Saturday March 26, 2011
HONG KONG CHINAAAA! Wahooo.
Some facts on HK:
Hong Kong is composed of several islands and a mainland peninsula.
Hong Kong Island is the most densely populated.
Hong Kong resulted from the First Opium War and has been under communist control since 1997.
The MV Explorer ported on the Victoria Harbour Waterfront on the Kowloon Island of Hong Kong. Liz, Katie, Alison, Devin and I disembarked the MV explorer around 11am. After exchanging money we took the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island. With no prior plans and a China guidebook in my hand we set off to explore the city.
A double-decker tour bus was conveniently located outside of the ferry station and seeing no better alternative we purchased a ticket (complete with complementary headphones for automated tour recording) and grabbed a seat on the top deck.
My favorite part of the tour was when the recording told us about a bridge to our left where a group of old ladies sat every day. For just 40 HKD one of the old ladies would put a curse on your worst enemy. Just 40 HKD!
We broke from the tour for a lunch break where we ate our first authentic Chinese food at our first authentic Chinese restaurant. A rather eccentric waitress attempted to help us order and I may or may not have eaten chicken for lunch. I’ll probably never know for sure.
We took a train to the top of a mountain that overlooked all of Hong Kong. It was a great view despite the overcast weather.
We rejoined the “Big Bus Tour” for a few more stops one of which included the world’s largest escalator. (so says my roommate). I’ll have to check the facts on that one. The escalator was a bit of a disappointment to say the least.
Positive feature of the rumored world’s largest escalator was that it led us to a burger place. Why a burger when in China you ask? Because sometimes some good ole’ American food is JUST what you need.
After dinner we headed back to the boat for the famous Hong Kong light show. Let me back up. We actually planned our entire day in Hong Kong so that we made it back to see the light show. We sat aboard the MV Explorer looking across at Hong Kong Island’s Victoria Harbour waterfront to watch the Symphony of Lights that, according to my guide book and multiple sources, occurred every night at 8pm.
We stared across at the buildings attempting to distinguish the normal flicker of buildings at night from the flicker of the “fantastic” light show that was a “must-see.”
The clock reached 8:07pm and we knew that one of two things happened. 1. Symphony of Lights was a rumor. Or 2. It was nothing to write home about. (similar to the escalator).
It wasn’t until later that night that we found out from a reliable source that the Symphony of Lights had actually been cancelled for that evening. We got a good laugh out of that one considering we really did plan our entire day around being back at 8pm sharp for the light show. Good times.
That night we debated on getting some rest, but decided against it and joined the rest of Hong Kong on Lan Kwai Fong street.
We missed the memo that we were actually in Hong Kong for one of its most epic nights. I stepped out of the taxi onto the street and “Sweet Caroline” was playing. People were EVERYWHERE. Dressed in hilarious ridiculous and awesome costumes. Light up horns and fuzzy hats were for sale. Foreigners EVERYWHERE. I met Australians, French, and of course Chinese. It was a great event. Great great night.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
We woke up early to catch our flight from Hong Kong to Beijing to start our trip with the China Guide.
Jeff, Liz, Devin and I attempted to take the metro to the airport, but failed miserably after working up quite a sweat at 9am, and defaulted to a taxi.
Upon arrival to the airport, we checked our bags and took a quick pit stop at Popeyes. I actually don’t even know if I have ever eaten at Popeyes in America.... hmmm… well there is nothing quite like fried chicken at 10am!
The Hong Kong Air Port is defiantly the nicest airport I have ever been to. The airplane was very comfortable and even provided a complementary stretching video at the end. Hilarious. It was a video made by the airlines in which flight attendants demonstrated how to properly stretch after riding an airplane. I took a video of the video.
We were picked up by the China Guide and transferred to the Hotel Fuhao.
A group of us walked from the hotel to the night market. WOW
AWESOME.
We sampled many different varieties of food. Most of them fried. It was delish. I stuck with the more identifiable foods and didn’t try the scorpions and snakes. Call me unadventurous but I just couldn’t bring myself to eat a giant beetle.
After dinner, we explored the city a little more and met an artist named Andrew who showed us his studio with beautiful paintings. He painted me the Chinese character for love and my name. He said that it would bring me good luck in finding love. (Gee thanks Andrew! I’ll take all the help I can get)
Monday, March 28, 2011
After an interesting breakfast at the hotel (yes, interesting) we met our tour guide for the next few days. VINCENT! Great guy.
Our first stop in Beijing was the Forbidden City. Before 1912, only members of the royal family were allowed in the Forbidden City. It was opened to the public in 1949. The city was huge.
As I was taking a video in order to accurately capture the massiveness of the Forbidden City a group of Asian tourists began fighting. Yes fighting. Two older women were throwing punches at each other in the middle of the Forbidden City!! It took me back to my middle school days at Hughes Academy when random girl fights would break out in the hall ways between classes. It was quite a spectacle to beheld. Defiantly the most exciting thing that we saw in the Forbidden City and pretty hilarious if I do say so myself. Glad I was able to capture the moment on video.
