10.05.09 Going back to Beijing

I took a free shuttle bus from a hotel close by our hostel, to the Kowloon Station where a bus to the Shenzhen airport left. The shuttle bus driver was in a lot of hurry, and I wasn't too sure about safety, but luckily the ride wasn't too long. At the Kowloon Station, I managed to find the Shenzhen airport bus pretty easily and it left almost right after I got on it.

The bus was pretty convenient, because it took me to the boarder where you only had to walk through a building with your luggage and go through the customs desks. On my way to Hong Kong, I crossed the border in another place and there you had to go around the building for ages from one floor to another. This time it was really easy and fast, and when I got through the customs there was a lady waving me to go to the right bus. Sometimes it's good to be different and easily recognized, because I really didn't remember what the bus looked like that I was supposed to get on.

At the airport, I checked my bag in and went to a Starbucks to enjoy a cup of coffee and some free wireless internet. When I got back to Beijing, it was time to take the airport shuttle bus to the university and see the Beijing airport for the last time. When I go back to Finland, I won't be flying away from Beijing, so at least this time, this was the last time I was at the Beijing airport. Time sure goes by fast.

Now that I was in Hong Kong, Macau and Malaysia, I think one day in Macau was enough for me and I saw enough. In Hong Kong, I'm sure there's a lot to see, but I don't think I'd go there again as a tourist. Working and living there could be nice and so much easier than in Beijing. It's very hard to live in Beijing sometimes without knowing Chinese perfectly and although you try to speak Chinese, some people don't even try to understand you. Hong Kong, on the other hand, is a Western country that looks a little Chinese and the people are more Western. I talked with few Finnish women and they agreed that when you go to Hong Kong, it looks kind of Chinese but then when the people start talking to you, you realize that you're in a very Western style country that is far from China and especially Beijing.

Malaysia was a country I'd like to visit again some day for a longer time and go around and see more. During the trip, I talked shortly with a Western couple that had lived in Singapore for some years, and I think the peninsular Malaysia and Singapore would be very interesting to visit also. From Hong Kong all those places would be easy to reach ;)

09.05.09 The Big Buddha

View from Big Buddha

Today is the last day in Hong Kong and we went to see the Big Buddha. We took a long cable car ride to the top where the big Buddha statue is and saw some scenery along the way. On top of the mountain, there's a tourist place and the Big Buddha statue and a temple. The statue of the Buddha is really big and the temple was very nice.

Big Buddha

You could also hike around there, but we only walked around there a little bit and saw some nice scenery. When we came back down from the top, we went to a mall next to the cable car station and did the necessary wondering around the mall part of our holiday in Hong Kong. After having a cup of coffee it was time to head back and go for a sushi dinner before going back to the hostel to get ready for the next days traveling back to Beijing.

08.05.09 Back to Hong Kong

The plane left from Kota Kinabalu at 7:10am and when we arrived at Macau, we took the taxi to the harbor to get the ferry back to Hong Kong. In a way it was nice to start making my way back to Beijing and a washing machine and some clean clothes in the wardrobe. But also, I felt a lot was left unseen in Malaysia, but maybe I can go back there some day and perhaps go around the whole Bornea Island and see Brunei and Indonesia also.

The most compact room ever

In Hong Kong, we went to the same hostel and got the most compact room so far. They sure know how to fit everything in as little space as possible in Hong Kong. When we got to Hong Kong, Paula went to the university and in the evening we walked to the harbor with Maiju to see the light show. The light show wasn't that special and we liked the water show in Macau better. After the show, we met with Paula and went to an Indian restaurant to have dinner.

07.05.09 Mamutik Island

Today is the last day in Kota Kinabalu, so we went for a third island, called Mamutik Island. Mamutik Island was also nice and we did the same swimming and lying on the beach thing there as on the other islands.

Island view

In the evening we had a good Malaysian style dinner in a restaurant and also went for few drinks to a cafe area in front of our hotel where they had live music. The band was good and the woman who was singing had a nice voice. In some point, it was time for few hours of sleep before the 5am taxi trip to the airport.

