To The Mainland
Travel lesson #1: Never buy new shoes before a big trip. Everyone knows that, even me. So I bought my shoes two weeks before my departure...maybe more. What I didn't know is that Travel lesson #2 is very similar. That is never by new arch support insoles (sp?) right before a big trip. Naturally I like to see everything when I have the chance. Therefore, rather than catching the bus, like most tourists and locals, I want to walk as much as I. Great for experience, terrible for feet. I did luckily accomplish my goal of seeing as much of Hong Kong in a single day.
I took a 100 year old tram to Victoria Peak, which overlooks the city of Hong Kong. It has been raining basically non stop since I arrived (I thought 13 million chinese people was fun, imagine 13 million chinese people with umbrellas!). Fortunately it cleared up just enough to see the city of Hong Kong from the peak. I also enjoyed a 15 minute light show from the other side of harbor. All of the buildings on the island of Hong Kong light up to rythm and music at 8:00 pm everynight. Pretty sweet for a enormous sky line.
There is this little town in China called Yangshuo and it's neighbor of Guilin that in my 1.5 days in HK has gotten some good reviews. So after looking into it I realized there was a 7:00 pm bus ride from a border town in China (1 hour from HK). Perfect because on the upside, my feet could use a 10 hour overnight rest, even if it were on a bus. So before I know what I am doing I buy the bus ticket and have to get myself accross the border by afternoon.
Two good things: 1. I meet 3 guys from New York who had the same crazy idea. 2. As it turns out, some of the busses here in China are all sleepers. I didn't even know those existed. Of course the beds were not designed for anyone 6 ft, but the ride was pleasantly comfy and was actually more like 13 hours instead of 10.
The first city we stopped at was Guilin and it has definitely lived up to the hype. The landscape is covered with jagged hills and rivers. One other thing, there is very clear difference between HK where everything is in English and Chinese, and pretty much everyone speaks English and China where nothing is in English and very few speak it. The few that do are eager to start a conversation which is extremely friendly. After enough of these people approaching you to "practice English" you begin to realize they are sure eager to show you all the highlights of China, and I can only assume they make a decent living of of commissions for bringing in ignorant tourists. (Already I have purchased an "original" painting from a Chinese "art professor" who was thrilled to have me "sharing his art with America". I even took a picture with the guy! I'm sure none of that was true, but it sure tickled my fancy and now I need to figure just how to get this painting back to America.
Well I am beat and tomorrow is another big day as I'm scheduled to go down the river to Yangshuo. I've tried to load pictures but it keeps failing. I will try again when I find another computer. Till next time, Derek.
Sight, Sounds and Smells of Hong Kong
I knew the 14 hour plane ride was going to be good when the 5 year old child was visibly (and vocally) irritated with me when I informed her that she was sprawled out in my seat. Really the ride wasn't so bad minus the fact that every hour and a half, right when you began to doze off, you were jolted awake from the heels of a 5 year old who I believe was only pretending to have nightmares.
Luckily the plane was only 1 hour late, bringing me into Hong Kong at 7:00 pm, May 26. I had been adequately informed that China is not very tourist friendly, so I was ready for anything. Fortunately I haven't had too many problems getting around. I have already explained how I value planning, so I felt it was important to have at least two nights booked at a hostel in Hong Kong for when I arrived. The rest I figured would work itself out.
By the time I got to the hostel on Hong Kong island, the city was still very much humming. All of the transportation is double-decker (trains, and busses) except the taxis which are all exactly the same car. Maybe it's because the Chinese are not accustomed to how much I was sweating when I arrived, but when I checked in the man running the hostel told me that he was happy to upgrade my room to a single with a private bathroom. It's probably rude to argue in China, so I graciously accepted his offer. The room is just big enough to fit a bed, and I finally got to experience the famous toilet shower combo (very convenient).
I wanted to do a little walking around despite my lack of rest. This is probably a good point to remind the reader that China is home to nearly 1/6 of the world's entire population, and after last night I am convinced that most of those people live on Hong Kong Island. The only thing that comes close to the amount of people I saw last night would be that of Rome on Easter weekend when the Pope is ill (last year's trip). I didn't do much exploring because I was tired, sweating (still) and anxious to try out the showerlette, but I did get a chance to try my first Chinese snack. Mystery meat, wrapped in noodle, and served on a stick. Mmm, not bad at all.
After a good nights rest I finally saw a Hong Kong at a much slower pace. Turns out the streets are relatively still at 7:00 am. The only thing open for breakfast was Starbucks or McDonalds, so egg-mcmuffin it was. The first thing I did was walk through Victoria Park which is a big beautiful park right in the city. The park was much busier than the streets, but mostly with elderly chinese people practicing their Tai Bo Chi. I didn't have the guts this early in the trip to start taking pictures of Chinese grandmothers working out, but if I do I'll post them on my Flicker.
