We've officially done Hong Kong. We've climbed the 226 stairs to the top of Lantau's bronze Giant Buddha and grazed isle after infinite isle of claustrophobic market stalls; we've dined on spicy Cantonese yum cha and tasted the salty spray aboard the Star Ferry; we've strolled through the polished ambience of Louie Vuitton and gawked at luminous diamonds on display at Tiffany's. We traipsed down every naked alleyway and peered in all the clandestine nooks and crannies - - time in Hong Kong is winding down.
The overcast gray skies seemed to taunt with smug, arrogant smirks, teasing that they alone had the power to keep us inside, hiding from the stormy, ugly weather. Most of our pictures are rain drenched and snapped during the hurried two seconds before the sun once again slinked behind it's protective cloaks. Even our pink, double pillowed and private bathroom suite lost it's appeal (having to stand directly over the toilet while showering may have cused this.) The hordes of greasy men in our downstairs lobby became clued in to our quick morning exits and seemed to huddle in groups to stand directly in our path. Yes, it was time to move on and
skippity doo da back over the border to mainland China.
We spent our last day touring Lantau Island, the largest and perhaps most scenic of Hong Kong's islands. The view from the tippity top of the hills may have been breath-taking if only I could see through the thick fog surrounding the pinnacles. The Giant Buddha itself was stunning. Rising 35 meters into the sky, it is the largest sitting Buddha in the world and is indeed a majestic sight. We could see him towering over the hilly peaks from several kilometers away even before our bus rolled to a jolting halt in front of the massive stairway. True, it was a tourist trap. Many more Chinese tourists, most included in the famous flag tours, chose to come out on this windy, dismal day than did the Westerner tourists. I suspect that they were huddled together in a Starbucks somewhere, wasting the day over expensive
double shot, extra skinny, no foam cappuccinos than choosing to be out and about, soaking up the vistas. At one point, as I was shivering in my tiny singlet on top of the 226 stairs, I wished to be there next to them.
Silly Ash for not bringing a proper jumper.
Timing our transportation back to Kowloon after our semi-freezing day was an intolerable experience. Buses and ferries are scheduled with no concern for patrons having to sit outside for endless hours in-between shuttles- a cherry on top is that there are no actual waiting rooms until you buy your ticket and pass through the gates. This would have been fine except the ticket office didn't open until ten minutes before the ferry left, a full ninety minutes later. The ticket taker, who was sipping his tea directly outside of the booth, seemed to have great pleasure in telling us to wait and wait....and wait.....until he finally finished his drink and slowly rose to take our money. By then, we were all frozen stiff and the prospects of a windy, salty sprayed ferry ride back the mainland was not a favorable proposition. Fifty numbing minutes later, it was our turn to huddle in Starbucks for the rest of the afternoon!!
Our final night in the big city left us to rush around for last minute items. One last longing visit to our favorite bakery, one last stroll along the brightly lit
boardwalk, and a quick visit to our kindly optometrist who fixed us both up with some hugely discounted spectacles. Hint - take advantage of the cheap eyewear if you ever visit Hong Kong. There are hundreds of stores to choose from and, although they all looked at me in horror when I told them my prescription, I found a cute pair that didn't turn out to look too much like coke bottles.
While on the shopping subject, we were a bit disappointed to discover that we weren't quite in the middle of a shopper's meca. Yes, there are plenty of upper market, super elite stores such as Coach, Prada, and Gucci to take well advantage of if you had the deep pockets to afford them. Cara and I browsed by the windows on many occasions, wistfully admiring the wonderful handbags, jewelry, and clothes on display. Maybe some day........but certainly not with this backpacker budget. There were plenty of street markets that crowded the back alleyways, hundreds of stalls selling everything from DVD's to underwear and whistles to books. However, most of it was just plain junk - stuff that I could easily buy at the infamous $2 store in
the States. The wonderful finds that we did chance upon were quoted to be well over the expected price and the stall auctioneers were not in the mood to bargain - at all!! While in China, we were quite use to getting pretty much anything for our asking price as long as we "pretended" to walk away with our final offer hanging in the air. Multiple times we were chased down along the street by the eager shop owner with exclamations of, "okay, okay, okay - your price okay!" Minutes later we would exit with our prize souvenirs swinging by our sides.
Not in Hong Kong - if you didn't like the first price quoted, you were frowned upon and shooed away with a quick wave of the hand. That's what you can expect from a westernized city I suppose - where there are plenty of people willing to pay the original, crazily high price. Needless to say, Cara and I didn't escape Hong Kong with bundles of exciting finds to send home to mum and dad. Sorry guys - maybe in Shanghai????
Another border crossing loomed in front of us. Back into China via the Shenzhen border crossing.
This time we were in line at 7 a.m., having hustled to pack at sleepy eyed 5 a.m. and nearly running down the darkened street to make our express bus. We were streamlined through the customs and immigration lines and were soon back in Guangzhou, shuffling along in line to buy our 26 hour train ticket all the way to Kunming (the capital of the Yunnan Province). Lucky us, they only had the squished top bunks available. However, we had no desire to hang around Guangzhou for another day and already had our bags at the train station so we gave in and parted with 333 yuan. I managed to sleep for the majority of our 26 hour ride - not sure how as I am usually wide awake for any sort of transportation, especially trains. My ear plugs came in handy as the man below me was the most enthusiastic sleeper I've ever met (i.e. - he snored horribly)! Once again, we missed the dinner cart rolling through the isle (because they eat so darn early here!) but we luckily had our stock of pot noodles and bananas. I'll never look at instant noodles the same way again after
China.
We are loving the Yunnan Province so far. Kunming is gorgeous!!! Blue, blue skies as far as the eye can see. We are finally warm and have stripped off our thermals and heavy scarves. HUMP hostel seems to be the only one available in Kunming, but we haven't ventured out to seek other places. Of course, we got lost trying to find the place, boarded two wrong buses, and walked in circles for a few hours before finally settling down on the beautiful rooftop veranda. Lijiang is the next stop on our Yunnan experience. The small Tibetan town is the starting point for the fabulous Tiger Leaping Gorge - a multiday hike through the mountains. We have an overnight bus tomorrow night - another sleeper bus if you can believe it. I swore to myself that I would never again take a sleeper bus in China and am hoping this one will be better than my last episode. Time will tell.....
China's Flag
Map of China