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Published: September 5th 2011
People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.” - Dagobert D. Runes
“We are leaving India! Thank god!” Ammi exclaimed as we boarded our Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur. She was so giddy you'd think she was a five year old on her way to Disneyland. The flight attendants eyed her obvious enthusiasm with curiosity. We left India with one sprained wrist, one mysteriously swollen face, two colds, a few extra parasites, and enough bad memories to necessitate an entire team of therapists for years to come, but we were leaving. Oh happy day! The only problem was we had heard that China is terrible from some fellow travelers. Would China be another India only much colder? We were about to find out.
Since we had already been to KL we knew that it was paradise by comparison. Modern buildings, clean sidewalks, people that don't stare at us like we're aliens, and (surprisingly) better Indian food than we found in India. We were only staying a few days until our flight to Hong Kong. We spent the time with countless visits to 7-11 (now that's what I've
Amazing architechure
Victoria Harbor Hong Kongbeen missing!) and a trip to the nearby hospital where a doctor's visit, X-rays, and prescription drugs cost less than $15. We would have to see if the doctor's advice, “Give your wrist time to heal,” would work. The only hiccup of our time there involved the day we left for the airport when I discovered someone had “accidentally” made off with my $200 Morrel hiking shoes. With a newfound philosophy of acceptance I shrugged it off, put on my sandals, and we headed to the airport. I was just happy those shoes lasted as long as did. It marked the first and only time we've had anything stolen on our trip.
The flight was uneventful, except for the landing. This particular airport is known for having terrible cross winds, which causes
planes to fly kinda sideways , but we made the landing and lived to tell about it. We found a bus to our hotel and I spent the entire time with my face plastered to the front window taking in the futuristic buildings and bridges. The difference between India and KL is the same amount of difference between KL and Hong Kong. It felt that much more futuristic. Since real estate in
Man Mo Temple
Look at all those incense sticks
Hong Kong sell for such a premium we had to stay in the Chungking Mansions which is a nice name for tourists slums, a one building hamster maze where they cram a 4 person dorm into a room not big enough for a single. We were on the 11th floor and exits are so missmashed that if there was a fire I'd probably not exert the effort to try and escape. It reminded me of a quote from the movie “Euro Trip.” “Should a fire break out due to our faulty wiring, you will be incinerated along with the valuables you have hidden in your &%*$.” After dumping our bags we headed out to see the sights and grab a bite to eat. As soon as we hit the streets we were surrounded with salesmen. “You want copy bag? Copy watch?” Meaning knock off. I noticed they were all Indian. “Oh no! They've followed us all the way here! There's no escape!”
I think the best description I've heard of Hong Kong comes from Anthony Bourdain, a famous travel chef/writer. “Hong Kong is like being inside a giant pinball machine, with fast moving objects, flashing lights, and secret passageways.”
That would be the perfect description if you added that the pinball machine's bumpers looked like dumplings, and the flippers looked like fish tails, and when you got the high score it made a Bruce Lee “Pwaaa!!” sound. I had been excited by Hong Kong for a while. I wanted to see that famous skyline with futuristic skyscrapers in the background and ancient fishing boats in the foreground. It turns out that there are no fishing boats, and the city was just futuristic, but I still liked it. Seeing that skyline at night with the light show is something each traveler should try to do, despite what Lonely Planet says. If you like architecture, this is your Graceland. There seemed to be few homeless people, and even fewer pigeons. There was a Bird Flu epidemic here a few years ago so they had to do something about the birds. What did they do with the homeless people, though? Everyone also dressed in London fashion (how did the boots with the fur ever become fashionable?) We came to call it “East London” after a while. We stayed in Hong Kong for about a week trying to get our Chinese visa. I
know Hong Kong is technically part of China, but they still have separate governments and rules and we could visit Hong Kong without a visa. I guess the Opium Wars were good for something. We were excited when we learned we could get a two month visa for the same amount as a one month, but when we got the visa we realized it was two separate one month entry visas, meaning that we'd have to leave the country and come back if we wanted to stay two months. We'd have to do our sightseeing in one month, it sounded like.
