Joy and I went to Hong
Kong and Macau in December of 2014. She has a lot of family back
there still, and I had never been there myself. So, it was an
opportunity to meet her grandparents as well as do some site seeing in
that part of the world. Our adventure started at San Francisco
International Airport where we boarded a Boing 777-300ER owned by ANA
(All Nippon Airways) for a direct flight to Tokyo Narita. Our 12
hour flight was very comfortable as we were served great food and
snacks along with an OK selection of fine spirits and wines. We
had a ton of movies to select from on our personal video
monitors. I was able to finally watch the 100 Foot Journey, which
reminded me about a little Indian restaurant that my brother and I went
to in France before. After we arrived in Japan, we hung out in
the United Club for our three and a half hour layover. They had
shower suites there so we were able to take a shower and get some
complimentary refreshments including sushi and sake. Then, we had
another five hour flight to Hong Kong International Airport.
After getting into Hong Kong, we took the shuttle over to our hotel,
the Marriott SkyCity, which was on the same island that the airport is
located on. We tried to get enough sleep so we could adjust to
Hong Kong time.
The next day, we took
the Cotai Waterjet from Hong Kong Central to Macau. The Conrad
Hotel, which is a premier Hilton property, had a nice shuttle to take
us from the ferry terminal in Taipa to the hotel. Most of the
shuttle buses in Macau had wifi on board as well. Upon arrival, I
was greeted by a friendly bellman from the Phillipines who took me in
the lobby to get registered. Once I told him that I was a Diamond
guest and the head of the concierge department emailed me ahead of time
to plan for my journey, him and the whole staff jumped to my
service. A Portugese guy checked me in. Since Macau is a
former Portuguese colony, there is a small number of ex-pats that live
there still. The staff kept referring to me as "Mr. Roy (a.k.a.
Diamond Guest)." LOL. They upgraded us to one of the their
largest suites
because I was a Hilton Honors Diamond member. The suite was so
huge! We even had four TVs! There was a private parlour
with home theater system upon entering the suite. There was also
a large dining and living room area with another TV and awesome views
from Macau. The bedroom was huge also. We had a bathroom
that was the size of most hotel rooms! They offered us a choice
of four different high end toileteries. There was a ton of
amenties in the suite including his and hers slippers, robes, and even
bath salts and loofahs. The walk in shower was awesome too.
Moreover, we had a TV in the bathroom also. I roll in
style! There was complimentary Evian water also for us. In
addition, they had 24 hour complimentary shoe shine service. Joy
got a real kick out of that. She kept having the porter come and
take her boots to get shined for her.
I took the shuttle from
the
City of Dreams complex next door to the Macau peninsula where Senado
Square and the Ruins of the Church of St. Paul are located. All
the major hotels in the Cotai Strip have free shuttles all over
Macau. The Cotai Strip was created by landfilling the area
between the islands of Taipa and Coloane. They are building a
large gambling complex there with hotels such as the Venetian,
Sheraton, St. Regis, and Wynn. After seeing the old Portuguese
sites, I returned to the hotel. That night, Joy and I went to the
Venetian where we took the gondola ride with a singing Italian
gondolier. Macau was much more elegant than Las Vegas! I
played one round of craps also. The minimum bet was $300 HK
(which is about $38 US). The next day, Joy and I toured the
Coloane side of the island before going to the Macau Tower. We
also got to the try the famous Portuguese egg tarts. At night, we
enjoyed complimentary tea sets and evening drinks in the lounge because
I was a Hilton Diamond guest. Joy was surprised at how the staff
were just so attentive to us. She figured that there were not
that many Diamond guests over there.
We returned to Hong
Kong on Friday, and I got to meet Joy's maternal grandparents.
They were both really nice. We also saw Times Square, the
Mid-Level escalators, and took a ferry ride from Hong Kong Island to
Kowloon. We explored Kowloon a ltitle, but the highlight of that
area was having dinner at Din Tai Fung, a Michelin star rated
restaurant. Afterwards, we returned to our hotel in Sha Tin, the
Courtyard Marriott. The Sha Tin Courtyard Marriott was a large
high rise property with modern rooms, but they were much smaller than
our suite in Macau. Sha Tin is part of the New Territories.
On Saturday, we took
the famous Victoria Peak tram up to Victoria Peak. The views were
amazing! We took the ferry over to Kowloon again to explore the
Avenue of the Stars, which is like the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. We
also took a ride on the new Swiss AEX ferris wheel. That night,
we had dinner with Joy's friends at a trendy French restaurant on Hong
Kong Island. I got to try some expensive Japanese whiskey.
Hong Kong is a pretty amazing place! I was impressed with how the
people were so orderly also. People would wait in line for the
buses and trains. There was no pushing or shoving.
We went to Lantau
Island on Sunday to see the Big Buddha. There is a twenty five
minute ropeway ride from the MTR station up to the Big Buddha. We
had lunch at a nice Indian fast food place called Ebenezer's.
Afterwards, we hiked to the Big Buddha and saw the Po Lin
Monastary. Then, we went back to Hong Kong Island to have dinner
with some more of Joy's friends at a Chinese restaurant called
"American Restaurant." We had a whole Peking Duck and shark fin
soup. The food was great! Her friends were really cool
also. I returned home the following day, but Joy stayed a little
longer.