06.05.09 Sapi Island

In the morning, we changed into another hotel, the Rainforest Lodge, that was a lot nicer than the first hotel and also included breakfast at the cafe. Our room has a balcony (towards the street though), a toilet that works properly and a really nice shower, that has warm water and enough water.

Sapi Island

After breakfast, we went to the harbor to get a boat to the Sapi Island, which was pretty nice. It also had a trail, like Manukan Island, but the trail wasn't as good and I didn't feel like I had the right kind of shoes for the trail. But the beach was nice and I sat there under a tree and went swimming a little.

Teekkari

We met three guys from London at Sapi and hang out with them in the evening and looked for the nightlife with them. After all the Lonely Planet promised there was a good nightlife scene in Kota Kinabalu, but we just hadn't looked for it in the right place before.

05.05.09 Mount Kinabalu National Park

Mount Kinabalu

Today was the time for our second trip. We were picked up from the hotel at 8:00am and again picked up few other people and transferred into a bigger bus. We drove around the mountains and got some really nice views of the mountain area and Mount Kinabalu. The guide told us that Mount Kinabalu is called the shy mountain because there's usually clouds around it, but today there were almost no clouds, so we could see the mountain really clearly.

A flower in the Mount Kinabalu National Park

On the way to the Mount Kinabalu National Park, we stopped quickly at a market place where you could get all kinds of souvenirs. After the market, we went to the Kinabalu National Park's Botanical Garden. And by the way, since I've been "collecting" UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Beijing, Kinabalu National Park also happens to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Botanical Garden was pretty nice with lots of different kinds of flowers, trees and plants, and the guide know a lot about them.

View down from the canopy walkway

We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant next to the Kinabalu National Park's Poring Hot Springs entrance. After lunch, we headed past the Poring Hot Springs to the canopy walkway and walked up the stairs to the beginning of the walkway. The canopy walkway consists of four suspension bridges suspended between tree tops. It's 157 meters long and the highest point is 41 meters above the ground, so in other words, the perfect place for someone who is scared of heights. Somehow, I managed to get through the canopy walkway with shaking all over the whole way. I even looked down from there and didn't feel too bad. But I only took pictures from the platforms where you could calm down between the bridges, still high up in the trees. Well, actually, I did take one picture when I was standing on the last suspension bridge, but I did it very quickly and my hands barely left the ropes on the sides.

View from the canopy walkway

After the heights, it was time to climb down and then go to the Poring Hot Springs. We didn't have that much time left, so I managed to soak my legs in the hot water for few minutes and then it was time to get back on the bus. In the city, we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner and then back to the hotel to get some sleep.

04.05.09 Wetlands Cruise

After the breakfast, we went to travel agencies to get a trip or two from them. We ended up getting two trips, a Wetlands Cruise and a Mount Kinabalu National Park trip. We were supposed to go to the Sapi island after that but there was a storm (probably) coming, so we went to the Wetlands Cruise all ready today. The Wetlands Cruise was an afternoon thing, so we went to chance our stuff at the hotel and waited for the car to pick us up.

A small bus picked us and few other people up and then took us to a really fancy hotel, where we transferred to a bigger bus. The bus ride took about two hours and we saw the Malaysian style houses on stilts (the houses are on top of pillars, so in other words not straight on the ground) on the way.

When we arrived to the Wetlands, we walked on a boardwalk to a camp where we had some tea, sticky rise and fried bananas. After that it was time for the cruise. We took two boats from the camp and went to look for different kinds of animals from the river. The vegetation came all the way to the water and everything was so green and full. It was impossible to know exactly where the actual ground started.

A terrace on the river

We managed to see a big lizard very quickly and a smaller one on top of branch on the river, and also some proboscis monkeys. The monkeys are native Malaysian and the male monkey has a big droopy nose, that he might even have to move out of the way when he eats. When it started to get dark we headed back to the camp to have a good buffet dinner and then back to the river to see fireflies.

The fireflies were really interesting and it looked like there was Christmas lights on the tree. The whole river was very romantic and peaceful in the evening and you could see the stars and the moon. The moon had a weird ring around it, that I've never seen before, but that sure was a place for couples. Too bad I was alone.