We walked through the Forbidden City to Tian’an Men Square.
I asked my guide about the “incident” in 1989 involving student protestors and he told me that we would discuss it on the bus. As we stood in the square in front of the giant picture of Mao it occurred to me... They aren’t allowed to talk about it. Vincent didn’t discuss the Tian’an Men Square “incident” on the bus with us and also avoided many other questions that we asked him. I take for granted freedom of speech in the United States. We don’t know what it means to be forbidden to speak about events that affected people we know.
It is a difficult thing for me to grasp. Communism. I read about Mao, the Red Guard, and the Great Leap Forward in my China guidebook on the flight to Beijing. In my mind I immediately labeled Mao as a “bad guy.” When I saw Mao’s Mausoleum with his giant portrait at the center of Tian’an Men Square I was confused. Had I not understood the history correctly? Had I not read that Chairman Mao launched a Great Leap Forward in 1958 that resulted in the starvation of millions? Why was his picture hanging up as if he was a national hero? Why did our tour guide tell us that instead of saying “Oh my god” like people do in America, they say “Oh my Mao” ?
Yes, Chairman Mao pronounced the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. And yes, he made many improvements for China in a short period of time, but I refuse to consider the starvation of millions worth the positive improvements however significant they may have been. And I refuse to be convinced that Mao deserves a giant picture of himself hanging in the middle of Beijing. Large scale improvements in a country don’t justify the starvation of millions of individuals.
How do the people of China feel about Chairman Mao or communism in general? They aren’t allowed to talk about it, so I don’t know.
I recently read an article by T.R. Reid titled: Confucius says: Go East, Young Man. Confucian inspired “Asian way” v. “American way”. My question is, What is the Asian way?
Do I think that the “American Way” is correct purely because I am an American? Is too much freedom dangerous? I do think that too much freedom can promote a sense of entitlement that can be dangerous to society as a whole. How do we find a balance between putting people in jail for chewing gum and passing out free healthcare to everyone.
My knowledge is very limited. I have not learned enough to develop an academic opinion of the situation in China. One thing I am sure of, however, is that I am thankful to be an American. We can complain about our government and rant and rave all we want, but there is no where in this world quite like the ole’ US of A.
Alright I will stop being patriotic and continue with the rest of my day in Beijing. J
We stopped for lunch at the roasted duck restaurant. A very popular dish in China. Pardon my Lion King reference here, but, it tastes like chicken.
We then headed to the large market to do some shopping. Ok, some might be an understatement. Be excited for your gifts friends and fam, the market was AWESOME!
We then drove a few hours out of the main city to the GREAT WALL OF CHINA!
By this point in the day enough of us had been harassed by enough vendors to have each purchased a panda hat. Not kidding. Every single person in my group bought a $2 panda hat to wear on the great wall.
First, we stopped for dinner at the bottom. We then layered ourselves in as many clothes as physically possible. Finally, we grabbed a sleeping bag and flashlight and began our trek up to the GREAT WALL OF CHINA. Wish they would have warned us about the intense hike to actually get to the thing. I quickly began peeling all of the layers off that I had just put on because the stairs were so steep. I was sweating in seconds.
When we reached the GREAT WALL OF CHINA I was down to my t-shirt and sweating but PUMPED. The wall was huge! It was SO wonderful to see in person.
My group was prepared. Someone busted out the IPOD speakers and we jammed in our Panda hats and ate Oreos and Pringles on the Great Wall of China.
We bundled up as much as we could in our sleeping bags and star gazed. Still wearing the panda hats of course. I eventually fell asleep which is amazing in itself considering it was freezing.
The toilet situation on the Great Wall of China was an interesting one. You basically had to hang your rear end out one of the openings on the top of the wall. Pretty hilarious at first, but not so much when I woke up in the middle of the night freezing cold and had to pee.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
I woke up the next morning to a lady standing over my head attempting to sell me Great Wall paraphernalia. I honestly thought I was dreaming. How the heck did she get all the way up to where we were on the Great Wall?
We all got up (still wearing the panda hats) and grabbed some form of breakfast before our hike on the wall. I don’t know if you have been keeping up with my blog and read my description of Table Mountain. If so, multiply the intensity by 10 and you have our hike on the Great Wall of China. No complaining from me though, it was after all the Great Wall, but WHEWWWW my legs were shaking by the end of it! It was good to work off my 100 Oreos I consumed the night before.
We finished our hike on the great wall and headed back to the city of Beijing. On the bus ride I suddenly experienced an intense craving for a Chick-fil-A chicken biscuit. I don’t know if I have mentioned this yet… but Chinese food in China is vastly different than Chinese food in America. No orange chicken, no fried rice, and defiantly no fortune cookies.
After a lunch at another roasted duck type restaurant, we visited another market where I perfected by bargaining skills.
While we are on the topic I would like to insert a short dialogue that I created for you to really get the feel of a true bargaining experience.
