Welcome to Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a very interesting city

The best way I can describe it is to take New York, San Francisco and London and mush them up. Think skyscrapers so close together you can't see between them, hills, bridges and an amazing waterfront view plus double decker buses navigating narrow winding streets. Quite an experience.






Hong Kong Quirks

Cleanliness - you could eat off the ground, which is probably good considering how much food I saw drying on the side of the road


Brightly coloured sneakers - seriously it's like its a fashion trend over here - though given the amount of walking most of these people do on a daily basis I'm thinking they are just smarter that the "fashionable" people back home.
(sorry no pics - i thought it might be rude if i started taking pictures of people's feet)

Pedestrian friendly - bridges, tunnels, escalators, subways, buses, trams, taxis - seriously this city is very well connected






Red is Hong Kong, green is New Territories, I think there was a blue taxi too but we never actually saw one




Wildlife - they have (what I think are) kites living all over downtown, if you are walking around don't forget to look up!


Tiny living space - apparently this size may actually include the hallway and other common areas as well! (exchange rate is about 7:1 but it's still mega pricey!)


Mega apartment buildings - city place has nothing on this...




Food is very fresh you can buy it right off the boat


You can really buy anything here







Crust free bread! I kid you not.


Yummy Food!











Welcome to Macau


Land of old churches (well parts of them...)


Portugese Egg tarts


Pretty old buildings



Bikes (something that was noticeably absent from hongkong)


Can you see me?


Canons and Casinos! (what a great combination)


and Mini monuments (much like Vegas)




Ok...back to work!

Rocko's Travel Tips

Before you leave
- get nexus/goes - never wait in line for north american customs ever again...need i say more?
- have a fully charged cell phone or money for a pay phone
- bring a wireless device - access to the internet can be useful when you need hotel or airport information
- ensure you have the number of the airline you are flying and the numbers of the code shares (or that someone who will help you has this information)
i.e
united/continental and air canada code share - one airline may help you or may tell you to call the other
have all numbers on hand and check your itinerary before you leave for the relevant airlines
for anything to do with aeroplan have aeroplan's number and air canada's number in addition to the airlines you are flying
- make sure you have your confirmation number and that it's easily accessible
- do a bit of research - if you have a tight connection check alternate flights that you could switch to, being prepared on the phone means quick phone calls and efficient service
- use a travel credit card with interruption insurance - not necessary, but can be useful for the odd hotel, if you travel a lot this can be very helpful

If you're stuck
- call the airlines! calling gets you better service than talking to someone on the ground, people on the ground often have no idea what is going on and they tend to finger point and ship you around to various desks or tell you to call the airline
- leave someone your travel plans, if you are stuck somewhere and the rest of the airport is stuck too the wifi and cell networks will be very busy, having a friend outside the chaos can be very helpful, especially if they are in another time zone or country
- be proactive! if you know that you're stuck, consider making a hotel reservation immediately, if you know that you are going to be stuck try to change your flight before you get stuck, try to get on an earlier flight - don't wait until you are stuck or your entire flight will be trying to rebook at the same time!

Stuck in Toronto
- the only people that can get you out of the US security zone is a member of the airline you were suppose to fly - so find someone and ask them to let you leave, customer service will just send you to one of them anyway, so try a representative first
- if you need a new boarding pass you can get customer service to print them for you
- if you have lounge access they can usually only help you with their specific airline (i.e MLL air canada only) and they are usually only helpful when you spell out everything for them, so arrive prepared

NB and PEI

We're in Moncton, New Brunswick right now

Behind me is a small river - at the right time of day you can watch a tidal bore - a wave that is formed when the tide comes in. Right now the tide is out so you can see the muddy bottom.




This is Hopewell Rocks. It's not that far a drive from Moncton. We came a bit late so we didn't see the full tidal flats, but the ticket we got was actually good for another day if we wanted to come back.

See where the people are walking?


Now it's gone!


This is a magnetic hill!
(actually it's an optical illusion that tends to separate people from their hard earned money)


We opted to spend our hard earned money on beavertails!
(not real tails of course - just deepfried dough with toppings. I like maple sugar. Yummy!)


This is Shediac - home to the biggest lobster I have ever seen!



Of course no trip would be complete without canons!
This is Fort Beausejour/Cumberland. Good placement and ingenious design - didn't quite work against the British, but it did do well against the Americans. Go Canada!






This is Confederation Bridge - it links New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.






There isn't much of a view, it's long and once you cross to PEI you're trapped! (unless you have $50 for the toll)


PEI is a rather small island - we drove most of the coastline in a weekend. It can be very picturesque. Pretty Coastlines...


Small fishing villages...







windmills...



mussel farms...


potato fields...



beaches...

more beaches...
I highly recommend this one, this is Greenwich National Park and as you can see - we pretty much had the place to ourselves!



lighthouses...


At times you can think you're back in ontario...

until you see the fishing boat parked in the driveway...


People here also decorate their houses with stars - you can get any colour you want!




and of course you can't forget the seafood!
Fried Clams...


and of course lobster!