21 days of travel through Asia – part VIII

We took the metro to Hong Kong, crossed the border and enjoyed the skyline of the world famous city. Just a few years ago it was a British colony, and when China got it back, they decided to keep the border. A clever decision, otherwise masses of Chinese could overrun the city and it would not be what it is. It’s a combination of English and Chinese culture, which appears quite cute. You feel England just about everywhere. Seeing two story trams takes you to a world that’s anything but Asian. People are more communicative and flexible and above all, they speak English, so it’s easy to talk to them.

It’s hard to find a more exciting city. It’s surrounded by beautiful nature and has all the attributes of a lively and successful city. There’s a multitude of modern city joy interwoven with tradition, all with a touch of Britain added to it. Seven million people live in this densely populated 1104 square kilometre big city, a melting pot of cultures, harmoniously spicing up the Chinese brew. Economy, politics, fun and shopping are at their peak here. The city is crawling with luxurious restaurants and shops, boutiques and commerce buildings. The streets are jam packed with businessmen from all over the world and their relaxed attitude shows, this city is their second home. But despite all this, tourists can feel completely safe here, for Hong Kong it one of the safest cities, offering unforgettable pleasures to visitors.

The last days were very exhausting. A full schedule took last drops of our energy from us. The desire to try some home food was so great we avoided local restaurants and eat junk food from McDonalds’s, Burger King and Pizza Hut. After all that rice even this food, we knew was not of any special quality, felt good.

Across the river towards Hong Kong Island with tall skyscrapers with green hills in the background, a steep ascend to the top with the view of the whole city. Fresh air gave us new strength to go on. After sneaking around town we decided to relax at one of the trams. They have different numbers, but no matter which one you take, they all go through the centre of the city. I think there are only two real lines, which join at the beginning and end. From the upper floor of the electric trolley we watched the city around us, with its lively streets.  The gentle rocking made us doze off, so we only caught glimpses of the city life around us. Bright lights and huge adds reflected in the windows of the tram and over our faces. The sun had set and the night life engulfed us.

We took the last day to visit Macao. The weather was not on our side, for it was pouring. We still got the feel of the Chinese-Portuguese cultural mix. The name is derived from Magao (Ma Temple), which is the name of the temple dedicated to the goddess of the sea Mazu. The legend says that in the 16th century Portuguese first cam here and when an official asked a local about the name of the place, the fisherman didn’t quite understand him and told him the name of the temple Magao, where they were at the moment. The official was convinced that was the name of the town and that’s how the name stuck. The Portuguese ruled here until  December 20th 1999, for almost 400 years, when they’ve returned the city to China. The city is relatively small, if compared to other centres like Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou. It only has 27,5 square kilometres and that makes it somewhat different from the rest. Most of the people live on the peninsula, with a clear mix of eastern and western culture. Old buildings show traces of Chinese culture and European baroque, which form an unlikely combination. The mix of people, cultures and history made life here quite unique, but very attractive to people. Most visitors feel it’s a place to both visit or live here. A nice city with clean streets, gardens, hills, clear air, parks and variety of food – all of which contributes to quality family life.

The city boasts with the wonderful Macau Senado Square, one of the four major squares of the city. It’s simple elegance takes you to Portuguese baroque and shows you the glimmer of its boutiques. It was placed on the UNESCO world heritage list in 2005, for being the historical part of the centre of Macao. But the biggest attraction of the city is The Ruins of St. Paul's. The high port with a steep stone stairs are the only remains of the biggest church of the city. It was built in 1580 and was a place of many huge fires. In 1602 hey started renovating it and in 1637 it was the largest catholic church in eastern Asia. But in 1835 a mighty typhoon destroyed it and only the portal remained and a famous blend of eastern and western culture. It’s also part of the UNESCO heritage list. For more information I suggest you visit the museum of Macao, where you’ll get to learn the entire history of the city.

Our 21st day had started. Morning mist over the city, looking for a bus station and heading to the airport. Realizing it’s a long way back home, I got one more shock, very unpleasant. We were flying back over Sengai, and for changing planes we’d need a visa, which we – due to poor information we got from both Slovenian and Croatian embassy – didn’t have. Based on plane tickets we got three entry visas – which we’ve used up, but now we were told we need the fourth visa and couldn’t get aboard because of that. We were stuck at the airport, panic, fear, confusion. Next we were looking for a plane that could take us anywhere in Europe, for the lowest price possible. In the end we landed in Zagreb and the travel expenses were covered. But I strongly recommend you double check all the information before you travel – so you won’t have to experience what we had to.