Shanghai, Hong Kong, and final thoughts

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For that last Silk Road entry, I'd been writing those thoughts and experiences down on buses, hotel desks, night train windowsills, in a notebook as they happened to me, as they were fresh in my mind. As for the last few days of the trip, I knew they would be too busy for that, so I decided to go out and experience the pair of Chinese metropolis cities, Shanghai & Hong Kong, for what they were and worry about putting it into words later.

Well, coming back home is making me face a lot of those "worry about it until later" sort of things--I'll be spending all day today looking for apartments, I still need to find transportation, a job and/or internship, get my textbooks, write a CHI294 essay...

So I'll do the best I can right now, while I have some free time, to explain those last few typhoon days, and what the trip meant to me as a whole. But I won't be able to do them justice--I can't tell you how the Shanghai skyline looks at sunset while you're standing on a bridge over the bay, missing your family and friends, but knowing that as soon as you get home, you'll be missing this, and the locals around you, the old Cantonese women selling cantalope slices on the street corners and bricklayers riding their bricky bicycles home through the city. Me trying to describe memories like that for you is completely inadequate. The pictures do a better job of painting the scene (a link to some 500 new ones is at the end of the "Silk Road" entry), but still, there really is no substitute for travel but travel. That's what knowledge I gained most out of coming to study in China, that reading books or watching History Channel specials about your interests is great, but the best way to realize your passions is to snap out of that daily routine slump and go. Go. Experience it yourself. Travel. Go to China and find that same skyline, or a better one. Or go to somewhere else, I know I will. Don't make me do all the globe-trotting and picture-taking; there's so much to see and interact with and we're cheating ourselves if we don't take the chance.

Shanghai

Arrived in the city by 15-hour night train from Xi'An in the early afternoon, travelling from central to coastal China in one fell swoop. Welcome to Shanghai, home to 20 million, the most populous city in most populous country in the world. It almost seems like a different country from Xi'An, the move from cultural to commercial hub, Mandarin to Cantonese, past glories to modern-day politics. We've got an entire metropolic to explore and only two days to do it--better get to it.

After hanging out briefly and exploring the amenities of our new hotel (exchanged some money and picked up a city map at the front desk), I took to the streets with my headphones, camera and a notebook, hoping for inspiration or imagery or at least a few good hours on my own. Picked a direction and went, no real destination in mind, figuring, "it's a brand new city, something along the way is bound to be exiting to me."
And after maybe half an hour, I ran smack into the People's Memorial Column, China's rough equivilant of our Veteran's Memorial Wall in D.C. A giant three-pronged spire jutting upwards, surrounded by a curved decorated wall, wrapping the area up cozy with propaganda images and patriotic zeal. In most places we've been, especially those semi-autonomous regions up north, I wouldn't have guessed them part of a Communist or post-Mao state if I hadn't already known. It's just not really brought up socially, pro or con. Even in Beijing, the capital, the only manifest displays of Mao or the Revolution I saw were at Tiananmen Square, and I lived in the city for a month and a half. But Shanghai is Red as a beet, and that '50's-style patriotism still has its place here, in a way it hasn't in the other Chinese cities I've visited. Stumbling across the People's Memorial was therefore a bit of a surprise to me, but still quite the sight to see.

Came back to the hotel after dark so see what everyone else had planned for the night, and what else are college kids newly arrived in Shanghai to plan but dance clubs? We asked around and found out about a bar district towards the south of town (hotel was in Shanghai's northwest corner, by the river). Time to saddle up, boys, time to hail some taxis.
After some drop-off confusion, Wes/Dan/Dave/Hao/Kyle/Ryan & I all met up on this nightlife street, and were stunned by the amount of Íâ¹úÈË(foreigners) emerging from or disappearing into cabs all around us. This must be the tourist district, we thought as we explored the nearby joints. A bunch of cabana-themed bars, some lame music, lame pub&grubs...even a T.G.I Friday's. There were a couple good places to just sit and talk, which we did for awhile, but most of us wanted to dance more than sit, so we eventually walked back out into the city.
We were getting frustrated with the main drag but noticed some of the side streets had clubs as well, and thought to try our luck there before giving up. Good call. Found a basement place with an industrial inner design and deliciously pounding hip-hop bass. More importantly, all locals and free, the best signs of a good dance club. So we tranced our bodies out until about 2, when Dave and I decided to round up the gang and head home--as great as the club and the dancing was, we all had plans to jam-pack the next day, and could use a little energy.

