As I sit in my uncle/aunt’s house again for the third time, I finally have time to blog about my visit to Hong Kong. I’ve been here for a week and a half now and half of that had been in China. We joined a local tour to Suzhou, Hanzhou, and Shanghai for 5 days. It was pretty interesting, but a lot of it was looking at lakes and trees – which we have plenty in Vancouver.
West Lake in Hanzhou
So that didn’t really make much difference other than the sheer size of the lake. We went on a boat tour (the first of many) and the sun was unkind to the Hong Kong older ladies as they all pulled out their umbrellas to shield them away from the sun.
Shanghai was pretty special though since it is supposed to take over Hong Kong as China’s main financial district within 10 to 20 years. As we travelled either by foot or in the coach bus, we can see that there are construction sites everywhere for not only office buildings but also condominiums. Everywhere there are lands, there are cranes in place. These buildings also are growing taller as they all try to reach for the tallest thing around. The most famous of the buildings is the Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower. We witness this in the boat tour (the third and final one) to watch as the Shanghai skyline light up as the sky darkened.
Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower
As for the Tower, at first we didn’t want to go on it because it seemed like it wasn’t worth it as the admission now both cover going up and the museum, but since we weren’t going to come back to Shanghai any time soon, we decided to go for it. The view is pretty nice up at 241 feet but the best part was a few feet under in the level under. It was another platform that just opened May 1, where there are glass floors as the extension so you get a chance to stand on the glass and look down. Holy that was a different view. Pictures to come later because they ended up on the other camera as I forgot to charge my camera’s battery. (Grumbles)
But as I have guessed, 90% of the places in my trip had ‘hole in the ground’ for toilets. This is everywhere other than the hotels (room and lobby) and some places in Shanghai where the buildings are newer. It’s still pretty nasty, especially when some people don’t flush. Ugh, so I ended up holding my breath and kept my wandering eyes ahead and nowhere else.
Right now my parents and uncle/aunt are outside playing MahJong as usual, much like they did yesterday. And I’m totally having trouble changing the keyboard back to English instead of typing in Chinese, even though I pressed the EN key on the taskbar. Hmph. I wonder when they’re going to end because it’s already 10pm and they have work/school tomorrow while we don’t. And this isn’t Saturday back home where they end up playing until 4 in the morning!
That’s all for now. Hope to travel to Macau soon! I haven’t been there since I was about 4 years old.
DAY THREE, what up (or down). I said in my last post that I should go pack. Well, I’m putting it off until the weekend at least since I still gotta wash a bunch of stuff before packing ‘em in. So today is another less than interesting post about what I like and don’t like about Hong Kong. Woo, stay in your seats everyone.
Up
Traveling to Hong Kong means that I will be needing to read Chinese and speak Cantonese 24/7. That is totally different than what is going on here. The only time I speak or read either is when I’m with my parents; the rest of the time is me reading, speaking, and writing in English. So yes, my level of fluency in Chinese deteriorated immensely since the last time I went back. This will be interesting. My relatives at least weren’t going what the beep when talking to me. More than likely my Chineseness will come back out when I get back and get used to thinking of words in Chinese instead of translating it from English back to Chinese.
Chinese Neon Light Banners (from muddum27)
I remember last time I was even watching the English channels (and got yelled at by my grandma) just to get some English in me (or that there weren’t anything else good that was on after the drama shows were over). Or that was when I finally watched an episode of Doctor Who then got sucked into it after I went home. Good times.
Down
The only time you would see a lot of high-rises and skyscrapers is when you head to Downtown Vancouver. Condominiums only started to shoot up in the sky in recent years, and even then their heights are limited to 20-30 (rarely up to 40) levels. And considering the amount of two-level housing in Vancouver, its sightline is plentiful.
When you’re in Hong Kong, the apartment buildings are beyond 40 and 50 floors. If you stand in front of the building, you’ll have to crane your neck as far as it’ll go before you can see the top of the building. You don’t even need to be up in the air or be at the top of a mountain to look down, you’re already an ant when you’re walking along the streets.
- Tall & Even Taller Buildings (from jburgin)
So yes, not only are the streets crowded with people, you’ll feel even more closed in when the buildings tower over you, with neon lighted signs hanging over the streets. Any second now it would seem before the wires snap and the signs fall down onto the streets. For some reason, I’ve only ever heard of one incident of that happening, and one incident of it falling onto the two-level buses. After being used to spacious places and low-level buildings, the towering buildings and tall buses can feel totally overwhelming.
So that’s Day 3 of 7 days to the countdown. More to come tomorrow!
Another day passes by and someone I know just left for Hong Kong this morning too. I present another Up and Down to Hong Kong. Clearly I have nothing else to do. As for the iSeeVines layout, if I don’t finish it this weekend, it’ll be completed when I get home in June.
Up
Busy Streets (by brianholsclaw)
Maybe I lived in Vancouver for too long, and suburbs mean zero people in the streets, but Hong Kong has that ingrained feeling of busy everywhere you go (or at least along the MTR line). The later the evening/night, the more people come out onto the streets – even on weekdays.
Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok (both also on the MTR line) are usually the two of the busiest places in terms of shopping and just general hanging out. If you walk down Nathan Road (which connects the two districts? cities?) together, you’ll hit all the main shops and eateries. The walk takes maybe 2 hours or 3, so make sure you have plenty of time since this is meant for a leisure walk, not needing to get somewhere on time. I’m definitely looking forward to this part of the trip. Somehow we always end up at a McDonalds… and its awesome ice cream.
Down
Smog (from Magalie L'Abbé)
The downside to all the people and skyscraper is the smog that covers Hong Kong ever so often (more often than not). Even on a sunny cloudless day, the harbour between Central and Tsim Sha Tsui has a light covering of gaseous thing. While it is not fatal, to those who have respiratory problems are advised not to go outside during the peak hours. And the sightline is awful, especially when you go up to the Peak and look down. All you see if a thick smog while it’s still sunny.
So that’s Day Two of Seven Days of Countdown to Hong Kong. I need to start packing soon actually.
