Hong Kong

Written by: Susan

Date: April 10, 2008

Hong Kong is a city full of stimulation. Lights, people, shops, and traffic everywhere. It’s hard to be alone in Hong Kong and if you’re a person who needs “personal” space, it’s probably not the place for you. Unless of course you’ve got like millions of dollars and can afford your own penthouse suite. Most of us regular joes though end up staying in the cramped expensive quarters of Hong Kong. We were a bit apprehensive about our hostel since all we had heard were horror stories about how dingy, small, and skanky the hostels in Hong Kong are. It’s a big city where real estate is expensive and therefore every inch counts.  

After an expensive 40 minute taxi ride form the airport which is on an island far, far away from the city we arrived in the center of it all. Our cab couldn’t drop us off right in front of our hostel so we had to walk with our backpacks, day packs, and wheelie (yes, we ended up having to buy yet another wheelie suitcase in China) and pushed our way through the streets of Hong Kong looking for our hostel. Luckily we were close and were only damp with sweat by the time we found it.

After checking into our tiny, tiny but very clean room we decided to go walk around.

We had heard Hong Kong was the mecca for all things electronics including any cell phone your little heart could desire. Brian was especially excited since he’s an electronics junkie. I, on the other hand, prefer a phone with 2 functions, making calls and having an alarm clock. Everybody was right as cell phone stores were everywhere. Hong Kongers (I made this term up) are obsessed with their cell phones. It’s all about style, how many functions, and how cool you look with your cell phone. For us, it was almost too much. It was hard to even begin to look at cellphones as there were literally thousands of cell phones on display. After deciding that we couldn’t handle cell phones anymore we moved onto ipods and cameras. It was quite fun looking at everything and doing some wishful thinking.

What we really wanted to buy was an SLR camera. Canon 40D to be quite exact. It was beautiful. It sang to us, it said buy me, buy me! If only we could afford it. We continue to look at it and try to find ways to justify the cost but so far we have come up with nothing. I guess it will have to wait until our next around the world trip.

There’s tons to do in Hong Kong if you love to shop and eat. There’s also tons of hiking and parks. For some reason, we weren’t getting into any of it. Maybe we were getting lazy and didn’t really feel like figuring out how to get to places. Maybe because it was hot and humid. Not unbearable, but we had just come from a cold country so the heat felt sweltering at times to us. So instead all we’ve done in the past week is wander around the streets of Hong Kong, checking out the shops, cleaning up our resumes, and sleeping in. Maybe that’s what we needed though before the final leg of our trip.

Today, just to get ourselves out of our neighborhood and do something a little different, we decided to take a bus ride…..plus it was cheap entertainment. There are tons of doubledecker buses here in Hong Kong and some of them are really nice and fancy looking. We hadn’t seen much of the city since we’d been taking the subway most of the week and I thought it might be fun just to cruise around on the bus and see other neighborhoods. So that’s exactly what we did. We stood at the bus stop and waited for one of the nicer, newer buses to pull up and we hopped on and rode it to the end. It was pretty uneventful but just nice to see different areas of Hong Kong. Our final stop was anticlimactic as it stopped in front of a retirement home complex and small shopping center.  So we walked around for about 5 minutes and got back on the bus.

What we have enjoyed about Hong Kong is all the interesting street food. I love trying new types of food and Hong Kong definitely puts its best foot forward when it comes to street food. There are stalls that sell fried fish balls, tofu, squid, and anything else fried. Other stalls sell different varieties of snacks made out of waffle batter. Those are my favorite. That’s actually one of my favorite memories of Hong Kong when I was here in 2nd grade. There are other stalls that sell these fresh mango, coconut, fruit drinks with tapioca balls and jelly. They claim it’s healthy but I’m not so sure about that. What I do know is that they are really tasty.

We’ve also been lucky enough to find a really good dim sum place by our hostel. Dim Sum is a breakfast/ lunch time way of eating for many Cantonese people. It’s especially famous and good here in Hong Kong. Basically you sit down in a restaurant and these ladies push little carts around with little plates of food on them. It can be anything from steamed shrimp dumplings to bbq pork in a bun to chicken’s feet. Everything comes on little plates so that you have the opportunity to sample a variety of dishes. It’s one of my favorite ways of eating and Brian has begun to learn to appreciate and enjoy it as well.

