China Part 1 : March 2 - 9

Hong Kong : Thursday March 2, 2006

Even though Brian had made many business trips in the mid 1990’s to Hong Kong, it was his first time back since the British lease expired in 1999 and also his first landing at the “new” airport. I had always hoped to accompany him on one of those business trips but I never managed to make it. Immediately after disembarking from plane, we were greeted by a rather stern looking official with an infrared thermometer. He was checking everyone’s temperatures before they were allowed into the country. I wasn’t sure if all flights were checked or just ones like ours that arrived from countries with bird flu. I was a little worried because the day before leaving Vietnam, Brennan and I developed head colds and were starting to sniffle. We crossed our fingers and passed by without incident. Even with this little surprise, we all arrived with great excitement and then met our guide, Norman Kam from PC Tours and Travel, (pc@pctourshk.com).

The airport was located on Lantau Island and our hotel was on the mainland or Kowloon side of the Hong Kong area. On the way, I was immediately struck by how cosmopolitan the city was. There were thousands of skyscrapers in a variety of architectural styles, bold neon signs, long and elegant bridges, wide highways and clean green areas. All of this was set in a backdrop of mist covered hills, cool blue seas and warm sunny skies without any hint of the intense humidity we had experienced in Vietnam and Cambodia. This was going to be a great introduction to China!

Norman dropped us at the Miramar Hotel, our home for the next four nights. It was not a luxury hotel but it was very clean and more importantly it was in a fabulous location. Not long after settling in to our rooms, we were off on foot to explore some of the nearby streets. Walking in Hong Kong, I felt very safe and relatively comfortable at not getting too lost. It helped that the streets had English names or Chinese names written in English alphabet and that most stores displayed both languages. The only difficult part was trying to get anywhere quickly because the sidewalks were so crowded with people. It came with the territory as the region was home to a population of at least 7 million in a very small area.

After wandering around Nathan, Granville, Cameron, Kimberley and other local streets and figuring out the location of important places like grocery stores, pharmacies and restaurants, we headed towards the waterfront. Once again this was a new area for all of us, as this land didn’t exist when Brian was here last. The government is constantly adding dirt to the water’s edge and shoring it up to make more useable land. On the Kowloon side, they built a long boardwalk along the harbour and added a special feature. It was called “Avenue of Stars” and had handprints in plaster of famous Chinese media personalities. Brennan placed his hands in the molds done by Jackie Chan and discovered that they were much larger than those of the actor. The watching Chinese tourists thought that was very funny.

At one point we spotted a Chinese junk sailing in front of the Hong Kong Island sky scrapers. It was the only time we ever saw this type of boat when once the harbour had been full of them. That must have been an awesome sight. We were enjoying our wanderings and continued to the Peninsula Hotel, a famous landmark on the waterfront. It was built in a traditional British colonial style and was still very posh in an old fashioned way. As we walked through the lobby, there were many well-heeled people enjoying a late afternoon tea. It felt very much like the Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC. After the lobby we spotted the attached shopping mall with stores like Cartier, Versace and Burberry; definitely stores for the more than fashionably wealthy.

Hong Kong was a shoppers’ mecca. It wasn’t always cheap like other places we have visited but just about anything a shopper would want was available. There were certainly many western brand shops and chain stores like 7-11, McDonalds and KFC. As we strolled up Nathan Avenue back to our hotel, we were constantly intercepted by men trying to sell copies of Rolex watches or made to measure suits. Brian thought about getting some new suits but the hassle of shipping them home and the possibility of more weight loss before using them changed his mind. Brennan liked his custom shirt from India and wished that he could get a few more shirts. Ha!!!!

During our explorations, we discovered some Szechwan restaurants and our mouths were watering for some serious spices. We took pity on Sierra and ordered one mild dish and lots of rice but the rest of us devoured mouth tingling chili filled pork, chicken, vegetables and noodles. We were the only Caucasians in the restaurant so we must have picked a good place!

After dinner, I set out to find the most colourful example of neon possible. It was a difficult task as there were so many streets crammed full of blazing signs. I don’t think I have ever seen so much neon outside of Las Vegas! It was a lot of fun reading the Chinese words, which often sounded like inappropriate English words and better yet the translations which were often garbled. Brennan called it Engrish rather than English.

What a great start to Hong Kong.

