Christmas week 2025 took us across three fascinating cities in Asia—from the steel and concrete forest of Hong Kong to the old streets of Macau and the bustling night markets of Taipei.
Hong Kong
City Views
Victoria Peak offers great views of the city, but unfortunately it was cloudy when we visited. Better to go on a sunny day.
Hiking
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Food
Among the three cities, Hong Kong offers the best food. It’s much more expensive than Taipei, but you can find many authentic flavors here. The first photo shows the Sauerkraut Fish at Tai Er restaurant.
Just like many Chinese restaurants in the US offer fortune cookies, Tai Er offers a fortune stick drawer, as shown in the second photo. Out of curiosity, my wife dumped all the fortune sticks and found the two best ones, shown in the third photo. In her left hand, the stick says: “You will make great fortunes and buy a building; you will lose weight and become prettier.” In her right hand: “No matter how much you eat, you will not gain weight and only become prettier.”
Macau
Grand Lisboa
Ruins of St. Paul’s
Street Scenes
Traditional Chinese society holds a pantheistic view of the world. Unlike mainland China, where atheism took hold after 1949, Macau has preserved much of its traditional culture. Walking through the streets, you can see small shrines everywhere.
Taipei
Arrival
On the flight to Taipei (STARLUX Airlines), each of us was given a bag. I’ve never seen such an offering on other airlines. Guess what’s inside!
Tada~
Taipei 101
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Memorials and Government Buildings
I bought this map in a bookstore in Taipei. Look carefully and see if you can find something interesting. :)
Temples
We visited two temples: Confucius Temple and Baoquangong Temple. The Confucius Temple was almost empty, while its neighbor Baoquangong was completely packed.
Night Market
One tiny shop on the street offers fish and shrimp fishing. We tried fishing for shrimp in the water tank.
Local Experiences
In Taipei, Ryan had his first-ever foot massage. To our surprise, he had fun—giggling almost the entire time.
Japanese culture is very popular in Taipei. One taxi driver had Doraemon toys on his dashboard and Crayon Shin-chan playing on his YouTube app.
Which City to Visit Again?
We’ll probably visit Hong Kong again. It’s truly an international city—well managed, with great food and top-notch services. The subway system is clean, safe, and covers most of the city.
Taxi service in Hong Kong, however, is really bad. We knew this before arriving but were still shocked. Most taxis are ancient Toyota models I’ve never seen anywhere else. Imagine the taxis from 1990s Hong Kong movies—they’re still the same. Most drivers are middle-aged or older. They don’t accept credit cards or mobile payments, only cash. And if a driver doesn’t want to go to your destination, he’ll ask you to get out. Luckily, the young Uber drivers gave us much better impressions, canceling out the negative taxi experiences.
If you’re familiar with cities in mainland China, you won’t be impressed by Taipei or Macau. The streets, buildings, and infrastructure look rather dated. Service is good, but the food can’t rival Hong Kong or other major mainland cities. We probably won’t visit them again for touring.
January 1st: A New Journey
The photo was taken at LAX on January 1st, 2026.
We left for Los Angeles on January 1st, 2026, and landed at LAX still on January 1st, 2026. On January 1st, 2006, I left for the USA for the first time and landed on the same day. Twenty years have passed; the young man has entered middle age. But I feel a new journey has just begun.