Travel info on Hong Kong:

We stayed at the Dragon Inn Hostel: www.dragoninnhk.com. It was very conveniently located only a block off of the Mongkok metro stop.

Taking a cab from the airport to Mongkok costs us $300HK (about $36US).

We purchased an Octopus card for the Metro system for $150HK ($50 of that was a deposit for the card). It works for the metro system as well as the bus system which was a bonus for us.

There is a great street of cheap, local restaurants one block east of the Ladies Market in Mongkok.

Cookies are buy 3 get 3 free at Mrs. Fields under the Metro station at Mongkok after 10pm. Get there early as a line forms and people actually have order lists.

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Date: April 3, 2008

Written by: Susan

We had 10 days left before we were due to fly out of Beijing to Hong Kong. Although we knew we wanted to spend a week in Beijing, we thought 10 days might be a bit too long. There were a few options and we decided that we would take the 11 hour overnight train from Xi’an to Pingyao, a town described in our guidebook as a quaint, old Chinese town that would melt even the most hardened of expats. Sounded good to us. We were ready for a smaller town and a few days to just wander aimlessly.

After an 11 hour train ride on which we barely slept, we were thankfully greeted by our hostel. Hostels in China have been the nicest and cleanest that we’ve experienced so far on our trip. To be quite honest, they can barely be called hostels they tend to be so nice and clean. I digress….back to our hostel picking us up. It was freezing cold, possibly because it was 6am but I think more so because a cold front had passed through with some freezing rain. It was the coldest weather we had experienced so far in China.

After sitting in a nice warm front room waiting for our room to be cleaned, we had breakfast. Sometimes it’s hit or miss when it comes to places making western food. It said on the menu that they had pancakes, which are always a favorite of mine. Brian ordered apple pancakes and I ordered banana. The pancakes looked awesome when the came out except for the fact that there was no syrup (they gave us thin honey as a substitute) and that they tasted like fried garlic and onions. Clearly, they wipe down their pans here and cook not only pancakes, but Chinese food in them. Besides the fact that Brian’s did not taste like apple at all and mine only carried a hint of banana. Needless to say, I stuck with fried eggs the rest of our time at the hostel.

Pingyao is a town where there isn’t much to do except wander aimlessly around the streets looking at the old architecture and all the crap shops lining the main streets. It’s one of the most well-preserved ancient towns in China and therefore gets the Chinese tour groups visiting in hordes. After checking out most of the shops on our first afternoon, we still had two days to kill before our overnight train to Beijing.

There was a sign up in our hostel that had various services available including massages, acupuncture, foot massages, Chinese cupping, etc. Perfect we thought. We have nothing to do and we should take advantage of the low prices of massages because the prices will be steep from here on out. On the first night we each got a foot massage. First they soaked our feet in some sort of brown Chinese medicine that we felt did absolutely nothing and than began the massage. Brian said his massage was really nice and not too painful. Mine on the other hand almost left me screaming at points. We’ve noticed that in Asia, there have been many a times when the masseuse thinks hard means good and beats the living crap out of our feet.

The next day we decided to try cupping. We’d both never done it before and it sounded intriguing. Plus, it was only going to cost us about $10 and how could we say no? So the big selling point here is that the doctor (cupping is actually a medical treatment) comes to your room to administer the treatment. Essentially you lie on your stomach with your shirt off. He finds pressure points (similar to the ones in acupuncture) and puts a small glass jar near the area, lights a flame and quickly puts the glass jar on your skin. The jar suctions your skin and is supposed to help draw our impurities and ciriculate your blood. He repeats the process all over your back. Most of the time it just feels like something is pinching your skin. He continues to do this and moves the jars onto different points of your back. This process goes on for about half an hour. Afterwards, you pretty much looked like you just got into a major brawl with the vacuum cleaner and you didn’t win. It’s not pretty.

