---
type: Video
title: "I Went to One of the Wealthiest and Most Advanced Cities"
description: Macau, Shenzhen and Hong Kong in one trip — three systems, three languages and three colonial histories within an hour of each other, plus a 35-cent driverless taxi.
tags: [china, macau, shenzhen, hong-kong, history, technology, visas, hotels]
timestamp: 2026-08-05T12:00:00Z
resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T263hFcMBoA
video_id: T263hFcMBoA
upload_date: 2026-04-02
duration: 3561
---

# I Went to One of the Wealthiest and Most Advanced Cities

Three cities within an hour of each other, with three languages, three currencies
and three legal systems: [Macau](/places/macau.md) shaped by Portugal,
[Shenzhen](/places/shenzhen.md) by China, and [Hong Kong](/places/hong-kong.md)
by Britain. Harry's question is how one small corner of the world ended up with
three identities, and his answer is that all three were built as somebody's
gateway to [China](/countries/china.md).

Macau gets the history — 400 years of Portuguese trading post, a UNESCO old
town, and an official language almost nobody speaks. Shenzhen gets the future — a
town of 30,000 in 1980 and 17 million now, where a driverless taxi costs 35 cents
and your milk tea arrives by drone. Hong Kong gets the money, and the hotel rated
best in the world.

## Key moments

- [00:00] The premise: three cities, three systems, side by side.
- [01:17] Transferring straight from Hong Kong airport to Macau without entering
  Hong Kong, from the E2 desk.
- [02:23] The bridge: the world's longest bridge-and-tunnel system, 55 km, and he
  gives the cost as $20 billion.
- [02:23] Visas — Macau and Hong Kong visa-free for UK, and the 240-hour transit
  policy for the mainland leg.
- [04:39] Portuguese is an official language and about 5% of people speak it.
- [05:09] Macau's own currency, laws and passports, 700,000 people in a territory
  locals joke is the size of an airport.
- [06:55] The Macau Tower, 338 m, and the world's highest bungee jump — 3,000
  including the video.
- [08:30] He jumps.
- [09:01] Bamboo scaffolding, and a traditional tea house — *cha* for tea, *casa*
  for house.
- [10:08] His host's correction of the reputation: everyone knows the casinos, and
  the place has 400 years of history and an east-west fusion instead.
- [10:41] The wet market — dried oyster, shrimp and squid.
- [12:20] Temple fortune-telling: twelve zodiac shrines, a paid blessing, incense
  and candles lit in a strict order, red envelopes for the staff.
- [13:58] His year is bad, though not the worst — that's the horse and the rat.
- [16:07] Given something for nothing, and his host's joke about white privilege,
  which he agrees with on camera rather than cutting.
- [16:39] The Cotai Strip — the Vegas comparison, the Venetian, a small Eiffel
  Tower, a mock Trafalgar Square and a British telephone box.
- [17:43] What he finds hardest to process: Chinese visitors treat British culture
  as cool, and he no longer does.
- [19:19] The history: the Portuguese permitted a trading post by the Ming in
  1557, gateway for tea, porcelain and silk, confined to 33 km² because China
  never granted more.
- [20:25] International recognition in the 1800s, and the handback in 1999 under
  one country, two systems.
- [20:58] The name came from a misunderstanding about a temple.
- [21:34] Cars carry two or three number plates — Macau, mainland, Hong Kong.
- [22:06] Taipa, and the real Portuguese buildings.
- [22:39] A queue round the block at a café, for beef stew, presumably viral.
- [23:44] The Ruins of St Paul's, and the crowd photographing them.
- [24:50] It burned down. There was no war.
- [25:53] Roughly 40 years to build, in limestone and marble, with a university
  alongside.
- [26:24] The historic centre has been UNESCO-listed since 2005.
- [28:04] Standing in the old square, which he says feels like Lisbon until the
  Chinese New Year decorations.
- [30:16] Coloane village — quieter, fewer tourists, and the original Lord Stow's
  bakery.
- [30:50] The egg tarts: far less sweet than the Portuguese version, and much
  eggier.
- [31:58] The ferry to Shenzhen, and the visa rules — UK now visa-free for the
  mainland, and 54 countries eligible for the 240-hour transit visa with an
  onward ticket.
- [33:39] Wi-Fi on the boat, which prompts his running comparison with British
  trains.
- [34:09] Shenzhen: 30,000 people in 1980, over 17 million now.
- [34:41] Why it's the most advanced — China tests new technology here first.
- [35:12] Alipay is essential; Western apps stop working at the border.
- [36:17] His companion, four years resident, on how fast the change has been.
- [36:49] The driverless taxi: a separate app, one district only, and no known
  incidents.
- [37:53] You need a Chinese ID card to book it, which shuts foreigners out.
- [39:01] The question he asks and doesn't answer: how many jobs this removes.
- [39:32] They're cheaper than normal taxis because there's no driver to pay.
- [40:07] How Shenzhen happened — Deng Xiaoping's reforms, the first special
  economic zone, foreign investment and cheap labour.
- [41:11] The fare: 2.4 yuan, about 35 cents, for at least ten minutes.
- [41:41] On safety: cameras everywhere and no worries walking anywhere. Western
  perception is improving and still isn't close.
- [43:03] A powered walking exoskeleton, 14,000 yuan — about $2,000. Gimmick for
  him, genuinely useful for the elderly.
- [45:00] Drone food delivery at the technology park, eight outlets including KFC
  and McDonald's.
- [45:41] Twenty minutes for a milk tea — the least efficient one he's had — and a
  crowd of locals watching as intently as he is.
- [46:14] Booking rail on Trip.com and travelling on his passport, with nothing to
  collect.
- [46:51] One of the busiest border crossings in the world, with trains to Hong
  Kong roughly every five minutes.
- [48:01] Business class is 2+2, and he concludes economy would have done.
- [48:37] £14 for 14 minutes.
- [48:37] The network: 45,000 km, usually 350 km/h, 95% on-time.
- [49:07] Fares are set by distance, not demand, which he calls the fairest
  arrangement for the passenger.
- [50:43] Hong Kong's history — Britain took the island after the Opium War, then
  Kowloon for the harbour, as its gateway to China.
- [51:14] Now a financial centre on free trade, low tax and easy company setup,
  extremely dense, with extreme wealth and people priced out.
- [51:46] Rents among the highest in the world, which he flags as needing a check.
- [51:46] Cantonese identity is strong and distinct; the city feels far more
  Western, with Google, Facebook and Instagram working and much more English
  spoken.
- [52:53] The Rosewood, rated the best hotel in the world.
- [54:29] The harbour view, completely obscured by the weather.
- [55:35] The welcome gift, and free coffee against a paid minibar.
- [56:05] A full set of charging cables in every connector — the detail he says
  every hotel should copy.
- [56:35] Octagonal everything, because eight is lucky.
- [57:39] Two showers in a standard room, and a marble bathroom he rates the best
  part of it.
- [58:48] His recommendation: do all three cities, because it's the same corner of
  the world running three different experiments.

## Extracted pages

- Places: [Macau](/places/macau.md), [Shenzhen](/places/shenzhen.md),
  [Hong Kong](/places/hong-kong.md)
- Country: [China](/countries/china.md)
- Tips: [Use a transit visa](/tips/use-a-transit-visa.md)