Hong Kong, concluded

Location: Hong Kong SAR, China

On Saturday night, we headed over to the Lan Kwai Fong Food and Beer Festival. The Lan Kwai Fong area is a popular night spot, and the festival made things even more crazy. They were selling beer in tall glasses by the yard, 50 HKD for the first one, and 40 HKD for a refill. The streets were filled with people, and even though it rained for a little bit, the energy was high. We had some dinner there in a Malaysian restaurant as well.

Our final day in Hong Kong was quite eventful. After checking out of our "wonderful" YMCA hotel, we went to drop our stuff off at a left luggage counter in the Central metro station on Hong Kong Island. This is actually a pretty neat station; it has counters for checking your bags for a flight, even before you take the train to the airport. Pretty efficient. Anyway, after this, we took a bus ride out to the Stanley, which is on the other side of Hong Kong Island.

One note about the metro trains: they're a group of connected train cars, like anywhere else, but on the inside, they look like one long train. It's really neat:

What's really amazing about Hong Kong is that the Kowloon Peninsula and the north side of Hong Kong island look like one of the most modern, busy metropolises in the world. But the south side of Hong Kong is very peaceful. It almost seems like a different place entirely; I felt like the sun shone brighter on this side of the island:

We walked around the Stanley Market area for a little while, checking out the shops. The Stanley Market is basically a semi-covered group of alleyways, with shops selling local paintings and crafts, as well as clothing, backpacks, watches, and electronics. It was a neat area, and we picked up some nice stuff. I got a nice painting, and Ben got some as well, and a t-shirt that said "Black Belt Jones vs. Noodles of Death", with a picture of a dude with an afro on the front. I don't really understand it.

After this, we headed over to Jumbo. Jumbo is located in the Aberdeen section of Hong Kong Island. It is a gigantic floating restaurant:

You actually have to take a small ferry boat to the restaurant, passing by a marina on the way. Jumbo is 4 stories high, and each floor has a different restaurant, taking up the whole floor. We ate at a restaurant that had local cuisine. The wait was very long, and the prices were slightly high, but the food was really good.

Finally, we headed back to the northern side of Hong Kong Island. We hung out in the malls here for a little while, before making our way over to the Mid-Levels Escalator. This is a very unique Hong Kong method of transportation. It is a series of outdoor, covered escalators, that take you up a steep hill on Hong Kong Island. It carries the record for the longest covered escalator in the world:

It's pretty neat to go up, as you pass right through local alleys, which are filled with restaurants, apartments, and shops. We took this escalator all the way to the top, and walked around some more, before heading over to the JCC, for an amazing buffet dinner. Kosher food, lots of options, and only 30 U.S. dollars.

Finally, we retrieved our bags, and took the ferry over to Macau. This ferry actually took the amount of time the company said it would, unlike the one from Spain to Morocco. The ferry goes really really fast, and gets to Macau in one hour.

Hong Kong, continued

Location: Hong Kong SAR, China

Friday morning, Ben went back to Shenzhen to pick up the suits; he had a multi-entry visa into the mainland. I used the morning to walk around some more. I walked through a park in Kowloon, which was very nice, and had an aviary. The birds were behind a caged in area, not surprising given the bird flu scare. There were some neat looking birds in the area:

After this, I walked over to the ferry area, passing by the clock tower that was once a part of the Kowloon station of the Kowloon-Canton railway (the station is no longer there):

I took the ferry again over to Hong Kong Island. The skyline is just as impressive during the day:

I took a walk over to Hollywood Road, which actually was named before Hollywood, California came into existence. It is a street lined with antique shops, and is well known for being in the film The World of Suzie Wong. I wasn't that impressed with it, honestly. I eventually reached the Man Mo temple, which is for Man, the god of Literature, and Mo, the god of war, and is used by adherents of Buddhism and Taoism. The building itself wasn't very large, but the inside was interesting, as I had never been inside a Buddhist (or Taoist) temple before. There was a lot of incense burning, and people hitting drums. What I found the most interesting were the incense burners hanging from the ceiling. Long sticks of incense had been curled up into the shape of a cone, and were slowly burning away. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures; I'll try to do so if I see more of them.

