Jeffrey’s Journey

I’ve left Hong Kong for 2 days now. In these two days, I’ve had a lot of time to think about the time spent in HK; here are my impressions of Hong Kong:

I feel Hong Kong is in of itself a contradiction. It’s a beautiful city. It’s dense. It’s new. It’s rich. But turn the corner and you’ll smell foul odors, you’ll find a secluded park in the midst of the chaos. The immigrants represent the poor. It could also be old. It’s laced with tradition, but it’s cutting edge. It’s Chinese, but it has bold brushes of British everywhere. It’s a small place but it has a very big reputation.

I loved the transportation system. It was almost effortless getting around by ferry, bus, MTR (metro), and Taxi. The transportation system in Hong Kong should be an example to all big cities.

Hong Kong can be expensive for a backpacker. However, not only is it possible but it’s easy to survive on about 30 USD a day if you’re willing to rough it a little bit. I spent about 50 dollars average because of special circumstances, like taking a trip to the casinos in Macau. If anyone is ever interested in going to Hong Kong, I’d recommend about 5 days. I saw almost everything I wanted to see but the Big Buddha because I was stranded in Macau. By far, the most beautiful view of Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour is at the Avenue of Stars.

After the light show, I had massive diarrhea from the Indian food I ate just before, so I had to run all the way back to my hostel. Unfortunately, my hostel is on the 16th floor and there was a long line of people for the elevator that takes unbelievably long (only 7 can fit at once!). I decided to climb the stairs. Made it, just… in… time.

In the end, I believe that the Cantonese are an expressive group of people. They wear their emotions on their sleeve. I can understand if some people are taken aback by the emotion and language, but it’s just another aspect of their culture.

The city also puts on one of the most amazing light shows with it’s buildings every night at 8. They start off with a roll call of each of the 20 buildings taking part in the light show, all choreographed with music. Here’s a clip, although it doesn’t do any justice to what it really looks like:

After the light show, I had massive diarrhea from the Indian food I had, so I had to run all the way back to my hostel. Unfortuantely, my hostel is on the 16th floor and there was a long line of people for the elevator that takes unbelievably long (only 7 can fit at once!). I decided to climb the stairs. Made it just. in. time.

In the end, I’ve believe that the Cantonese are an expressive group of people. They wear their emotions on their sleeve. I can understand if some people are taken aback by the emotion and language, but it’s just another aspect of their culture.

I want to start by giving a sincere thank you to my friends who’ve left

comments and nice e-mails. It really means a lot.

Well, here’s the run down of Hong Kong so far:

The first few times I tried to cross the street, I found myself looking the usual way I was used to. But nooo…. everything is opposite from back home! I think I was grazed by those red double-decker busses at least twice since coming here because I was looking the wrong way when crossing the street.

The first hostel I stayed at was called Welcome Guesthouse and run by an elderly gentlemen by the name of Mr. Wah. He is probably the cutest old man I’ll ever meet. He’s a bright spirit and that becomes obvious after the first minute of talking with him. He also gave me a jade Buddha necklace and said it would bring me luck and keep me safe during my trip.  I was pretty fond of Buddha necklace for a while, but later that evening I saw another guest of Mr. Wah’s wearing the exact same necklace and then I felt cheated on and two timed. Where does my fetish for cute old guys come from? Anyhow, he was an awesome person.

For those of you who might go to Hong Kong in the future, you must get the Octopus Card. It’s the most efficient card EVER. It’s plastic with no visible metallic strip like a credit card would have, but I’ve used it on ferries, busses, the underground, and even at 7-Eleven! I think the public transportation here is excellent and it’s something that LA desperately needs.

On my second day, I also made my way to Victoria Peak by tram. Unfortunately, the there was a typhoon warning on the day I decided to go. The typhoon actually began to pick up a little, going from a level 1 warning to a level 3, which is why my pictures are grey and wet looking. But I thought the typhoon warning would be good for HK, because although it rained, HK became cooler and more bearable. How wrong I was. The typhoon would come to haunt me the next day. More on what I mean after this entry.