We can’t exactly say we felt renewed, rejuvenated or even relaxed after the experience. The only thing we really could do was compare our war wounds and decide who looked worse. On to the next treatment………

Day 2 brought us acupuncture and massages. We’d both never done acupuncture before and it somehow seemed appropriate considering we were in a small ancient Chinese village with nothing else to do. Again, it was the same doctor who had given us our cupping treatment but this time he came with his assistant. Acupuncture was a bit intimidating to us as they actually stick needles in you. We had heard though that it’s not supposed to hurt….and it didn’t exactly….except for when you tried to move your arm. We had 5 needles in us. 1 on the top of our head, 1 near our elbow, and the other near our wrist. The one on the head felt like nothing but the two on our arms were hitting pressure points that were really painful if we tried to move our hands. It was if our arms were these dead weights. To be honest, after about 5 minutes I wanted the whole experience to be over. I didn’t really like it and it kind of freaked me out. Instead I just laid there for 30 minutes with needles in my body.

The massage afterwards was anti-climatic and not very good considering the lady just rubbed our bodies with all of our clothes on. It felt more like we were getting chafed skin than a good rub down. Oh well….only another $14 down the tube but hey, at least we can check off acupuncture and cupping from our list.

After a not so refreshing several days of treatments, we were ready to head to Beijing and begin the last part of our journey here in China.

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March 31, 2008

Written by: Brian

Xi'an (pronounced Shi-an) is a city of over three million people located in the heart of China and located in the province of Shaanxi. The city is rich with the history of China, from the Qin (pronounced Keen) dynasty to the silk road.  So it was twenty two hours after we left from Shanghai and with a restless night of sleep, that we literally rolled into the city. All we really knew about Xi'an was that the Terra-cotta Warriors were unearthed there about 30 years ago and that is why we traveled all the way out here. What we learned from our trip was how important Xi'an was to the start of the Chinese empire and the country that is becoming one of the world powers of today.

The history of China is long and complex. I remember studying Chinese history in highschool and then again in college but I could never keep the dynasties straight. There was the Qin, the Han, the Three Kingdoms, the Ming and so many more that I couldn't keep track of. I was a little nervous when our tour guide starting talking about the Qin dynasty and its importance in Chinese history and started having flash backs to those confusing days of world history class. Although after listening to our guide and doing some further reading I came to appreciate and understand the history of China that had confused me in the past. As in anything there is a beginning and that is where the Qin dynasty and our story starts.

At 13 years old, Ying Zheng, the son of a King, assumed control of his father's province, the area of Xi'an today. When he assumed full power at 22 he had one goal in mind,  the unification of China. In 221 B.C. he accomplished his goal. This was the start of the first dynasty in China. Ying was so pleased with himself (like most people with too much power) that he gave himself a new name, Qin Shi Huang which translates to first emperor of China. At the time this title was reserved only for deities and the mythological sage-emperors.

Although Qin was a ruthless leader he made many modifications that allowed China to thrive. He standardized the unit of measurement, adopted a unified form of Chinese writing and installed a universal coinage system. While these are not the most exciting things to read about they are important to the overall growth of China. But I did not have you read up to this point to be half asleep to tell you about universal coinage system and standardized writing system, but to tell you the two most notable things in China today were started by Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the Terra-cotta Warriors and the Great Wall.

The Warriors:

The ancient Chinese believed sacrificial objects accompanied the emperor into his afterlife so the Emperor had over 7,000 life like pottery soldiers, horses, chariots, and even weapons built to protect him when he died. This was all unknown until 1974 when a farmer (who we met, imagine Harry Carry but Chinese with the same glasses) was digging a well and he dug up a human looking pottery head that lead to the what some say was the greatest archeological find of the 20th century. So with this knowledge, Susan and I got on the tour bus and headed an hour outside of town to the see first hand what the Chinese are calling “The 8th Wonder of the World”

Our little tour van stopped and our group of six got out and started walking through a modern looking subdivision of brick townhouses that we learned the Chinese built for the farmers whose land was now being used as an archaeological site. The displaced farmers were given work with various functions regarding the unearthing and preservation of the warriors. The town was was about a five minute walk from the entrance and our tour guide brought us through the back streets to avoid the touts that were lining the streets to the entrance.

