Hong Kong
August 15 - August 19, 2004
The Friday before I left Beijing was the first sunny day with blue
skies after almost a week. Unfortunately, it was also the day I caught
a cold from biking around in the rain the day before. Biking in Beijing
was very fun - much easier than Delhi in many ways (clearly marked bike
lanes were a huge help even though they were occasionally used by cars
and others). The traffic lights required the most attention because a
green light did not mean that there wouldn't be traffic coming at you
from another direction. This picture was taken on the bike ride back to
Beijing Normal University from the conference center where the
International Psychology Congress was being held. This road was pretty
empty because it was about 7-8 km from the city center. These outer
roads were nowhere near as cool as the Hutongs (old alleyways) around
the forbidden city where I had biked the day before. That evening,
Kevin, Xiaobin and I also biked down to the Qianhai area where we went
and had a drink at a quiet bar by the lake.
This is what the inside of the express train from Beijing to Hongkong
looked like. I had the top most berth which was very comfortable
although one couldn't look out the window from that far up. Unlike the
ride from Hongkong to Shanghai, there were several English speakers in
my little section of 6 berths alone, so communication was no trouble at
all. Didn't buy any food off the train attendants this time (fresh
watermelons, styrofoam boxes with fresh hot food and rice, etc)
because I was well stocked with snacks, orange juice and instant noodle
mixes (to which you only have to add hot water - just about everyone
was carrying bagfuls of these things). Every coach had huge hot water
boilers at one end and so people kept having tea/noodles etc all day.
From what I could tell, the train was a fairly typical train except
that it was cleaner and less chaotic than regular China Railways trains
because it ran from Beijing to Hongkong without stopping even once.
The views from the train were fantastic, especially on the second
morning of the ride through southern China. This was the best I could
manage through the smudgy windows.
Hong Kong Island
Got to Hongkong and made my way to the Wang Fat hostel on Patterson St
(in the heart of the main Hongkong island). The
hostel was based out of a few apartments in a high rise building and
this was the view as I stepped out of the building. Shared a clean and
comfortable enough room with two Aussies that first night. The most
intriguing thing about the hostel was Channel 7 on the TV, which showed
the 4 security cameras live (2 elevators, main door, and reception of
the building). Had to switch it off after 5 minutes because it was just
too voyeuristic.
I spent the first afternoon and evening just taking trams that ran the
width of Hong Kong island. The double decker wooden contraptions from
the early part of the last century are a popular public transport
option even today and were packed during peak hours. Sat in the first
seat on the upper deck almost throughout, which is a great way to see
the bustling street life of Hong Kong.
In the Western Districts area, there were several streets with shop
after shop selling dried seafood wholesale and retail.
The IFC2 tower in the background is the tallest building in HK and one
of the tallest in the world. In the foreground is the former supreme
court, which is now the LegCo (Legislative Council) building.
A couple of other interesting skyscrapers in this part of HK:
Later that first evening, I took the funicular tram that climbs the
steep slopes of Victoria Peak at almost 30degrees. As the world outside
tilted away, this was the first view I had of the harbor:
Dining on the peak.
The views of the skyline just got better and better after this as the
evening went on:
This trail around the peak was a popular place for picture takers.
Portable trolleys with computers and printers attached to Digital SLRs
were doing great business taking shots of people against the
spectacular skyline.
The peak had a shopping mall on top (of course) where one of the stalls
was making wax models of people's hands.
The Xi'an warriors- they were EVERYwhere- even at the Peak Mall.
Lantau Island
Left Hong Kong island the next morning for Lantau island, about half an
hour away by train. Getting to the Po Lin monastery, where the Youth
Hostel was, took another hour by bus, but it was a great ride - through
lush green woods and over steep hills. I wonder if the convicts at this
prison got ocean view cells if they behaved well:
It was a very gray morning, but lightened up eventually by the time I
climbed up to the Buddha statue ('the largest outdoor bronze Buddha in
the world' - they've clearly been taking lessons from the americans on
writing superlatives) at the Po Lin monastery:
Posing with the Lantau peak in the background. It's a little over 900m
(~3000 ft) and I would have loved to hike up the hill but was still
feeling too woozy with the cold.
Three monks chatting early in the morning inside the Po Lin monastery.
The crowds started coming in later (there was some festival on that
day), and by lunch time it was pretty packed. I bought a meal ticket
and had a vegetarian lunch at the restaurant run by the monastery but
it was nowhere near as good as the veggie food we had in Xi'an and
Beijing.
Kid running wild at the monastery. I think that's his mother in the
background.
Old lady stuffing a huge sack with paper foldings and cuttings that
were then burnt (as offerings to ancestors I think).
While on Lantau island, I also took a bus down to Tai O, a fishing
village that won't be quaint for long seeing the amount of construction
going on over there. Only a few wooden stilt houses still remain after
a major fire burnt most of them down:
Hong Kong Island again
On my third day I went back to Hong Kong island and walked around the
western district seafood and ginseng markets, and the antique
shops on Hollywood street.
This area is full of cafes and bars and is known as SoHo - South of
Hollywood - and can be reached by taking the commuter escalators that
stretch for nearly a kilometer and a half up the hill. They run
downhill every morning till 10 am and uphill after that.
Land is at such a premium in HK that all housing grows upwards. This
wall of humanity was small compared to some of the highrises and apt
blocks that I saw. This one is fairly old. The newer ones must have
stricter codes because I never saw clothes rods etc jutting out of
those.
Took the star ferry (left) across the harbor to Kowloon Island (a 10
min ride) and spent a while walking around Nathan Road and the museums.
The engine room of the Star Ferry.
Kowloon felt totally different from HK island. Instead of seafood and
ginseng shops, the small shops on Kowloon were almost all
cameras/electronics/etc. As you get off the ferry, touts for the
hundreds of guest houses accost you and ask you if you want a
room (it didn't help that I was carrying a backpack). Some of the least
reputable guest houses are in Chungking Mansions which is also on
Nathan Road and is supposed to be the hotbed of HK crime, prostitution
and drug running. At one point, when all the youth hostels seemed to be
booked out online, I had looked up Chungking Mansions but two articles
about the place convinced me otherwise in a hurry.
A view across the harbor.
The "Asian Time" installation at the HK museum of art was fantastic. It
was all about different calendars and different concepts of time at 5
different locations across Asia - from Istanbul to Tehran, Mumbai,
Hangzhou, Tokyo and HK. The floor of the hall was covered with scenes
from everyday life in all of these places (as well as movie posters/
maps/ political banners etc). On the walls, 8 giant video projections
simultaneously told different stories about different people. I enjoyed
seeing the one about Hangzhou because we had visited it 2 weeks before.
Was fun watching the Mumbai one as well because it's always cool to see
what someone else finds intriguing about places one knows well.
The escalator at the Museum of Art had a mirrored underside so I looked
up and took this picture.
The Museum of Art also had a terrific view of the harbor and the HK
island skyline.
On my last morning at the airport: the flight from HK to Singapore
More pictures and travelogues on Sujai's Phlog