We enjoyed our time in HK, but it was time to move onwards. We had a smooth and effortless metro ride to the mainland border and crossed into Shenzhen. Breaking away from tradition, we decided that I should make the itinerary for China and Japan and give Ammi a break so she could plan our triumphant return to the states. Instead of doing the Hugging the Coast itinerary that most people do I decided it would be best to head inland and make a beeline towards Xian and its Terracotta Warriors. But first we decided to stay a
few days in Shenzhen and Guangshou, border towns of Hong Kong. Shenzhen was deemed a Special Economics Zone by the government and went from a few thousand fishermen to a city of over 14 million in a decade. It's a city that looks like it was created on an assembly line and machine-polished and cut with machine precision. It's hard to tell where you are sometimes because it all looks the same. The only problem with such rapid growth is it seems the people have trouble keeping up with the technology. We would notice people putting five bills at a time into the subway ticket machine, not understanding that they had to do it one at a time. One of the very few (but annoying!) habits that Chinese people have began to make its appearance around this time. Chinese streets and subways are usually packed, and hence you feel like part of a herd when walking. But very often Chinese people will just stop right in front of you for no apparent reason what-so-ever without pulling off to the side. After coming from India this is something so minor it hardly seems worth mentioning but it's annoying none-the-less. The only
other (very minor) annoying things Chinese people do is chain smoke, hock and spit loogies at any time, and text without looking where they're walking.
How did our friends think every thing China was terrible? A lot of the previous connotations I've had about China began to melt away. It's incredibly modern. Science learning is very important to them and they send a lot of their students overseas to study. I won't be making fun of those Asian kids who study in the Science Labs for 12 hours a day any more. Somehow throughout this technological revolution they still seem to be able to be able to hold onto their original culture without it becoming watered down. China is incredibly environmentally friendly. I thought they were one of the world's biggest polluters. Wind and solar generators are attached to a lot of street lamps. Recycling is taken very seriously. Motorcycles, buses, and some cars whiz silently by powered by electric motors. This could all be a step towards green energy or the government could just be putting on a show, after all an electric car may be non-polluting but the coal burning factory that produces that electricity isn't. Yes,
sometimes the skies are a smoggy gray and the sun looks like someone attached a dimmer switch, but it's still very inspiring about what is possible as far as green energy goes and I think other countries should look to China as an example. It makes me realize that we in America can't just go on blindly believing we're #1 in every category and coasting on the achievements of previous generations. We're gonna wake up one day and realize we've been passed by. We've also heard that the Chinese food you get in China is terrible. Occasionally you'll see dried scorpion on a kebob stick, but mostly the food was so good we couldn't get enough. If it looks tasty is usually is, and if it looks nasty it probably is, and if it looks somewhere in the middle it's usually still tasty. Peoples' opinions of the government differs, but as long as China's economy continues to rise at between 7% and 10% a year most people here seem apathetic. China is on track to become the world's biggest economy in less than 15 years. Most people see the results and aren't as concerned with what the government may or
may not be doing in Tibet or Taiwan.
Our next stop was Yangshuo, an incredibly picturesque small town with tall limestone cliffs surrounding the town like sentinels. It was here that we began to feel the Zen-ness or Feng Shui-ness of China. It has a very laid back tourist strip and a wide assortment of classes to take. The incredible hike between Xingping and Yandi (whose landscape is featured on the back of the 20 Yuan bill, or the bridge scene in Kiung Fu Panda) is incredibly scenic and makes you feel you've gone back in time. The only problem is everyone and their mothers seem to be in on the Bamboo Raft scheme. You want to say Hello to nice looking villagers but they only respond with “Bamboo raft?” The raft, which is really PVC pipes tied together, is supposed to be transport between towns. We made the mistake of asking the price. The cheapest we negotiated down to was 150 Yuan. Each. “You want me to pay $40 dollars to take a ride of a rickety boat where the guy probably spends $0.25 on gas? How stupid do I look?” We've already done the bamboo raft thing
to death in South East Asia for cheaper and didn't need to do it again. After that we pretended that “Bamboo raft?” meant “How are you?” in Chinese, and it made us feel they were being friendly.
*** TIPS FOR TRAVELERS ***
Youth Hostels are incredible in China, unlike in Europe, and often cheaper than hostels on hostel bookers. Check out Yhachina.com
Chinese are tough bargainers. The real price is somewhere between 1/10th and 1/3rd of the asking price.
Trains can be a hassle here. Check out this website for schedules.
If you're getting your Chinese visa in Hong Kong make sure you don't say you're going to Tibet or basically anywhere in the south west. Just say Beijing and Shanghai and the usual stuff. We have friends who didn't get their's for that reason.
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