After this, I met up with Ben, and we shipped the suits to Singapore. They came out really nicely; I'm glad I had the opportunity to buy them. We then decided to see another Buddhist temple-the Monastery of 10,000 Buddhas. This temple lives up to its name, and in my opinion, it is a must-see for anyone visiting Hong Kong. It's a little off the beaten path-you take the suburban train route from Kowloon into the New Territories, and get off at a stop called Sha Tin. Once we arrived at Sha Tin, we walked over to the entrance to the temple. The path leading to the temple consisted of many many steps. Lining these steps were statues of Buddha in different poses, with different faces, different styles of dress, etc. This actually makes sense, as Buddha is not actually one particular individual, but rather anyone who has attained enlightenment and experienced Nirvana. "The" Buddha is Siddharta Guatama, who founded Buddhism. Some pictures below:

Some of the poses were really funny. A few of my favorites below:

Once you reach the top, you enter an outdoor shrine area, with even more Buddha statues around, the temple on one side, and a beautiful 8-story pagoda on the other. You can climb this pagoda, though you can't really see out the windows, as they are all blocked by more Buddha statues. Here are some pictures of the outdoor area and pagoda:


Finally, I walked into the temple. There are small statues of Buddha lining all the walls, all the way up to the ceiling. This temple is still functioning, and people were offering their prayers here as well:

This was one of the coolest places I've seen in my life. It is a great stop for anyone who wants a break from the energy of Hong Kong, as it is on a hill with great views of the surrounding area, it has a very unique and entertaining presentation, and it is relatively undiscovered by tourists. The staff of the temple were also very very nice and welcoming. At one point, I asked Ben to take a picture of me in front of the pagoda. One of the staff members started coming over, motioning about something. Ben thought that she wanted us not to take a picture. In fact, she was offering to take a picture of both of us (Ben declined; we were both kinda gross looking after sweating through the walk up).

Anyway, after this, we headed back to the hotel, and spent the night and the next day taking it easy. One more post coming up...

Hong Kong

Location: Hong Kong SAR, China

I'm glad I went to Beijing before coming here. Had I not, I would probably have been less impressed. This city is really amazing. It is very modern and worldly, but at the same time, distinctly Asian. There are probably more malls in this city than any other city in the world, because pretty much each large office building has its own upscale mall. This city is a shopper's paradise, with designer brands like Zegna, Salvatore Ferragamo, Prada, and others all over the place.

Hong Kong is made up of 4 main regions: Kowloon, the New Territories, Hong Kong Island, and Lantau Island. Most of the tall buildings in Hong Kong are on Hong Kong island, which is to the south of Kowloon. Ferries run every 15 minutes between Hong Kong and Kowloon.

We got into Hong Kong in the middle of the afternoon on Thursday. We were staying at the YMCA International House, so we took the train to what we thought was the right stop, a YMCA location right near the water in Kowloon. However, the concierge told us that the YMCA International House was actually 30 minutes walking distance north of that location. So we took a cab there. This hotel was not pleasant at all. It had a nice lobby, but the room was small and old, and the beds were hard as a rock. It may have been more comfortable to sleep on the floor. So let me just say, the Village People got it wrong-it is not fun to stay at the YMCA.

Thursday night, we ventured out to Hong Kong Island by ferry. We then made our way to the Peak Tram, which takes people to the top of Victoria Peak. From the top and from the ferry we got amazing views of the Hong Kong skyline:

As much as it pains me to say it, Hong Kong has a much nicer skyline than New York. What's more, every night at 8pm, a light show is held, with large spotlights and lasers shooting off the roofs of some of the taller buildings. We had dinner at the top of Victoria Peak, and headed back to Kowloon afterwards. The main street in Kowloon is Nathan Road; this area shows a different side of Hong Kong than Hong Kong Island. Here, the area is more distinctly Asian, with less of an international and pristine appearance. Local shops and restaurants sell local wares and foods. There were plenty of shops that had buckets of dried seafood things sitting out front, as well as restaurants cooking all kinds of weird things:

Those things in the second picture look like dried figs or dates or whatever, but they're actually dried seafood of some kind. Every time I walked past one I caught a whiff of whatever it was. It was kinda freaky; I don't know who's buying this stuff, but I hope their stomachs can handle it.

