Hong Kong, Part III

Wednesday. Today we have a lot of ground to cover but again we’re stymied by a highly recommended noodle shop that has since been turned into a Yoga salon(?). Opted for what turned out to be amazingly authentic gourmet burgers at a place called GBU complete with fries, onion rings, Coke with real ice, and U2 blasting through our skulls because someone told the Chinese that American’s love their music LOUD! Did some more trinket shopping...

Walked a while until we found the cable car that takes us to the highest point on HK island, Victoria Peak. The Peak is home to stiff breezes, dazzling hikes and scenery, and up until 1888 people were hauled all the way up to their mountain estates in sedan chairs by burly Chinese slaves. Today it is a 10 minute cable car ride that is alarmingly steep and slices through lush forest topped off with breath taking views of the city for as far as the eye can see. Madame Tussaud has a wax museum up here but we skipped it and had coffee and read an English newspapers instead while looking out over some of the world’s most expensive real estate.

Back on the sidewalks, we skipped over to the docks again and took the ½ ferry ride over to Lamma Island. Lamma is a leafy, low-stress island where no cars are allowed and the seafood is so fresh it may still be flopping around when it comes to your table. This place is more casual and laid-back than Key West and it was a nice break from the chaos and noise of HK. I had some fish n’ chips at least four inches thick and Jenn had a pasta dish with free-range chicken. We ate in peace and listened to the light waves while Jenn made plans to get the most out of our last night here. The ferry ride back was choppy and clouds were rolling in but the views were enjoyable because the city was just lighting up for the evening.

For our last bit of HK, we struggled through a 45 minute stop and go cab ride to the Happy Valley racecourse. HK is crazy about their horseracing! This place used to be a malaria-ridden marsh but now it’s a monster of a racetrack. It is the only legal gambling available here (you have to go over to Macau to hit the tables and pull slots and roll dice), and in just one season of racing here HK’s spend about 91billion HK dollars. That’s only about 11 billion in US but you get the idea. In ONE season.

It is a gorgeous track and for about 10 HK (less than $1.00) you get a racing form in English and access to the front rail infield, everywhere but the upper balcony executive boxes, and we could smell the horses flying by us for each of the eight races this evening. The party is at the infield on Wednesday nights and tonight is foreigner night apparently because we don’t hear any language other than the Queen’s English and our English for a few hours. We bet on the ponies, won a few and lost a few more, but end up having a great time although we did lose a little money - which I guess is the irony of gambling anyway. Incredibly beautiful track and the light rainy drizzle made the night air sparkle and the grass almost glow.

As we headed home, hopped off the tram and had one last western dinner at the Spaghetti House where the bbq ribs were fall-off-the-bone good and Jenn had some spaghetti with meat sauce that was equally as delicious, along with some light and tasty garlic bread. Got home late and looked out over Victoria Harbor and called it a vacation.

As we were leaving we had to convert the rest of our Hong Kong dollars back to Yuan that we can use back here in DanYang. I put some pics of the money in the blog because I believe it is some of the most beautiful I have ever seen.

We said goodbye to Hong Kong both agreeing that we could live here easily and that we would research teaching jobs when we were ready to cross that bridge again later next year.

Will write again after the 22 hour train ride back to Shanghai and we get back to our quiet town in DanYang.

Zie Jiang

This is West Hong Kong island, an area that they call the Central area. There are thousands of these shops in this district that sell anything and everything related to seafood. Shark's fin soup is the specialty here along with other edibles that I could not recognize.

The shops were spotless, well-lit, and everything they sell is extremely organized and easy to read (in Cantonese of course).


This is an area called Soho, this is around lunchtime and it is bustling with both ex-pats from Britain and USA, etc. right along with huge crowds of hungry Chinese. We had a gourmet burger here that was the best we have had in China, a place called GBU. Also a good area for shopping.


A typical street scene, busy, hot, crowded, but fun and lots of energy. We loved the old neon signs and you can imagine how cool they look at night all lit up!


This is Hong Kong island as seen from a ferry as we head over to a small island called Lamma. There is a whole village full of ex-pats and locals and they are known for their fresh seafood restaurants. We ate. They were right. Delicious!


Hong Kong island, North West area as seen from Victoria Harbor.


This is a special boat used just for Dragon Boat races, a very popular sport here in China. The boat is filled with men who paddle like crazy - it is huge here. They also have these races in Tampa believe it or not...


