Dispatch #10: Hong Kong & Beijing

Greetings everyone from the frozen tundra that is Minnesota in February. Our incredible journey has come to an end. We arrived back in Minnesota early on February 18th, and were greeted with big hugs from both the Austins and the Casabians (who flew out to Minnesota to welcome us home). We can't believe that over 6 months have passed since we boarded the plane to Egypt. We experienced so much in that time and became very comfortable with the nomadic life. The adjustment back to 'normal' life in the U.S. will definitely take some time. There will be more about our return later, but first we owe you a look at our time spent in the fascinating cities of Hong Kong and Beijing (a bit overdue).

After saying goodbye to our home in Southeast Asia, Bangkok, we flew to the bustling metropolis that is Hong Kong. A double-decker bus brought us from the airport onto Hong Kong Island, home to dozens of skyscrapers awash in neon lights and Chinese New Year decorations. A shuttle bus brought us up the steep and winding road to our secluded hostel, which offered a spectacular view of the harbor. It was a quiet place that provided an excellent escape from the controlled chaos of the city below. Our first day in Hong Kong was spent wandering around Hong Kong Island. We began our own Hong Kong ritual by starting the day at Pacific Coffee, where Mary could down some caffeine and we could take advantage of their “free” internet. We then ventured out to check out the many sights and sounds of central Hong Kong Island. We window-shopped at the countless stores lining the streets and filling the many upscale malls. However, the window was as close as we got to cash register at these shops. Shopping just isn’t quite as fun when you can hardly afford to buy a Coke at the neighborhood 7-11 (not that shopping is ever really that pleasant, especially when you are accompanying a woman). We strolled through the Hong Kong Zoo and Botanical Gardens, observing the interesting array of animals and birds housed there in the shadows of the surrounding skyscrapers. Hong Kong Park provided another green respite from the concrete, glass and cars of the city. Hong Kong is about as modern as it comes and one can just smell the money flowing through there. We ended up meeting the friend of an ex-girlfriend of Mary’s cousin (yeah, we were stretching it a bit to find ties wherever we travelled), who is a native of Hong Kong, and had dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. It was quite fun, although the dining experience resulted in us vowing to eat only at the many great “Western” restaurants in Hong Kong during the remainder of our stay.

After performing the morning Pacific Coffee ritual again the next day, we took the Star Ferry across Hong Kong Harbor to the Kowloon Peninsula, home to many tourists visiting Hong Kong. Kowloon has much fewer skyscrapers than Hong Kong Island, but has just as many shopping opportunities. The “touristy” quotient is just about off the scale. There is a very nice waterfront park that provides wonderful views of the dazzling skyline of Hong Kong Island across the harbor. In this park we were greeted by several groups of giggly high school kids who were surveying tourists (about tourism in Hong Kong, interestingly enough) as part of a school project. The interaction left both them and us laughing as we walked our separate directions. We were lucky to visit the nearby Hong Kong Museum of Art on “Free Wednesday” and, after deciding that we couldn’t pass up anything free, we checked out the collection of ancient Chinese artifacts and old Chinese and Hong Kong paintings and ceramics. Feeling sufficiently culturally enriched, we headed to Kowloon Park, which is more like an amusement park than a park. It has a swimming center, aviary, man-made waterfalls, restaurants, etc. As the sun was setting over the peak of Hong Kong Island, we took the ferry back over to the island and grabbed a nice Italian dinner in the trendy SoHo district. No Chinese food on this night.

Our final day was spent exploring even more of Hong Kong Island. We looked around at more things we couldn’t afford, took a relaxing ride through downtown on the old-fashioned two story trolley and took the tram up to the Peak for a spectacular (albeit slightly foggy) look down on the Hong Kong skyline. We topped it all off with a delicious non-Chinese cheeseburger at a festive non-Chinese Irish pub. A perfect way to end our stay in the very non-Chinese “administrative region” of Hong Kong.

We joined the flocks of people traveling on January 31st to visit friends and family for the Chinese New Year. We arrived in wintery Beijing and, by a stroke of luck, ended up on the right bus to get us to our hostel. Our hostel was immaculately clean, and we were fortunate enough to be put in a room with four very friendly young women (2 from England, 1 from Canada and a fellow American from New Hampshire). Good thing, because we spent the next 8 nights with these ladies in a relatively small 6-bunk room. We had 8 ½ days to go out and explore Beijing and its surrounds, and were able to experience some wonderful sights and events in that time.