We entered the gates and had about another five minute walk until we came to a set of buildings.  There were three buildings for the warriors, one movie theater and a museum. The buildings (called pits) that housed the warriors were the size of of football stadiums though only half as tall. After a fifteen minute movie in the theater that was lulling us to sleep we headed to the 3rd pit as we wanted to save the best for last, which was pit number 1.

Pit 3 is the smallest of the three (51 feet wide and 61 feet long) and is guessed to be the command center as it houses higher ranking warriors and warriors guarding the entrance. There was also a set of horses and drivers and about 68 warriors that were set up about 15 feet below us. It was a pretty good first view of the warriors. I got a little camera happy and snapped a good fifty or so photos. We spent 15 minutes gaping in awe and then we rushed out so go see pit 2.

Pit 2 is the probably the best of the exhibits as behind a small piece of glass we got to get up close and see the detail that was put into each and every warrior. Every figure differs from those around in facial features and expressions, clothing, hairstyle and gesture. The horsemen, the longbow bearers, the archers, the senior officers and generals were positioned in accordance with the ancient directives on the art of war. The pit itself is 282 feet wide by 252 feet long and is still under excavation but we could see the 500 figures that had been uncovered so far in battle ready positions. Our favorite was the horsemen and his horse that was on display. The detail was amazingly real and we could not believe that this was done over 2000 years ago. Time was winding down and we still had pit one to view so we hustled over to the largest of the buildings.

Pit 1 is 690 feet long(about 2 and half football fields) and 186 feet wide and there are over 6,000 Terra-cotta warriors in battle formation. We were immediately in awe of the size and grandeur of what we were seeing. We walked around the structure and stood in front of the all the warriors and snapped a few dozen photos.

We would have liked to spend a little more time gazing at the life size figures but our two hours was up and alas it was time to board our mini-bus and head back to Xi'an.

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Written by: Susan

Date: March 27, 2008

So there’s lots of little things that happen to us that don’t ever make it into any of our blogs but are nonetheless interesting and fascinating (well at least we think so). So this blog is dedicated to all the things we’ve either encountered, habits we’ve acquired, or simply things that we have found amusing.

Order Please!

Coming from the chaos of Southeast Asia where anything goes, arriving in China was a bit of an adjustment. We’d been in countries where you crossed the street whenever you got the chance. It usually meant weaving in and out of traffic and sprinting at the last moment. Here in China, not only are things orderly with traffic lights and signals but there’s also the upbiquitous traffic signal cop. The cop’s sole job is to make sure that things follow an orderly process which includes blowing the whistle at any rogue person who might have dared step off the curb. Of course the only reason we know this is because we’ve stepped off the curb one too many times. Each time to be whistled at and with the flick of their white-gloved hand, sent back up onto the curb. Trying to defy order, Brian has on more than one occasion dangled his toes off of the curb to see what would happen. Luckily, most times he’s just met with a glare. I guess his blues eyes aren’t helping him in this department.

I, on the other hand, am secretly a little bit thankful for the traffic cops. This is usually one of the things Brian and I bicker about whenever we enter a new country. Brian loves to just cross the street, dodging in and out of traffic. I prefer to stand and wait for the light. In most countries though, we’ve gotten used to the no light situation and I too was weaving in and out of traffic. So when we arrived in China, Brian continued to dodge traffic. Not only was he getting whistled at by the traffic cops, but also getting yelled at by me because he would cross without warning me that he was crossing. I, not paying attention because I was checking out the surroundings, would get caught either on the curb or between cars. The problem is that the cars in China aren’t small and I’m pretty sure they don’t care whether or not they hit you. I mean, are you really going to play chicken with a car or even more likely a bus? So that’s typically argument #1 that Brian and I have when arriving in a new city.

