North to South/HK First Impressions

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Feeling a little nostalgic, and I’d like to say excited, but mainly it was the dreading feeling you get just before you start a long day of travelling. Beijing to Shenzhen (China-HK border), then HK (Hong Kong) and the definite hour search for my speck of a room.

My journey starts as I get in the car after overly romanticizing my farewell to my room, dogs, and comforts of home…. All to come back 5 mins later to print out my e-ticket, then rush out like a schoolboy who woke up late. Hmm sounds familiar. This was accompanied by the check in lady soullessly telling me that my bags were overweight, which lead to a giant 麻烦 ma fan (hassle) which included me annoyingly waiting in about 5 lines before I could get my boarding pass.

After all that commotion, I was quite pleased to find out that I was travelling China Southern. I usually don’t critique airlines, as I like to think myself a simpleton, but I must say that China Southern Airlines previously has not disappointed me. This is most probably due to the fact that it’s got the word “China” in it, and so born from experience I know not to expect anything that has the name “China” in it. However I have been delightfully surprised that it wasn’t cheap, uncomfortable, or annoying the previous few times I flew on it.

My lucky streak had to stop one day, and I guess today was that day. My in-flight experience was along the lines of cheap, uncomfortable, and annoying. Cheap in terms of food, as I’m quite convinced that the chicken I ordered wasn’t Chicken. Also the seats were ridiculously uncomfortable… Just think of something really really super uncomfortable and then turn it into a tangible object and now sit on it. That was my seat. And I must say, I was quite annoyed. I was sitting in a row of three seats, which fortunately for me, seemed to be the only row of three seats that had a spare seat in the middle. I was in the isle, and the other passenger was on the window seat. Proper airplane etiquette would be to either share half the middle seat, agree on terms and conditions, or if none of the parties are willing to do any of the aforestated then leave the seat unoccupied. The window seat occupant obviously wasn’t informed on this or simply an anarchist, and didn’t appreciate my gesture of placing my baggage under the seat in front of me, when she dumped all her possession on the no mans land seat. Dare I say, it was an act of true madness, and I was shocked and silenced. Well I hope she desperately wanted to go to the bathroom, because after this, I made sure that I slept and blocked any means of passage to the isle.

After 3 hours of pretending I was asleep, I arrived in Shenzhen. All I have to say is that it was damn hot. Actually there’s a couple things; along with this, Shenzhen was a pretty unique city as from what I had read previously, but seeing for myself as the cross border bus sliced through the city was something else. Apparently before the 1970’s this place was a small fishing village, but has thrived from the economic libertization that the Chinese government has given it, and shot up as quick as a 6 year old builds a city with his legos. And to throw in another China fact, it has the highest GDP per capita in China. That pretty much means the people here got the cash to go with all this development. This along with the evidence kept my eyes fixed outside the window and not distracted by a good book. In the midst, of my admiration, I was reminded that I was still in China after an idiot in a car cut the bus off, and was saved from crashing or taking the wrong exit by the obvious years of experience by our driver. I also noticed he didn’t like seat belts. But I too steered back to my more positive tracks of thoughts and left Shenzhen’s border with enlightenment of what happens when you put masses of people, mixed equal masses of construction, all baked with rawness and energy of a capitalistic/socialist nation.

It was surprisingly simple to get out of Mainland China. I suppose anything helps in trying to get the population number of 1.3 million to be controled, even if that means fast tracking a few thousand leaving to HK.

As I embarked on a similar bus once in HK, I could immediately tell that I wasn’t in China, but there was a feeling that it was catching up fast from what I had previously seen. I got dropped off at a district called Jordan (my new home for the next month and a bit), which was ever so appropriate. And so the walking around in circles began, with periodic stop in air-conditioned shopping mall entrances for the next hour and 37 minutes in my hunt for the needle in the haystack.

Besides sweat and frustration of carrying my overweight luggage in conquering a billion stairs and alleyways, my new home was found. Though no larger than a standard bathroom, it was quite cozy, and I immediately christened it with some non mainstream music one can only find on youtube.

I was/am excited to see what this place has got to offer me, and equally excited to meet up with Elissa.

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