Across the South China Sea and the Pearl River Delta from Hong Kong, is Macau, a bit of a loosely attached appendix to mainland China’s south coast. After a visit to Hong Kong, we took a one hour Fast Ferry ride there for a week long visit.
Cheung Chau Island: a Past of Pirates
Having spent time in Hong Kong, we made a day trip to the New Territories, which is part of mainland China. Walking among skyscrapers and about 7.5 million people, it is sometimes hard to remember that you are on a relatively small island. In fact, Hong Kong’s airport is on a separate island, Lantau Island, but the two are connected by roads and train almost seamlessly.
There are more, smaller islands in the South China Sea and we took the ferry to Cheung Chau island, where pirates once roamed.
Shanghai: The China of Tomorrow
Hong Kong: Jungle of Contrasts
We’re lucky that a friend who lives in Hong Kong, has lend us his condo. Housing is hard to find and expensive in this mass of people: 7.5 million live in this special Administrative Region of China, which measures a mere 1,110 km² (429 mi²). It’s different from mainland China: no need to apply for a visa ahead of time and much easier to enter. Hong Kong is made up of over 260 islands. The major cities are Hong Kong and Kowloon. Most people live vertically: in the many skyscrapers that make up HK’s concrete jungle.
Xi'an: Terra Cotta Warriors and a Silk Road
While doing author presentations at an international school in Shanghai, China I have a weekend off. Rather than staying in a hotel room in the city - which is already hazy with air pollution at 6 AM - I decide to take a field trip and book a 2 hour domestic flight to Xi’an - the city made famous by the discovery of terracotta warriors.
Beijing: China of Today
The train ride from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to Beijing takes 22 hours. There is no dining car and, coming straight from the Gobi Desert, we didn’t bring much food with us. At 11 PM we stop near the border between Mongolia and China. To our delight, the station has a small store so we stock up on chips, some bread, bananas - hallelujah! - and two cartons of noodles to which we can add hot water. We reuse the cartons to make tea.