And we needed it. Walked just about the whole city that next day--a full morning and afternoon of exploring. Set out early with Hao, Wes, Kyle and Ryan to cross the river and see the ShangHai downtown area. But first, the Shanghai Post Museum across the street. It was free, and indoors, and it promised to be a scorcher, so why not? Learned a little about Chinese communicaton, saw the national stamp collection, it was 100%!a(MISSING)dequate. But afterwards, Shanghai Post took an upward turn as we found the rooftop garden afterwards. It was weird. You could just take the elevator up from this post office/museum and there was a full-out garden on top, vines winding around air-conidtioning units with clouds and skyscrapers in the background. Still having "Welcome to China" moments and I've been here two months.
On our way we ran into Melissa and Ernie, who had a similar plan of exploring downtown, so we joined forces and caught the next ferry over. By now the day was heating up so the on-boat leisurely AC was very appreciated. Hit up all the major buildings in the Shanghai skyline: the tallest skyscraper in the city, with its odd semi-cathedral point...the construction site for what will be the world's tallest structure...the eye-catching red antenna building, which holds the view of SHanghai downtown together and houses the world's fastest elevator. We had planned to ride it, but didn't much care for the price upon arrival. Kyle and I had both wanted to see the adjacent National Aquarium, but ditto for that. So we all just grabbed lunch and planned our next moves. Melissa and Ernie split off from us here to run around and take pictures; a little bit after Hao & Ryan headed for Shanghai's historic shopping district; Wes was tired and took off for the hotel.
That left Kyle & I, who both wanted to head back to the other side of the river but not for shopping or rest. So we stuck together and wandered the city streets for several hours, eventually reaching our goal: the People's Square (Shanqhai's rough equivilant of NYC's Central Park). Our intent was to explore the Shanghai National Art Museum, but it had limited hours on Saturday, and we just missed the last chance to enter. So we settled on exploring the Park, seeing the chicken-sized pidgeons, and actually finding a smaller art gallery to the side that was nonetheless impressive. Then we went off back towards the hotel but in search of a calligraphy store that Melissa had mentioned. Our efforts failed, instead spending hours in an English-language bookstore and picking up reading materials for the plane ride back at dirt-cheap prices.

Overall impression of Shanghai--overrated. It was just like any other city, except bigger and more sweltering. High temp was 98 with over 80%!h(MISSING)umidity. I was certainly glad to have my hand fan for the 8 hours i was being cooked by the pavement I was walking on, and went through quite a few water bottles. But yeah, although the architechure and skyline are some of the most impressive I've ever seen, that's about all there is to Shanghai. Honestly, my favorite city during my stay in China was Beijing, the city I lived in, and whose streets were alive too.

For dinner, I finally did something I'd always wanted to try--Ramen noodles in China. Those little instant-cups of Ramen are insanely popular here, much more so than in America--whole supermarket aisles of them, in different sizes and flavors from plain small noodle cup to full-meal "red-braised beef & tomato" flavors. Just got one with a cool orange label, it had three or four sauce packs inside that you could mix/max/customize at your leizure. But it was still just Ramen.
A few kids went out dancing again but Dan, Dave and I decided to just stay back, shoot the shit, and watch movies. We had a plane to catch tomorrow, after all...a plane to...

Hong Kong

This is by far the most Western-aimed city in China, although it's technically an independant state. Everything is a mall. The underground subway connections are strip malls, the biggest buildings are mega-malls, the smaller buildings are often shopping centers, and the sidestreets laced with convenience stores.

The lobby of our hotel is on the 2nd story of a three-story mall. And we're staying in the Renaissance, a high-end place.

Anyway, this is our first introduction to the city. We're actually staying on Kwoloon, across the bay from Hong Kong (the area is a group of small islands and peninsulas), but the whole area has that same feel of marketing, of commerce, the mecca of American/Japanese/Chinese businessman networking. This is still Cantonese country, but most all the signs are in English.

Our second introduction was Pang Laoshi walking us through an immense, uber-complex of high-end shops, so easy to lose yourself, like its own self-contained city. We eventually made our way to the top floor and a stylin' restaurant, a welcoming sight since we'd spent all day in airports and planes and not eating proper. Also, the Pepto-and-crackers plan had been a raging success, and I was 100%!o(MISSING)ver my traveller's flu just in time for Hong Kong.

