miércoles, 2 de octubre de 2013

Out of China

And the day we had to leave China arrived… But the good news is that there was still more China to visit, out of China though. Hong Kong, that was under the British regime for more than 100 years, is now part of the country and Macau, which was under the Portuguese regime from the mid-16th century until late 1999, as well! And there was exactly where we spent our last days before heading back home. Discovering a third (and forth, and fifth) side of China. 

The fact that these two territories were under someone else’s regime, someone that came from other corner of the world, really shaped these two countries and gave a different flavor to the people and places. Here you have some pictures that illustrate exactly that diversity. From the traditional Giant Buddha of Leshan and the nearby fishing town of Tai O to the modern buildings and skyline, Hong Kong as a lot to offer. And so does Macau. They even have Pastéis de Belém in there! And, although, Chinese people are known by their falsification qualities, those pastries were very good at their own way. Or did they taste better just because we were so pleasantly surprised and happy to have those "bites" from home miles away from Portugal?!

Another "yummy" experience were the Dim Sums we had in Tim Ho Wan (Shop 12A, Podium Level 1, IFC Mall), one of the best restaurants from the spécialité in town. But the award for the “best moment in Hong Kong” goes to the night we went to the Ozone, the highest bar in the world, that you can (hardly) find on the 118th floor of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. I say “hardly” because it took us a long time trying to find it (to save you from the same odyssey I send you the link to their official webpage),but despite the time we lost trying to reach and to get in the Ritz-Carlton, what made us arrive quite close from the closure moment, and despite our looks (by then we were bag packing around Japan and China for 3 weeks) the staff from the hotel and from the bar was super nice. And I mean suuuuuuuuper nice, the nicest I’ve seen someone being in a hotel of the Ritz-Carlton category. That, together with the breath taking view over the lightened city, contributed to make our time there even more special and was the perfect end to our Asian trip.


And also to see more pictures (taken from me, but without the LOMO fish eye), please check here