Our first two days were spent joining the masses at some of the festive Chinese New Year celebrations taking place around the city. The largest, at Ditan Park, included music and traditional Chinese dance performances, all sorts of carnival games and rides for the families, colorful (mostly red) decorations and an interesting selection of culinary delights (we took the safe route and had a fresh, handmade noodle soup). I generally towered over the hordes of people enjoying the celebration, but could do little more than anybody else as the crowd surged down the narrow alleys. At times I felt as if I was just riding along, with no contact on the ground. We also visited the relatively new International Carnival, which presented food from around the world, including bratwurst, gyros (very popular), corn on the cob, etc. There were roller coasters and other amusement park rides, including a flume water ride (which people actually were riding despite the 30 degree temperatures – it made me question the sanity of the Chinese in general). It was a fascinating look at watching the attempted display of Westernization by the Chinese. Another fair in the Artists Quarter brought us back to a more traditional New Year street festival, with more of an emphasis on Chinese art and calligraphy. In the end, all of these festivals had one thing in common – stand after stand selling anonymous pieces of plastic junk (presumably all the leftovers from all of the lovely “Made In China” plastic junk that we get in the U.S.). Our final New Year experience was walking at night through a quiet park filled with hundreds of lighted, brightly colored silk lanterns in all shapes and forms (e.g. dragons, goats (it is the Year of the Goat), etc.). It was absolutely beautiful.

We felt so lucky to be in Beijing over the Chinese New Year. The New Year is the biggest holiday in China and most people have a week off of work to visit family and party. It was great just sitting back and watching Chinese families enjoying the holiday together. We became very comfortable, and actually rather enjoyed, being outsiders looking in.

The remainder of our time in Beijing was spent doing the more traditional tourist things. We visited the large Forbidden City complex, with its traditional Chinese architecture and gardens. Although it felt very cold and barren when we were there, it still was a magical place. We enjoyed getting lost in all of the small courtyards and alleyways that surround the main series of temples and gates. We strolled around the vast Tian’amen Square, with the old, medieval looking Quianmen Gate (actually 2 gates) at one end, the Tian’amen Gate with its huge portrait of Mao Zedong at the other end, and the large mausoleum housing the preserved body of Mao in the middle. We also saw Tiantan Park and the lovely Temple of Heaven, which included an unexpected (and free) traditional Chinese dance performance with about a hundred dancers in colorful, replica costumes. We did quite a bit of shopping as well – for cheap DVDs, knock-off clothes and bags, art supplies and traditional Chinese handicrafts and art. So many fakes, so little time. We also returned to eating Chinese food again (which we found to be much better than in Hong Kong). Our favorites were the ravioli-like dumplings filled with vegetables and/or pork and a restaurant called Schlotzky’s (although we couldn’t figure out if it was really Chinese or not).

The two highlight attractions for us were the Summer Palace and the Great Wall of China. The Summer Palace is a large temple and garden complex where the emperors used to spend their summers. The grounds and the colorful buildings are absolutely beautiful, and we were often left imagining just how spectacular the Summer Palace must look when it is green and in bloom. The complex sits along the shores of Kunming Lake, the frozen surface of which provided a great place for visitors to go out and slip-slide around while taking in the breathtaking views of the Summer Palace and the surrounding hills. We joined in the fun on the ice, but it turned out the ice just wasn’t fun enough for me. As I was exiting the ice surface, I side-stepped a woman coming onto the lake and broke through the ice. My left leg was immediately in knee deep water. Mary, who was well ahead of me, wondered what the women were all screaming at, and broke into a fit of laughter after I pointed to my sopping wet leg. An eighty-five year old Chinese man also found it quite hysterical as he walked past me dumping the water out of my boot and wringing out my sock. On top of all this, my icy dip happened just a few minutes after our lengthy discussion on the lake about which one of the two of us is more clutzy (and also about how great our Gore-Tex boots are – I can tell you now that they are just as good at holding water in as holding it out). I guess I lost that battle.

Our most amazing experience in China (and one of the highlights of our whole journey) was hiking along the Great Wall of China. At this point of the trip we were officially “hikers” and therefore, decided to do a 10 km (6 mile) hike on top of the Great Wall between the towns of Jinshanling and Simitai. This portion of the Wall is called the “Wild Wall” because little to no restoration work has been done on it. It was awesome! The Wall snakes along the top of the mountain ridge, rising and falling to the peaks and valleys. Watchtowers, each with its own unique architectural elements, break the wall into small segments and provide wonderful viewpoints to observe the beautiful, mountainous surrounding landscape. At times, no other human being was in sight. It was such a special and personal experience for the two of us. One we will never forget.

Beijing was such a fascinating place to visit. Although the city is hardly representative of China as a whole (most of the country is extremely poor), Beijing provided a glimpse at the clash of old, traditional China with the new, Westernizing China. At least in Beijing, the Westernizing China seems to be winning out. Old neighborhoods are being torn down and new, fancy skyscrapers are built in their place. Cell phones are everywhere. It will be so interesting to watch as China tries to hold onto its traditional and communist values, while opening itself up to the rest of the world. For better or for worse, China is in the midst of great change. We look forward to returning in the future to judge for ourselves.

Beijing was the final international stop on our journey, and it was with mixed feelings that we left on February 9th for Hawaii and U.S. soil. A summary of the last 9 days of our trip will follow soon under separate cover. Until then, take care. We look forward to sharing our pictures and stories with you in person soon (if we haven’t already).

Love,

Matt (and Mary)