Macau lies just south of Zhuhai and is connected with the mainland by a bridge and on that bridge two checkpoints are placed. One in Zhuhai called Gongbei and the other one in Macau called Portas Do Cerco. Between those two there is Noman’s land where you can buy tax free alcohol which is very expensive in Zhuhai.

The Zhuhai checkpoint is extremely organized and is very clean and high tech. There is almost never a long queue so there is no worry of standing a long time (unless its the Chinese new year season when its crowded).

When one comes to Macau checkpoint everything is written in …. Portugese and Traditional Chinese. And one starts to wonder why is it so?

Well Macau was once Portugese and belonged to them for 300 years I think. The people in Macau however do not understand the language and everyone speaks Cantonese.  I asked the taxi driver if he could get me to “Portas Do Cerco” on my way home and he didnt understand anything. The first thing that came to my mind is that this colony was certainly a failure….

Underneath Portas Do Cerco there is a Bus terminal and I advise you to take the bus because its a lot cheaper than taxi. A ride from Portas do Cerco to Largo Do Senado which is the main square will cost you 2.50 patacas (23 Eurocents). Macau is very different from rest of China and it has a European character. The buildings have a baroque Spanish/Portugese style especially in the “Old Town”. The streets are very small just like in France and Spain. People usually get through town using their Mopeds reminds you of Italy.

The Pedestrian areas lack for example fancy neon lights which is so typical for Asian Cities but instead have a more European setting with small signs and pitoresque small streets which are almost never straight and turn a lot.

The main attraction of Macau is of course what the place is most famous for. Its the Casinos. Here you can find the MGM Grand from Las Vegas as well as the Venetian. The biggest casino in Macau is Grand Lisboa which is shaped like a Giant Lotus flower.

Due to the fact that Gambling is prohibited in mainland China, lots of rich Chinese come here to search for their luck.

If you are in a search of perfumes, cosmetics and alcohol then Macau is the right place. Here you can find all the famous brands like Armani, Gucci etc for a lower price than back home. Everything is cheaper than in Europe, America and mainland China.

The place to go shopping for luxury items is New Yaohan a Japanese Department store which is not different from Printemps. New Yaohan is situated in south Macau just behind the Sea Terminal.

And before you go to Macau make always sure that you bring Patacas the local currency. Patacas can be exchanged at best rate at the Black market (thats where I changed my yuan to Patacas). Banks will give you a worser rate so I advise you to go to a black market instead but there is a risk that they will ripp you off though.

The passport control went quickly and smoothly and soon we were in a new country HongKong. Even though Hong Kong is officially part of China you still need to bring your passport because the region is considered a special administrative region and it is more or less independent from China.

As I mentionned earlier the checkpoint lies besides the Shenzhen central station and on the other side of the border lies the Lo Wu train station which is the terminus for the KCR local trains in Hongkong.

Before we hopped on the train to Kowloon or Tsim Sha Tsui one needs a special octupus card which you use to pay for bus, train, metro and tramway fares. It is a card that is loaded with a certain amount of cash and a fare is deducted each time one travels.

The train from Lo Wu to Tsim Sha Tsui was extremely clean and it had Air Condition in all carriages. The people on the train were sitting doing their business, and there were TV screens in all carriages so that the passangers would not be bored to death.

As the train passed by you could see from the window the projects of the New Territories. Tall concrete apartment could be seen everywhere.

The ride took about 30 minutes and we arrived in Tsim Sha tsui which is the central station in Kowloon.

Hong Kong’s commuter system is much more developed than the one in my home country Sweden. It is very easy to understand as compared to the complicated Swedish one which is both expensive and not clean.

Tsim Sha Tsui is situated next to Nathan Road which is the main street in Kowloon.  On that street all the famous haute couture boutiques by famous designers like Armani, Luis Vuitton and Gucci are situated as well as Rolex and Breitling.

What is very distracting on that famous road is that everywhere you see Indian people which follow tourists and chinese and offer them “Original Copy Watches” or “Nice suits”.

These “dealers” should be avoided at all costs and if you want a fake Rolex watch you better cross the border to Shenzhen.

Anyway I have heard rumors saying that if you are interested in buying electronics like cameras, mp3 and computers you should avoid Nathan Road. Most shops are illegitimate and they will rip you off.  When buying something you get no warranty and there is always a part missing. So even though you buy a cheap camera it wont work, and you will be forced to buy the missing parts at a higher price…

However if you are interested in buying cosmetics Kowloon is the place.  At the end of the road there is a big department store called Star Ferry which is situated by the sea. There you can buy cheap original cosmetics from Armani, Gucci or Ralph Lauren. The prices are much lower than in the west and even in mainland China. The personal can speak English so there is no language problem really.

After we made some shopping and walked in the town we could not miss the light show at 8PM every day. The light show takes place at HK island and can be seen from the Kowloon side. It gathers a lot of tourists and its very fascinating seeing the skyscrapers emitting light and laser beams. All this happens when techno music is played so that the light “follows” the rythm.

Because HongKong is a multicultural city you can find any food here apart from the Cantonese Dim Sum. Indian food as well as other are present.

We decided however to go to McDonald and I had a Big Mac Set for 25 HK dollars (2.50 Euro).

On our way home to Zhuhai we noticed that there are no trains going to Shenzhen and the last boat to Zhuhai port had already sailed away. So we had to take a boat to Macau and then from Macau take the bus to Zhuhai border and from there taxi Home.

I will sure visit HongKong some other day and visit the Island and Victoria Peak.

The special thing is, when you first arrive, they first take you to wash your hair and massage your upper body for around half an hour. During the massage, they will place hot towels under your neck and on your forehead and even help you clean your inner ear. After the massage, they proceed as usual by cutting your hair, rinsing it, drying it and applying some gel.

This costs 25 CNY, which translates to less than $4 USD.

Today I went for a stroll in the local computer city of Xiangzhou district, Zhuhai (in Guangdong, China) and was overjoyed to find Engadget, my favorite gadget blog, selling stuff over a counter there.

I thought that it would be very new, since it wasn’t yet announced on the blog. And therefore, I thought that the founders would be there to celebrate the launch. Guess what? They weren’t there, not even Thomas Ricker was there. Worst of all, the Engadget Chinese staff (living the closest) weren’t there either. This is really lazy of Engadget, running a business long-distance like this.

When I approached, I realized no one talked English… Engadget is the world’s largest English blog, so this didn’t make sense either. Engadget – you guys suck at business.

I’m really disappointed and shocked. In how stupid some Chinese vendors can be.

The Birdnest, also known as the Beijing National Stadium is currently under construction and set to be one of the main venues for the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. It was designed by Chinese contemporary artist Ai Wei Wei and is set to cost $423 million USD. The name Birdnest comes from the fact that the stadium itself takes the form of a birdnest. For more information, read the Beijing National Stadium article on Wikipedia.

Construction is set to finish this year, so if you are in Beijing or planning to visit soon, you should check out the construction site before it’s too late.

Travel Directions

Before leaving, I looked on the map and thought it would be close to the subway station Andingmen. Once I was in Andingmen, I walked north for over 3 kilometers and 1 hour in the hot scorching sun, on an empty stomach. This is definitely not recommended. Instead, take a taxi from Andingmen station heading north to the Birdnest (Niao Chao in Mandarin). The taxi fare shouldn’t cost much more than 20 CNY (approx. $3 USD) one way.

You might want to not get off the taxi, because as of currently, you are not allowed to enter the construction site.

Video of the National Stadium Construction Site

I was well prepared and brought my digital camera, so below is a video of what I saw when I visited the Beijing National Stadium Construction Site.