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Published: June 18th 2007
So apparently people actually read this blog, and I’ve gotten some flak recently for not having anything written about my time in Asia. So…now that I’ve had over a month at home to reflect on the experience here it is.
A little late, and a little long but enjoy.
With only one day to spend in the thriving metropolis that is Hong Kong, my mission was to experience the most of this city-state in the little amount of time I had. My group of friends from the ship decided to split up depending on how we each wanted to spend the day. Some chose to go to Hong Kong Disneyland (who knows why), others hunted to find rail passes for Japan, while myself and three other female friends wanted to wander around the town and maybe even do a little shopping. The design of the city seems to be one counsumer trap since even the underground walkways to cross streets or get to subways are filled with shops. Where our ship was ported was actually a ritzy mall with stores I could never afford such as Armani and Louis Vuitton, and the fanciest Pizza Hut I've ever seen.
Even though Hong Kong seems to bombard you with its consumerism, it was a nice change of pace to walk around a city so clean and affluent after coming from several countries that are still developing. I also had my first encounter with subway system, which I think I got around on quite competently even though the stops were written in Cantonese.
After an exhausting afternoon of exploring and getting our fill of markets, we took the ferry to the Main Island about 5pm where we hopped on a double-decker bus to a tram that would at some point take us to the peak of the small mountain behind the city. The Peak Tower is one of the largest buildings in Hong Kong, and was supposed to offer a magical view of the city, but they don’t tell you that it takes about an hour to get to the top since you have to ride up a series of escalators that conveniently allow visitors to stop and shop along the way. By the time we reached the top it felt like we walked out into a cloud since it was intensely foggy. Even so, the sight of Hong
Kong at night was nothing short of mind-blowing. The only way I could describe it accurately would be to compare it to a futuristic landscape full of modern and unusual architecture and skyscrapers crammed together as far as you can see.
It is quite clear why this place has been recognized for having one of the best skylines in the world. When we were through taking our share of pictures, the skies cleared and we got a great view of the city-wide light show that occurs every night at 8pm. It was hard to say goodbye to this gorgeous city so soon since I had only just gotten a taste, but knowing I was heading on a plane to mainland China the next morning forced me to call it an early night.
The next day I left the ship at 8am and was bound for Beijing via the Hong Kong International Airport, allegedly the busiest airport in the world. During the 3 hour flight I was given a seafood lunch- not half bad- and woken several times by the stewardess on the intercom to notify us that we were just hitting turmoil. On our arrival, 70 other
SAS students and myself boarded a bus to spend the next few days at Tsinghua University. Luckily, about 10 of them were close friends I had made on the ship, since we had arranged to sign up for the same university stay in Beijing. After getting assigned our rooms at the university guesthouse, which was basically a hotel, we got a tour of the gorgeous campus that was complete with ponds, peacocks, and pagodas.
We had to meet up early the next day for our full day of activities and I got my first taste of a Chinese breakfast. After taking a few bites of the stewed vegetables and meats they had out I realized my stomach was not enjoying such heavy food first thing in the morning and resigned to nibbling on a few bites of a flavorless piece of bread. I was fortunate that for the rest of our meals there would be no shortage of food, since as Americans they assumed we would have supersized appetites. At every place we ate we would sit at round tables of about 8 people and they would keep loading the lazy susan in the middle with large bowls
of rice and all kinds of meats. The food was all very satisfactory and a step above any Panda Express, but I was disappointed that they don’t really eat chow mein over there. The best dining experience I had was when we tried the traditional meal of Mongolian Hot Pot. We each had a tiny pot being heated by a fire underneath placed in front of us as well as an assortment of vegetables and lamb which we cooked in our boiling water to create a really tasty soup. But enough about food, which on review seems to be a major focus for the majority of my blogs, back to my itinerary…
The first thing on our schedule was to visit the Great Wall which was a long bus ride from the university. For a long time I have been fascinated by this world wonder and it was one of the things I was most excited about seeing on Semester at Sea. Apparently so did about 1 billion of China's 1.3 billion people. Along with its grandiose size I could not get over how crowded the Wall was with tourists. Since we only had a little over an hour before we had to meet back with the group, it made it hard to explore much of the wall. I was also a little amazed at all the hawkers along the wall who would aggressively pursue you if you gave them the slightest hint of eye contact. The abundant presence of tourists and hawkers would be a theme that would repeat itself at every site we visited in Beijing. As distracting as they were, I was still ecstatic to have achieved my goal of climbing the Great Wall, and was thoroughly exhausted by the time we had to get back on the bus.
