Stanley's pictures: Hong Kong

Our Last Morning In Hong Kong,

we were packed and ready to go, one of the many neat things about the hotel was the telephone that had all of the local information on it that was in the room and also a plug adaptor was thoughtfully provided,

we put our luggage in the left luggage at the hotel and went out for breakfast,

but first a walk to the river front,

past the Peninsula,

with it's very impressive water feature at the front of it,

we made our way to the Hong Kong Museum of Art,

that had a freeze on the outside wall,

I am not sure what it depicts, but there it is,

and a panorama of the view,

a quick pose,

and back we went,

outside the museum,

an artist has position a number of his or her works,

raised grass,

or trees,

or raised grass and trees,

well here is someone that really appreciates the art,

we made our way back to the Peninsula,

where some one was arriving in style,

and then to Delaney's for their 136 HK$ breakfast,

we had the place almost to ourselves,

and what a breakfast!

yummy,

a mug of tea, that will do nicely,

meal over,

suitcase picked up and to the airport we go,

a farewell to the high rises,

as we go across the bridge to the airport,

a quick look at the departures board,

and at one of the first,

we had some time to kill,

so into the Disney shop,

and we had to say hello to the Harrods porter,

we then decided to make a move to the check in gate,

so on to the train to gate 63,

up the stairs,

and wait for the flight,

three Cathy Pacific airplanes in one picture,

I zoomed in to take a picture of the pilot making his pre-flight checks,

we went to the departure hall,

and waited for our plane to arrive,

and there it was,

we arrived safe and sound, through immigration and customs, we noticed a new bigger arrivals sign had been installed since our last visit,

our taxi was waiting for us at gate number 4,

then we were on our way home, a nightcap and we were off to bed.

Up Early To Catch The 07.00 Coach,

we were off to Macau for the day,

on one of the high speed ferries,

into the terminal building,

book in,

then like an airplane,

take you designated seat,

there are a fleet of ferries operating,

for this trip we had this one,

and nice it was too,

I tried taking pictures through the glass,

but I guess the salt on the glass fooled the camera,

so most are pretty much not in focus,

another ferry leaves,

we wave goodbye to Hong Kong,

coffee,

and sandwiches for breakfast,

another ferry on the return trip,

under the bridge,

as we approach Macau,

the Sands casino,

we disembark,

a look at one of the jetty's,

and a quick pose, passports in hands,

and in no time we were through customs,

we had some time to spare, so a coffee,

the main terminal building Macau,

'Cheers!, with a coffee,

the walk to the coach, follow the blue umbrella,

and we were away,

the country looks similar to Hong Kong,

construction everywhere,

we passed what was once the centre of the old town and it's administration buildings,

our guide informed us that all of these tiles were imported from Portugal,

the old town hall,

as we made our way to St. Paul's we passed a few other churches,

that have been here for literally hundreds of years,

the Portuguese style,

is seen everywhere,

with the occasional nod to some food outlets,

a typical street,

a bit narrow for today's traffic,

but we are here,

out of interest all of these cobbles also came from Portugal, they were the ballast on-board ships, they come to Macau light, but took heaver goods back,

a local food stall,

we are approaching the rear of St. Paul's façade,

built in 1602,

it was destroyed by fire in 1835,

we made our way to the fortress,

which was up a hill,

but as we climbed I looked back,

and saw a face looking at me, from the front of the façade,

there is a huge wall surrounding the fortress,

with some mature trees standing guard,

with their strange roots hanging down,

we were going to the Museum of Macau,

into the main courtyard of the fort,

once inside a town has been built,

in the style of what it would have looked at in the past,

there are lots of artefacts on display,

as you can imagine Macau has a long history of trading with Europe,

the only slight problem with tours is that sometimes there is not enough time!

a panorama of the main gallery,

a cut away of a ships hull,

with navigational aids,

time for a quick rest,

a printing press,

the whole museum looked just as you might expect from those bygone times,

albeit a little cleaner,

so a quick photo call,

one more,

then to the end of the gallery,

there were some set rooms from showing various items with a time frame of them,

models of how the dockside would have looked,

and these I like, fireworks!

with articles that helped make them,

plus of course matches,

these are just a few of the match box labels,

that collectors all over the world try to collect,

there were so many brands made here over the years,

puppets,

and puppetry have always been popular in most Eastern countries,

and Macau is no exception,

another water front model,

and two examples of traditional wear,

nice though it looks,

this bed is a tad to short for me,

this hand held carriage looks so heavily decorated,

it must have weighed a ton with some one inside it!

