Macau to Hong Kong

Friday, October 25, 2013
After breakfast, we checked out of our hotel and took the bus to the ferry terminal. Our luggage had been transferred ahead which was fortunate since there was quite a crowd at the terminal. Our guide, Mark, is very good at encouraging patience and letting others push past if they so desire. Some western tourists seem to get in a panic in these situations. I think they have an irrational fear of being lost in China, when in fact their tour leaders look after them very closely. We were all getting on the same ferry anyway. Our group tends to remain calm because Mark is calm.
We had to go through customs to leave Macau, which was a formality, and eventually we boarded the ferry for the 1 1/2 or 2 hour trip to Hong Kong across the South China Sea.

 Anita at the ferry terminal.

 On the ferry. When we landed, we waited a few minutes to let the crowd go ahead. That worked up to a point. Our baggage had gone ahead of us but many people on the ferry had big suitcases. On one of the escalators leading up to customs, someone got their suitcase caught at the top so we narrowly avoided a big pile-up. We were almost the last people from the ferry to go through customs. Our travelling group were all waiting on the other side and cheered when we finally got through.

 We checked into the Hong Kong L'hotel Nina Tower, which is 5 star again. Our room wasn't ready so we walked through a series of enclosed pedestrian walkways over the streets going from shopping mall to shopping mall. We ate at a good little Vietnamese restaurant and bought some beer at a 7/11. We have yet to encounter any Chinese beer that isn't weak and watery but it's drinkable when there's nothing else.

There was a park next to our hotel that extended under the elevated expressway and out to the waterfront. We sipped beer on a park bench and watched the people go home from work as the sun set.