This is the bay of the small island, Lamma. It was basically paradise here, albeit quite remote. There is a school and as we got off the ferry we were mobbed by dozens of school kids all in their little catholic uniforms, long hair, speaking English with Australian and British accents. Reminded us we really are world travelers...


This lady stood out here on the rocks and fished for about 3 hours, her basket was full when we left. She was pulling in small, silver fish that looked like mullet. I'm sure they are tasty because they eat everything from the water here.


Some of the seafood from one of the restaurants. You just walk up, point to what you want and they throw it on right there for you and voila, you've got a meal.


There is a temple on the island, believed to be over 150 years old. It was burned down in 2004 but the villagers, about 5,500 of them helped rebuild it. These are large coils of incense that burn for hours...


This is the favorite sport of Hong Konger's - horse racing. Happy Valley racecourse is hugely popular and it's the only legal gambling available here on the island.


For a small entrance fee you can stand right on the rail and watch the ponies warm up for each race (these guys are headed to the starting gate) and once they are off you can feel the hoofs thundering by you - it is a fantastic evening and a gorgeous racetrack.


The real race, we won a bit of money on this one...


I thought the money in HK was just beautiful. This one has the phoenix on the left, which is one of the symbols of royalty (emporers) here.


Check out the detail in the huge lion head on the left of this 100 HK note.


An interesting mix on the 50, a combination of a dragon and a sea turtle...:)


There are some scenes on their notes too...this one is an ancient pic of HK island...the pic doesn't show the detail - amazing.


The blue fish almost looks like a dragon too..


This scene is taken from the top of Victoria Peak. There is an additional plaza that is on the very top of the peak that offers splendid views for just a few cents xtra. The tram is one of Hong Kong's best achievements.

Hong Kong, Part II

Tuesday. Got up early and went for a run, well, a trot, to be right in the middle of things as the city wakes up. I try to do this when I can as it never fails to reward me with a more pure, i.e. authentic, view of the culture, whether it is Manhattan or Shanghai or here on HK island. We need to get acclimated quickly, if possible. It didn’t take long for both of us to realize we are isolated all over again here in HK – they speak Cantonese here so none of our Mandarin works anymore!

With nearly 7 million people crammed into about 1,000 sq. kilometers (about 425 sq. miles) here, to say it’s densely crowded here does not adequately describe the sensation of being devoured by mobs of people – thank goodness neither of us is claustrophobic (we simply could not function here if we were.) Our best analogy so far is that of being dropped into the middle of gigantic schools of fish.

Thousands and thousands of silver, yellow, black fish swarming and churning and rolling their way through life; If one turns suddenly the entire group follows instantaneously with lightening fast precision, and although it seems impossible, there are rarely any collisions of any kind. Huge schools meet each other head-on and pass without incident, without even a glance or wince of danger – hell, most don’t even look up from their cell phones or I-pods or walkie talkies or papers.

It’s as if each has been blessed with some sort of radar, a powerfully intuitive group radar, which must come with a Chinese birth certificate. Bodies dart, zig, or zag just enough to avoid what, elsewhere around the globe, would invite certain physical damage. But here in China, HK especially, mere fractions of inches seem to allow for the masses to propel themselves as fluidly as water flowing around a stone.

This is the financial district so there are not many historic building left since the Brits took over in 1841 and began rebuilding the city through reclaimed real estate. I manage to chop and glide my way down from the Central section Eastward through the harbor sidewalks and side streets for a few miles, all the way to Statue Square; in memoriam to The Glorious Dead from WWI, the only real historic sight other than the impressive new office army of buildings that caress the heavens.

It’s stifling-crowded here, think NYC on steroids, and my stroll takes me by store after store teeming with owners and wives’ of owners (the real bosses here) who wrangle and supervise dock workers unloading truck after truck of soft and hard goods into marine supply storefronts (that’s HK for “we sell anything and everything that swims or lives in the water”).

Streams of shirtless men and burly women work quick, sweat hard, and are strangely silent as they carry sacks of rice, grains, boxes of deep fried somethings, and all sorts of dried delicacies (at least they are here), using dolley’s, hand carts, and makeshift containers loaded to maximum, and then at least doubled up to save a trip, into these tiny stores. They claw and maul their way from the street into the stores with supplies, dodging and weaving their way directly through a sidewalk-thick flow of Chinese and foreign businessman and women marching valiantly towards their office buildings.