Friday, March 3, 2006: Hong Kong

Norman picked us up at a very civilized time of 9:00. Sierra was once again tickled pink because we were being transported in a 16 passenger bus. No one was squished and everyone could see out the window clearly. It was a lime green colour and easy to spot amidst the many tour buses, so I liked that!

From Kowloon, we had to take the Cross Harbour Tunnel to get to Hong Kong Island. There was a little bit of traffic still from the morning commute but it didn’t take us long. The tunnel was 2km long and at the mid-section was about 25m deep to allow large ships to pass over it. It was definitely a construction marvel. Our first destination was Victoria Peak, the highest point on the island. As we continued up the steep climb to the look-out point, we passed many structures including a large horse racing track built by the colonial British and still in use by the gambling loving Chinese and an extremely large Chinese style single family mansion overlooking the city. The latter was owned by an elderly eccentric Chinese billionaire and it was the only home of its kind still in existence. Most of the large multi million dollar homes on the peak were colonial or modern in architecture. Many people fear that when the owner dies, his children will sell the house and because of its prime location, it will be torn down and replaced by more high-rises. This would be a shame as it was an incredible house.

At the summit of Victoria Peak which had been named after Queen Victoria, we could see many of Hong Kong’s and Kowloon’s architectural and natural landmarks. Unfortunately it wasn’t an exceptionally clear day, so we didn’t see the mountains distinctly. Sierra’s favourite sight was the Two IFC building or more affectionately named “The Shaver” by the locals because of its unique top. It was the tallest structure in Hong Kong with 88 storeys. I liked the Hong Kong Convention Center which was low and wide against the harbour front. From the water it looked like a flying bird with outstretched wings but from up above, it resembled a swimming turtle. Brennan liked the Bank of China Tower which reminded him of a futuristic stun gun because of its two long probes rising out of the roof. I think he has been watching too many sci-fi movies. Brian spotted Central Plaza where he had visited Nortel offices a few times. As well as a viewpoint at the peak, there was a small shopping center so we did a quick wander through it more for the toilets and bank machine than for any goods.

Our tour took us next to the other side of the island to Aberdeen. Historically it was a fishing village but now it was filled with high rises and a harbour filled with fishing boats. It was from here that Hong Kong actually got its name. Foreigners arriving in the area asked the name of the place and were told it was Hong Kong or “fragrant harbour”. They mistook it for the name of the area and the island of Hong Kong was created. Later the British named the town Aberdeen to stop the confusion. We took a tour of the harbour on a traditional sampan. These wooden boats were about 4m long and their edges were covered in the largest collection of old rubber tires that I have ever seen. It made me worry a little about the driving skills of their captains!!! Many of the fishing boats were just larger versions of the tourist sampans and their owners lived on board. However there were also many modern fishing boats floating in the harbour as well. It was a short tour through the area but it was fun.

Our next stop was Stanley Market; a crowded but not overly large stall type open-air market. It was filled with many clothes and tourist souvenirs but we enjoyed looking at all the different items and even haggled for a few of them. Brian felt very confident in his bargaining skills until he encountered an offer he just didn’t understand and it threw him off his stride. He wanted to make a deal on two patterned “silk” boxer shorts; one for himself and one for Brennan to use as pajamas. They were 25 Hong Kong dollars each or about $3.50US. As he started to barter, the owner of the shop became quite firm in his position that they were 25 each or 3 pairs of boxers for 48 Hong Kong dollars. So Brennan picked out another pair and they paid two dollars less and got one more item. We spent a lot of time chuckling about this and how confusing it was. Sierra tried to negotiate for a fan but the lady wouldn’t budge in her price so we walked away from that one. Brennan joked that we needed to buy 3 and pay less than double in order to get the fan.

As we continued our drive on the island, my old visions of Hong Kong were quickly being changed. I had always thought that the entire island was just the city with its enormous high rises and waterfront backed up against Victoria Peak. However we passed several attractive beaches, two golf courses, resorts and towns on our drive. We also saw some unusual buildings. One was a curvy, wave like modern high rise built at the base of a mountain. What was unique was the large section cut out of the front of it. For feng shui it was necessary to leave a space to allow the wind from the dragon on the mountain to pass freely to the ocean. To block this access would have been very bad luck.