Rub, Flip, Scratch

This is the first time on our trip that we’ve encountered counterfeit money, or at least counterfeit money where we knew about it and shops wouldn’t accept it. The thing that upsets us the most about this is the fact that we get the money from a legitimate ATM machine and the counterfeit bills happen to be 100 yuan (equivalent to $14US). So it’s a bit annoying when you get bad bills because none of the banks will take responsibility for it. Now, when we get money out of an ATM (typically 3000 Yuan at a time), we stand at the ATM machine and being as incognito as we can scratch the collar of Mao (on the real bills his collar is rough), flip the bill because the 100 imprinted on the bill changes from a green to blue color, and rub the paper as the paper is a bit coarser and thicker than the slick counterfeit bills. We’ve gotten pretty good at it but I’m sure the security officer is wondering what the hell we’re doing. What would we do now if we found a counterfeit bill after our own inspection? Well I think we would just go into the bank and raise holy hell about it. I’m sure nothing would still be done, but boy would it feel good!

This ain’t Panda Express……..

Nor is it my mom’s home cooking. The food has kind of been an unexpected problem here in China. Although my mom had warned me that the food in the north wasn’t that good, I figured we could make do somehow. In our first town, we made the mistake of going to a local restaurant. We usually try to eat at local restaurants as they tend to be cheaper and more authentic. Authentic this place was as the chickens, turtles, ducks, and seafood were all roaming around in little cages and tubs right outside the restaurant. Our Kung Pao chicken came with more bones than meat, our beef made me feel like Fred Flintstone gnawing on a Tyrannosaurus Rex bone, and the little bits of black flecks floating around in our soup made me recall the notes in our guidebook about this area of China eating dog. Not a pleasurable meal and it wasn’t going to get better.

There are a lot of considerations that have to be made whenever we start thinking of our next meal. What do we feel like eating? Where can we go eat? How much is it going to cost? Is it going to be a long dinner? Will it be good? Will it be hard to order? And the list goes on and on. Cost being one of the biggest considerations puts a lot of constraints on the type of restaurants we can get in.

Admittedly here in China, we have visited McDonald’s one too many times as a value meal falls into our budget range and quite frankly, it’s because we know what we’re getting. A micowaved cheeseburger never tasted so good. The only downside is that at 300 calories a pop on the cheeseburgers and 350 cals for a small fry, the only consequence for this type of behavior was getting fat. Sigh. Fat or starving? Neither sounds that appealing.

Luckily, in the town of Xi’an, dumplings are all the rage here and there are dumplings restaurants everywhere. Although not dirt cheap, it’s easy to order and for the most part really tasty. We’ve heard Beijing is not much better, but we did meet some friendly Australians who said the food in Southern China is sublime. We can’t wait.

Tea time is all the time

Tea is originally from China which therefore means that everybody drinks tea here in China. There are teahouses, tea stores, tea cups, and tea tumblers to fit every whim. The trains here have hot water spouts so that you can make yourself some fresh tea on the train (along with those buckets of top ramen noodles they consume here by the millions). Even the hotel rooms all have hot water boilers and their own tea cups. So when in China, do as the Chinese do. It wasn’t that hard as Brian and I are huge tea lovers. One of our favorite places is this Chinese tea place at the Pike Place Market in Seattle where you sit down and the lady just starts making all different types of tea for you depending on your mood. It’s really just a soothing and relaxing ceremony to participate in.

So when we arrived in our first town, we bought tea mugs. They are a bit of a pain to carry as they’re ceramic but totally worth it. Drinking tea out of anything that isn’t ceramic makes the tea take on unappetizing flavors. So throughout our trip we’ve been stopping at little teahouses, sampling all the different varieties of tea (green, oolong, floral, and black – which we have yet to try) and purchasing boxes of tea. We love making tea in the morning as we’re getting ready for the day and in the evening as we settle in to watch one of our bootlegged movies.

We’ve now entered the second phase of our Chinese immersion program by purchasing clear, plastic tumblers that all the Chinese carry around. In the bottom is a sprinkling of tea leaves and at the top is a little screen. You fill the tumbler with hot water in the morning, let the tea steep and take it with you so you can sip tea for the rest of the day . The best thing is that when you run out of hot water, any number of restaurants or even local shops will always willingly fill your cup with up the hot water already prepared, as if they knew you were coming. It’s one of the many charms of China.  

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