Just in time for everything. It looked like I'd lost several pounds over the past week, and this restaurant doled out dish after dish of expensive seafood, and I made them pay. Don't put a plate of king crab or scallops in front of me and expect it to remain uncleaned.

The night continued to impress. After dinner, I split off on my own to explore the Star Walk, which was right behind our hotel. Just like our Hollywood Blvd, but with Chinese celebrities instead. It was bustling and full of human emotion and exactly the type of mind-absorbing people watching I needed. Then at 8, all the skyscrapers on the other side of the harbor burst out into a light show, lasers and foglights flashing from rooftops, window lights multi-colored and flashing impressive patterned displays. I was looking to just trance out on my own thoughts all night, and this city-wide freak-out fit perfectly.
Most of the group planned to go see Batman: Dark Knight (to celebrate nearly being home, and because part of it is filled in Hong Kong), but I was still feeling introspective and didnt want to dole out the cash, so I wandered the streets or Kwoloon, seeing the sights and the people and the faces and the places. Hong Kong area actually has a strong Indian population and market presence, probably because Britain colonized both areas at about the same time. A lot of back-alley street markets, small bars and coffee hang-outs, but most of all shopping. Mind-numbing consumerism. More than anywhere else in China, people in Hong Kong have $$, and so everywhere it's buy, buy, buy. The first thing I want to do in every new city is walk around it, become part of it, and this night I did that until around midnight.

And then to explore the hotel. An eighteen-story posh mantlepiece of Kwoloon's tourist landscape. A lounge and supermarket in the lobby alongside check-in, luxurious designer soap and shampoo in every room, a pillow mint and newspaper delivered to your room daily, and then the 18th floor. A state-of-the-art fitness center complete with ping-pong table and elevated practice putting course, all for free. So, naturally, I had to put on my headphones and play some mini-golf on the top floor of the Renaissance Kwoloon after dark...have you?

Our hotel also had, as we found out the next morning, the most ritsy and mouth-watering complimentary breakfast I'd ever seen. I can't even list everything they had. Unlimited omelettes and waffles. Dim sum. cereal bar. Cheese! hash browns! American food!

With a start like that, the day was bound to be great. I had formed a basic plan for the afternoon ahead--exchange money (they use the Hong Kong $ here, not Chinese Renmingbi), then visit the Hong Kong Art and Science Museums, both of which were on the same street as our hotel, then see where the day goes from there. Dave and Dan each happened to have the exact same plan, so we headed out together rather than go our separate ways to do the same things. Melissa and Ernie happened to be looking to exchange money too, and we'd all heard the hotel lobby offered a poor exchange rate, so we took to the streets and found a small streetside agency that did nothing but money exchanges. I turned my 300元 into $340 HK, which sounds good but everything is at least twice as expensive in Hong Kong as in the rest of the country, so inflation screws ya over. We left Mel & Ernie here and checked out the adjacent museums. The art exhibit was impressive, with four stories of exhibits ranging from Qing dynasty pottery to archeac horse paintings to the special exhibit, on Roman artifacts buried by volcanic eruption.
The Space Museum...was more like a glorified planetarium. Really a disappointment, especially after the high expectations set by the Art Museum.
Here I split ways with Dave & Dan and went off to go nomad on the streets of Kwoloon again. By around 4 it had become too hot and I headed back, but found and mapped some useful areas for later in the trip--the Indian district, Kwoloon Park, shops of interest, shops not worth interest. I retired to the hotel room, but not before going for a swim in the Renaissance's classy guest-only pool. Ah. Water, fluid exercise, then sun-bathing while reading Alice in Wonderland (picked up in Shanghai). Ah, relaxation and refreshment. Ah, vacation.

Just about the whole group reunited that night, taking a ferry to Hong Kong island to view the city light show I'd seen the night before, but from above. We took a crazy, log-ride-style vertical tram up to the top of the highest hill in Hong Kong (it was so packed I had to stand on the way up; it felt like an amusement park ride), and then to the roof of one of its tallest buildings, and enjoyed the festivities, like a soothing inverted 20-minute fireworks display. Some of the group went to meet kids they knew from previous trips who were now living here. Others went drinking. Dan, Ryan, Dave and I meandered the streets on the Hong Kong side for awhile, but this area was nothing interesting but skyscrapers and all the clubs we'd heard about were out of our budget. So we headed back to Kwoloon, and ran into some other buddies of ours (Wes, Hao, Robin, the student Melissa). Turns out we all had Tempura on the brain, and I was the only one who'd wandered around enough to know where the Indian district was. Unfortunately, I didn't have my map on me, so we wandered fruitlessly and were hassled by a horde of street urchins before finally coming across the quaint 3rd story "Indian Palace." It was after 10:30 by this point, but they nicely stayed open for us and we enjoyed one of the most pleasant meals of the trip together. Hao and Ryan had never tried Indian food before, and and even they thought it was delicious.
Then, one of the most endearing acts of the past 9 weeks...Robin (an amazing middle-aged woman on the trip who dropped everything to fly over and learn Chinese with us young'ens) snuck off like she was heading to the bathroom, and paid for everyone, because we were "the people on my 'people on this trip I really like' list." This act, and the adorable rationale, sum up Robin perfectly.