Summary of a bargaining experience in a Chinese market… You will need to imagine the accents on your own.
Aggressive female store owner- “I give you good price.”
Me- “how much is this (fake) Mark Jacobs bag?”
Aggressive female store owner- “680 Yuan” (ridiculous)
Me- hahah I will give you 50.
Aggressive female store owner- “YOU CRAZY. This real leather (as she lights the bag on fire with a lighter). You see. I give you good price.
Me- I only have 50.
Aggressive female store owner- “You sneaky girl. I see 100 in your pocket.”
Me- “Yes but I have to buy food. 50 only”
Aggressive female store owner- “YOU CRAZY! I KILL MYSELF. Now give me your best price” (hands me calculator) “so where you come from?”
Me- “America. 50 only.” (Start walking away)
Aggressive female store owner- “OK. OK. You so pretty. Just for you. Only because you my friend from America”
Conclusion- fake Mark Jacobs bag purchased for a very good price.
After exhausting my wallet, we went to a flying acrobat show. INCREDIBLE. Some of the performers looked like Olympic athletes. My favorite act was an act with bicycles that ended in 1 single girls on a bicycle holding 10 other girls.
We checked back into the hotel and took a much needed shower before heading back out to enjoy some much needed pizza from Pizza hut. J yum yum yum.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Today we took a tour of Old Beijing. Old Beijing is a unique city because the rich and poor live side by side. This is different than many of the places we have visited in China. Typically the poor and the rich are separated. My friend Natalie and I rode a rickshaw through the city.
We then visited the Bell and Drum tower before visiting a local home in the village to eat lunch and watch a dumpling demonstration. Off all of the Chinese dishes I have tried while in China, dumplings are by far my favorite. The local home that we visited had a massive collection of weapons located directly beside the kitchen. I picked one up and the man, who I am assuming is the owner of the home (he spoke no English), attempted to show me the proper way to hold the weapons.
After our dumpling lunch, we visited a traditional tea house for a tea tasting. As our guide told me, tea is to the Chinese what coffee is the Americans. Not being a coffee drinker myself, I take that to mean, tea is to the Chinese, what diet coke is to Carter. A ritual. I honestly don’t think I have every had a cup of hot tea in my entire life. Not that I can remember anyways. So, I tried my first cup of hot tea in China. Pretty cool!
After the tea house, we visited the Beijing Zoo to see the PANDA BEARS!!!! so so so cute!!! Our group wore their panda hats in tribute of course.
We visited the Summer Palace next which was similar in architecture to the Forbidden City. The summer palace was a lot larger than the Forbidden City and was a exactly what the name says, a palace visited in the summer by the royalty as a retreat from the Forbidden City.
We then headed to the train station and boarded our overnight train the Xi’an. I am fortunate and was in a room with 3 of my friends. Others were not so lucky, and were sleeping in a car with total strangers (none of which spoke any English). The overnight train in itself was enough of an experience for me, I am glad I knew my roommates. J
Thursday, March 31, 2011
We arrived in Xi’an early in the morning and immediately took a bus straight to see the Terracotta Army. They really are incredible!! China’s first Emperor (Emperor Qin) built the army to protect him in his afterlife when he died. To think that the entire army was hand crafted piece by piece is crazy. I think it took something like 4 decades to complete the entire army.
The place that enclosed Emperor Qin’s Terracotta Army was even bigger than I expected! HUGE. There are warriors and generals and horses. It is a literally a complete army all made of stone. They still have not recovered the entire army and work at night to excavate the remaining warriors.
The figures themselves are so well preserved that they look fake. My friend Burke and I decided that they were. The entire thing was a scam invented by the government to make money. Haha only joking. maybe .
After admiring the Terracotta Army we traveled to the Xi’an city wall where my friend Jeff and I rode a tandem bike around all 8 miles of it. The tandem bike looked like a great idea at the time, but once I sat on the second seat I realized that it was probably made for a parent and a small child. I had to focus on not ramming my knees into the handle bar the entire time. It was pretty hysterical all the same and we enjoyed the great view of the city!
We then headed back to the train station to board yet another overnight train to Shanghai where we would meet the MV Explorer.
Friday, April 1, 2011
We arrived in Shanghai and back at the ship in time for breakfast which was my favorite- french toast. Delish.
Liz, Katie, Alison and I then packed my trusty guide book and headed out into the city.
First we went to the Yu Gardens which are located in the old part of town. The gardens were really beautiful!
We ate sushi for lunch and spent the afternoon at the markets where we discovered that Shanghai has the best knock-offs of any place we have been. They are incredible.
We had to board the MV Explorer that afternoon. :(
My visit to China was a wonderful experience. I was able to visit so many places and see so many things in such a short period of time. I hope I can go back one day and spend some more time in Hong Kong and Shanghai!
Accomplishments from China
I am now proficient at using chopsticks.
I have now mastered the art of squatting due to the lack of standing toilets.
I now know how to sleep on planes, trains, and automobiles.
