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Published: October 27th 2009
Fabulous Five
Rachel, Arthur, Echo, Ming and myself. Again, Ming's photoshoping creatvity :)Ming and I went to Hong Kong this weekend and can I just say this right off the bat….Hong Kong is NOT China! Technically, it is….but given that it is actually a part of the same place I have been for the past 16 days, Hong Kong is like the free spirited, creative, rebellious, out-spoken, red-headed step child that the rest of the family tries to ignore. I had access to Facebook (which I am surprised to say I miss very much) and I was able to download some TV shows and even one movie to take back to Guangzhou with me. They speak ENGLISH in Hong Kong! I was not the only white girl on the crazy packed streets…I only got a handful of stares instead of my usual million! All of the signs AND menus were in English and best of all….they do not distinguish between Western toilets and Chinese toilets because they ONLY HAVE WESTERN TOILETS!
Okay, now that I have set the stage, I can get into the details. I decided to bring both my backpack and my duffle bag (for all of the shopping I planned to do) and this will turn out to be
Subway
This was the first time I have ever been on such a crowded subway! It was fun for like 2 seconds and then it was hot and stinky the biggest mistake to date. Ming and his cousin, Echo who lives in Guangzhou, were supposed to swing down and scoop me up at 9am. I get a call at 9am telling me that they were on their way and to meet them at the subway entrance in 30 minutes. Since I was still talking to Josh through Skype I had no problem with this. Plus, I was still not feeling well so the extra time to relax before a grueling day of travel and sightseeing was fine by me. So 28 minutes later, I walk to the Subway and meet them and wholly mother of budda…Saturday morning travel is a beast in Guangzhou! The Subway station was packed full of people and the Subway itself…it was ridiculous. Now, this is what I have seen on the Amazing Race and what I have been expecting to find in China but only just now experiencing it full on. It was a blast for like 10 minutes…we took pictures and got pushed and grabbed and it was awesome but then it just got gross. It got hot and started to smell and that whole “me not feeling good” thing came roaring back
Train headed to HK
The train was very nice and only about $10 USD. Best value in China to date :) which took the trip from fun to dreadful in a matter of seconds. BUT, I managed to keep my cool and eventually we got off and I had survived. The next step (the train station) was totally painless. The train station as well as the train itself was very clean and pleasant. The seats on the train were really spacious and fairly comfortable considering it was only about $10 USD for the trip to HK. We boarded and I ate breakfast (a small bag of peanut M&Ms and a Sprite (gotta get that protein somehow) and we were there…right at 1 hour. The train went around 200km/hr which is about 320miles/hr. Once we arrived we had to go through customs which was not that bad. The worst part was when they made me take off my hat to take my temperature (can’t let H1N1 into Hong Kong after all) and I have no doubt that my hair alone was reason enough for them to deny me entrance but they let me in…probably saw the duffle bag and knew I meant business….shopping wise for those of you with scandalous minds. After clearing customs we hit the subway again and just like
HK subway same as Guangzhou subway
Another crowded subway in Hong Kong in Mainland China, they were PACKED! People have lots of places to go on Saturday I guess. Instead of getting a Taxi we decide that our hotel does not appear to be that far from the Subway and we will just walk it. This will turn out to be another giant mistake, but I do not claim this one. We get off in the middle of an enormous street market…people everywhere…signs everywhere…people yelling…I would have taken a picture but I was afraid that I would never regain control if I were to stop moving. The vendors are on the side of the road but you are forced to walk in the street due to the amount of people and you think…no car could get through this dense crowd of people…and then a car not only gets through but is coming straight for you so stopping and looking for my camera was really not an option. We do this for what seems like hours (which was only probably 30 minutes) before I asked the age old question, “did we just go in a giant circle?” and there we were…right back at the place where we started..the Subway station. So, we elect
Lunch
It was bad pasta...but at least it was pasta and not Chinese food. to get back on the Subway and went a few more stops up to get closer to the hotel which was my vote from the get go…I just want to go on record saying that. This time when we emerged from the Subway tunnel we were in a very different part of the city. We walked around a little and found The Spaghetti House and decided to stop there for lunch. It was really bad Italian food, but it was not Chinese food so I was happy. I ate more than I have eaten in days and my belly was pleased. Then we grabbed a taxi and headed to the hotel which was only a few blocks away but somehow our cab ride was 21HK which is like 3x the amount it costs to go half way across Nanjing…this coupled with the cost of our very poor lunch made me realize that Hong Kong is EXPENSIVE. We finally got to our hotel, except it was the back entrance so it looked very ominous…after the journey it took to get here, my patience was thin and if this was not the hotel that we just paid a ton of money for
our taxi to deliver us to I was going to snap. We walk in and it is a long hallway lined with mirrors…mirrors on the walls…mirrors on the ceiling…mirrors EVERYWHERE…so of course I start taking pictures. We make our way to the front desk who guide us to the 19th floor of the tower section of the hotel. Ming and I are thinking we have hit the jackpot! We get up there and it is this swanky lounge area where we check in and are told to come back the next morning for breakfast and later that evening for drinks. We are anxious to see our $200/night USD room. I am thinking it is going to be LUXURY (which I totally deserve after living in my hostel for a whole week)…I am anticipating a bed which will be like sleeping on a cloud…a bathroom and shower fit for a king…and a big screen TV with loads of English channels (even though I had no intention of watching the TV I wanted the comfort of knowing that I could). What we end up getting was something a little less grand and a little more…well…we will call it quaint. It was tiny…nice…but
First impression of the hotel
Floor walls and ceiling were all mirrored...very interesting ;) tiny. The bed was softer than my hostel bed, but still VERY hard and the bathroom was barely a step up from a Red Roof Inn….BUT BUT BUT it was walking distance from Victoria Harbor and it was on Canton Street which is the equivalent of Rodeo Drive…AND THIS is what we were paying for!
