macau & hong kong: casinos & skyscrapers

Our last trip has been quite different from the previous: we spent one long weekend in Hong Kong and Macau.

First of all we visited Macau, a city that used to be a Portuguese colony. It was really weird to see all the signs in Chinese characters AND in Portuguese!! We could understand everything! The city had a lot of charm, with its narrow streets selling all kind of pastries. But Macau has also a dark side: the casinos!! We entered a few of them and actually played black jack. Although it was my first time in a casino and my first time playing black jack, I can proudly say that I won money!! (Okay, not very much, but at least I didn't lose!).

Our second and last stop was Hong Kong, a city with a very different taste. We were staying in an area called Kowloon, where you could find and electronic shop every three steps (literally). This is the part of the town that we visited the first day: streets full of Chinese signs (no Portuguese here), delicious pastries again, jade markets, night markets and more electronic shops!

The second day we crossed to Hong Kong island and spent the morning in the Soho, walking around town and climbing (with a tram) "the peak", from which we were supposed to see all the city (we didn't, too foggy). The tall buildings in this part of the city were amazing, it was like an "oriental New York"!

As I said at the beginning, this trip has been very different from what we have seen so far. It is for sure the richest area we have travelled to (except Singapore), but it is as well full of contrasts (specially Hong Kong, where you could see poverty one side and impressive tall buildings at the other).

good morning vietnam

Longed and waited recess week started for us on the 19th of February; the day our journey to Vietnam started. We have spent 10 days traveling this country full of contrasts from North to South, from Sapa to Ho Chi Minh, in a trip full of adventures.

In Sapa we rented motorbikes and enjoyed ridding them, viewing the magnificent rice fields, visiting the local villages and having to wear for the first time in our exchange a jacket!! Next was Hanoi, a city I liked a lot. We visited Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the war museum and walked also through the less tourist streets of the city. From there we departed to Halong Bay, where we slept on a boat with beautiful sights.

Our adventures continued in Hue (where we visited the Citadel), Hoi An (where we made ourselves some tailor made suits and dresses) and Nha Trang (where we had some rest and got tanned lying on the beach) until we arrived at Ho Chi Mihn. This city was very different from Hanoi, much bigger, with a more European taste in some parts but with still some charm in others. From there we visited the Cu Chi tunnels and learned even a bit more about the war.

We managed to travel North to South using boat (1 night), trains (2 night) and buses (3 nights), so the 4 nights we slept in proper beds in hostels were most valued than ever!! As I said, Vietnam is a country full of contrasts; tourist in some places, 100% local in others; cold in the North, hot in the South; developed in some cities, poor in others; amazing in some ways, disappointing in others... but still our 10 days passed by so far we even thought more time is needed to explore all the great things this country has to offer.