When I last wrote, I gave a little preview of my experiences on the 30 hour train ride between Chongqing and Shenzhen, and I'll begin this note by finishing that description. If you recall, I was forced to switch from a bed to a hard seat because of a booking error in Chongqing. However, the switch didn't end up as badly as I thought it would.
I shared four seats with a mother and her two daughters; one was twelve, one was about two and a half. They were extremely pleasant and interesting people who were going from Chongqing to Guangzhou to see the girls' dad, who is working there. The mother was interested in my experiences in China, as most adults are, but the elder daughter had some new questions for me. She wanted to know about the lives of children in the United States. She asked me questions like: "Do parents often tell their kids that they can't do things," "When are you allowed to make decisions for yourself," "What is school like," etc.
I found the questions extremely interesting, because they seem to be exactly the type of questions, which revolve around independence and socializing, that pre-teens and early teens in the US grapple with. It was enlightening to find that Chinese youth are working with the same issues, and even more interesting to discover that they think life is completely different on the other side of the Pacific. Needless to say, I assured her that, when I was twelve, there were plenty of things that I could not do. However, I gave her a glimmer of hope, telling her that as I aged, I was given more and more responsibilities and was able to keep them, as long as I didn't lose my parents' trust. I think she was satisfied with the answers.
I passed the first night with limited and intermittent sleep. Total, I slept about 5 hours between 1:00 am and 9:00 am. When lots of others on the train began to wake up, however, sleeping became nearly impossible. Luckily, I had brought my instant coffee, and I was able to chemically fend off drowsiness.
By the morning, it had become common knowledge that I spoke some Chinese, and lots of people on the train wanted to talk to the only foreigner in the hard seats section of the train (no lie, I was the only one . . . I might have been the only one on the whole train; I didn't see any others). We walked through the standard conversation: What's America like? How is China? Is America better or worse than China? How old are you? What do you do here? How long have you lived here? Where did you learn mandarin? Et cetera, et cetera.
Chatting with people aside, the most interesting part of the train ride must have been the period immediately after a salesperson came through the train hawking a little toy. Essentially, the toy was like a snake that could be twisted into various shapes. One of the children next to me purchased the object but couldn't make the animal shapes that the salesperson had demonstrated. He seemed disappointed, so I offered to help. He asked for a bird, and I made him one. Word of this accomplishment quickly spread, and before I knew it, I had a line of Chinese children asking me to make various shapes for them. They would decide they wanted a certain shape, ask me to make it, play with it for a while, and then hop back in line when they wanted something new. It was quite fun, and a great way to pass and hour and a half during a 30 hour ride.
As much fun as I had being in the hard seat section of the train, by the evening I was exhausted. I knew that the next couple of days in Hong Kong would not afford me much time for sleep, so I made the decision to upgrade to a soft sleeper for the night. It was a good decision; I had a great night's sleep and arrived in Shenzhen at 8:00am.
I spent the morning making the journey from the Shenzhen train station across the Hong Kong border (it's possible to walk across at a place called Luo Hu) to Hong Kong Island, and I met my old friends, Sean and Nikki, for a brief period before Nikki went to work and Sean took me to lunch near their apartment, which is in a great part of town called Happy Valley.
At this point, I guess I'll link to the Hong Kong Photo Album.
My initial impression of Honk Kong was that it was basically New York City, but it's full of Asians and cars driving on the wrong side of the road (thanks to the British influence). The most amazing thing to me, however, was the fact that everything just seemed to work. Whereas China is full of traffic jams (with honking horns), negotiations, and inconveniences; Hong Kong is quiet, well-ordered, and efficient. My friend Moling's description sums up the city's situation nicely: "If Hong Kong is the China of the future, then we're all fucked." It's true. Oh, and I just have to add one more highlight: it has the full internet (not the Chinese regulated internet), including YouTube, and Facebook, and my Picasa Web Albums. Sweet.
