Hong Kong, Macao and my first earthquake (13-19-06).

On Wednesday, we set off to Hong Kong, after a rather calm weekend and celebrating my birthday in the city and wanting to save a bit. The flight, which the three of us took with the cheap airline Peach, lasted three and a half hours and the weather forecast predicted five days of continuous rain. And indeed, as we got off the plane it was very hot, but it was raining heavily as feared. We took the bus to the city to our hostel, which was double-decker and very luxurious, just like many of the city buses, as I would later find out. We got off in the Tsim Sha Tsui district, which couldn't have been more central, where we looked for the hostel for quite a while, as it was inside a large building with countless Indian and Pakistani food corners and electrical stores on the ground floor. Of course, there were no signs, so we had to ask for directions. Our room was on the eleventh floor and probably could have offered a nice view, if there had been a window. At best, you could call it rustic, but since we would only be here to sleep anyway, we didn't really care. We unpacked and soon set off to explore our neighborhood and buy umbrellas. On closer inspection, you could already spot some colonial-era buildings, once you got away from the flashing, giant signs and advertisements. We also soon discovered the breathtaking skyline, which looks very Chinese: many different types of buildings that are obviously meant to impress. We walked aimlessly around, so that we could get a feel for the city, and soon entered a small park, where to our delight we found some flamingos and countless turtles. After that, we set out to find something to eat and luckily, in Hong Kong you can get very good food for relatively little money. After that, we were ready for bed.

On Thursday, we went to the Peak, a vantage point from which you can view the skyline from above. Because it was very hot but luckily not raining (the weather gods were very kind to us the whole time, as not a drop of rain fell for the rest of our trip), we took the cable car and indeed enjoyed a fantastic view of the skyscrapers, the harbor, and the surrounding wooded hills. Dinner this time consisted of pizza, which is simply incredibly expensive in Japan, but in Hong Kong it costs about the same as in Germany, so we treated ourselves to it, as well as a nighttime harbor cruise. It's cliché and touristy, but it was amazing! At 8 o'clock in the evening, there is a light show, which although not very spectacular, the illuminated skyline alone was breathtaking enough and I took pictures until my first memory card was full.

On Friday, we took an unofficial city tour on the tram, costing about 20 cents, which took us from one terminus to another. Although this might sound unspectacular, it was a lot of fun to observe the city's structures, the bustling people, and the colorful signs and posters. We sat on the upper deck and could relax while the wind blew in our faces, as the side windows were completely open. After a little over an hour, the ride was over and we headed to our actual destination, a cable car that was supposed to take us to the Big Buddha. This ride was relatively expensive, but it was worth it, the view from the cable car was fantastic and once we reached the plateau, we saw free-roaming cows and the big Buddha sitting on the hill, which we then climbed to take a look around. From the top, we discovered a Chinese temple, which we visited afterwards. The Chinese temples are much more detailed and colorful than the Japanese ones, which makes them really worth seeing. After the ride back down to the valley, we visited the Hong Kong Walk of Fame, the Garden of Stars, a modern square with relatively few trees for a garden, but with benches, statues, memories of the times when Hong Kong was the Los Angeles of Asia, and a view of the skyline, where we enjoyed a beer at the end of the day.

On Saturday, we took the ferry to Macao, a fast-moving ship, where you sit strapped in a row and freeze because the crew apparently wanted to get everything out of the air conditioning. We quickly realized upon our arrival that it was much hotter here than in Hong Kong, but the weather was also better, as we could see the blue sky without smog. Right after leaving the ferry terminal, we could see the first casino, for which Macao is famous. However, it didn't lead us inside, but to the park, which unfortunately was on a hill. Once we reached the top, we first got an overview of the city and spotted the next casino. It's easy to spot a golden building, consisting of two parts that resemble wings, standing out from the sea of skyscrapers, as it not only stands out through its color and shape, but also through its height, which is significantly different from the other buildings. Personally, I don't like it, as it disrupts the flair of the colonial buildings, as this building is visible from everywhere (admittedly, it still serves as a good point of reference). On the other hand, I find the old Portuguese apricot-white houses very beautiful. On our way through Macao, we discovered a small garden, but also very run-down residential buildings. I actually expected Macao to be more polished for tourists, but some streets look really shabby when you step a few meters away from the very touristy areas, which we quickly did, as there were simply too many people. Overall, Macao seems very pieced together to me. After lunch, we headed towards the coast to reach another neighborhood and a viewpoint before making our way back to the ferry.

On Sunday, we went to one of the small islands located to the east, to experience a bit of a vacation atmosphere. Maybe we should have done this trip on Friday, because the small island was very crowded and it strongly reminded us of Mallorca: a beach promenade with food stalls, restaurants, and souvenir shops where you could buy all sorts of necessary and unnecessary beach accessories and memorabilia, and fully packed beaches. It was clear to us that we wanted to avoid these crowds of people, so we walked along a small path into the forest, which housed giant butterflies, palm trees, and other trees and shrubs, wild pineapples, and incredibly loud insects. This little hike was pretty cool, it really felt like being in the jungle. Finally, we reached a plateau consisting of a few rocks and decided to settle here and listen to the sound of the sea. As there wasn't much else to do on the island, we soon hopped back onto the main island, treated ourselves to another pizza, and watched the debacle of the German team's first match in the World Cup in a sports bar while having a beer, before returning to the hostel and catching our flight to Osaka on Monday morning.

Since we don't have internet on our phones abroad, we found out about the earthquake in Osaka a few hours late at the airport. But since nobody got hurt and apparently the dormitory was still standing, our concern was more for the Osaka Metro, which was not running. From the airport, we took a bus to Umeda, to the city center, but from there, we feared we would have to take a taxi, which would certainly ruin us financially. Just to be sure, we asked the railway staff again if there were really no trains running, but since we are always such lucky people, the service had just been resumed and we were able to take the first metro to our stop. Upon arriving at the dormitory, there were already mats laid out in the common room, where we could sleep if we were afraid of aftershocks. However, I would never give up my bed in the room after five nights on an uneven, hard, and short mattress. And indeed, I woke up twice in the night because everything was shaking. These aftershocks were much weaker than the first one in the morning, but it felt a bit like being in a sleeping car of a train when the points change when the tracks are switched. But I didn't really notice it because I was too angry that it woke me up and I wanted to go back to sleep as quickly as possible. On the other hand, apparently other people did notice it and were freaking out because of it. One funny observation is that only the Asian students were the ones who were really worried about it, some even traveled to their respective embassies in Tokyo (I have no idea what they want to achieve there), the Europeans, Australians, and Americans didn't understand all the excitement. For us, it was probably the bigger earthquake that the Japanese national team unexpectedly beat Colombia 2-1! ;) However, it is true that it is quite likely that a similar strong earthquake could occur again within a week. We'll just wait and see.