Hong Kong Reflections
Trip Start
Jun 18, 2008
1
38
46
Trip End
Sep 04, 2008
Shenzhen,
China
Friday, September 5, 2008
Also, even though we were slightly worried about losing Adam's translating skills as Hong Kongers speaks Cantonese--not Mandarin--we realized quickly that everyone speaks English. In fact, it was rather humbling to realize that most people are probably trilingual: Cantonese, Mandarin and English.
On our first day in Hong Kong, we had taken a bus from the Shenzhen airport, and it was the first of many times I was glad to be on a bus in order to observe the beautiful scenery. Hong Kong is comprised of a few islands and the city skyline just shoots up magnificently from across the harbors. Later in the evening, we watched the Symphony of Lights, a laser light show in which most of the buildings in the skyline participate. You watch all the electric colors light up to the backdrop of music that might as well have been the William Tell Overture for all its cheesiness.
During our first full day, we ducked out of the rain in the Hong Kong art museum. The special exhibit was from an Italian excavation site similar and near to Pompeii. I was very pleased with myself for being in China and looking at art from another corner of the world I'd already been to. What a worldly traveler I am indeed! There was also a contemporary art exhibit that looked at Chinese traditions in a new and modern way, which was interesting to look at aesthetically and critically. Especially when I realized that not that much has changed at all: artists still use scrolls as their canvases and ink artwork that borrows from calligraphy.
After the rain shower, we went to the famous and ultra-classy Peninsula Hotel for afternoon high tea. I never experienced this in England because 200 pounds for tea is outrageous, but 200 Hong Kong dollars I can afford. As I was approaching the maitre'd to inquire about a table away from the lobby's centerpiece, a day lilly bouquet (I'm allergic), he discretely informed me that my flip flops were inappropriate attire. Taken aback, I slunked out of the hotel and decided I didn't feel like drinking tea afterall. Once again, plans foiled, we ended up in Starbucks.
The rest of the afternoon, we rode around in the old tram cars that can't be more than 6 feet wide. We went east-west across Hong Kong Island which has the main business center as well as parts that look more culturally Chinese. We stopped off at a fish market with fish so fresh they were still splashing water on you, and we eventually made our way to the must-see steep hillside's moving escalator toward the posh SOHO area. We ate a delicious, albeit expensive, sushi dinner while I tried to ignore memories of the fish market from the afternoon.
On our second day in Hong Kong, we weren't too sure what to do with our time based on the weather cooperating or not. On a whim, and because I'd been feeling sick and didn't want to protest, we made plans to go to a prison museum near Stanley Beach. Stanley is about an hour's bus ride away and gives you the most breathtaking tour of the island. It's breathtaking for its water and islands scenery as well as the curvy and narrow mountain roads from the view of the front seat atop a double decker bus. Luckily for me, we never made it to the prison museum because we considered it a happy accident to have found such delicious scenery and a street market to enjoy instead. On the return trip, we sat next to an old Australian couple who pointed out Jackie Chan's hilltop, waterfront mansion to us, which I was very grateful for. They were also a pleasant reminder that the 2008 presidential elections are fast approaching and the world has its attention on America. "The world wants Obama. They want to know America has a soul."
I felt like our time in Hong Kong was too short. Not because we hadn't seen all the sights, but because I didn't have enough time to slide into the "I live here" mode where everything feels relaxed and natural. We'll return to Hong Kong before our departure flight for the US but we'll likely either be exhausted or the boys will persuade me to take a day trip to Macau, the Vegas of the East. Either way, I'll have missed the summer sales by then, but it was infeasible to pack anything more into my backpack!
