By the numbers...

I'm back home. Here are the statistics:

Days: 16
Countries: 1, China
Administrative Areas: 2, Hong Kong, Macau
Airports: 7, JFK, LAX, Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, Hong Kong
Modes of transportation: 4, Foot, Car, Train, Boat (sadly, no bike)
Hotels: 6
World Heritage Sites: 6, Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace,
Temple of Heaven, Terracotta Warriors, Macau Old City
New Foods: 3, Sea Cucumber, Peking Duck, Hotpot
New Foods That I'd Eat Again: Peking Duck, Hotpot
Subway Systems: 2, Shanghai, Hong Kong
Subway Systems Less Confusing and Cleaner than NYC: 2, Shanghai, Hong Kong
FitBit Statistics: 217813 steps, 91 miles
Bars with a good martini: 0 (from my limited study, it is possible
that the Chinese do not understand vodka)
Foursquare Check-ins: 18
Casualties: Luggage (handle broken, replaced in Beijing), iPad
(headphone jack, replaced in Hong Kong)
Bucket List Items Crossed-off: Great wall, terracotta warriors, Hong Kong
Pages Left In My Passport Before It Expires: 10

Macau

We took the ferry to Macau on Saturday. Macau has a nice old section
of town with twisty streets but the food and shops are of very low
quality. We had one of our worst meals here. Macau is mostly a series
of huge casinos. Think Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Similar to Hong
Kong, we needed to go through immigration to enter Macau.

FitBit stats: 19103 steps and 8.03 miles

Amber

Friday night we had dinner at Amber. This has recently been named one
of the top 50 restaurants in the world.

http://www.amberhongkong.com/

We each had the tasting menu of the signature dishes.

Dinner was over 3 hours and I lost track of the number of courses. My
favorites were the asparagus dishes and my least favorite was the one
with sea cucumber.

Exploring Hong Kong

It's official... I love Hong Kong.  Great food, great shopping, great sights and really easy to navigate.

Love the late night bar scene in the Lon Kwai Fong area.

We took the tram to the top of Victoria Peak. As expected, great views of the city.

We spent the rest of the day just wandering around shopping and eating.

Hong Kong egg tarts for breakfast

Hong Kong has a series of tunnels and overpasses so a person can walk around the city but not have to walk along the streets or navigate traffic.  I walked from the ferry terminal to the IFC mall to the restaurant for dinner without ever walking at street level.  I used the overpasses that take you from building to building.

FitBit stats: 20306 steps and 8.4 miles traveled

Hong Kong

I've only been here for a night but add Hong Kong to the short list of
places that I'd consider living. It is truly where the East meets the
West and has the best of both worlds.

The airport bathrooms were a 2 on the scariness scale. That is saying
a lot since JFK is a 3 at best. Airport experience was the best that
I've ever had - breezed through immigration and took the express train
into the city.

I'm staying at the Intercontinental Hotel. It's a place I've always
wanted to stay and the view from my room does not disappoint. The
pictures are the view of Victoria Harbour from my room.

Guilin

A quiet day today. Took advantage of the hotel spa and did some
shopping in town. Guilin is a small and much more relaxed place than
the others we have visited.

I have to admit that I'm getting sick of eating with chopsticks. No
wonder the Chinese are so small. It is so tiring to eat with
chopsticks.

My hip is holding up as well as expected given that I had surgery just
5 months ago. All of these hotels have had pools and gyms so I've
been able to keep up with my exercises.

I'll close with a note on the horrible jobs we've witnessed:

window cleaner 102-stories above Shanghai, tending to the flowers on
the median of the highway with nothing but a prayer and an orange cone
to protect you, sweeping the middle of the highway in Guilin with a
broom and not even a cone to protect you and carrying people up and
down to view the rice terraces.

We leave for Hong Kong tomorrow. Last city before we return home.

More Li River and Dragon River