30 January 2014 (nighttime) – 31 January 2014 (very early morning)
My friend and I left Qingdao airport on 30 January 2014 around 10 p.m. due to a more than two hour delay of our flight. We arrived in Shenzhen around 1:15 a.m. on 31 January 2014, which happened to be Chinese New Year. Our Couchsurfing host was so gracious as to wait up until 3 a.m. for us to get to his apartment from the airport.
31 January 2014 (daytime)
Today was quite an adventure. My travel buddy and I travelled around Shenzhen with our host for much of the day. We initially wanted to find something to eat for lunch, but since nearly every restaurant in our host’s area was closed, because it was Chinese New Year, he decided to take us to Laojie 老街a famous place in Shenzhen with many places to eat. We ended up going to a very nice restaurant, and where there were tea masters who served us tea. I experienced my first time drinking Chrysanthemum tea there. After this, we hung out at various places in the Laojie area. We ended up walking through an amusement park, and many other places. We greatly enjoyed talking with our host for hours on end. Upon going back to our host’s apartment, we make a stop at Window of the World, and although it was quite dark, it was quite nice to walk around that area.
01 February 2014
Today was also an adventure. My travel buddy and I planned on getting a bus or train ticket to Macau via Zhuhai for the next day. We ended up finally going to a travel agency after 3:30 p.m. Using Baidu maps was an adventure, especially since it didn’t always update our location properly, which was probably due to a slow mobile data connection, but we were finally able to find the travel agency. Long story short, the travel agency representative told us that there is apparently no train from Shenzhen to Zhuhai, only buses and a boat. For one reason or another, we decided we would take a boat to Macau. So, we travelled all the way to Shekou Ferry Terminal, and ended up buying the cheapest boat tickets to Macau for the next day at 1:30 p.m. which were 200 RMB per person. After this, we went shopping at a Walmart in Shenzhen, and eventually went back to our host’s apartment.
02 February 2014
Today, my only goal was to arrive in Macau. My travel buddy and I woke up around 9 a.m., and we planned to get to the Shekou ferry terminal by 12:30 p.m. because our boat tickets were for 1:30 p.m. We finally left our host’s apartment around 10:30 a.m., and had a quick breakfast. Getting to the ferry terminal was easy, and we very easily made it to the port terminal by 12:30 p.m. We eventually boarded the boat, and had a good ride to Macau. Upon arriving in Macau, we went to the Galaxy Macau in order to meet our next Couchsurfing host. Our next Couchsurfing host was quite a gentleman, and he took us to his place. We ended up talking for hours together, and concluded the day with my friend and I going to a casino to watch other people gamble, and had a good dinner at a Japanese style restaurant called Curry Monster. As a side note, I find it quite interesting that all of the casinos in Macau only accept Hong Kong Dollars, a foreign currency, not the local Macau Pataca currency.