Even though I was up too late that night talking and chilling, I still dragged myself up at 6 to see Kwoloon Park. I knew that the rest of the day would be too hot and busy, so I went the only time I could, before breakfast. No regrets either--it was just a public park, but one that included a sculpture garden, shrub maze and aviary.
Came back to hotel and caught wind of a special invitation to meet a Chinese contemporary artist in-person at his studio that afternoon. I told them to count me in and planned out what to do in the meantime--Science Museum, world's tallest escalator, and Hong Kong Botanical Gardens. Turns out once again that Dave had formed near the same plan on his own, so the two of us once again joined up.

Being nature-lovers, starting with Botanical Gardens was the natural choice, so we headed over to Hong Kong island, taking the underground subway this time. Hong Kong is basically built on a small mountain, so we basically climbed halfway up Hong Kong on sidewalks until we reached the Gardens. Lucky for us, they were free of charge and included the city's zoo as well. We split up inside and spent a couple hours on our own, looking at animal exhibits (anacondas, orangatangs, ya know, the usual) and Magnolia gardens, and writing poetry under trees growing out of walls with roots like thick choking rope vines. We met back up in front of the Red Cranes and took to the streets again, looking for the world's longest escalator, which winds for a full half mile up the city and in-between buildings. We found it, and started to take it, but realized we were already just 30 feet from the top--and it was a one-way escalator. Oh well, at least we found it and saw it.
Now Dave & I found ourselves with a couple hours to kill befure the art talk, but not enough time to get to the Science Museum (on the other side of the harbor) and back. So, we contented ourselves with walking down the hill and around Hong Kong's alleyways, exploring Antique Road, and getting ice cream (and as i heard from other people, the Science Museum wasn't that great anyways). Then we met Dan & Melissa at the subway stop and took a double-decker bus with them over to the studio.

It was a 2nd-story white-washed pad with a late-40's hipster and his nephew and paints. Not much else. Just a couple white couches for guests like us to sit on and a pure clean workspace for the artist.
His name is Fung Ming, and he specializes in modern calligraphy--applying the old art form to new themes. Experimenting with inks, writing styles, backgrounds, foregrounds, but still its characters on scroll. Sometimes the messages are his own poetry, or ancient Buddhist mantras, or even nonsense, but always calligraphy. He, like most contemporary Chinese artists, deals mostly with opposites and the basic polar dynamics of tradition and change, light and dark, complaceny and restnessness...even the approach itself is a bizarre blend of Pollack genre-shattering and embrace of the culturally-ingrained theme of yin-yang.
Fung Ming gave the four of us a private showing of about twenty of his pieces, and we got to ask him questions, altogether spending about two hours in his alabaster studio. Afterwards, he referred us to the hidden art shop where he gets his supplies. This piqued my interest, as I'm taking Calligraphy next semester, and of course Dan and Melissa, who are always looking for new toys and tools to play and create with. So, pressed for time (wanted to be back on Kwoloon before dark), we rushed through Hong Kong to "Man Luen Choon artist supplies," newest star on our city maps. It turned out to be our dream come true--a literal hole in the wall, on the third story of an apartment complex, halfway down an alleyway. But inside were the highest quality hair brushes, rice paper, marble chops, and Japanese fine-grain ink, all for ridiculous exchange-rate friendly prices. I got all of the above plus an ink-grinding stone for $150 HK, or about $22 US. That left me with only about $60 HK for the rest of the trip and I was already having trouble packing everything up. But come on, I only had one more night to pay for, and calligraphy material in America will be half as good and twice as expensive.

