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# The neighborhoods of the Greater Bay Area
- URL: https://larrysalibra.com/the-neighborhoods-of-the-greater-bay-area/
- Published: 2026-10-22T15:59:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-22T16:35:30.000Z
- Author: Larry Salibra
- Tags: hong kong, day-105, daily

I was in Zhuhai the past two nights. This evening, I drove back home to Hong Kong. Two weeks ago, we were in Macau on [baby's first vacation](https://larrysalibra.com/day-90-and-babys-first-vacation/). For those unfamiliar with the local geography, Macau and Zhuhai are adjacent to each other on the opposite side of the Pearl River Delta. The drive is about 80 to 90 kilometers and takes about an hour and change depending on where exactly you're coming from in Hong Kong. To put the driving time in context, this is about as much time as it takes to drive from New York's JFK airport to the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/2026/10/Screenshot-2026-10-22-at-11.44.41---PM-1.png)

Thanks to improvements in immigration and customs clearance on both sides, if you're driving by yourself and it's not a peak travel time, you barely even notice the boundaries. On the mainland China side, everything is automated and the only person you might talk to is a customs officer that briefly peers into your car and trunk. And on the Hong Kong side, entry and exit involve a 60-second stop at a manned booth similar to a toll booth.

This of course was largely made possible for me, a foreign permanent resident of Hong Kong, by the Central Government's decision in 2025 to issue us cards that serve as travel documents which enables us to travel to and from the Chinese mainland without passports. This so-called [home return permit for non-Chinese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainland%5FTravel%5FPermit%5Ffor%5FHong%5FKong%5Fand%5FMacao%5FResident?ref=larrysalibra.com) also has unlocked fully automated immigration clearance into and out of the mainland both via external borders and boundaries between the two special administrative regions and the mainland.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/2026/10/IMG_6452-2.jpeg)

All of this together has really reduced the friction of traveling around the Greater Bay Area. Hong Kong, Macau and other cities in the Greater Bay Area are easier and often faster to travel between than neighborhoods in a city like New York City or Bangkok during rush hour. The transit time is certainly more predictable!

The cities of the Greater Bay Area feel so much closer and much more accessible than they did 20 or even 10 years ago. It's almost as if they are different neighborhoods in the same massive, eclectic city. Bullish!