
What a day! On Friday, Gilles discovered that Air New Zealand had reimbursed the tickets we had to buy twice because of the mix-up in dates crossing the International Time Line and Phoenix Travel Agency had our passports and visas for Mainland China ready in the afternoon. Continue Reading →
“The world’s largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha sits serenely atop Ngong Plateau”. This is the official tourism ad for this place on Lantau… Do not expect a quiet place, this is a major attraction for both Chinese and non-Chinese tourists! But it is truly impressive
“The world’s largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha sits serenely atop Ngong Plateau”… This is the official tourism ad for this place on Lantau. Do not expect a quiet place, this is a major attraction for both Chinese and non-Chinese tourists! But it is truly impressive. Continue Reading →
From the beginning, we tried to stick to small basic restaurants with a menu only in Chinese, simply to practice for the month to come… Often we had to decide by choosing from the pictures displayed in the restaurant. Up to now, communication has always worked, with someone translating for us or someone pointing at the menu just saying: specialty, specialty?
How many restaurants are there in this city? This is what we truly would like to know. There is no type of food or price range that cannot be found, from basic restaurants serving huge dishes for 2 less than Euros to others where starters sells for more than 20 Euros! Continue Reading →
Hong Kong is also truly Asian with small restaurants where neither the menu nor the staff is able to communicate with the foreigner about what there is to eat, buzzing markets with people selling just about everything, touts trying to lure into buying tailor made shirts and suits, fake Rolex and pirate DVDs. We just love it! We just love it!
Arriving in Hong Kong was as much of a shock as a delight: after spending months on small Pacific Islands and in New Zealand with its sheer unlimited space, we were suddenly surrounded by skyscrapers, traffic jams and millions of people rushing around. We had not been in such a huge city since leaving Buenos Aires and truly enjoyed it, not even being bothered by the noise and air pollution, so far. Continue Reading →
Po Lin Monastery has been there forever and when Heidi visited it 20 years ago, there was nothing but the monastery in this area of Lantau. Now, there is the Giant Buddha, a convention centre, restaurants AND Ngong Village. Not that it is a real village, but an alley of restaurants, including Starbucks & Zen Taiwanese Bistro, and souvenirs shops?
Immediately after our arrival, we raced to “Chinese Resource Center” to apply for our visa for mainland China. The line was already very long at 08:00 am, one hour before the door opened and rumours were flying high. Everybody had a story or a concern about the latest changing visa requirements. It seems that after the heavy criticism on its policy in Tibet and the massive disruption of the Olympic torch carrier, China does not want individual travellers roaming all over the place! Continue Reading →
Hong Kong’s Skyline – View from Avenue of the Stars
After we first arrived in Hong Kong and moved around for a few hours, we were worried that staying for four days might be too long. Well, we were so wrong, we loved every minute of our stay and this is equally true for Macau Continue Reading →
Arriving in Hong Kong was as much of a shock as a delight: after spending months on small Pacific Islands and in New Zealand with its sheer unlimited space, we were suddenly surrounded by skyscrapers, traffic jams and millions of people rushing around
“Have a nice flight” shouted the driver of the car rental shuttle after dropping us off at the international terminal of Auckland airport. Seconds later our eyes were scanning the huge board listing all departures, one flight was cancelled, flight Cathay Pacific CX 108 to Hong Kong, ours. Not good! Continue Reading →