HK & Macau 2024 (6/9) – Watch

People watch is a big part of most travels. Usually it refers to observing local people go about their daily business, but sometimes it can be fun to watch other tourists, too. Social Media like Instagram and Tiktok (or Xiaohongshu and Douyin in this case) have the tendency to send hoards of unrelated travelers to take pictures at very specific spots, and the result can be rather amusing. We also happened to visit during China’s National Day, which drastically intensified the volume of people everywhere.

Places to Watch From

To rest our feet and to indulge in our caffeine addiction, Phil and I took coffee breaks fairly often. Those higher-end cafes turned out to be great places for people watching, because they tended to be in areas with the highest tourist traffic, while having seats available due to the pricing barrier.

People to Watch

On our first day, we ran into a large group of people (might have been a tour group) in Quarry Bay, taking photos of a strange display on someone’s third floor balcony. We have no idea what its significance was, and the neighborhood didn’t have any major tourist attraction. But it was amusing that so many older folks were blocking the street photographing the same thing.

A few street blocks in Central were famous for having murals painted on buildings. As such, the neighborhood was interesting to stroll through. A couple spots were of particular interest to the young, well-dressed girls, who lined up to pose in front of them. We had no idea what this simple pink wall was, but it was a big deal that each person needed half a dozen shots in front of. Maybe we needed to be better educated in the fine arts, because we couldn’t understand why these ladies would sit down on the dirty sidewalk in their nice dresses.

Next up was the ruins of Saint Paul in Macau, on China’s National Day (10/1). The plaza and staircase in front of it was absolutely full of people, and I quite enjoyed the downward view where we could see hundreds of cameras pointing in our direction. Much respect for those who managed to find an opening to do a solo shot, because it seemed mathematically improbable.

Around the corner from Saint Paul was Travessa da Paixao, or Love Lane. I had only read about it and added it to my notes a couple days before the trip. In contrast to the monumental attraction up the hill that every visitor to Macau got sent to, this little passageway was primarily of interest to the Instagram/Xiaohongshu celebrities. Phil and I charged our phones on the second floor of a %ARABICA (because of course they’d open at this location) and watched a constant stream of girls, accompanied by their boy/girlfriend photographers and sometimes photography consultants, taking all sorts of artistic pictures.

Tourists were everywhere on the Cotai Strip, where most of the casinos were. When we walked out of the Parisian in order to make our way to the Londoner, we noticed an unusual concentration of ladies posing to have their photos taken in our direction. It was especially amusing to watch the shorter ones struggle to climb onto the ledge before settling into a superficially elegant look. We turned around and saw the Eiffel Tower. Ah that made sense. Asians love the Eiffel Tower for some reason.

HK & Macau 2024 Index

1. Visit
2. Move
3. Obsess
4. Pilgrimage
5. See
6. Watch
7. Shop
8. Eat
9. Play