Ha Long, Hong Kong and Manila

[NSun]

I honestly intended to do some shopping. The problem is Mastercard was accepted virtually nowhere. It was all Alipay or WeChat pay. There was no wifi to set up anything, I couldn't see any ATMs (and heard there've been problems with them depositing counterfeit cash) and although I saw forex outlets I didn't really want to withdraw money with only a vague idea of how much I needed only to convert it back. This did mean I didn't have lunch until I got back to Hong Kong.

My closest attempt to get food - going to McDonalds - going on the app but the card not being accepted even though it said Mastercard was accepted.



Next time I go to Mainland China I will know how to prepare. To anyone who says 'one country, two systems is dead' clearly didn't have my experience because my Mastercard was accepted everywhere in Hong Kong. Plus the only people who spoke English (that I knew of) were the touts. Now I am not complaining on their part as it is my fault for not being prepared. I do hope people don't make the same mistakes I made, and overall I found it interesting to cross the border.

Anyhow...I walked through the shopping mall and would've loved to have done some shopping there. There were a few touts approaching me and either offered me a T-shirt or a watch. For T-shirts, why offer me something I already have? For watches, don't we all use our phone and - excuse me if I am confusing different cultures in that part of the world - isn't a watch something unlucky to offer as it represents the time left until death?



The view from the loo...





This is what KFC looks like in China. I attempted to connect to the wifi to try and set up but it didn't work.





Onward I went...around a few blocks.








Not pictured here, but I saw a Shinkansen-like train going by. Must have been a high-speed train to Shanghai or Beijing.

 

[NSun]

Shenzen continued.









Live eels in there.

 

[NSun]

And more...



Traffic is on the wrong side of the road unlike in Hong Kong.





There were so many delivery bikes it was insane. There were even dedicated crossings for them.












After 3 hours all up, back to Hong Kong. The exit out of China took no time even with a passport inspection and stamp. Then used the e-channel for a fast entry. I rushed to a 7/11 to buy some beef/pork buns as I was starving by that point. Then a train back to Admiralty.

 

[NSun]

By the time I got back to Admiralty, it was about 3pm. I'd like to show you a hotel I was not staying at but always visit when I am in Hong Kong. On my first trip as a 6-year old in 2001, we stayed at the Island Shangri-la and I remembered it because it had (and still has) the world's largest indoor mural at 16-stories high (167 feet or about 50 metres).

It is called “The Great Motherland of China” and consists of 240 panels (10 panels across and 24 panels tall). It took six months to create and depicts China’s landscape of rolling mountains, steep cliffs, roaring waterfalls and winding rivers as well as the famous Great Wall of China.

See, it's so big you cannot get it all in one photo. You have to go to Storey 39, get in another lift and go to the top. I have to stay at this hotel again someday.



I imagine these get changed each dat at midnight.










Walked around the shopping mall underneath too.



For dinner, I would go to 'Seoul noodles'. Dinner was tasty but difficult to eat with just spaghetti and the meat (I think it was pork) having a lot of bones. I needed that coke to wash it all done and cool my mouth. All up, it was about A$20.

 

[NSun]

The next morning, I went on a run first thing in the opposite direction, to Causeway Bay and North Point. In retrospect, I should've gone to the peak that morning instead.