Oh, Victoria Peak! As I was on the bus headed to the tram station, I met 2 Aussie chicks, a girl from Fiji, and a guy from New Zealand. We explored for a while and had a beer at Victoria Peak. At Victoria Peak, the views of Hong Kong are unbelievable, even on a rainy day. I think this view is mandatory for anyone traveling to Hong Kong because it really gives some perspective on where you are and how small Hong Kong really is. HK feels bigger than it actually is because of the vertical depth of the city.

After Victoria Peak, I shared a cab with the travelers I met to Stanley

Market. Again, since it was raining, the market was, and pardon the pun,

watered down. Most of the shops were closed and not many people were

out shopping. I split with the group from there, taking the bus to the ferry

station and back to Kowloon. Later that night, I went to another night

market, Temple Street Night Market. By this time the rain had stopped but

the typhoon winds picked up. I had a feeling that the markets were not up

to it’s usual splendor due to the weather. I hung out for a bit and

stumbled upon a fruit I’ve never seen before, the dragon fruit.

So, Hong Kong. Right off the bat I want to make a confession: For my first meal in HK, I ate McDonalds and I was lovin’ it. I’ll try to have an explanation by the end of the post.

Yesterday I was sitting in my “room,” facing the busiest street in Kowloon, Nathan Road. Every few minutes you can hear the Harry Potter chimes followed by the Yo-Ho Yo-Ho song with a little girl’s voice from Pirates. It’s fucken scary. What’s even scarier is that when I got here, I had a backpack on looking like all the other clueless, dirty backpackers. Now, the area I am staying at is a backpacker’s ghetto. I step off the bus and it becomes a feeding frenzy of hawkers for hostel’s approaching me. It’s a scene of flies on shit, and at this point I feel as dirty as shit. I feel exactly like the fat, sweaty American that I am.

I get a room fast. Now, I hesitate to call it a room. More accurate terminology would be a closet, a pantry, maybe a luxurious coffin. It’s 6 foot by 5 foot. I know this because I am 6 foot and when I’m laying on my bed, my head touches one wall, and my feet touch another. The bathroom is even better! It’s, and I’m telling the truth, 2.5 foot by 3.5 foot. Keep in mind this is the toilet, the sink, and the shower, all fitting into this space. In Hong Kong, they are efficient with their space because they have to be.

8 mile doesn’t have shit on the building I’m living in.  Now, I’m not complaining because I can only find it funny. It really is a ghetto. Because it’s the cheapest part of HK, the immigrants, backpackers, and all other walks of life end up in this building. There are an amazing number of Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese, and Africans here. They immigrated here to work hard. Sometimes I see them hustling and it reminds me of stories of my parents and their parents when they were younger.

In every sense, as far as I’ve seen, Hong Kong is a place of contradiction; There’s always a yin for every yang. A block’s radius away from where I’m living, you will find Fendi, Gucci, Cartier, LV, and more brands that have telephone numbers for prices. It’s also a place where tradition survives side by side with the modern and the chic. Yesterday I saw a Ferrari trying to parallel-park between what can be described as a dump truck and another beat up truck, the driver trying to eat at the same hole-in-the-wall restaurant as the rest of the commoners. The contradictions are really amazing in so many ways.

The use of space is probably the most amazing. This has got to be the most dense place I’ve been to. You’ll find that when there’s no space, we really don’t need much of it. I mean, one can take a dump, brush their teeth, and shower all in a 2.5 by 3.5 foot room, right?

By the way, I’m switching hostels, not solely because of the space, but because it’s hard to meet other travelers where I’m staying at. No common area??? Nope, no room.

So I went from being surrounded by people I know every minute of every day for 5 days, to being surrounded by even more people, none of which I know, completely alone.  I tried to soak in my surroundings yesterday by exploring Kowloon for 3 hours or so. I passed countless really scrumptious looking restaurants, but at the end I wanted McDonalds. I wanted something familiar and bad for me. I was trying to buy comfort for a split second. I don’t even like McDonalds, but it was the best feeling meal I could have had yesterday.

I was lovin’ it.

I ate that meal with the promise to myself to not do that again, at least not in Hong Kong.