The Kowloon Peninsula is also where the hundreds of neon signs are located. It really is quite amazing; the streets are just full of them, advertising everything from Indian restaurants to electronics to foot massages:

We walked into a video game arcade off of Nathan Street, and stayed for about an hour or so. I don't know what it is, but video games are just on a whole different level in Asia. The people playing in this arcade were just so much better than I could ever hope to be at video games (that may be a good thing, depending on your point of view). I now understand why Nintendo decided so many years ago to release a "fake" sequel to Super Mario Brothers in the U.S., because they thought the real one would be too hard for Americans. The only thing I was good at was a horse race betting machine. I put in 2 Hong Kong Dollars, which gave me 20 credits. I did some betting, and won big on one of the races, putting me up to 138 credits. Unfortunately, I had not gotten a card for the game, and couldn't collect my winnings. So we called over a worker, who said something in Chinese that we didn't understand. So we decided it was just for the fun of betting-Ben then made some ridiculous bet, placing all the credits on all but one horse. Of course, that horse went on to win, and I lost all my credits. Just then, the worker came back with a card that would have allowed me to collect them. At least I learned that I'm not a bad gambler by skill; I'm just unlucky :-)

Anyway, we headed back to the hotel after this, ready to see more of Hong Kong on Friday...

Shenzhen

Location: Shenzhen, China

We flew early Wednesday morning to Shenzhen, China. This is a city in mainland China, on the border of Hong Kong-sort of like the last outpost before Hong Kong. The city has sprouted up practically overnight since the reunification between Hong Kong and China, and is definitely up and coming-there are many tall office buildings and fancy hotels being built, with many more under construction:

We stayed the Century Plaza Hotel, which may be the nicest hotel we stayed in so far. It was very close to the train station to Hong Kong, and also very close to the Luo Wu Market. This is the main market of Shenzhen, very similar to the Hongquiao Market in Beijing, except much bigger. This market I was able to get some photos of:

There are great deals to be found here-prices are a fraction of what they would be in the U.S. Ben had been here before, and knew about one of the best deals around-custom suits. The way it works is, you enter the fabric section of the store (shown in the third picture above). There are salespeople for different tailor shops mulling around the area, luring potential customers to a fabric stand. Ultimately, you find a stand, and start looking at the different materials available. These fabrics are pretty high quality; some are only available from better designers in Europe and the U.S. After picking out a fabric, you pay for it at the stand, and follow the tailor salesperson to the tailor's shop, on another floor of the market. Here, you specify the design elements that you want; single or double-breasted, 3 buttons, 4 buttons, pleated or flat pants, etc. The tailor then takes your measurements, and gives you a receipt. The following day, you come for a fitting, and then the suit is ready the day after. The total price turned out to be about 850 yuan for each suit, or roughly 113 dollars. These suits would probably be worth about 6-700 dollars in the U.S. Ultimately, Ben and I each got two suits. I got a very nice double-breasted chocolate colored suit, and a standard single-breasted gray suit. Here's a picture of us with the tailors:

Ultimately, we had to head into Hong Kong the following day, and we couldn't pick up the suits that day, so Ben had to go back to Shenzhen from Hong Kong to pick them up. Unfortunately, I shipped them to Ben's apartment in Singapore right after I got them, so no pictures of me in the suits!

The rest of the time in Shenzhen, we took it easy-walked around the market, and looked at many many different knockoff Omegas and Rolexes, DVD's, and other things that you would expect to find in a haphazard Chinese marketplace. Thursday, we headed to Hong Kong by rail.

The Great Wall of China

Location: Beijing, the Ming Tombs, and the Ba Da Ling section of the Great Wall, China

Tuesday morning, we made our way back to Tiananmen Square to catch a bus. The tickets cost 160 yuan, or about 23 dollars. They included a round trip coach bus, entry into the Ming Tombs, entry into the Great Wall at the Ba Da Ling area, and lunch. Our coach bus left at 9:30, for the Ming Tombs.

Most of the time, I try to stay away from organized tour groups. I did not think it was possible for a tour group to be more of an excruciating experience then I was used to. However, this one topped all others-the guide spent the entire hour and a half on the way to the tombs talking loudly on the microphone in Chinese.

