Hong Kong

Well I'll be darned! How're ya doin'?

  I'm back on track with my posts on my blog so without further adieu, I would love to let you know what's going to be our main focus today. I am still in Hong Kong and boy has it been an adventure! It started out with a train ride like none other I've ever experienced, a chance encounter with a mainland Chinese person, seeing a huge influence represented by the Indian population here in Hong Kong, took a stroll along an amazing harbor during the day and night, saw Hong Kong's equivalent of “Hollywood Boulevard”, took a stroll in a park, saw an old school guy fishing at the Queen Victoria Harbor, met up with my friend Ollie the Aussie for a night of fun and got to deal with my visa situation. Good grief it's quite diverse this time!

  So this trip was all pretty last minute so I didn't get to book anything in advance as far as transportation or living accommodations. I decided to travel by train to Hong Kong because it's a lot cheaper than flying and I had a pretty limited budget. When I went to buy my ticket, I asked if they had any hard sleepers available. They told me they did not and in fact they only had one type of ticket left so I bought it and went on my way. Well apparently, the ticket that I bought is literally a “no seat” ticket which means I'm shuttled in like cattle into 1 of 2 cars and have to just hang out until the end of the journey. Well that's not too bad right? Oh ya I forgot to tell you, it takes 18 hours to get to the border of China and Hong Kong.

  “Well great” I thought. “This is going to be so awful!” I started out by throwing my luggage up on the racks they had and procuring myself a nice comfortable looking spot on the floor. I snagged a plastic bag as my “seat cover”, sat down and got out a book... “it's going to be a long one.” Well it wasn't too bad after awhile since I had my own little space to kind of stretch out in and I had my iPod rockn' some tunes or reading a book. However, the train started slowing down and I thought “well there's no way we can be here already, it's only been one hour.” It turns out it was a stop on the route so more people were packed in and off we went. I wasn't too affected by this, my space was still pretty secure. Well four stops later, it was shoulder to shoulder standing and people were crammed in tighter than a can of sardines.

  After about four or five hours I was getting pretty antsy and was needless-to-say pretty miserable. Considering I was the ONLY foreigner on the train, I had a lot of people come up and speak to me in both broken English and Chinese to ask what the heck I was doing there. They called that section the “dirty ticket” section and were astounded that a foreigner would be there. I told them why I had that type of ticket and after a bit, two or three groups of Chinese passengers invited me to sit with them. Oh my gosh was I happy! They let me sit as one of them would rotate standing every 30 minutes to an hour and every time I told them to sit so I could stand for my turn they told me not to be silly. I was really amazed at the hospitality of these random people I had never met before and I was so thankful. After awhile I got up to stretch out and another group wanted me to sit with them. Considering there were three pretty girls that they wanted me to squeeze in between them, how could I say no?!

  I sat down with a few other groups throughout the trip and learned how to play a cool card game that they often play but I don't know the name of it or the exact rules but I held my own for a bit. They also offered me snacks and even though I had brought my own, they were so insistent that I couldn't say “no.” Around midnight or so they stuck me in the window seat and told me to get some sleep which I desperately needed (you see I hadn't slept the night before because I thought that I was going to get a sleeper or a seat on the train and I wanted to sleep for the better part of the trip). We all woke up around 5am or so and with only 4 hours left in the journey, we just chatted and lounged around. Most of the people got off at a stop that was 30 minutes before mine so we said our goodbyes and they said next time I'm in Shanghai they want to treat me to dinner. I'm so amazed at their kindness and will do my best to reciprocate their actions.

This picture is in the middle of the street in Hong Kong. What's the first thing you notice about it? My hint is to look at which side of the street traffic is driving on!

  When I got here, I had the address of some hostels to stay in and so I bought a subway ticket to the destination, hopped in and off I went. The subways were a bit more crowded than in Shanghai but people were more polite for the most part about getting on and off the trains. I have noticed as a whole that Hong Kong is more dense than Shanghai but it's less chaotic. In Shanghai you hear people honking 24/7 and people are always yelling and little scooters are zooming past while children are peeing on the sidewalks... wellllll Hong Kong is a bit more reserved I guess I would say. It's quite a bit more expensive to live out here than in Shanghai but surprisingly the Chinese currency is a tad bit stronger than the Hong Kong Dollar.