Our next stop was a very large Taoist temple back on the Kowloon side. We saw many worshippers preparing their offerings for the altar. These included fruit, flowers, incense, baked goods, cooked whole chickens (never pieces), beverages and paper money. It was a loud, noisy, smoky experience and much more crowded than in any other pagoda we had visited in Asia; nothing like an orderly, quiet Christian service. The building was done in the familiar red curving roof and red pillar style with many gold coloured characters written on its surface. It was very exciting to watch. In the midst of all this hustle, there was a quiet garden and pond constructed for mediation and relief from stress. In the pond there were dozens of turtles; many small ones hanging on to wire fences placed around lily pads and big ones swimming in the water. Norman told Brennan that it was a Chinese Taoist belief that if a person dropped a coin and hit a turtle on the head that it would bring good luck. Brennan asked me for some money and as I hadn’t been privy to this earlier conversation, I thought Brennan was joking and was really going to make a wish in the pond. He actually tossed the coin but missed the turtle by a long stretch. I thought I’d show him up and drop a coin closer to a turtle. I didn’t want to really hit a turtle but I guess I proved to be a worse shot because I was aiming for the water and actually hit one on the head! I felt so bad when I saw the poor little thing quickly retract its head into its shell. At least it kept swimming. The kids and Brian were now deeply convinced that I had cursed the rest of our trip because the turtle is our icon and I had “brained” it. I kept telling myself that it really was good luck…… This garden didn’t bring me any stress relief.

Next on our tour card was the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden. It was built in 1996 to improve the environmental conditions of the first bird market located here. The current facility was a combination of an outdoor market selling pet birds and supplies, a public garden and a leisure area. As the birds were cleaned and inspected every morning, we decided the risk of avian flu was probably a lot less than what we had experienced in rural Vietnam and Cambodia. (Truth was we were probably a bigger risk to them. So we didn’t cough on or touch the birds.) As it was difficult for Hong Kong residents to raise cats and dogs in the city, birds and fish became popular pets. We saw many kinds of birds from canaries, budgies, cockatiels and parrots to Asian exotic species with which I wasn’t familiar. They were all very beautiful. Most of them were also very tame because every morning the shop owners finger train the birds. The only thing I didn’t like was that many of the small canaries were living in very confined cages, all stacked on top of each other. I don’t know if this was just for the day for sales purposes or if it was an extended home. Many of the other birds were actually sitting on perches outside of cages and had lots of space.

Just around the corner from the bird market was a flower market. I always enjoy visiting these types of markets and the rest of the family had to put up with me as I constantly stopped to snap photos. Thanks guys. As well as the familiar roses and carnations, there were striking orchids, bamboo and other Asian flowers. As we left the market, we watched two men erect scaffolding for renovation work on a building. Instead of the traditional metal materials used in North American projects, all construction work in Hong Kong used bamboo poles tied together with rubber laces. At another site, we saw a twenty storey building covered in criss-crossed bamboo. It was less cumbersome than metal and could be fitted into the narrow streets and access areas. Apparently it was very safe but it just looked so flimsy to me.

One more market and then we were finished for the day. This time it was the Jade Market which turned out to be very overwhelming. It was a covered building filled with at least a hundred merchants and very few customers. We could have purchased jade in a variety of colours and qualities as jewellery, carved ornaments, chopsticks, religious tokens, discs and more. Not knowing what was good and what wasn’t, and being called and pulled in every direction by the merchants, we were in overload. We made a quick tour of the stalls and then headed back to our bus. Brian was happy to have escaped without spending any money and I was pleased not having to make a decision as there was just too much stuff.

After a short break at the hotel, we headed out for dinner. We originally planned to take it easy on Sierra’s taste buds but we stumbled upon an even more authentic looking Szechwan restaurant than the night before. It turned out to be even tastier than our previous experience and slightly cheaper with more food on each plate. Once again we were the only Caucasians in the restaurant but as we ate our dinner, several Japanese tour groups arrived. So I guess it was on the tour bus circuit but it was still yummy.

Each night at eight o’clock, the city of Hong Kong provided a free light and sound show highlighting important buildings on both sides of the harbour. It was a great display of dancing neon and we all enjoyed watching it from the Avenue of Stars on the boardwalk. Sierra thought it was very, very cool but that it must have cost bundles of money for the electricity. She’s beginning to sound like her father’s daughter!

After weaving our way through the onslaught of tailors and fake Rolex dealers, we crashed at our hotel for the evening. Tomorrow we could sleep in…..yeah…..( NEXT PAGE )