After finally making it to the Ming Tombs, we were steered towards a cafeteria type room, and seated at several round tables. Of course, all the Westerners sat at the same table. Staff members brought out the food-various vegetables, noodle dishes, and the biggest bowl of rice that Ben and I had ever seen:


There were ten people at our table. By the time we had finished eating, we had not even put a dent in that bowl of rice.

Moving on, we moved into the Ming Tombs. The premise of the tombs is pretty interesting-these are the burial grounds of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty. However, the presentation was pretty bad. You go towards the main temple area of the tombs, and descend down into what is known as The Underground Palace. It looks more like the laundry room or basement of an apartment building than anything else. The tombs are encased in large red square boxes on one end-not very interesting, and a far cry from the mosques where the Ottoman sultans were buried in Istanbul. Other than that, there really isn't much to this area. Nevertheless, some pictures:


More fun then the actual tombs and temples of the area were the warning signs on the grounds, and their English translations. Notable ones include "Luxuriant Grass Don't Trample", "Cherish the Cultural Relic Please Don't Scribble" and "Environmental Sanitation of the Scenic Spot Needs Your Conserve". There was also this little gem:

Anyway, by 1:10pm, we were back on the bus, headed for the Great Wall. After another 50 minutes of bus travel, including 30 minutes of loud explanations in Chinese, we made it to the Ba Da Ling section of the Great Wall. Here, we were given 2 hours to explore the wall. We had the option of walking up, or paying for the cable car up to the top. We chose the cable car option.

As we were walking towards the cable car, we passed by a makeshift "zoo" set up at the foot of the mountains the Great Wall was on. This consisted of 3 different pits in the ground, in which black bears were held. Some bowls of crackers and cucumbers were left on the side of the pits, for people to toss towards the bears. This was a free attraction, and I'm sure it is probably a PETA member's worst nightmare:

After buying our ticket for 30 yuan (~4 dollars and 50 cents), and waiting on line, we got on the cable car. However, this was not actually a normal cable car, but the strangest method of conveying people from one place to another that I've ever seen:

Each person was seated in a plastic car, shown above, probably salvaged from a Chinese amusement park ride that would break several U.S. safety codes. The cars were transported up a steep section of the hill, one by one. The pictures above show this method, and how excited everyone was to be on it.

However, all the slightly strange, slightly kitschy, and slightly annoying things about the trip so far melted away once I reached the top. It didn't matter that there were thousands of tourists around, that we were in the most popular viewing spot, or that there were several shops hawking souvenirs. The Great Wall was truly an awe inspiring sight. Miles of stone wall snaking their way through the mountains, with lookout towers posted at various points. It was an amazing thing to see:

At one point along the trail, I was stopped by a group of young Chinese tourists. They motioned me over, and started to ask me about taking a picture. I said sure and held out my hand, expecting that they wanted me to take a picture of them. Instead, the actually wanted to take a picture with me. I have no idea why; perhaps I was the tallest red-headed westerner they had ever seen (this was Ben's guess-he found the whole episode pretty funny). I spent the next 5 minutes wondering what they would tell their friends when they showed them the picture.

As everyone probably knows, the Great Wall was built in order to keep Mongol invaders from advancing into Chinese territories. I was left wondering why the wall was really needed; after all, it was built high into mountains that look very treacherous to cross-I can't really fathom how Genghis Khan would have gotten his armies across. In the end though, the Great Wall was very impressive, and I definitely recommend that people see it at least once in their lifetime.

After taking the bus back to Tiananmen Square, we decided to get dinner nearby. We went to the Laoshe Tea House, which turned out to be a pretty fantastic meal. We were seated at a large table that sat eight people (though we sat by ourselves). The meal was standard Chinese fare-bean curds in sauce, mushrooms and bok choi, and other rolls and noodles. The tables had decks of cards and sets of Chinese chess, for use while waiting for the food. In addition, there were some shows on a stage in front-first of live music played by a quartet, and then, a Chinese shadow puppet show. Below are some pictures at the Tea House, and a short video of the show.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel, and got some sleep, for our early flight the next morning to Shenzhen, China...