Okay, so we made it to Hong Kong and we made it to our hotel and now we are on our way to Victoria Harbor which is one of the most spectacular places on Earth…according to National Geographic anyway and who is going to argue with National Geographic? For this reason and I am sure many more reasons…Ming is salivating to get to the harbor for sunset so that he can take a panoramic photograph. This is where you put your camera on a tri pod and move it across a canvas and put all of the photos together which produces one giant picture which encompasses the entire harbor. Ming wanted to take this photo at sunset…at least that was the story he sold me. We got there…settled into a great spot…then waited for the sun to set. The smog was very thick and
my camera was terrible at capturing the beauty of the harbor (which is why I don’t have a lot of pictures uploaded) but Ming and his magical photoshopping ability will surely be able to make the pictures spectacular. But, what he failed to mention (and when I say failed I mean blatantly LIED) was the time it was going to take! He said it would be a 10 minute window but somehow we were there for 3 hours. Now, I of course have to give him a hard time about this, but in reality it was nice to just sit and people watch and of course enjoy the beauty that is Victoria Harbor from the vantage point of Kowloon Hong Kong looking outward toward Hong Kong Island. I got an ice cream and sat…happy as a clam until Ming was finished. By this time it was around 7:15 and at 8 there is a laser light show that is the largest permanent light show in the world (according to the brochure I got at the tourist desk anyway and why would they lie?) so my thought process was…we already have the best spot in town to view the harbor so
Prada
I am totally smiling in this photo...when I am suppose to be looking all cool and Prada like...Sorry Ming. I will just sit here a little longer and experience the amazing laser light show! We have been here since 5….what is another 45 minutes??? BUT….I am not the only one on this trip. Ming also has family in HK, another cousin named Arthur and his charming girlfriend Rachel who met us at the harbor to take us to dinner. They show up around 7:00 and want to take us to dinner and to see some sights. They were so freaking adorable and irresistible…I was not about to tell them that all of their plans would have to wait until AFTER my laser light show…so around 7:20 we left the harbor…destination Hong Kong Island. We had to take a ferry to the Island which was on Ming and I’s list of things to do anyway so that was a treat. I was hoping for delays on the ferry or something equally time consuming so that I could see the light show, but of course…the ferry ran smoothly and efficiently and got us from point A to point B in a matter of minutes. We walked to a tourist sight…The Flower of Hong Kong…it is much smaller than one would imagine
Bride
She was trying to hail a cab I think...or at least possing as if she was trying to hail a cab. given that this is some giant tourist attraction, and people were clamoring around it like it was the Fountain of Youth…wanting their picture with the magnificent Flower of Hong Kong. It was dark so my picture did not really turn out, but I am attempting to hold said flower in the palm of my hand…of course I got my picture with it….it is a tourist attraction and I am a tourist. Then we headed off to dinner. We went up these stairs and all of a sudden we were a floor above the streets of Hong Kong and we could walk anywhere. It was clean and well lit and not crowded at all but I could still see the whole city just by looking out over the side of the walkway. And it was here that we ate dinner. It was an Italian restaurant according to the sign out front but it was no Maggiano’s or anything. It was Hong Kong’s version of Italian and I was fine with it. We ordered 3 meals to share and it was more than enough food for everyone…although…Ming really did not share his…he ate his entire lamb shank in a matter of minutes
HK at sunset
You can see the smog and how poorly my camera was in this environment. and was licking the bone by the time I had a chance to look up and get my camera out. Apparently it was a very well cooked piece of shank. Toward the end of our meal all of the lights in the restaurant went dim and Bryan Adams music started playing (this was not the first Bryan Adams song I had heard since entering Hong Kong nor would it be the last…they really like the sappy 80’s-90’s music) and the waitress whispers…he is proposing! So of course everyone realizes what is going on and all eyes are on this table…he gets down on one knee and the whole place is clapping and she is crying and says YES and the entire restaurant goes up in a roar….and I was leading the charge…it was a really neat thing to witness. I tried to take pictures but the place was too dark and my flash was not sufficient. I even thought about taking a picture as we were leaving but I thought that might cross the tourist line of judgment, so I passed, but now as I am telling the story…I think I should have taken the picture LOL. By the end
Ming just starting to get ready
He was like a little school girl at the theater waiting for the movie to start. of dinner, I think that Arthur and Rachel could tell that Ming and I were beat so we decided to forego the extended sightseeing tour and retire to our overpriced hotel room for the night. Mind you, we were still a good 45 minute journey to the “comfort” of our beds, but just heading in that direction made me happy.
