November 11 2010 / Hong Kong, China

Imagine a city made of a sea of skyscrapers, jutting out of the ground with only barren ocean between them.  Neon lights roll over them like waves.  There are no small buildings that are stores, just massive mall complexes, bank towers, technology centers reaching to the sky.  Roads twist over one another, some flying through the air, others settled on the ground, creeping between the buildings.  Where roads are not, forests are—little pathways enter, allowing to see a glimpse of a flying squirrel, or perhaps some finches.  The air is smoggy and thick.  Everyone is well dressed, professional , and poised, and every place is Chinatown.  This is Hong Kong. 

Hong Kong is the most intimidating yet epic place I’ve ever been.  It literally is like stepping into the future, with streets all over each other and a balance of nature and city.  Julie, Ellie and I went out to go explore this wonderful place.  We were docked in Kowloon, which is just across the bay from it—it’s still Hong Kong, but just kind of in its own district, and we wanted to go to Central Hong Kong.  So we hopped aboard a boat called a Star Ferry and sailed ten minutes over there.  I couldn’t help but giggle as people stumbled over the rockiness of the ship—I’d gotten my sea legs long ago.  A ferry terminal was before us like the one in San Francisco, with a big old clock tower, and as we walked through it, we asked a lady what the best place we could go get dim sum was.  She gave us some fractured directions to a place called Mah-Seim’s (or so we thought) and we set off again.  Finally, through a memorial site, a government building, and a street, we found the “City Center” building—and dim sum at Maxim’s was on the top floor.  It was a HUGE room, crowded with, to my delight, Asian people.  There was only a speckled SASer here or there. 

We had to wait for about a half hour outside, but when we got in it was incredibly worth it.  We grabbed our corner table and were soon flagging down anyone and everyone.  It was Julie and Ellie’s first time at dim sum, so I felt all puffed up like a pro.  We ordered shrimp on peppers, BBQ pork buns, shrimp balls, those delicious things I can never remember the name of that have all that delicious juice in them, something called a taro roll, and fried tofu that was the best tofu I have ever eaten in my life.  In the process I scalded my tongue on my tea, but that was the only bad part of it.  The bill was bigger than my usual SAS meals, but you can only have dim sum in China so many times, right?

After paying we went down the stairs to go find Victoria Peak, which is the highest peak in Hong Kong and apparently gives an absolutely amazing view of the entire city.  After walking around through banks and under roadways through the subways, we found the terminal for the cable car that led us up the mountain.  THIS WAS THE SCARIEST CABLE CAR RIDE OF MY LIFE.  Despite the beautiful nature scenery, I couldn’t be distracted from the fact that we were practically going STRAIGHT UP.  It was a VERY sharp incline, and what’s worse, we would stop on the way for other people getting on, and when we stopped the cable car rolled backwards a bit.  It freaked out everyone.  But it was still a great time, and the view from the top was COMPLETELY worth it!  Stretched out below us was all of central Hong Kong, and across the sea from that was Kowloon.  To the sides were boats and more cityscape.  It was absolutely incredible, to see such a large amount of skyscrapers. 

When we got off the cable car, we were taken into a place that was essentially a shopping mall.  None of us minded and browsed to our hearts’ content.  I found a great pair of $12 sunglasses, as my other two have broken at this point, and a little cheap Chinese fish that I grew really attached to—Christmas ornament!  There were lots of other cute things, but you kind of had to pick and choose what was too expensive.   I also found these GREAT earrings that are the male symbol and the female symbol—perfect for a gender studies minor!

We went outside after a while and admired the view, munching some gelato with freshly made, hot waffle cones.   After a while we decided to walk back down the mountain, because it seemed so nice and relaxing and scenic.  And it was—there were houses speckled here and there but otherwise it reminded me of the fireroad we used to walk our dogs on—very foresty and quiet, with just other dog walkers going by.  We even walked through the Zoo and Botanical Garden, seeing ring-tailed lemurs, an orangutan, and a python.  I was surprised that we were never hassled to pay an entrance fee, but it was almost like the zoo was just in the path itself. 

It took us a while but we finally made it back to the ferry and to Kowloon.  We kept getting mixed directions from everyone we saw and it was only when we recognized certain buildings (the ferry clocktower) that we found our way back.  We were hungry at this point, and Ellie was craving pizza.  I felt like being cheap for this meal so we wandered through our waterfront mall.  The only pizza place was a very classy Pizza Hut, but nothing can make that classy enough for me to want to eat there.  So we settled in the middle—a place called BLT Burger, which had DELICIOUS BURGERS OH MY GOODNESS.  I didn’t even feel bad eating it because I haven’t had American food ever in a port so far.  I finished the burger but could not finish the fries.  It was so great.  om nom nom.

Ellie was feeling tired and a little sick, so she went back to the ship, but me and Julie wanted to get some postcards because we were all leaving tomorrow and had bought unholy amounts of international stamps.  So we went back out.  There is the greatest Christmas display outside the mall with Christmas caroles playing and lots of people taking pictures in front of snowmen or frosted Christmas trees.  NOW THESE ARE MY KINDS OF PEOPLE!  I love Christmas and the fact that I can hear Christmas music here is SO EXCITING.  But anyway, the only place open at this point was a little shop near the ferry building.  I bought a great pack of post cards of all these Hong Kong skylines—they’re really beautiful.  Because she couldn’t charge my card unless I bought a certain amount of stuff, I decided on two other epic purchases.  The first was a Hong Kong panda coffee mug, because I’ve been needing one for tea and coffee during late nights here on the ship.  And the other.  THE OTHER IS MY PROUDEST PURCHASE YET.

A Chairman Mao shotglass.  Classy, yet powerful.  Jealous?  I know I’d be.  I think it’s pretty much the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, and even though there were “prettier” glasses to choose from, I knew as soon as I saw it that that glass was for me.  It still makes me laugh to think about. 

When we got back, Julie, Ellie and I hung out on Deck 7, admiring the skyline and finishing up writing postcards, which for me included a couple of my Cambodia postcards.  SO GET READY FOR SOME POSTCARDS.  Ellie also wrote me a postcard, which is being sent to the Burrow, so you guys will just have to hold onto it for me.  :D

Then it was off to bed, to pack and to shower!  I loved Hong Kong, and wish I could have stayed here longer, but don’t for a second regret our day of gently moseying around this beautiful city!

Sorry if this post was brief.  I’m off to Beijing tomorrow and I want to do as much here as I can.  I haven’t given up on blogging yet!  :)