Hong Kong, Vol. II: Ronnie & co.

My first priority when we arrived in Hong Kong was to get to the tourism information board office, which had been recommended by every website or book that I had read prior to our trip. Of course, it was not open when we arrived in the city late at night, and the next day, we got easily sidetracked. When we finally made it, though, it turned out to be just as beneficial as I’d hoped.

The four of us took enough pamphlets to plan a month’s worth of travel to squeeze into the four or so days that we had left. We got maps, schedules, and coupons. And when we happened to ask a worker a few questions (What’s the best way to get to Macau? Is there a China Construction bank here?), we were met with friendliness, helpfulness, and enthusiasm from an older Chinese man who told us that he had studied in Texas. His name was Ronnie, and he was our new best friend! He diagrammed things on our maps, gave us recommendations, and even let us take pictures with him.

We finally departed and decided to go back and rest in our hostel for a bit after exploring the nearby mall first. At this point, we commenced studying our booklets and planning the next few days of our trip. We then went back out, we wandered the nearby streets and ended up finding a BEN & JERRY’S, from which I purchased the most delicious Ben and Jerry’s ice cream that I have ever tasted...mmm. Coconut Seven Layer Bar FTW! Or perhaps it was just so good due to a combination of my hunger and lack of Ben & Jerry’s over here. Hmm...whatever the reason, it was good. At any rate, Karim didn’t get ice cream, so he lured us into a McDonald’s, of all places, where we all ordered and sat for a good hour or so before returning to our room around 1 or 2 a.m.

That was one of my favorite things about Hong Kong: it truly is a city that never sleeps. No matter what time of night, you could find food, people, and transportation. That’s my kind of lifestyle! Now, if only I could convince the world to run on MY schedule and ban colleges from having class before noon...:)

Oh, and before I forget: we did try to go back a couple of times after that day and see Ronnie and thank him again, but each time, he was nowhere to be found. Sad day. But at least we have our picture!

Hong Kong, Vol. I: A Race Against Time

I’m back from Hong Kong, safe and sound. I’m not sure that I want to be, though - my trip was incredible! I’ll start at the very beginning, a very good place to start:

Last Thursday morning, I hurriedly completed my final paper assignment for Zhang Laoshi’s class while simultaneously watching the National Day celebration in Beijing on TV as an assignment for my internship (I then wrote a reaction that has probably been published by now, but I truthfully have yet to check) in the midst of last-minute packing and goodbyes to everyone. Phew!

We left only about 15 minutes late, which I would later learn was astounding for us. We went via taxi to the bus station, then rode the bus directly to the airport. Obviously, we then took a train...just kidding. We flew to Shenzhen, which is a city in China on the border with Hong Kong, and then followed some other white people onto a bus that (thankfully) took us to HONG KONG! We made our way to Kowloon, the district in which we were staying, and ended up at an upscale bus terminus/shopping center called Elements. After lugging our things around for a few blocks, we finally arrived at Cosmic Guest House in Mirador Mansions around midnight.

The four of us stayed in a room with four twin beds that are some of the smallest beds I have ever seen - thank goodness I’m short! The room itself was pretty small, too - no two people could pass in the aisle between the beds - but apparently not as small as even some of the nicer places in London, for instance. (I wouldn’t know.) Anyway, because we had to pay more to get the nicer room, which was the only quad available when we booked, we had clean-looking tiled walls and flooring, sconces on the walls, and some sort of gold throw on each bed. My favorite part of the room, though, was the ensuite bathroom area: a shower with thirteen nozzles (I kid you not!) (not that we could ever figure out how to work more than a few of them) was in the same approximately four square feet of space as the sink and was separated both from the toilet and the rest of the room via sliding doors. The toilet area was so small that your knees barely fit when you sat - again, thank goodness I am short.

We finally made it to bed - on top, not under, the sheets - and took our time getting up the next morning before wandering around the area. We decided that we wanted Indian food for lunch, so we headed to the arcade of Chungking Mansions, another building just down the road that is also full of slightly sketchy guest houses, where we had heard that good Indian food abounded. After being harassed by one too many hawkers, we decided to just sit down and order somewhere, as it was already past 2:00 and we were HUNGRY. The food was a bit pricey, but the bhindi masala and nan that I got ended up being DELICIOUS. Satiated, we headed out and were soon transfixed by Heritage 1881, a complex that we later found used to be the headquarters of some city/government offices (Marine Police, for example, if I remember correctly) and is now home to upscale shops and is apparently the place to be for either wedding photos or a bridal shop’s photoshoot. (Yes, there were that many wedding parties - we really couldn’t tell whether they were all getting married or they were models.) We looked around for a while before finally making it to the Star Ferry Pier, home of the Tourist Information building.

News from Hong Kong

Before I cause any confusion, this is Billy, Emily's boyfriend. I'm updating for Emily as of right now; she left her computer back in Suzhou, and she's on her Chinese vacation for the rest of the week.

Emily's in Hong Kong right now. She actually has Internet, but she's not in the hostel much. She's been all over Hong Kong with her friends and they're all having a good time. The trip to Hong Kong went very smoothly. She'll be posting more details about her trip soon.

China’s National Day

I just watched about an hour of Beijing’s very impressive celebratory parade for today, the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Festivities for today in conjunction with next Thursday, the main day of the ensuing Mid-Autumn Festival, apparently warrant a week’s break from classes - and I’m not complaining. Anyway, the production was very impressive, from the totally-in-sync marching to the air show to the sheer number of participants. Check out the link in the title for more on preparation, and I’m sure that various news sources will be reporting later on today’s other activities.

Hongkau

I hurriedly write this entry as I prepare to set off for “Hongkau” - the term that Kathleen and I deemed appropriate for our imminent vacation to Hong Kong and Macau. She and I, along with Caitlin and Karim, will spend the next seven days and six nights doing everything from hiking to bungee jumping (from the highest platform in the world!!) to shopping to eating to wandering the streets of these now-strange lands.

I must hurry to catch a taxi to catch a bus to catch a plane, or I would write more of my enthusiasm. Just know that I don’t plan to have Internet access again until next Thursday, so this time, when my blogging is conspicuously absent from your life, I have a valid excuse.

Wish me luck!