At Nightfall

At nightfall, you will be presented with a view that had became synonymous with the city of Hong Kong herself, the night skyline of Hong Kong island from Arena of the Stars. The stretch of iconic buildings, including the Bank of China Tower, HSBC Building, International Financial Centre, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, lined up the north shore of Hong Kong island. Every night, theses buildings including numerous rest on the same shore and on the opposite shore of Tsim Sha Tsui, participate in the Symphony of Lights, the biggest permanent light and musical display.

This must be their way of saying, "See you soon, Hong Kong awaits with an open heart!"

p/s : Click on the link for full screen HD.
Beware and proceed with care, those with bandwidth limitations ^.^


Link to Uploaded Video (HD).
Link to Uploaded Video.

Click here to get the still panorama instead.

Sin City: Macau

The day trip to Macau was a transit nightmare. First was the MTR. There were three interchange stations, which brought us on 4 different lines on the MTR. The trip took nearly 1 hour to reach the ferry terminal in Sheung Wan. Boarding the speed jet/ catamaran took us half an hour including border checks, while the trip on water took us another one hour. Arrival and border checks took another one hour. Conclusion is, if you're not prepared to do 6 hours of return journey travelling, get a hotel in Macau and spend the night there.

Our first stop was the Venetian Macao Resort-Hotel. If you look on the world map you can see how small Macau is, consisting of its peninsular and an island. However, this small SAR (Special administrative region of China) does pack a punch, with 16 casinos located throughout!

The Venetian refers to the amazing shopping complex which is modeled referring to Venetian architecture, complete with canals and gondolas between the shops. Mind you, this whole structure is housed inside this complex. The so-called sky that is seen in the photo is actually the ceiling of the complex.

A walk of Tai Ma Lou (Main Street) in the city centre reminded us of the streets in European cities, complete with cobblestoned road. The street leading to the Ruins of St Paul was lined up with shops similar to this one shown, selling cookies, bakkwa (sweet dried meat) and pastries as souvenirs.

Our Wonderful Hosts

We had wonderful hosts while we were in Hong Kong. Most of our problems, queries and quests for HK delicacies/ gifts were answered by them during our short stay there. She's none other than my cousin who was married to a great guy in Hong Kong.

Her husband, Dhillon, more affectionately known as Ah Don to the rest of the gang. Lots of bows and arrows in his house, so don't step on his tail, else... *gulp

Due to work reasons, I had not met them for a really long time. It's really nice to see them again and that we spent such great time catching up. Thanks for everything during our trip!