I spent the first afternoon getting catching up on some administrative work that I had to take care of, and then Sean took me out for drinks. It was a good night out, but I came to a realization the next day when I woke up and looked in my wallet: Hong Kong, like the USA, is very good at separating people from their money.
On Saturday, Sean and I relaxed, chatted about my travels to that point, and walked about the city before joining Nikki and a friend of hers for dinner at an Indian restaurant. The food was excellent (as it was everywhere in Hong Kong) as was the service . . . another big difference from China. We had a couple of drinks afterward, but since we wanted to enjoy the whole day on Sunday, we decided to go home early to get some sleep.
Sunday was, without a doubt, the highlight of the Hong Kong trip. We all woke up at 9:30 am, went to pick up a pair of Nikki's friends, and took the ferry across the harbor to Kowloon. We shopped for a couple of hours and then had a delicious and relatively inexpensive Dim Sum lunch, complete with wontons, dumplings, and hot peppers, which by the way, don't seem so bad after eating Chengdu Hot Pot. After lunch, we spent a couple more hours shopping, and then went back to Nikki and Sean's to change clothes before beginning the best part of the Hong Kong trip: a four hour hike over the inland mountains.
Hong Kong is a beautiful island, but it's even more beautiful when viewing it from 300+ meters (900+ feet) above (see the photos). We hiked from a road in the center of the island up over two mountain peaks, and I was continuously awestruck by the views. Mountains jut out of the water forming numerous bays. Surrounding the bays are tall narrow skyscrapers, which actually add to the beauty of the natural surroundings, rather than taking away from it. On the water, boats pull water skiers, and on the roads below, buses and luxury autos roll by (very luxurious; we saw 6 Lamborghinis on Sunday). Increasing my sense of amazement was the fact that we started our hike at a location that was less than 15 minutes from downtown Hong Kong. I've never been to such a large modern city where outdoor activities are so nearby.
The hike to the peak was not easy. Actually, the rumor is that the path has more than 1000 steps going up the mountain. I'm not sure if it was that many, but it was enough to make Sean, Nick (Sean and Nikki's friend), and me sweat through our clothing on the warm sunny day; it was also enough to discourage Nick's wife from making the trek; instead, she bypassed the mountain with their dog. Regardless of the heat and the stickiness, the hike was absolutely amazing.
After hiking, we took a walk along a bayside promenade in a part of the city called Stanley. There, we saw lovers enjoying the sunset, athletes playing soccer, and kids relaxing on a sandy beach. We were still dripping with sweat, but the surroundings were so nice that I didn't even care.
The whole weekend finished up with a veggie-burger dinner at Sean and Nikki's favorite local bar in Happy Valley. The food was delicious, and the beer was cold and smooth. Both of which were made more enjoyable by the fact that we had such a full and active day. When we finished, we returned home to sleep; they had work in the morning, and I had to make my way across the Hong Kong border again to catch my train from Shenzhen to Nanjing.
All-together, I loved Hong Kong. Well, I loved everything except the prices. It was a very different experience from the others that I have had in China: much more urban, much more westernized, and much more modern. However, it was still excellent, and I want to give my sincerest thanks to Sean and Nikki for being such great hosts to me while I was in town! You two are great!
I began this post with a discussion of a train, and I'll end with one as well. The train from Shenzhen to Nanjing (my next destination), which I boarded in 90+ degree heat (30+ C), had a broken air-conditioner. As a result, I was in a train with about 30 really pissed off Chinese for the first five hours of the journey while the staff decided how to solve the problem. I do not think that I have ever sweated so much while sitting still, nor have I ever heard so much angry screaming in such a confined space before. But hey, I'm in China. It's an experience!
The problem was solved, however, when the staff decided to trade beds with all of the people in our car. Honestly, their car wasn't that much cooler, but it seemed to make my fellow travelers happy, so no complaints here. The really curious thing, though, was when I walked over to their car (my old car) the morning after we moved. It was much much cooler than our car. I won't make any accusations, but it was strange. I guess the air conditioning wasn't broken after all.
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