Departing Hong Kong

Today is the second day of the Chinese New Year. 2008 is the year of the rat. My week in Hong Kong certainly has sped by. In all retrospect, I have only seen a tiny fraction of the exciting city (even though I feel I have covered the whole city by foot haha) and started to develop a dily routine such as having the windows wiped due to the smog and turning on the switches for warm water and lighting, which are located outside of the bathroom and kitchen (avoid electrical accidents due to the moistness in air).

The days have been full of random happenings and exploration since my last blog entry. I'll try my best to sum up the week in a few highlights. First, Chinese New Year is a public holiday and huge celebration starting on February 7th. On New Years Eve I joined my friend Joan for a family dinner at her brother's apartment. It was her brother's family and her parents. Although all the food was delicious, I am a fan of the sticky rice dumplings in any form. My most recent favorite food items are dim sum (dumplings), dragon fruit, Thai pomalo, Chinese pears, black egg (from duck) congee, and any kind of dessert such as black glutous rice in coconut juice with mango (my sweet tooth remains with me during my travels...although desserts aren't as rich here). After dinner (which is usually served around 7:30 or 8), I met up with Eric (a friend of one of my buds in the states) at the MTR station in Causeway Bay. Anywhere near Victoria Park was full of anxious people meeting up with friends, shopping or heading toward the Flower Market, which was out destination. I felt closer to the Hong Kong peple than I have to anyone in the states, but this may have to do with the mass amount of people... Basically, I could stop walking and continue to move with the crowd. We were a part of one giant cluster of people; and we were attempting to stay together with his group of 15 or so friends (from Hong Kong, Canada, UK, Europe, and me...). To any of you Fair-goers, the Minnesota State Fair crowds on Labor Day weekend are nothing compared to this. We would pause only if we were pushed toward a stand (random items sold... for example an exacto knife shaped balloon). Eric's friends insisted that I try the warm soy milk in a bottle, which was much different from the states. It took a couple hours to evacuate the congested area, but I do admit that I rather enjoyed being in the center (literally) of the excitement. Good times all the way until early in the morning. Noodles and spicy spinach at 3 in the morning? Gotta love it.

<----The light show in Victoria Park is (TST) is recommended for tourists, but as a warning... it consists of a corny song and buildings flashing lights across the harbour. Personally I am a bigger fan of fireworks, but no matter. It's something to see and I had a conversation with a girl from Korea, who had me guess her age (26, but I guess 22...always guess younger it's safer). Stanley Market is in the southern part of HK island, which is full of cheap shops and boats by the harbour. A much different feel than the northern part of Hong Kong Island.


On Sunday, I climbed the Peak. On the way up, I set eyes on my first residential area (that wasn't 10+ stories high) , which the government is trying to knock down and replace with taller structures. Luckily the people continue to fight to maintain their homes. I believe that these type of neighborhoods are important, but... It took a little less than an hour to reach the top of the Peak, where a great view of the city awaited me. Of course, this being Hong Kong my sightseeing was done near yet another shopping mall. However, from the top, there are many paths to follow. Joan and I hiked around the Peak for over 6 hours, picking up green tea flavored Melty chocolates (Japanese brand) and Chinese cookies on the way. I saw many different perspectives of the city as we roamed around on foot. It surprised me how we could be standing next to a mall and an hour hike later be surrounded by vegetation and clean air. My quads have definitely experienced a good workout. I guess I don't even need to visit the YMCA (it has a hotel and restaruant inside...a little larger than the one on Robert Street haha). I spent the next day walking around Hong Kong Island starting near Sheung Wan/Mid-levels area (Soho) and ending in Causeway Bay. Weaving my way between random side-streets, business buildings, Hong Kong Park, markets and other various areas was amusing. Every district (actual every street) had a different feeling. I enjoyed seeing the businessmen/women riding the escalators to work, local people eating lunch at small local restaurants, well-to-do people at the Pacific Place (stylish, expensive shopping area), travelers shopping in Soho (basically a hang out place for overseas people) and so on. I wanted to see a little bit of daily life for all kinds of people living in Hong Kong, not only the touristy areas. I did have a handy map with me, which made it quite easy to navigate to the east. The Hong Kong mindset is interesting concerning meeting environmental needs. For instance, there are escalators EvErYwHeRe, but people are very concerning with preserving energy... Cheung Kong Park kind of sums up this philosophy (as best as possible) for me. It is a park full of plants/vegetation smack in the middle of a series of business buildings and skyscrapers. Its purpose is to remind people how important the environment is in their daily lives. It seems to be a tricky task to find a "balance" between helping the environment and pleasing the people (both who live in HK and are merely visiting).

For you technologically savy people, you should come to Hong Kong (Korea or Japan) solely for the enormous selection of computer software, software, video cameras, mp3 players and so on. I purchased an external harddrive in a 3-story computer mall building, which is actually relatively small compared to other districts. Who would have known that shopping for cameras, laptops, external harddrives and other such items could be so entertaining? We were in there for a good 3 hours (at least). I liked listening to the sales people integrating Chinese with English technical terms (related to computers, etc). There was a much wider selection of brand names and models. Most laptops had a built-in camera ("clear eye") and a model from a few weeks ago was considered "old." Joan bought a Fujistu laptop (Japanese brand). GB, ram, GHz, battery life, SATA, what? And I consider myself to be pretty competent when it comes to computers...

Well, I am standing at a complimentary internet access stand in the Hong Kong airport. You'll hear from me again only from Southeast Asia. Bangkok here I come!