The HKG-FRA leg of the trip was one of the longest flights of the trip — almost as long as YYZ-NRT. I’m a fan of biz class shell-type seats for long flights. I think I actually like them better than the Air Canada pod-type seats — at least when travelling with someone else.

HKG has a Muji! I love Muji. Random fact about me: my favourite underwear in the entire world ever ever EVER is from Muji, but you can only find it in Japanese Muji stores. (I’ve looked in Muji stores in Barcelona, London, Paris, Hong Kong, and New York. But much to my chagrin, they only sell them in Japan.)

Down this long hallway is the United Club.

This was one of the nicer United Clubs I’ve been to. I mean, it doesn’t compare to the lounges of Asian carriers, but as far as United goes, it’s quite decent. Compared to United Clubs in the US, it’s practically paradise. And the food selection is WAY better than the United Club at NRT.

Looking down on the gate area. (Literally and figuratively!)

United 747.

Some kind of extremely delicious Chinese beverage.

Edible sushi.

Tea in real cups.

Some all-American hot dogs and fried things. This is United, after all. Mike was most excited about the hot dogs.

Salad bar

Cup noodles galore!

I had some rice crackers and wasabi peas.

LAST CHANCE TO BUY JAPANESE MAGAZINES! Of course, they’re more expensive in Hong Kong than they are in Japan, but still way cheaper than they are here in Canada. I got this Pingu magazine that came with a super cute Pingu tote bag.

Got a Ne-net cat tote bag too.

And a Duffy for my bag from the Hong Kong Disneyland store in the airport. As a (half) Japanese girl, I am pretty much obligated to buy Duffy.

Boarding time.

Mike likes 747s.

I just look strange and tired.

Whee! Like the last 747 we were on, there’s just a closet at the front of the plane. (The cockpit is upstairs.)

Why do I always take a photo of this?

All my soft things.

Some kind of creepy mountains.

Menu time.

Wine list. I almost never drink on planes…

…but sometimes I do.

Shrimp appetizer

Chicken? I can’t remember.

Fish entree. I thought the food on Lufthansa would be more… German. I mean, I guess this meal does have potatoes at least.

Apple crumble dessert. Surprisingly tasty!

Chocolates and coffee after dinner.

I love this Lufthansa bear. That reminds me — I never took a photo of Lufthansa amenity kit. It looks like this and contained the standard amenity stuff: socks, toothbrush, toothpaste, lip balm, lotion, eye mask, ear plugs. I like how it’s a tin (with the A380!) instead of the usual zip bag.

Mike took this awesome photo of the sky.

Somewhere over Poland.

Pre-landing breakfast: Mike had the hot version.

I had the cold version.

Frankfurt at night.

We landed at FRA checked into the Sheraton — it’s actually part of the airport, so we didn’t even have to go outside. We spent the evening and part of the next morning wandering around the airport in a sort of jetlagged zombie-state. Coming back to Toronto from Asia via Europe makes you feel weird.

One of the things we did in Hong Kong was visit Macau. Macau is technically another country, and was a Portuguese colony until 1999. Macau is like Hong Kong — it’s part of China, but retains a lot of autonomy as a special administrative region. There are a bunch of ways you can get to Macau, but boat is the most popular. We took the TurboJet from Sheung Wan, and it takes about an hour each way. The TurboJet was really the main draw for me — I love new forms of transportation! JETFOIL! TurboJet uses Boeing Jetfoils. I have now been on a Boeing boat.

Here is a map I stole from the internet to show where Macau is in relation to HK.

We took Super Class because we’re fancy. Okay, it was really because we were hoping to avoid the insanely long immigration lines by getting off the boat first. It wasn’t fancy at all.

This was the “lounge.”

Uhh… at least there were pillows?

JETFOIL! JETFOIL! JETFOIL!

Onboard the TurboJet. I was sad because my window was all foggy.

The strange breakfast. The croissant had meat inside. (Who puts meat inside a croissant?)

Mike making a weird face.

Super Class coffee. Not very super.

Filling out the immigration form. It was in Chinese, English, and Portuguese. Because Macau is another country, you have to hand in your Hong Kong departure card and go through immigration like you do for any country.

A view from my cloudy window.

Arriving at the ferry terminal.

We decided to hop on a hotel shuttle because they’re free. This one was going to the Wynn. We pretty much picked one at random.

This is a terrible photo, but you can kind of see the Water Cube building that they totally stole from Beijing. The design is pretty much EXACTLY THE SAME. Way to be original, Macau.

Fancy hotels and fancy casinos.

Macau is almost exactly like Las Vegas. It’s kind of creepy. Here’s someone’s photo of Macau at night and you can see what I mean. There are all the same hotels — the Bellagio, the Venetian, the MGM Grand, the Wynn. It’s like bizarro Asian Las Vegas.

I really hate Las Vegas, so our destination was NOT casinos. After getting off at the Wynn, we headed to check out the old town.

From the cab: casinos galore!

Downtown Macau.

Such a weird mix of European and Chinese.

Getting ready for Chinese New Year?

So European!

A pretty church.

I was kind of obsessed with the tiles.

I love palm trees.

Mike looking cool, shot #1.

Mike looking cool, shot #2.

Apparently the thing to eat in Macau is some kind of pork sandwich. So Mike ate one. (He said it was good.)

I had a Portuguese egg tart. YUM.

We kept wandering, and things eventually became less European and more Chinese.

Back at the ferry terminal. (This was a really short trip.)

Ooooh, boats.

Another “lounge.”

On the boat: another Super Class meal. It was some kind of barely edible pasta that I mostly donated to Mike.

This Super Class car was totally different than the ride to Macau: it had a bar at the front and the seats were arranged in a different configuration. The trip back to Hong Kong was pretty bumpy but we were soon back on land at Sheung Wan station. We re-immigrated to Hong Kong and were on our way.

Macau is a fun day trip (or longer) if you’re in Hong Kong. Plus, you get a cool new stamp in your passport!