Sunset at the river

When we were driving back to the city there was some lighting in the horizon which also looked really awesome.

03.05.09 Manukan Island

After eating some breakfast we went to the harbor and got a boat to the Manukan Island in front of Kota Kinabalu. There's actually five islands in front of the town that form the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park. The islands have beaches, snorkeling etc and on couple of them you can actually spend the night, either in a tent or house.

From Manukan Island

The boat ride to the island was pretty rough with lots of hard waves and I would have liked a cushion on the seat. But we got to the island in one piece and on the island there were Chinese tourists, some Westerners , beach and forest. We found one beach that didn't have so many people on it and went there. After swimming and lying on the beach for a while, we went to walk the trail they had on the island. The trail took us up the island to a place called the Sunset Point and I got some nice pictures from around there.

View from the Sunset Point

When we got back from the trail, we had a little swim and then it was time to get back on the boat and head back to the city. In the city we just had dinner and few cocktails and then it was time for bed again. Lying on the beach makes you surprisingly tired ;)

02.05.09 Malaysia

In the morning it was time to leave Macau behind us and we took a taxi to the airport after a bakery breakfast. The airplane took us to Kota Kinabalu, which is on the Borneo Island side of Malaysia. And with the swine flu going around, we had to fill out health declaration forms and they sprayed some really awful smelling disinfectant thing in the plane before landing that made my breathing a little hard.

From the airport in Kota Kinabalu, we took a small bus to downtown. The bus was filled with writing on the chairs and it looked like the typical bus you could imagine seeing in Vietnam or somewhere. The bus dropped us off near a Mandarin Hotel where we decided to get a room. After leaving our stuff in the room we went to look for dinner.

We went to a food court sort of thing for food, where you could pick your seafood from the tanks and they would catch them and cook them for you. They also had a show there with different ethnic dresses and dancing and music. Before the show and during it, we were talking about the differences in Asian and Finnish culture. There was a stage in the middle of the food court and there were children running around the stage with their parents. The performers actually had to wait for the children and their parents to get off the stage some times, so that they could perform their show. In Finland, people would be so embarrassed to get on the stage and be on the performers way, but here they didn't seem to mind it at all.

After the dinner, we went to get snacks from a shop and walked around the town a little bit. In China you are left alone, meaning that no one will say hello to you or anything like that, they will just stare. But in Malaysia people were yelling behind you all the time, which was kind of annoying.

After walking around it was time to go back to the hotel and get some sleep in our deluxe wide bed, where all the three of us slept. A true siskonpeti :)

01.05.09 Macau

In the morning Paula went to the university and Maiju and me went for breakfast to Starbucks that was in the harbour. When Paula got back to the harbour, we wondered around a little bit until we found the ferry terminal for ferries to Macau.

The ferry to Macau took about an hour and was not very smooth, but luckily I managed to fell asleep, so I survived to boat ride just fine. When we got to Macau, we took the taxi to a hostel and left our stuff there and went to walk around the town and get something to eat. We saw the Senate Square, Ruins of St. Paul's and the Mount Fortress. The Ruins of St. Paul's is what is left of the St Paul's Cathedral, meaning the facade. Next to the Ruins is the Mount Fortress that we walked around. Macau is an old colony of Portugal and you can see it very clearly. When walking around Macau it feels like you've come to the Mediterranean area, expect of course the big casino's with lots of light.

Casino lights

Macau is famous of its egg tarts, so we had egg tarts and after that made our way to the Grand Lisboa Casino to look at the blingbling of Macau. We had Cokes at the cafe in the casino and looked at people gambling and all the fancy things in there. They had a big egg shaped thing in the middle of the game hall that changed color every once in a while and luckily covered most of the action on the stage. On the stage they had an extremely bad and awful dance show with Western girls that really couldn't dance, nor move elegantly.

Ruins of St. Paul's

After the casino, we went to see a fountain show in front of another casino hotel. The water show was really great. There was music and the fountain show actually did follow the music really well and there was also fire in the show. :) After the show, we walked the long way around back to the hostel and slept in the lobby of the tiny hostel that had a total of three rooms. The beds were ok and I managed to get some sleep during the night.