a panorama of early Macau,

out on the roof,

there is the main courtyard,

with commanding views of the city,

with ordnance still in place,

looking out over the city,

a quick pose,

and we are on our way,

what sights this tree must have seen,

we made our way down to St. Paul's,

passing the remains of the first Jesuit university in the Far East,

to have a look at the front of St. Paul's.

one of the inscriptions,

going through the archway,

there are a number of tombs, but the remains have been remove and reburied,

looking down from the church front towards the old town,

we passed a number of shops selling local snacks,

I mentioned before the streets are a bit narrow for coaches,

the street opposite where we waited for our coach to arrive,

then a short drive to the Rio Hotel and casino,

for our lunch,

smile!

it was a buffet luncheon,

with as you might expect,

a good selection of most items, soups,

salad bar,

cold cuts and sushi,

plus a number of hot dishes,

to chose from,

so eyes down,

and tuck in,

on to desserts,

and there was a lot to chose from,

we shared a table with Margie who was also from the Philippines,

a painting of the town on one of the walls,

then on to our next stop, keep up with the blue umbrella!

we passed a statue, but I am not sure who of,

one of the strangest skyscrapers I have seen,

and plenty more are being built,

our guide for the day,

pointing out areas of interest,

we arrived at our next stop, a temple, but in the background our next port of call,

the Sky Tower,

before we arrived at the temple as we walked along the street there were many small stores selling incense,

we arrived at the temple,

which was decorated with various freezes,

and topped with many different symbols,

at the front these woven articles,

and like the previous temple,

a fire was lit,

we made our way into the main entrance,

and into the courtyard,

where bowls contained burning incense,

with people lighting more as we watched,

I was intrigued,

by these offerings,

I am not sure what they are,

and by the time I found our guide we were too far away to ask,

all of the time we were here, devotes called by,

to offer more incense,

two bowls containing lighted oil were kept lit to lite the incense,

going further inside,

there was another shrine,

with offerings on the table,

with lighted candles,

like the previous temple,

we were told,

more smoke good,

less smoke bad,

we made our way back to the coach,

to our next port of call,

the Macau Sky Tower,

all set,

ready, steady, follow the blue umbrella,

and go!

to the 59th floor,

I am scared of heights, so is Diana,

so I could not believe it when she took this picture,

she looks so happy,

I could not believe it,

I was terrified,

there was no way I was getting anywhere near that glass floor,

I still feel a little queasy as I look at these pictures now,

moving back to the centre of the room made me feel a little better,

but it is a long,

long way down,

but Diana had had enough of this,

upwards and onwards, to the 61st floor Outdoor Observation Deck,

you have got to be joking!

the instructor is demonstration to his students,

how easy it is to just let go, 'look no hands!'

now you try it,

are you sure?

quiet sure? there is not a number of UK pounds big enough to make me want to do this,

but this family on our coach all wanted to give it a try,

it is not the long drop that I worry about, it is the sudden stop that scares me,

but I did get close enough to the edge to take this panorama,

but Diana did and took this video,

but that was close enough for me,

back on firm ground and in the coach,

as we made our way over the bridge,

and towards the ferry terminal,

many of the buildings the same or similar to Hong Kong,

but there were always one or two,

that stood out from the crowd,

by looking a little different,

one of the ferries leaves as we approach the terminal,

one of them is ours for the return but which one?

we cleared immigration,

and on to the ferry,

a different one from the way over,

the camera was fooled again by the salt on the window,

we soon arrived back in Hong Kong,

cleared immigration,

and made our way to the coach,

and then into the hotel,

a shower,

shave and change of clothes,

and we were back into Delaney's for our evening meal,

fillet of pork for Diana,

stout and beef pie for myself,

'Cheers!',

we meet up with Richard and Beth,

and went for a short walk,

to go to another bar,

just round the corner from our hotel he likes,

but I had to take a picture of this first,

what a beauty!

nearly there,

and here we are, the bar Castro's is up that seedy looking staircase, that I would never have dreamt of walking up,

it is next door to a foot massage parlour,

and here we all were,

and then as I looked out of the window,

I said to Richard, 'I know that restaurant opposite',

it is the one that Diana and myself went to on our first night and I mentioned to Diana that the bar on the first floor opposite looked nice and we could not find it and here we were in it, what a coincidence,