I landed at the airport and took the ferry direct to Macau and gated myself to a fancy hotel room the first night. That night I explored some of the mega resorts, and the next day I affluent walking around the main city. 1.5 days is a good amount of time for Macau, it's such a cool and weird little city. The light rail wasn't built yet, so you'll have an even easier time getting around.

In the evening I took the ferry back to HK-Kowloon and had a bunk in a hostel in Tsim Sha Tsui, I would recommend the same. It is right in the heart of the action, so you can get anywhere quite easily.

Kowloon is the mainland/north side, Central is across the bay on HK Island where the financial district is.
Walk along the waterfront at night!
Take the tram up to Victoria peak! I did it at night! It drops you off in a big building that wants to charge you to access the rooftop. Don't pay, just find your way out of the building and follow the nearby walking path. They make the exit a little tricky to find.
I didn't see a horse race, but I probably will next time.
The subway is the fastest way across the bay, but make sure you take the star ferry a couple times.
there is a big Buddha near the airport, you ride a gondola over the mountain to get there, it's worth the trip, but not worth trying to link it to going to the airport, in my opinion. It's a but touristy, but that isn't a big deal.
I took a ferry out to one of the minor islands which was fun to check out.
there is a bar in the Ritz Carlton if you want to get a drink with the best view in town (it's at the top of the tallest tower in Kowloon).
LKF in central is the main party/bar district if that's your speed.
I hiked the dragons back which takes you around the hills behind the city and then ends up at the beach (big wave bay), where I went for a swim! You can easily take the bus to the trailhead and back from.the beach.
Make sure you find a local dim sum place and try and go with a small group (from the hkstel or something)! It's fine if you don't round up people too.
in Sam Ka Tsuen there is a market with a ton of seafood vendors where you can buy the catch of the day, and then restaraunts where they will prepare everything you just bought.
there was a bar with great views across the bay from. Tsim Sha Tsui, but I can't find my rec right now. Looks like there are options though.

I'm sure you'll find all kinds of stuff I didn't even know about too! My only regret was not going to the mainland, but I'm going in the next 8 months anyway so it's fine if guess haha.

HK is one of my most recommended trips. Public transit dominates, and makes it super easy to get around. The colonial history makes it really interesting (even though it's bougie). The political situation means the HK is changing over the years so it's ideal to get a snapshot of what it's like ASAP. If you come through in 20 years it will probably be quite different (more like a typical chinese city? Who really knows for sure, but different).

4d ago

Inside Look at a Typical Middle-Class Neighborhood in Wuhan, China

Jump

spectre [he/him] @hexbear.net 4d ago

Can't have it all i guess! Although my understanding is that Wuhan is notoriously car-centric compared to the other tier 2 cities.

Sino @hexbear.net

spectre [he/him] @hexbear.net

4d ago

Inside Look at a Typical Middle-Class Neighborhood in Wuhan, China

5d ago

Pretty funny seeing Hasan slowly learning the core of international politics with this one event

Jump

spectre [he/him] @hexbear.net 5d ago

I do sometimes notice people talking about conversations they had with others about Russia/Ukraine and being like "how do I get this lib to understand?"

Answer is you don't! The territory is pretty muddy and murky and there a ton of other topics you can use to kore clearly and definitively establish a socialist or anit-imperialist viewpoint. Just shift over to one of those, and everything gets a lot easier. I wouldn't get into it with someone who didn't already understand the basics of where im coming from (learned that lesson before)

1w ago

Tesseract Dev (AdmiralPatrick) RageQuits Lemmy with Final Goodbye Message (and hid a DDOS script on his page)

Jump

spectre [he/him] @hexbear.net 1w ago

If we get this into an image macro format of some kind and pass it around, it'll really do a dent. I think your phrasing is solid here.

1w ago

Kids YouTuber Ms. Rachel Donated $3,000 to Abdul El-Sayed’s U.S. Senate Campaign

Jump

spectre [he/him] @hexbear.net 1w ago

Gotcha haha but yes I think he can follow that same track and dominate. One of Obama's biggest flaws (setting aside overall criticism from his left ofc) was hesitating because he didnt want to be labelled "Muslim communist", so he didnt want to be aggressive advocating for even progressive liberal solutions that he may believe in. El-Sayed is getting that treatment very early on so he isn't going to give a fuck when it comes to a presidency. He is still a progressive liberal like Obama, but that is what will win in US electoralism in the 2030s, I'm sure. Also most of his allies will be to his left, so I don't think we will see anything worse than what we've seen from Mamdani when it comes to that stuff.

1w ago

Kids YouTuber Ms. Rachel Donated $3,000 to Abdul El-Sayed’s U.S. Senate Campaign

Jump

spectre [he/him] @hexbear.net 1w ago

I think he will support AOC in '28 but I don't know if she can go the entire distance (maybe 35% chance today but growing, goes up a lot if AES wins).

What's an example youre thinking of, though?

1w ago

China quietly saved the world last month.

Jump

spectre [he/him] @hexbear.net 1w ago

Totally agree, which is why the AI generator loves to use it

Just saying we are both very correct

1w ago

Kids YouTuber Ms. Rachel Donated $3,000 to Abdul El-Sayed’s U.S. Senate Campaign

Jump

spectre [he/him] @hexbear.net 1w ago

I and pretty much everyone here have major disagreements with AES (heh), but he will be the Dem nominee in '32 if he wins this Senate campaign.

1w ago

China quietly saved the world last month.

Jump

spectre [he/him] @hexbear.net 1w ago

quietly

AI headline

1w ago

Tesseract Dev (AdmiralPatrick) RageQuits Lemmy with Final Goodbye Message (and hid a DDOS script on his page)

Jump

spectre [he/him] @hexbear.net 1w ago

Nah nobody here gives a shit about Tessaract so I knew it wasn't us this time. Weird feeling, right?

1w ago

Tesseract Dev (AdmiralPatrick) RageQuits Lemmy with Final Goodbye Message (and hid a DDOS script on his page)

Jump

spectre [he/him] @hexbear.net 1w ago

Of course, same as it was back on reddit, still counts though

1w ago

Tesseract Dev (AdmiralPatrick) RageQuits Lemmy with Final Goodbye Message (and hid a DDOS script on his page)

Jump

spectre [he/him] @hexbear.net 1w ago

This might be the largest Lemmy drama that doesn't revolve around Hexbear (or grad or .ml either obv), at least that I've heard of. Finally, it's been enough time after the reddit influx for the instances that blew up to actually develop some identity! Looking forward to more drama to ensue! (I was on r/SubredditDrama before I got put on to r/cth, and it's more fun being an observer than right at the center of the drama)

Too bad it doesn't really do much to shift the needle away from us being enemy #1 in the short term.

Actually: are we still enemy #1? I haven't really engaged with other instances recently, but maybe someone who does can give us local-only posters an update on where that stands.