Impressions March 2007

May I proudly introduce my Chinese friends to you. Here I am starring with Wang Chao. ...and Wang Na.
...and Jia Meng
... and Toby and Fei from Hong Hong
...and us together!!!Our institute does some extensive research in hybrid buses since they want to get them on the road for the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing.

In class.
Spaghetti eating @ our Italian Night with my room mate Filipp and Le.
Caught on a Saturday afternoon: workers arriving for digging big holes for new trees.
Caught on a Sunday afternoon: donkeys in the city carrying brick stones to a construction side.

Macau (Feb. 28)

Let's go to Macau! Toby and Daniel on their one hour ride to the 70 kilometer southwest of Hong Kong located Macau is. Macau consists of a peninsula, and the islands of Taipa and Coloane which we also visited by bus.
This is the Old Town of Macao.

Local specialty of Macau.

The Ruins of Saint Paul's. The cathedral was destroyed by a fire during a typhoon in 1835.
St. Dominic's Church situated in the Largo de São Domingos.
Mc's at the Largo do Senado

Dried fish as a snack in between.

The Macau Tower measures 338m in height At 233 meters, the Macau Tower's tethered "skyjump" from the tower's outer rim is the highest in the world. I saw a guy jumping off the rim and five seconds later he was already on the ground. That must be the craziest thing in the world. You got the gutts?
This area and the northern part of Taipa are reserved for the big casinos that rise out of the ground. Some of the casinos that already exist in Las Vegas such as The Venetian, Four Seasons , MGM Grand, Grand Hyatt or Mandarin Oriental are also found in Macau. Moreover, the are building a City of Dreams on Taipa which will be completed soon. Chinese pokerfaces can come over and gamble over the weekend since it is prohibited in China.

Bridges connecting Macau with the islands.

233m above NN.
This is the world's highest bungy jump called the Skyjump. 65 Euros and you can experoence the extreme adrenaline kick.

Casino Lisboa is one of the most famous casinos in Macau.

Bad luck at the Wynn Casino. I stopped with HK $ 5.60 and bet HK $ 40. Toby bet with HK $ 10 and came out with HK $ 12. For all of you you do not know the currency rate, one Yuan more or less equals one HK Dollar. And 10 HK Dollar are roughly equal to one Euro. So no big tears in the end....
This is also the end of my trip presentation. Five good weeks ended here.

Thank you for tuning in!

Hong Kong (Feb.25 - Mar.1)

Our final destination was Hong Kong, the city with the Monopoly play money. This is our view from the youth hostel room on Nathan Road.
The Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon.
Hong Kong Island.
The boardwalk at the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade was redesigned to be the Avenue of Stars which opened in April 2004. It now looks like the Sunset Blvd. with the stars embedded into the ground just with Chinese actors and actresses.

Taking the Star Ferry from Kowloon to HK Island.
The tallest skyscraper is the Two Internatinal Finance Centre with 88 floors and a total height of 415m.
On the Peak Tramway from Central desitrict to Victoria Peak. The funicular railway covers a distance of about 1.4 kilometres and a height difference of just under 400 metres and carries people uphill since May 1888.
View from the Peak Tower onto the high-density residential towers.

There is absolutely no Burger King in China. I cannot understand their strategy...The fries are like heaven. Thus, HK hosts three stores, one on Victoria Peak and the other two in Terminal 1 and 2 of the HK Int. Airport at Chek Lap Kok.
Skyscrapers on HK Island.
The Lippo Centre is a pair of twin office towers in Admiralty being were dubbed "The Koala Tree" because they resemble koalas clutching a tree.
Acrobatics on the scaffold.
Double-decker buses on HK Island.

The Peninsula has a Rolls Royce Phantom fleet consisting of 15 cars. At the same time this has been the largest fleet order ever.

Every night at 8pm, the Symphony of Lights light and laser show can be viewed form various locations. The best one, however, is on Kowloon side on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront where synchronized music is played with it.

Bruce Lee statue on Avenue of Stars.

"Icecold fist" directed by Libao will enter the movies worldwide on July, 10th of 2007. A must see folks.

Found outside the Sheraton.

One of the cloth markets.
Oh, German candy!

The Goldfish Market is on Tung Choi Street and it is the place for fish lovers like us.



I believe this was Sai Yeung Choi Street South, the most crowded street in Mong Kok.

Shoe shopper.
I kooked myself up with some brand new shoes, too.
Hi Toby! We met her in Mong Kok by coincidence. HK is like a village...
That's my strategy for the future: selling tuning parts to China. Since the HK market is already saturated, I will take over the People's Republic of China.
Good job on the body kit and rims.

Fortune tellers? No thank you, I know my future and don't want to die tomorrow...
At a HK food restaurant.
Day three, off to Lantau Island by ferry.

Tai O, also known as the "Venice of Hong Kong" is located on the westside of Lantau Island. It is typical for its pang uk, a kind of stilt house that is built right over the waterway.



Dried fish, the local specialty.

Back in HK. This statue is a tribute to HK cinema.

Bank of China.

Amusement park on HK Island.
Enjoy the rest...

Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.


HSBC Tower.