This area of HK is all big money and ambition. With their comical, “place to go and a short time to get there” grimaces plastered on their faces, most of these drones are decorated in the same outfits; Navy blue casual suit, brown shoes, the free Daily Standard from Britain, a latte in one hand and a cell phone to the ear in the other, and the ubiquitous white iPod earbuds dangling around their neck. The women wear white blouses but pretty much look the same. It looks like NYC at lunchtime but one good whiff of these streets reminds me that we are far far away from NYC.

Glazed, fatigued eyes betray an otherwise smart appearance and once again I’m grateful for my decision to have left the 9-5 office jungle for greener pastures and I daresay, more adventures. Today I’m just a tourist here and I like it that way. For their part, they ignore the bald foreigner, as does the rest of the city.

I ogle the locals and am empathetic to the worker bees as I make my way to grab some coffee and head back to the hotel to wake Jenny. I did not cause, nor did I see, one collision nor hear not one loud word – this place is so polite, so amazingly efficient, and brimming with tact and manners it’s almost eerie. It’s civilized China; a dazzling mix of the old regime adopting the new.

Today we decide to walk some more, then grab some lunch, then hop on one of the plentiful buses and trams that take up most of the city streets, which are at least 2x as wide as most cities to accommodate all the traffic and pedestrians.

HK is an unusual amalgamation of British efficiency on the outside; barely holding down the frantic animal that is modern China on the inside. It is divided into four distinct sections and we are on the main island, which is small in comparison to Kowloon located a stone’s throw across the harbor, then there are the hundreds of outlying islands, and then the New Territories.

We don’t know what most of these folks do for a living but they sure look busy. We walk past hundreds of storefronts selling things we can’t even identify each tidy and neat with a steady stream of men and women coming in and out, but these are not customers, or even hawkish buyers. We don’t see anyone buying anything, just loading them up all morning, day, and night. Probably selling to restaurants is our best guess so far....

Many of the same stores can be seen in Shanghai but here in Hong Kong they are much more organized and clean. British-tidy we call it. And if you ever wonder if shark’s fin soup really is hurting the masses of sharks out there, by any estimation our answer is undoubtedly yes. Thousands of boxes of fins just on one street alone, displays cases stuffed to the brim with the largest (about 5ft high, to the smallest no larger than a coke can) with hundreds of markets selling all varieties and at shockingly high, and low, prices too. They are laid out to dry in the sun and then sold out of large barrels, boxes, whatever will hold them. We won’t try the soup just because it’s obviously damaging the species and we’re basically hippies these days...:)

The sensible British installed trams (in the US we call them trolley’s), these pint sized double-decker buses go over every inch of HK and for the paltry sum of $2 HK dollars (about .30) you can ride to the end of the line in any direction. These trams are plentiful and efficient and we sat on the top and just watched the city go by below us for hours until we got hungry.

We make our way to a noodle shop that is recommended in TripAdvisor only to find it has been replaced by a posh hair salon. Not to be deterred, we lower our heads in shame and shuffle over across the street for another quick round of McCafe. Sometimes it’s just too strenuous and stressful to navigate a menu in Chinese and go through all that. And yes, it was delicious.

We both need clothes so we rummage through a street market shopping area and find some cheap stuff for both Jenn and I because they have our sizes here, and they don’t have anything close to our sizes in our home city. The prices are good, around 8 – 10 US for shirts, pants, tops for Jenn – we are pleased with our finely honed haggling skills.

We map out and eventually locate the bus exchange, jump on the 75 and relax on our way over to an infamous harbor here in HK called Aberdeen. It is named after the sister city in Scotland, where I just happened to live for two years (well, about an hour and a half North closer to the highlands). This harbor is famous for the sampans that local fishermen use to work the waters and also from a James Bond film where he is hopping around sampans and shooting bad guys. It is also home to the world’s largest floating restaurant, Jumbo. It’s kitschy and HUGE, and the dim sum was forgettable, but we are famished and just not up to arguing about getting charged not only a VIP surcharge but also an additional tax on our bill. Sometimes we just can’t help being tourists...Go for the views, not the food.

Made it back home in time to grab a party-nap and then put on some flashy, “we know how to party if there is one around” clothes and hit the HK party district. Lan Kwia Fong (Orchid Square) is home to the trendiest pubs and hangouts in HK and like Shanghai, it’s basically where all the folks who are not from China go to get their drink on. We had beers with names we haven’t seen in months, chat in English without having to pronounce every-single-word-clearly and well, end up drinking too much. The cab ride home was quick and cheap, just like this section of town.

More tomorrow...

Just a street shot showing how everything in this city points up! The city is really jam-packed to the maximum so, as in Manhattan, we spent most of the time walking around looking up.