The next morning I saw a side of Ming that I was unaware of. He is half girl! He started off by taking a 30 minute shower…then did all sorts of other primping and grooming for another 20 minutes then when I thought we might be about ready to head to the 19th floor for a WESTERN breakfast he says that he needs to order an iron for his clothes!!!! Are you playing a joke on me??? But, no…he was dead serious. He needed to iron his polo before heading out onto the streets of Hong Kong for the day. I was still downloading TV shows for my entertainment when I return to Guangzhou so I did not mind that much but I did start getting concerned that we would miss breakfast all together since it ended at 10:30.
After like 30 minutes of ironing and reironing his shirt he was finally ready to face the world and we made it to breakfast just in time. The breakfast was good…I even was able to eat cereal (which I love)…it was not good cereal but my definition of acceptable breakfast food has changed dramatically since being in China. We took some fun photos in the swanky lounge area then went back to the room to pack up and check out. Great…I get to carry my bag around AGAIN. My shoulders already hate me and this is just giving them one more reason to make my life miserable. So, we check out and wait for Rachel who has offered to accompany us to The Peak which is our destination for the day. The Peak is this massive building shaped like a banana that is perched on top of a mountain top behind Hong Kong. It has shopping and restaurants and street performers…but the best part is the terrace on top of the banana where you can see Hong Kong from an amazing perspective. Of course, Ming is salivating again and for good reason…I knew that he wanted to go to the
Ming
Just before the sunset which is when Ming got very serious for about 2 hours! LOL Harbor for his pictures, but The Peak was my idea and was a total surprise for him. After taking in the views and taking an enormous amount of pictures, we headed down a few floors to have lunch at…..wait for it…..wait for it….Burger King!!! And it was DELICIOUS! The place was packed though so we ended up sitting with 3 girls that were backpacking their way through Europe and stopped off in Hong Kong on their way back home to Australia. They had some really fun stories. I cannot believe that they were back packing for 3 months…I have been gone 2 weeks and cannot wait to get home to my own bed and my comfort food and above all…my husband. Rachel had to leave early to go to work so Ming and I hung out a little longer than decided to start making our way back to Guangzhou. But, not before Ming emptied his bladder! There is something else I learned about Ming while in China…that man has the smallest bladder of any one single person of adult size. Anyway, I decided that with my bags I did not want to walk about aimlessly looking for a bathroom so
Sunset
We will have to wait for the pics from Mings camera because my camera was choking on the smog I sent him off to do that all on his own and I made my way to the ice cream stand in the middle of the plaza. I took pictures for couples and watched people with their little dogs walk around and it occurred to me that this would be a nice place to live. There are houses all up on top of this mountain…I am sure that they are millions of dollars, but it would be nice none the less.
Our trip home was LONG! It took about 3 hours for us to get to Hong Kong from Guangzhou and it look about 5.5 hours to get back. It was a LONG weekend, but a GREAT experience and of all the places that I have seen since being in China, Hong Kong is the place that I would return to. My only hiccup was that I did not get a lick of shopping done! I really wanted a new hand bag. Guess I will just have to get one back in the States.
I have one more week in China and 5 more days in the Pan lab and a lot of work to do. Since my
The serious Ming
I love this picture LOL primers did not come in until Friday afternoon, I only have 5 days to generate all of the data that I will generate while here. This is not a lot of time to test primers and reagents and produce quality data for my thesis. But, that is not really the point I guess. I am here to learn and to teach and I have already done both of those things and been fairly successful so everything that happens this week will be a bonus. And, for those of you that care….I get to clone which I have never done before so that should be interesting LOL.
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Matthew Browning
non-member comment
I can't wait to see your photos of the city!