  For those of you who are baffled about why there is a different currency, let me give you a quick lesson about China and Hong Kong (if you're not baffled just look at a picture of me like I'm an idiot for underestimating you and move on to the next paragraph). So it all started way back in the mid 1800's when the British were doing lots of trade with China. The Chinese had really sought-after goods like silk, tea and porcelain. The British couldn't get enough of this stuff but they unfortunately didn't have much in return that the Chinese wanted. Because of this, the British were paying a lot of silver for all of these goods and not making any money in return. So what did the British do? What the nasty British always do! They found a way to make themselves a profit at the despair of others Muahahahahahhaa.

  The British started growing opium in India and then trading it to the Chinese and the Chinese absolutely loved it. Well, everyone except the Chinese emperor that is. The emperor had one of the shipments of opium destroyed and this prompted the opium wars between Britain and China. The British conquered all of China with just two naval ships that they sent up the Yellow and Yangtze river. The reason this was so effective was because they captured all of the emperor's tax barges and held the Chinese economy in their hands. Reluctantly but without other options, the emperor signed the “Treaty of Nanjing” in 1842 which granted the UK access to five major trading ports of China (which included Shanghai) and they also gave them Hong Kong for 150 years until it's independence in the 1990's.

  Well what does that have to do with Hong Kong today? Well since Hong Kong was British-controlled for so long, it became it's own separate entity from China and therefore became more of an international state rather than a part of China. This is why you see Hong Kong representing itself in the Olympic games and such. Since it has regained it's independence from the British, it has become an international economic center and is referred to as the “Greatest city in Asia.” So here in Hong Kong, almost everyone speaks English and there is a huge Indian population (India was also a colony of the UK for several years) which is very, very different from mainland China.

  Whew, now that you've had a Chinese history 101 class, it's time for a beer break (Not for me of course, I have to keep writing)! Ok so after I arrived to the location of the hostels that I had planned to stay at, I was looking at a map in the subway trying to figure out where to go when a nice gentleman came up to me and asked in almost perfect English if I needed help. I showed him the addresses of the hostels and he told me he was headed there himself so he would go ahead and take me. Well that was nice of him! When we got to the address, I thanked him and he told me goodbye and I walked into the building. Well the building is actually a huge shopping mall with shops and hostels all thrown in together so it took me a bit to know where I was headed. It was actually kind of funny because I met a mainland Chinese person and his wife who were looking for the exact same hostel and I thought to myself “thank goodness this person speaks Mandarin” haha. It was really funny to be thankful to hear Mandarin Chinese instead of Cantonese which is the dialect mainly spoken out here.

  Well we found a hostel that was reasonably cheap (about 40USD a night for a room with a bed, a TV, Air conditioning and a bathroom w/shower) and went ahead and booked our own rooms respectively. I thanked the man for accompanying my on the journey and we went our separate ways. I'd never stayed in a hostel before and was honestly a bit skeptical but it's actually not too bad and they're quite nice and quaint. Unfortunately I could only book a room for one night so the next day I had to ask if they had more availability. They stuck me in a worse room without a bathroom or TV but I didn't mind, there was an accessible bathroom and wifi so I was set. However, about an hour or two later they came by and told me they were going to be doing some construction and the rooms wouldn't have power for a day or two so to compensate me, they sent me down the street to another hostel and put me up in a better room for the same price. Well that worked out nicely! My dad always says that I'm the only one in the family with luck and in this instance, I'll take all the luck I can get.

  Well it was time to do some exploring. I'm here in Hong Kong and I don't want to just stay in my room all day! I took a stroll outside to take a peak at some stores and see some of the sights and I have to say that unfortunately the Indian population in Hong Kong is represented quite poorly :(. I've met some local Indians in Shanghai and they are all so kind and very heart-warming people. However out here, they are the equivalent of the Chinese people in people's square in Shanghai that come up and ask “Hello sir, would you like to buy a watch or a bag?” (That's a pretty liberal representation of their English) Out here in Hong Kong I can't walk more than 20 feet without someone coming up to me and asking me if I want to buy a watch or camera and sometimes they lean in close and say “Hasheesh?” Well at least I know when I run out of life to get high on, I can come here and get some nice locally grown Mary Jane haha.

  As I got a bit further out of the downtown area, I came across a bit of an opening and intrigued, I ventured forth to take a look. It turns out that is was a harbor with an awesome boardwalk to walk along and see the amazing buildings on the other side. Along this boardwalk, they had the Hong Kong equivalent of Hollywood Boulevard where they have a bunch of plaques with the names of famous celebrities and sometimes their hand prints. I compared my hands to Jackie Chan's and they were the same! It's like it was meant to be or something, I think it's time I started learning Kung Fu! My hands were a tad bit bigger than Jet Li's but unfortunately, Bruce Lee (or “Little Dragon Lee” as the Chinese call him) didn't have his hand prints in his plaque so I didn't get the chance to compare. However, I did get this cool pic of his statue here and there is a striking resemblance!

