Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,060,466 times
Reputation: 11862
Only Hong Kong and Macau. I was in HK for only 3 days, but it was pretty cool, pretty much the same impressions as most tourists, very scenic, loved taking the star ferry and seeing the skyline at night. The nightly light show is a really good tourist attraction. Excellent views from the Peak. Loved walking around the various markets in Kowloon, the fish market, flower market.etc. Didn't make it to Stanley or the islands like Lamma or Lantau ex. the airport.
I loved Macau's historic district, and how Chinese and Portuguese culture met. Didn't even really go to any of the casinos there.
Did want to go to Guangzhou but didn't get to. I heard Zhuhai is quite a nice city, but no burning desire to visit. Shenzhen does not interest me at all.
have been to all of those cities, and a few you didn't mention like dongguan, foshan, etc.
lived in hong kong when i was a kid. my favorite city in the world and where i fell in love with asia.
macau is kind of an obligatory visit for me whenever i am nearby. i don't gamble, but my family is involved in the gaming industry (most of them live in vegas), so it is the main city they ask about in my travels. the only city theyre really interested in in asia lol. so if i'm within a couple hour flight and have a few days of free time will usually fly there.
visited zhuhai a few times in 2004-2006. mostly for NSFW reasons. same with dongguan in more recent years.
all the other cities i have just passed through/visited for under a couple days.
I have been to Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Guangzhou, but not Macau. Shenzhen and Zhuhai are similar in that they are relatively new cities, created from China's new economic policies at the beginning of the 1990s. Hong Kong has the beautiful skyline and very nice subway, but is more expensive than the other cities in mainland China. I wrote about Guangzhou in another thread, but Guangzhou is a very old city with a long history. Among the four, to me it is the most interesting city to visit.
Kind of a bizarre metro area when you think about it. Each has something that the others basically cant have or historically could not have. Not really connected to each other except for proximity.
I've been to Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, not Zhuhai. However, trip to Guangzhou and Shenzhen was 20 years ago, so might as well say I have not visited them as they're like entirely different cities now.
Hong Kong has been mentioned too many times in this forum already, and it is the most "global" city in that region. People go to Macau to gamble. Although its history and culture as a former Portuguese colony is interesting, it is so tiny that you can finish your sightseeing in a few hours. It's still a nice city to visit, as you get a better/larger hotel room and good food for a lower price compared to HK. There's a bit of similarity between the Los Angeles-Las Vegas relationship to the Hong Kong-Macau relationship.
Shenzhen and Zhuhai are border cities that do not offer a lot of tourist attractions for people from outside of China. Both are popular for guys in HK or Macau to go to the "hair salons". Macau itself already has many working ladies even in the nicer hotels, so am not even sure why some see a need to go further to Zhuhai.
Guangzhou is further from HK and is the largest city in the region. There are also more interesting attractions and more flights, being a China Southern hub, going there nowadays. I would think many international tourists will visit it more, aside from those "getting a haircut."
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,060,466 times
Reputation: 11862
Interesting that prostitution is still prominent in Macau. I assume Hong Kong has been pretty cleaned up in that respect? I guess the fact it gets so many tourists as well, and the PRC government is probably stricter than that of say Thailand (where prostitution is illegal) although it still thrives.
Interesting that prostitution is still prominent in Macau. I assume Hong Kong has been pretty cleaned up in that respect? I guess the fact it gets so many tourists as well, and the PRC government is probably stricter than that of say Thailand (where prostitution is illegal) although it still thrives.
not sure why that surprises you. it's a gambling center, of course there is going to be a lot of prostitution. even las vegas has a lot.
and what gives you the idea that hong kong has "cleaned up"? plenty of pick up bars, saunas, apartment-style brothels. google '141 hong kong' or something.
as far as mainland china goes, they'll do temporary sweeps when bigwigs from beijing are in town, but otherwise the local officials couldn't care less. goldentiger mentioned the BBS but the KTV's and saunas are where the majority of the action is.
btw goldentiger, the five star places might be a better deal in macau, but macau still lacks any true budget options. it is an expensive town to stay in for a budget traveller. i usually just sleep in the lounge in a sauna when i am there. or walk across the border to gongbei and get a decent room for 150rmb.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,060,466 times
Reputation: 11862
Guess I was surprised at the mention of 'nicer hotels.' I know most of the legit brothels in Nevada are outside town so I guess there's a lot of illegal prostitution going on there.
Taiwan seems to have a lot of 'clubs' catering to Japanese men especially. I assume they provide the same function. Singapore too has a lot of KTV's.
Guess I was surprised at the mention of 'nicer hotels.' I know most of the legit brothels in Nevada are outside town so I guess there's a lot of illegal prostitution going on there.
Taiwan seems to have a lot of 'clubs' catering to Japanese men especially. I assume they provide the same function. Singapore too has a lot of KTV's.
i dont think many ppl go out to those legal brothels. those girls are ugly and theres not that many of them. most of the action is in town. escorts or just walk around the strip and hotel lounge bars at night, pretty easy to spot. i'm not a big fan of the prices here in vegas so don't do it much. usually only once per week or so.
and yeah, singapore has a lot of everything. singapore and hong kong are similar in that they draw a lot of working girls from the surrounding regions.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
