Macau in Black and White

Macau has so many sides to her that I felt one post just wasn't enough. This side of Macau, as Peter put it, looked like a war zone!
We had walked to the top of Macau to visit the museum, and the view was pretty impressive, but for very different reasons.
This part of Macau I felt had more impact in black and white:

This lovely street vendor kindly let me take her photo, selling what was one of my fav dishes in Hong Kong, fish balls! I have yet to try them again, my time will come ;)

Old Macau at night really did make me think of Europe. The street lamps so remind me of Paris!

and then a side alley of neon signs!

I have one more Macau entry, the tranquil side...

Thanks for stopping by our blog
Love
Team B xx

Macau in Colour

Last month we traveled to Macau for visa reasons. When I lived here many moons ago I never visited Macau, had always thought of it as a place to go if you are a gambler, the Las Vegas of Asia!

Well Macau is alot more than fancy hotels and glitzy casino's. Macau is kind of split in half; old Macau and new Macau. New Macau is all singing all dancing. Jam packed with huge light displays, 5 star hotels, casino's and every Haute Couture boutique you can name sitting side by side each other on the sidewalk.
I wasn't interested in the glitzy half of Macau, I wanted to visit Portugal Macau!

Now for the history lesson! ( thanks to Wikepedia)

A former Portuguese colony, Macau was administered by Portugal from the mid-16th century until 1999, when it was the last remaining European colony in China. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 1550s. In 1557 Macau was rented to Portugal by the Chinese empire as a trading port. The Portuguese administered the city under Chinese authority and sovereignty until 1887, when Macau became a colony of the Portuguese empire. Sovereignty over Macau was transferred back to China on 20 December 1999. The Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Macau stipulate that Macau operate with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2049, fifty years after the transfer.

We left our hotel and traveled by MTR to the Macau ferry teminal. We took the hour journey over and then spent nearly 2 hours in immigration, boring! people seem to forget to tell you that bit!

The weather was very humid so really heavy with grey cloud. We took a cab into old Macau and my heart sank I'm afraid. I was dreaming of quaint cobbled streets, side walk cafes and large open squares with fountains. Instead I got huge crowds, noise and no quaint side walk cafes.

But I loved the cobbled streets, European street signs and elegant street lamps so typical of Europe.

And amongst all this European architecture and pastel coloured houses, you see Asia! Neon lights, signs, and high rise apartment blocks. Its so bizarre! The most common mode of transport is the scooter as well, all ages!

This chalk board caught my attention . Loved all the characters in every colour chalk you can find! This shop front and its mosiac entrance was an show stopper for me too, full of colour! I was really inspired by all the colour, put a big smile on my face!

This is my Macau in colour post, next post is Macau in black and white!
We love when you pop by and leave a comment, so please let us know what you think of our adventures here in Hong Kong.

Love Team B xx

Times Square, Causeway Bay

One of the places I have fond memories off when I was here in the 90's, is Times Square in Causeway Bay. Last Friday we rode the MTR to Causeway Bay. As I remembered, it was very crowded, and being Christmas season had a huge lego village bang in the centre of the square! Lilly of course was in her element.

We went up the lift to the food hall where I remember eating and drinking many a night. Twenty years later not too much had changed except the cost of food was extremely expensive here. After feeding us all with soft drinks only, poor Peters bill was HK$1300, just over £100!!!! I had a salad and the girls had carbonarra, Peter did have a steak , but still!

After the shock of our dinner bill we mooched around for a little and I grabbed a few street photos.

street vendors are a very common sight in HK. Check Peter outside the camera shop ;)

bless him, looking a bit bewildered!

the bright neon lights of HK

The bright neon lights and bustle of Hong Kong has not changed a bit. Hong Kong has a very distinctive smell as well, and this is still here in abundance. I cannot describe it to anything back home or even in Europe. It was the first thing that hit me when we landed as well.
Anyone else help me out on that HK smell??

We have finally recovered from the Jet lag and starting to get all those important documents and such dealt with. We now have our Visa's (hurray!), Bank account, Mobile Phones and Izzy has an interview for a school place on the 3rd. We have found  a gorgeous 3 storey village house in the most idylic location as well. All will be revealed shortly!

We love to read your comments and have that connection with you all back home, so do let us know you have popped by! Also pop by Lilly's page, she has written her first journal entry.

With Love
Team B!

Ni Hao, Hello, Welcome!

So here we are in the big city on Hong Kong Island staying at the Harbour Plaza North Point, whilst we house hunt for our perfect Hong Kong home.
So why are we here? Peter was offered a job of a life time here in Hong Kong as logistics manager on the Hong Kong Chinese MTR link. We couldn't refuse such an amazing offer and within 5 weeks we had packed up our home in a sleepy village in Cambridgeshire UK, signed emigration papers and were on a plane headed to Hong Kong.

Our journey started the only way I wish to travel from now on, business class with Cathay Pacific Airlines. We were treated like royalty, with champagne on arrival, a 3 course menu, and flat beds and a duvet! I know I am so easily pleased!

After 11 1/2 hours in the air, we landed at Chep Lap Kok airport at around 1.45pm. Needed 2 taxis to get us to our hotel due to rather alot of luggage and my prized Mac computer!

Jet lag has taken its toll on us, so we havn't done a great many things in the past week. We have viewed some amazing houses though, hopefully doing final viewings on Saturday!

Do excuse the poor quality photos, but I couldn't do a post without images. The girls will be posting on their pages shortly, and I will be back with more stories to tell in pictures.

With Love,
Team B