Sunday, June 3, 2012

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

Saturday, June 2, 2012

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.

Friday, June 1, 2012

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