Taking a break on the bus for some cheeze...


The Chinese are a bit shy so I end up taking more street scenes and landscapes than candid people shots (my favorite)...street scenes are easier there though because there is never a lack of subjects...


The mass transit in HK is fantastic...buses come by every 3 minutes and cost about .20 cents to ride to the end of the line...the trams (green cable cars) are a throwback from the British colonization and they are even cheaper (.10), but they make more stops so they are not as efficient but you can sit on the top and really enjoy the views of the cities. And then there are the ferries that speed everyone over the water to the outlying islands, etc..they are cheap, dependable, and fast.


Typical side street where a market has blossomed...


This is the small area called Aberdeen and it is famous for one of the James Bond movies (who knows which one?), and the constant flow of sanpans (the ubiquitious Chinese fishing boats) zipping in and out of the harbor area, along with the largest floating restuarant in the world; the Jumbo. The view was great, the place smelled of diesel and fish, we were hit up incessently by boat women (the women own the boats here) for a ride around the harbor, and they ripped us off at the Jumbo restaurant by charging both a VIP surcharge (2x) and then an additional tax. All in all, still not a bad day in HK though...:)


Some fish spread, out, to advertise the days catch from one of the sanpans...


This is a sanpan (meaning three planks in Cantonese); small, easily maneuverable, smelly, but you just can't say you've been to Hong Kong if you haven't seen one of these, or a thousand...


The view of the nicer part of Aberdeen harbor showing how the rich people, and the poor people, live in Hong Kong...home of the world's most expensive real estate; top price in the best area is $5,500 per square foot.


The infamous Jumbo restaurant...much nicer inside than you would expect, but the food was forgettable and I already mentioned the additional charges for tourists...:(


Jenny spotted this graveyard on the way to Aberdeen. Rarely will you see graveyards in all of China because space is at a premium and there is the water table to think about, in addition to cremation being the method of choice. Don't know why this one is here but it was remarkably beautiful and serene...


This is a widely talked about bar in Lan Kwai Fong, which means all tourists and ex-pats come to this area of town to get drunk and speak slurred English...La Dolce Vita..they have a great reputation but was a bit of a disappointment on this Tuesday night, but there were a dozen or so other bars waiting for us so we moved on after a beer...


Speaking of night life...this is just one small street in the Lan Kwai Fong area...needless to say we don't have these kind of options back home in little DanYang...we got up later than expected the next day, and that's all I'll say about that...:)

Hong Kong Adventures, Part 1...

For our first evening in Hong Kong we were salivating at the thought of having some infamous dim sum at The Palace, which was recommended from one of my favorite blogs, Anthony Bordain's No Reservations on the Travel Channel...unfortunately they only serve dim sum for lunch but we had a fantastic authentic Chinese meal, then headed out to Lan Kwai Fong for some beers and some fun. We found both in copious amounts...

This morning we slept in, then had some very tasty McDonald's burgers and fries (the best in China yet) then hit the subway which runs under the Victoria Harbor and over to an island (there are over 200 here) called Lantau. Lantau is home to the Po Lin Monastery featuring the largest seated outdoor bronze Buddha in the world, over 100 feet high and HUGE.

The cable car was quite an adventure in itself, easily the longest and highest we have ever been on - spectacular views of Lantau and Hong Kong International Airport.

The Buddha is impressive to say the least. We climbed exactly 208 stairs and enjoyed the peace and quiet despite a fairly heavy crowd of Chinese and Westerners. Pictures say it much better than words...

After relaxing with the big guy we headed back to the subway and got out in Kowloon which is directly across from north Hong Kong island separated only by the harbor. We were still craving some dim sum and on another recommendation from TripAdvisor we ended up walking about half an hour to the Marco Polo Prince hotel and right across the street is Sweet Dynasty.

Hong Kong is famous for their dim sum and we were not disappointed a second time! We whoofed down several plates of some of the best dim sum ever; lightly fried pork filled dumpings, small egg roll wrappers stuffed with shrimp and dipped in sesame seeds, slices of peppers, eggplants, and taro root filled with cheeses, and some of the richest, smoothest tea in China.

With our bellies stuffed, we headed down to the harbor to watch the light show at arguably the most famous skyline in the world. We both agreed we have seen no other city that comes close to the beauty and breadth of Hong Kong harbor, and it is certainly the longest, stretching almost 180 degrees from left to right...gorgeous.