  At night time I walked around the same area so that I could see all of the pretty lights across the harbor and get a feel for the nightlife. There was an awesome elevated viewing area above the boardwalk that practically no one was using so I went right up and enjoyed the view by myself with a nice can of Guinness. As you can see in the videos, it's quite different in both night and day.

  When I was checking out the harbor on another night (it's a nice place to go for free and it's very easy on the eyes) I saw a man with some unusual items walking up towards the railing on the boardwalk which protects you from spilling over the side into the drink. “Oh man” I thought, it's going to be another jumper episode...  Well this was actually quite the contrary. The man climbed over the railing and sat down while getting out what looked like fishing line. I saw him get out a weight and a hook and he threw it right into the water! He wasn't using a pole at all but rather slowly reeling in with his hands a little at a time. This guy was definitely old school and it was cool to see him fishing right there. I waited around for about 20 minutes but by tat time he still hadn't caught anything and my beer was just about empty and it was time to return home for some much needed rest.

  For those of you who read my last few blog posts, you'll remember good 'ol Ollie the Aussie. He was a great tour guest and now a great friend. While we were in Shanghai we had some time to hang out and talk about the world around us. When I talked to him as of late, we were talking about Shanghai and then he mentioned that he was headed to Hong Kong this week for business. Well isn't that a coincidence?! I told him I was going to be here myself and he couldn't believe it. Turns out his hotel was literally spitting distance from my hostel and so we made a plan to get together for a meal.

  Well this time when we got together, it wasn't quite as crazy as in Shanghai because we were both exhausted from a long day and an even longer week. In Shanghai I was fortunate enough to introduce him to some delicious local food and here in Hong Kong, he did the same for me. You see, Ollie's family history actually has some Cantonese lineage so he knows a bit about the language and food. We went into a restaurant that had an impressive display of roasted animals in the front window and I let Ollie do all the ordering.

  When the food came, we were obliged with a nice fried rice, a fried noodle with beef dish and an amazing dish with two types of pork. One of the types of pork was roasted and it had a bit of a crunchy crust. The recommended way to eat it is by dipping it into a bit of spicy mustard before throwing it along with a scoop full of rice right into your gullet. The other type of pork was also just as amazing but it was a BBQ'd pork that was so tender and succulent you wouldn't believe it if I could describe exactly how it was. Needless to say, I've been back to restaurants exactly like that one the last 3 nights in a row and ordered the exact same thing. It's that good.

  Well, some bad news about the visa situation. When I went to the visa office, I was turned down for a visa into mainland China because of my previous overstay. I showed them the receipt of pay for the huge fine I was dealt but it held no ground. They wouldn't even give me a tourist visa. Other options would be to go to other countries such as Vietnam or Thailand or even Cambodia to try and get one but after doing some research, if Hong Kong won't grant you one, it might only be up to your home country.

  Well great, now I may not be able to get back into mainland China and I left the majority of my stuff in Shanghai. How am I supposed to get that back? What happens to my job? My friends? My Chinese mother? Well, I have the option of coming home to the states and trying to get a visa to which I am shying away from because by the time I get back to China with a visa (if I could even obtain one) I would barely even break even at the end of my current contract. I don't want to spend all that I had saved up at home just to get me on a plane back to the states in a state of shame and wonder. So I'm deciding to check my options and I talked with my previous Chinese teacher who had a great idea: Go to Taiwan and live there for 30 days without a visa and find a job. Once you find the job, they will give you a work visa. So now I have a bunch of different possible outcomes to this situation. Boy did I get more than I bargained for when I left for China... At least there's never a dull moment am I right? I know that even though it's crazy right now, everything is going to work out just fine and you might be asking “how can you have this much optimism Tony?” Well, the sun is shining, the tunes are rocking and the world is waiting.

  I know this ending begs the question: where in the world will I be in the next few days? Will I be moving to the US earlier than expected? Will I suddenly find myself in Taiwan? Or will I be able to see my friends in Shanghai once again? You'll have to find out next time in the Wild Adventures of T-T-T-T-TONY G!

There's not much as invigorating as being lost in the world and feeling right at home.

Tony G.

Here's a link to my pics and vids: http://s875.photobucket.com/albums/ab316/munkyguitarist/Hong%20Kong/