Hong Kong, Kowloon, Kowloon Hong Kong

"Hong Kong, Kowloon, Kowloon Hong Kong" sang the cabbie as he took us to a bar on Hong Kong island. Cousin Brian and Uncle Lorne had just gotten in from the airport and where else would we go to start the trip but a dive bar? "Where you from?"
"Seattle, Washington" responded Brian.
"Oh, Seattle! U.S.A! George Bush!" The cab driver proceeded to ramble all the American cities/places he knew. "White House! New York City! New Jersey! Los Angeles!"
"Wisconsin?" I asked from the back.
No response.
A few seconds later...
"Brooklyn Bridge!"
Ouch. My pride was hurt.

The last night we were in Hong Kong we went to the Tai Po market on the outskirts of the New Territories, north of Hong Kong. We had an amazing meal of roast duck and suckling pig; it was one of the few times I felt completely in a foreign country. Then, I struck gold and it brought everything together: Pabst Blue Ribbon and a cream puff pastry. Maybe the Chinese don't know Wisconsin, but at least they embrace our culture!

In between those two experiences we had an amazing time with Lorne and Brian exploring Hong Kong. Their trip came out of a discussion in Seattle when Darren and I visited Brian over the summer. He mentioned it was too bad we weren’t going to Hong Kong on our trip, because he always wanted to go. We had no problem with the detour, and 9 months later there we were.

We spent the first day exploring Hong Kong city center and going up to the top of Victoria Peak for a view of the skyline. We walked around the city for quite some time taking in a few beers and soaking up the culture as much as possible.

The next day we traveled around Hong Kong Island to several smaller cities, my favorite of which was Stanley. It felt almost like Cabo San Lucas with its rocky shoreline, beautiful beaches and ocean front promenade. It is definitely a remarkable place I would have liked to spend a night at if time permitted.

The third day we traveled two of the outer islands, Lantau and Cheung Chau. This was my favorite day. Lantau was not heavily populated until very recently, and even then for an island twice the size of Hong Kong it only has 80,000 people on it. We took a boat to get there and then jumped on a bus to get near the top of the island, at about 2,500 feet, where we went to a beautiful temple with the largest seated Buddha statue in the world. We ate a vegetarian feast at the monastery and then headed back to the docks to catch the next inter island boat. Cheung Chau is a small island consisting of a fishing village. No cars are allowed on the island, making it a quiet and serene place with meandering narrow streets. It was only 7 miles from HK, but it felt like a world away. I am sure that during the summer months it is extremely busy, but given that we were there during the depths of their winter (about 60 F) we had the place to ourselves.

The last day we took it pretty easy and headed to the National History Museum. It was extremely enlightening, but left us with quite a few questions. The most interesting part was the spin on the controversial parts of Chinese history, e.g. Taiwan and Tiananmen Square. After deciding we had enough learning for one day, we headed to a British pub in the Lan Kai Fong area of HK. It is a really upscale area with great fusion restaurants and really cool bars. I would have to qualify it as posh. While it may not fit with the normal back packer gig, we were in Hong Kong; I mean, people in Chicago don’t just eat hot dogs and deep dish pizza… We watched a little of the Aussie Open then decided to get some more local flavor in the New Territories north of Kawloon. We jumped on a train and took it to Tai Po. We walked around the city, got lost and found a really great market. Butchers were chopping up their meat, fisherman had pools full of live seafood, and there were vegetables galore. We found a great little restaurant and had our fill of food. We headed back to the city and said our good byes to Uncle Lorne and Cousin Brian. We had a great time with them and it was fantastic that they could make it. It wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun without their company.

As for Hong Kong, it was a beautiful place with amazing people and culture. Leading up to the Olympics I have seen a lot of press coming out of Beijing and coming from Westerners labeling the Chinese culture as “pushy”. I would have to strongly disagree. The most dramatic difference is just the complete lack of personal space. While on subways or in lines in the West, you give about a foot or two of distance. This completely disappears in China. Combined with aggressive city living, it leads to a conflict with a lot of “common courtesies” in western culture. Either way, Darren claimed that I should look at it as cultural relativism and still keep my western habits of giving way and personal space. I said forget it and adopted Darwinism, adapt and survive!

We also found it was incredibly easy to get around. Darren and I are definitely appreciating that, as over the next year not every city will be this easy. But, that will start after Kuala Lumpur, as we are meeting up with my friend Kim and she is going to be our guide to KL! Anyway, the plane is boarding and we need to get on, so you’ll hear from us after KL…

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