Day 4 - Friday 17 March - Macau to Hong Kong

Slept through til 07:11 which was nice. Definitely a good comfortable bed.

We went down to Festiva again for breakfast.

Then we packed ourselves up and checked out around 10:45. Went outside and hopped on a shuttle bus to the Taipa ferry terminal. At the terminal we went in (it was 11:15) and got tickets for the 11:30 ferry. A very quick trip through immigration and pretty much straight onto the ferry.

Our ferry back to Hong Kong

The ferry trip was pretty grey. We passed between Lantau Island and Cheung Chau. And then we were back in Hong Kong!

Hong Kong from the ferry

Getting through immigration was nice and simple, but getting out of the ferry terminal was not. You end up in the middle of a shopping centre with no clear exit. Even when we found a way outside, you end up on Connaught Road with no way to cross it! This city is really not very pedestrian friendly, unless you happen to know your way around shopping centres and know where all the internal overpasses are. Mind you the city is not very car-friendly either, as all the little streets turn into car parks for most of the day. I don't know how people stand it. Anyway, after battling our way along narrow footpaths, and giving up and walking along the road for half of it, we ended up at the hotel.

The room is small but adequate (bed is tiny haha). They nicely provide an android phone for local calls and data, although it's locked down so you can't just tether your own devices to it (well maybe you could if you looked hard enough). But it was useful for maps and browsing.

Our room in the Butterfly Hotel

View from our hotel room

After we'd settled in we headed out for a late lunch. As is tradition we went to Dim Sum Square for crispy pork buns!! (and other things too). There was a small queue outside waiting to get in. One of these days the restaurant is going to move again to somewhere much bigger..

Happy hour, save water, drink beer! Sign outside a pub on Wellington St

Crispy pork buns at Dim Sum Square

After lunch we hopped on a train to Causeway Bay to go see a movie. Our Octopus cards still had a bit of money on them, and it was kinda cool to know exactly what we had to do to get there, even knowing which direction to go without looking at a map. Of course at the other end it's a different story, because once again we had to negotiate shopping centres. In the end I found a concierge desk and asked where to go.

The movie we saw was Martin Scorcese's "Silence" about Portuguese Jesuit priests in Japan in the 17th century. I found it difficult to watch mainly because I don't know what I'd do if I was tortured for my faith. They also had a scene shot in Macau, where we'd been literally yesterday.  That was pretty surreal.  A good, but quite long movie.

After the movie we took a train back to Sheung Wan. Picked up beer and chips at a 7-Eleven for dinner, because we're classy like that. Washed hair and in bed by 21:00.

Stu and Karen at Times Square in Causeway Bay

Times Square, Hong Kong