30.04.09 More sights in Hong Kong

We started the morning with trying to find a dim sum place from Hong Kong Island with the help of Lonely Planet. Dim sum stands for small, usually steamed, breakfast buns etc., so Chinese style breakfast. First we looked at one place, but it looked expensive, so we decided to go and see another place. The second place was really noisy, full and the table we were showed to was covered with all kinds left overs of foods. So, we walked out and went to the first place. The first place was really nice, quiet, clean and normal price.

View from the Bank of China Tower

The dim sum was good and after a good breakfast we went to the Bank of China Tower close by where you can get to the 43rd floor free to see how Hong Kong looks a little higher up. The view was nice and after the quick visit we went to see the 10 000 Buddhas in another part of Hong Kong. First we ended up in a cemetery where you had rooms after rooms with memorial plaques for people all over the walls. After that we found the right place where the Buddha statues were. We walked up the stairs and on the way there were all different kinds of Buddha statues in different poses and looks. On the top there was a temple that had an altar sort of thing in the middle and small Buddha statues covering the walls. We were wondering whether there actually was 10 000 Buddhas during our way up, but when we got up to the temple we weren't wondering anymore. I'm sure there was at least 10 000 statues there all together. Besides the Buddhas there were also some statues of a female deity, whose name we couldn't think of.

At least 10,000 Buddhas?

After the Buddhas we went to the Ladies Market in Monggog. The market was a normal Chinese style outside market with lots of different things. After walking through the market we went for mango pancakes and drinks in a cafe sort of place. With our stomachs full again it was time to go to a grocery store to get food and drinks for our evening's picnic. The grocery store was very American style and we got some sparkling wine, sushi and fruits for our Wappu picnic.

With the foods we went to Kowloon park and sat next to a fountain and enjoyed our Wappu picnic there. After the picnic we went to the Hong Kong Island for bars. There was supposed to be Ladies Night there, meaning free entrance to bars and free drinks for ladies. But because the next day was a holiday, there was no Ladies Night. There was a lot of Dutch people because it was the Queen's birthday (good day to have a birthday ;) ) and lots of other people too. In the end we went to a few bars where we could get in free and then it was of to bed.

Hong Kong Island by night

29.04.09 Hong Kong Island

Today Paula was studying for her exam in the evening and we went to the Hong Kong Island with Maiju. The island is filled with office buildings, and you can clearly see, that it's the expensive part of the country. Almost everyone there was wearing a suit or other kind of more formal clothing.

From the island, we took the Peak Tram to the Victoria Peak where you can see Hong Kong really nicely. It was a little cloudy, but the scenery was really nice. After the Peak, we wondered around the Hong Kong Island and went to see possibly the longest escalator thing in the world. There was one escalator after another taking you higher and higher along the hill. And next to the escalators there were a lot of shops and restaurants.

View from the Victoria Peak

In the evening we tried to go and see the horse races, but for one reason or another, there was no races today. The horse races are supposed to be held every Wednesday, but not today. Since there was no horse races, we went for dinner and after that back to the hostel to sleep.

28.04.09 Going on a trip

The May holiday started yesterday and now it's time to go for a trip. Unfortunately the holiday lasts only until Sunday, but I'm taking some personal holiday, so I'll be gone for almost two weeks. Today I'm flying to Shenzhen and taking a bus and subway to get to Hong Kong from there. In Hong Kong I'll meet my two cousins, Paula and Maiju, and we will start our trip.

Landing to Shenzhen

After taking a bus from the Shenzhen airport and wondering around the customs building at the railway station at the border of China and Hong Kong, I finally made it to the Hong Kong subway. When I got out of the subway, I met Paula and Maiju at the subway station and we went to a hostel to get a room for me and Maiju for the night.

After settling into the hostel, we went for sushi and beer, and after that it was time for some sleep. The hostel we are staying at looks very suspicious outside, but the actual room is really nice. And it has the most compact toilet/shower combination I've ever seen.