The ‘Vegas of Asia’, the point where old Portugal meets new China, and when in Hong Kong, a not-so far away island full of glitz, glamour and gold. This is the description any tour guide will give you when talking about the Macau. The majesty and mystery that surrounds Macau is still very much a mystery to me. With good intentions to travel to Macau, our study tour group was instead lost in the lesser known streets of Kowloon City, as we struggled with directions and bearings one too many times with missed buses, ferries and MTRs. With a lot of help from friendly locals, we eventually arrived at the ferry stop to Macau, just in time. Just in time to find it was sold out.
But have no fear, this blog promised monkeys and monkeys there will be, but first there was the walk.
The walk took us from the luxury streets of Central to the crowded and chaotic streets of Soho. Shops and brands I never knew existed lined the streets. It was brand overload, but then I found the reward for my long, hot walk. It was Jordan Brand, an air-conditioned paradise of everything basketball related. Not only bearing my name but parading all the paraphernalia of my favourite sport. I didn’t care that there was a zoo up ahead I was focused on my store. After maximum browsing time and spending limit, I was ready to proceed to the monkeys, a renewed energy propelling me up the dreaded hill.
After what felt like many hours of walking up the hill, my delirious mind led me to believe that my body should now look like it had been crafted by the gods. Unfortunately, this was not the case and my spirits began to falter. Luckily, the thought of finally getting to see the fabled and mystical monkeys of the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens had me quickly bounding up the garden path.
After reaching the summit with my two travelling companions, Danielle and Celina, we soon realised that tortuous walk up the mountain was worthwhile. With spectacular views of Hong Kong, we were distracted from monkey time for a moment.
After many photos and selfies with our monkey mates, we began to feel sad our trio may be the only ones to meet with these majestic mammals. So here I am sitting in a Starbucks, trying to immortalise my experience in words, but sometimes words simply aren’t enough.