Now it is just after noon, and I am headed to take a steep tram to the top of a mountain (Victoria Peak) which is supposed to have a great view of the city. After that it the walk of stars, which is China's Hollywood walk. After that...well, sheese you guys, I like to plan but let's not get carried away! Talk to you later.
Planning Perfectionist
As you all know, one rule that I absolutely live by is
Plan Ahead. So that is exactly what I did for this trip. In fact I was planning nearly up to the very last second. And to demonstrate my point here is a recap of the 10 hours prior to departure.
- 6:00 pm-Trip to REI to purchase supplies such as back pack for trip, pillow, bag locks, etc.
- 6:45 pm-Watch Suns break the hearts of the Dallas Mavericks/followed by dinner
- 9:55 pm-Drive to Circuit City to purchase batteries, tapes and memory cards for my camera/camcorder.
- 9:56 pm-Drive to Target because all electronic stores are closed at 9:00 pm in Portland. Target closes at 10:00.
-11:00 pm- Begin to pack for trip.
-12:30 am- Drive to Kinkos for necessary copies of passport, airline tickets, etc.
- 1:45 am- Drive to Walmart to purchase all supplies I forgot to purchase at Target earlier
- 3:00 am- Continue packing
- 4:45 am- Get some rest for big trip.
- 5:30 am- Get up for the big trip.
- 6:45 am- Email resume for job lead at Princess Cruises
- 7:00 am- Leave for airport.
As it turns out my planning worked out perfectly, because one theory I have on traveling internationally is to stay up all night before traveling so you will be tired enough to sleep for the duration of the 14 hour plane ride. Mission accomplished. Next stop Hong Kong.
*The only thing I didn't plan on doing was waking little baby Sammy of the friends I was staying with in Portland. As it turns out I went ahead and did it anyway several times. Bless Jeremy and Rebecca... they didn't say a word about it the next morning. Come to think of it they didn't say anything at all. Like not even goodbye.
Around the World in Over 80 Days
Anyone who is reading this almost indefinitely knows my situation. For those of you who don't, I have recently left my postition with Grand Canyon Railway and in about six days I leave to travel around the world. Here is my itinerary:
May 25: Fly from Portland to Hong Kong (China)
June 22: Beijing to Bangkok (Thailand)
July 20: Bangkok to Delhi (India)
August 4: Delhi to London
September 7: London to Portland
I then plan to fly to Australia for a month or two after returning. That hasn't been booked yet because I don't know yet how much time I will need to shake any exotic viruses I may have caught in various parts of the world. At this point I am in San Francisco, working my way north. I am currently traveling with one of my roommates, Ben Lippard, and so far so good. We've found that between the Suns games on am radio, and watching $1 Walmart DVDs of historic cartoons, road trips can be rather enjoyable.
And we're off...
Well my friends, this is my first "real" post. Thanks to my pal Dave Coe, I have had this site now for I think about a week, and I've have already discovered a few things about blogging.
Number one: the introduction. This is when I tell my friends (and anyone who I have given this address to is officially a friend) that I have a blog. This produces one of two reactions. The first set of people are those who know what blogging is and often times respond with a subtle "Oh you're one of those" smirks. So before we go any further I want to clear the air on some things. No I do not spend my weekends in chat rooms and meeting people on Myspace. In fact I only just recently set up a my space account, and only spend an average of 2-6 hours a night in chat rooms. (jk)
The second reaction that happens when I tell someone I have a blog, is one of blank concern. These are the people who have never heard of a "blog", and usually respond with a compassionate "hmmm" to accompany their concerned look, as though I've just informed them of a medical condition. The next thing that happens I've discovered is also a little awkward. Because if the persond doesn't know what a "blog" is, you then have to explain it "is simply a website all about me. Where you can go and read about who I am, what I am doing, my interests, and also read me journal about myself! Can you imagine?! A website entirely for me, about me and by me?!?! Here let me give you the address." You get the picture. There is a common theme in MY blog.
It dawned on me there may be an air of conceit in "blogging". So after a fair amount of though my justification is this: I don't have to send everyone these unsolicited mass email that do the same thing: talk about me. Instead now you have the power to read or not read according to your own interests. Everybody's happy. I get to keep talking about myself as though everyone is listening and you have the option to not listen without feeling bad about asking me not to send mass emails anymore, or annoyed at getting a mass email. So you see in reality this whole blog thing is as much about you as it is about me. You can thank me later.
Now that I've rambled for ever about absolutely nothing and started this off on a good foot. I am going to wrap it up and I think I'd better start another post to tell you exactly what my world traveling plans are for the next 4-6 months. I will talk to you (myself) then.
Cheers and welcome to my blog.
Scoot er Die
Round Deux.