So I came back and threw my oldest clothes out to make room.
Dan & Dave invited me to enjoy the Renaissance pool once again but I opted for a night of ping-pong upstairs with Wes. It had been a long time since I'd seen the kid. Plus, he's really good at ping-pong, so I make sure to play with him every chance we get, and learn from the master. And yes, I've improved, any challengers?

We reunited with Dan & Dave for some hanging out, some 7/11-bought beer, and some walking the streets on (sadly) our last night in China. Hao told us of a group that planned to go out dancing and we headed out after them, but after walking halfway to the bar district, one or two of us didn't feel up for it and were gonna head back on their own. I thought about going on to the clubs, but then realized that paying for a night out just because it was my last night here was not as important to me as spending it with my friends.

That's the impression this trip to China has made on me--the best memories aren't forced by doing the things you're socially expected to, they're made accidentally and hilariously by simply being around the accidentally hilarious people in your life.

I think that's a good way to end my description of my journies this summer. The next day wasn't much to talk about anyway. Packed in the morning, spent the afternoon in Hong Kong International, 15 hours on a plane, overbooked the transfer flight so a few of us got laid over, and then left the rest of our bags in LA. Typical airport hassles and bungles, but nothing that can bother or rattle me that much anymore.

After what I've been through and accomplished on my own this summer.
Navigated the streets of Beijing, Xi'An, Turpan, DunHuang, ShangHai, Hong Kong, and BeiHai.
Beach-combed the opposite side of the Pacific.
Stood in awe at the procession of the Terracotta Army.
Witnessed spiritiual history at dozens of monastaries, in dozens of temple shrines, hundreds of wall carvings, a few unimaginable, towering statues and effigies. I've looked down at the Buddha, up to him, and square in the eyes, with mixed feelings from every angle.
Conquered TaiShan, Heaven Mountain, the Gobi Sand Dunes, and four different spots on the Great Wall.
Tasted the sweetest fruits and spiciest noodles and most bitter tea in the whole world, maybe. {not to mention scorpion, octupus and authentic Peking Duck)
Made friends speaking an entirely new language while studying it and Ace-ing CHI201.
Caught traveller's flu, got scared, but fixed the problem on my own.

That's what I accomplished this summer in China. I learned to fix my own problems.
And that's why I now think everyone should do some travelling at least once in their life. Not necessarily to China or Asia, although I highly recommend it. Whereever you've wanted to go, whether it be a city or a culture or a work of art or feat of nature, whatever it is that's caught your eye and imagination in a Discovery Channel show or National Geographic magazine, so there. Fuck the consequences.

Learn to act for yourself and fix your own problems. There's too much more to experience outside of your American living room, your couch, your favorite TV show.

Live your life by confronting it. Be your own favorite show and fast-forward through the commercials.

Anyways, that's what I learned in China, especially in Beijing. Making friends and memories and impacts on the collective Soul is what I want to do, I want to help out other people, and I want to do it by going places they're afraid to go to.

Thanks to anyone who read through this journal and humored my insights. What can I say, everyone loves an audience but also loves to be a part of one. I just hope that I can read some of your travel logs or see some of your pictures soon, after you've gone off to visit your ideal destination and live fully.

And hopefully, I can do this for the rest of my life, except maybe have my thoughts humored in National Geographic and be able to do it forever.

Although I'm glad to be home too, even if reality's come zooming back. Everyone, no matter how adventurous, is still a creature of habit to some extent. We still have weird, ridiculous dreams and comforts we cling to. All I'm saying is, first things I did when I got back home (Phoenix is still home, even though it still feels strange to not see Chinese characters everywhere, even after 5 days) were have a malted milkshake, play my drumset and bass guitar, hug my sister and let my cat sleep on my chest.

-Tye



PS a checklist of things I {wish} I had brought to China...

• my sister
  
• a video camera, and better digital batteries
  
• more books to read on planes and busses
  
• hand sanitizer and sunscreen
  
• more trinkets from America to give to new friends
  
• Pepto-Bismol, and hand sanitizer
  
• more of myself and less of the person I thought I was
  
• Seriously, wish I'd brought a lot of hand sanitizer...
  

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Comments

[Karen Adamson]

Thanks for Your Memories
Tye, Your words and pictures of China were mesmerizing, enchanting, vivid and intriguing. Thank you for taking the time to blog, for the most part in real time. My wanderlust reared it head encouraging me to travel again. Thanks for the memories and making it real, for sharing you not just who you thought you were. It was great. Karen Adamson (Teagan's Mom)