After a few beers at Felix, an uber-chic bar at the top of the Peninsula Hotel with a view so stunning it literally took our breaths away, we trotted back down and hopped on the Star Ferry and were back on Hong Kong island in less than 10 minutes.

Our first day here also happened to be the hottest on record in the last 100 years for this day in April, and we barely broke a sweat - guess we are used to hot weather being from Tampa...the whole day confirmed that now Hong Kong is our favorite city in China, but we will always have Shanghai...:)

Here are some highlights...

Hello Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong...

As I write this I am looking out at the view of Victoria Harbor from the 15th floor of our hotel. It's foggy this evening but that isn't dampening our spirits one bit as we are enjoying a bottle of Penfold's Shiraz/Cabernet, dancing around our hotel room to the Black Eyed Peas blasting from the ipod portable boom box provided by the hotel, and Nancy Pelosi is gloating about something pseudo-democratic on CNN. Yep, definitely not in DanYang anymore...we are in hot, sexy, neon-rich Hong Kong.

Hong Kong! Special Administrative Region. Juilong...

As with practically all communications from our host schools here in China, I got the word that I didn’t need to teach for the whole week ahead, late last Thursday evening. I told Jennifer the good news but it seems she had not been told any such thing by her school. Hmmm. So with the opportunity of nine days off to explore the country dangling like a dumpling in front of us, Jennifer called her host, Cynthia, personally, and after some wrangling and hemming and harrumphing Cynthia confirmed that indeed, we both have the next week off due to student exams.

Okay, it was late Thursday night, and we did have to confirm the information otherwise we would not have been told, but, we looked at each other and just grinned like two fat cats who were sharing a canary – all of the sudden we had nine days off to explore China! And although frustrated, yes, we know they are not irritating us on purpose; our hosts simply have no concept of planning and preparing so to let us know any more than absolutely necessary and not until the very last minute possible is simply not on their list of priorities. It’s just the way things are here and we deal with it be being very flexible and thinking fast on our feet. Yes!

So within a few hours Jennifer had put together a nine-day trip starting with a quick 40-minute train ride from our lovely city, DanYang, to Shanghai for an evening in our favorite city so far, and then our adventure really began – at Shanghai we hop on a fast train (with sleeper) for a 20-hour ride from Shanghai through some of the most sceneic and beautiful provinces in China; Zhejiang, then Jiangxi, and Juangdong, until we eventually disembark at Kowloon, one of the four distinct sections of Jiulong (Hong Kong).

Although it would be deliciously convenient, we are not able to purchase train tickets all the way to Hong Kong from our little city, so we agree to pack for the best and hope for more good luck and plan on buying our tickets once we are in Shanghai. For my part, I volunteer to navigate the treacherous Shanghai train station which means I end up standing in three different lines, over 40 minutes in each, until finally shuffling up to the window where I use every Chinese word I know and some I even make up to go with my sign language and thankfully(!), walk out with two tickets (655 yuan each, about $85 ea.) in a soft sleeper, which means a small room with four bunk beds (luxury here in China!). On the way home we hit a Pizza Hut and have a huge Supreme, original crust, and some Heinekens to celebrate our fleetfootedness!

Yesterday. We are feeling quite worldly and pleased with ourselves as we haggle with the vendors around the train station and pick Jenny up two sexy, hippie-traveling-the-globe sort of way, gauze skirts that you see on granola-eating tree huggers everywhere these days. We roll our little caravan luggage to the station and then calmly and efficiently jostle and elbow our way in the early Spring Shanghai heat through the crowds to the immigration screening and deportation process to get over to the Special Administrative Region known as Hong Kong.

Once screened, departure-formless, stamped, and approved, we are herded through a maze of tunnels and end up pushing our way to the front in the waiting room, nestle in with our luggage and look at our passports.

We giggle like school kids on an all-day field trip as we compare passports. The blue, black, pink stamps and seals and visas, all in different languages and codes, are beginning to look like the graffiti of jet-setters, world-travelers, explorers. I take a light nap while Jenny reads up on our destination and a few hours later we are rolling our luggage through a puddle of urine left by a toddler who couldn’t wait, and why should he(!), find our sleeper car, and are elated when we meet our traveling bunk mates, a young couple from Argentina, who speak better than average English, who are backpacking their way down to Thailand, from Shanghai via Hong Kong.

So we had a good train trip, got to speak some English and catch up on a few episodes of our latest obsession, ABC's Lost!, and now we are putting our first evening in Hong Kong together, after a much needed nap.

Talk soon...