We spent the rest of that day intermingling with the students from Tsinghua University, who couldn’t have been more polite and accommodating. They had as many questions about our lives as we did about theirs since most of them were planning to apply to grad schools in the US. Then there was a little cultural exchange of games. We taught them how to play Red Rover and they taught us a dredful version of tag called “I’m a Cat!”(which I don’t want to even describe in hopes that it never catches on here). After our dinner with them at the pizza joint on campus, two of the students my friends and I had gotten close to wanted to take us to a karaoke joint. Since we had a private enclosed room, we were able to make fools of ourselves and sang along to Disney songs and other guilty pleasures until late in the night.
The next day we went to see Tiananmen Square. It’s the largest public square in the world, although now it is infamously known for the brutal massacre that occurred there against a group of demonstrators in 1989. A block away was where the unknown protestor referred to as “Tank Man” stood in opposition to the Red Army. Apparently it is still taboo to openly discuss this event in the country and you can not even Google search ‘Tiananmen Square’ since this information is restricted. As much as I would have liked to absorb the cultural and historical significance of the place, it was a little hard when I had strangers asking to pose for pictures with me (???), or sell me a Mao watch (which of course I bought). Mao Zedong's mausoleum was actually at one end of the square, but it was closed for renovation. Sadly, I did not get to see his embalmed corpse.
On the other end was the Forbidden City, which was the Imperial Palace of the Emperor and all the wives and mistresses during the late dynasties. It was forbidden since no one could leave or enter this walled palace without the Emperor’s permission. Everything inside had wonderfully grand names such as The Gate of Divine Might or The Hall of Supreme Harmony. After appreciating the architecture and lovely gardens, I spent the rest of my time on a mission to find the Starbucks that was supposedly hidden inside. As wrong as it sounded to me at first to have a franchise like that in the Forbidden City, I was in dire need of a caffeine jolt without having coffee for two days. When I finally stumbled upon it by walking through a doorway with plastic tarp strips, my grande coffee frappachino never tasted so good.
Other memorable moments from Beijing included an impressive acrobat show, where I got to witness what 13 people riding a bike looks like, and a trip to the zoo where we were able to see the much hyped ‘giant’ pandas. To our disappointment, they were smaller than expected up close. So much so that my friends and I began to refer to them as the ‘no so giant’ pandas. Then there was an unintended visit down an alley of vendors selling all types of unusual and grotesque food, such as chicken feet and some large mammal's heart. We made a quick trip our final morning to the Summer Palace of the royal family and then headed on a flight to meet our ship that was now ported in Quindao.
I’m not exactly sure why we even stopped in Quindao. The port was a half hour taxi ride away from anything, and about the only thing to do was shop at the local Wal Mart. Naturally I ended up there as well as about every other person on SAS, only to find that they don’t accept any foreign credit cards. I spent the next two hours walking around the town trying to find an ATM that would accept my debit card . That was the last straw! Maybe I just had travel fatigue at that point but I was sick of squat toilets, the lack of any written English, the uncertainty of what I was ordering, and the dense population. By the end of the day I was ready to get back on the ship and sail away from China. That final day there was really unfortunate because it was one country I was truly looking forward to. Maybe if we had stopped in someplace like Shanghai instead of Quindao, or if we had visited it earlier on the journey and I wasn’t exhausted and homesick, I wouldn’t have been so disenchanted. On the plus side I did get to eat a lot of pineapple on a stick for less than a quarter. What a deal! In conclusion, I'd go back to Hong Kong.
Coming Soon: …Japan
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Keith Rearick
non-member comment
China
As your travels are coming to a final destination, your worldly enlightment appears to touch on a longing for home but to live in hearts we leave behind is not to die. You put a world of color in the minds of your readers in describing the travels, countries, people and events that happen along with a personal touch of your life to the life of places you are in. You appear to be so adventurous and I hope this trait stays with you in your future. We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tradegy of life is when an adult is afraid of the light. Remember, everything is but a path to something other than itself. Enjoy!