China~Day 1
April 1, 2004 | Filed Under Travel
The first week of April 2004, we spent in Hong Kong and mainland China. Here is day 1 of our travelogue:
It was a long flight- we got in last night about 6PM, then went through immigration. We had no trouble getting into the country. Had to fill out a form detailing our personal health, and what cities we had been in over the past 2 weeks. I assume this is due to concerns about SARS- we did see a few people in the airport wearing face masks. Are they hypochondriacs, or simply smart?
I managed to make a few mistakes in the airport- very groggy. Left my passport / plane ticket holder on the immigration counter. I had my passport in my pocket, so it wouldn’t have been the end of the world. It is a really nice leather folio- embossed with my initials, and a wedding present from Rachel. So naturally, I tried to go backwards- (they don’t like that) and pleaded with the guard to let me get it. He was very nice, and walked me over to the counter. The folio had my plane ticket stub in it- he checked my passport against the name on the ticket and we were on our way. Mistake 1.
We walked down to the commercial counter for the Grand Hyatt, and found that the next shuttle bus would be arriving in about ½ hour. We could have taken the limo service, but that just didn’t seem right- we could wait for the shuttle.
When the time to catch the bus came, a guy is a blaze orange jacket came to the waiting area and bid us to follow. He walked blazingly fast towards the bus pickup area, all the while holding up the little yellow ticket that you need to board the bus. Rachel and I were getting pretty slap-happy by now. This guy is wearing a screamin’ orange suit coat, and he thinks that we will not lose him because he is holding up this tiny ticket stub? It was funny. So, we are standing right next to the shuttle bus, preparing to unload our cart (they have free carts for use in the airport) when Rachel says, “where is our garment bag?” $hit. We didn’t pick it up at the carousel- did I mention that we were a bit groggy? So we run back to pick up the bag- only to find out that there is a checkpoint that you can’t go back through. We had to go up to the airline counter and wait for them to bring the bag, which thankfully, they did rather quickly. Down to the shuttle we go… They were actually waiting for us. Screamin’ orange coat said that they were just about to leave. “You see that lady up there- you get here just in time. She crazy.” He went on to explain how this British impatient-looking lady was complaining about waiting. It was 2 minutes after 8. The rest of the ride was without event- we checked in to the motel, grabbed a quick bite, then crashed.
Monday
This morning we woke up feeling well rested. We cleaned up and headed to breakfast. There were quite a few people in the restaurant (hotel), most of them westerners. There were also a surprising amount of children. Rachel and I talked about how wild it would be- experiencing this place as a kid. Not just the city, but the opulence of the motel. Glass, marble, and fine woodwork- it is a far cry from the Red Roof Inn. The children look unimpressed by it all, until they see the dessert cart… That is the most exciting thing to them!
Everyone is so friendly- we talk with the waitress for a few minutes. They speak Cantonese here, so the language cd’s I bought aren’t really useful. “Shee-she-nee” (thank you) in Mandarin, is “dah-tse” here. After she leaves, Rachel and I talk about how unimportant it is to speak the language here. Their English is probably better than ours… although I do think they appreciate it when we make an effort.
After breakfast, we decide to go to the Po Lin monastery- which is on Lantau Island. We ask at the front desk if this is a good trip- it never hurts to ask the locals… The woman explained that if you are interested in seeing cultural things, then it was a good thing to visit. She also explained that they make some authentic Chinese vegetarian dishes there, and that we should plan to eat at the monastery if we were interested. The receptionist took out a card with the Grand Hyatt logo on it, and quickly wrote some Chinese characters on it. This, she said could be shown to anyone if we couldn’t figure out where to go. Show it to a taxi driver on the way back, if they have trouble with English, she said. So- we were on our way.
We jumped on the ferry that travels to Lantau- it is about a 45 minute ferry ride. We had some nice views of the city from the water- they would have been better if it were less foggy/hazy. Still, it was a different perspective. I snapped a few photos (always the tourist) and we enjoyed the ride. When we got to the island, we decided to buy an octopus card. Octopus cards are for the public transportation in HK and the surrounding areas. It is an electronic key card that comes in set denominations (we bought (2) $100 HK). Hong Kong dollars are about 7.2ish to 1 US dollar, so they were about 15 bucks apiece. This is a good thing to have here, because the buses take exact change only- and we planned to ride a few. On the ferry, we were reading up about Lantau island. The monastery is on the far side of the island, and there is a small fishing village nearby, Tai-O. Tai-O, the book said, is an interesting place to see how local fishermen live. We decided to check it out. The plan was to hop the bus to Tai-O, then backtrack to the monastery, and finally back to the ferry. We planned to be on the island most of the day.
These islands are very mountainous, and the buses aren’t exactly speedy- at least on the way up the hills. I think some of these guys are crazy! The roads are very narrow and extremely steep. At one point I saw a sign that showed a gradient 1:8! Anyhow, it wasn’t terribly white knuckle, but a bit unsettling as these guys are flying around the corners, the bus swinging widely into the other lane. Before the bus left, Rachel and I were discussing a sign posted on the bus- “It is a criminal offense to talk with the bus driver.” Seeing how these guys drive, and what they have to work with made that rule a lot clearer!
In Tai-O, the first thing you notice is the smell. It smells like the sea, but also like funky fish. Near the bus station, the small market begins. They have small, family run stands in the front of their houses. They are almost like densely packed row-houses, and there is a narrow alley separating them. There are fish products everywhere- from stuff that is obvious, to I-don’t-have-a-clue. A lot of it is dried, some fresh, some just plain stinky. It was really interesting. The book says that they make “shrimp paste” here, which is a strong seasoning for cooking- sort of like fish sauce, which is used in a lot of soups and varying dishes. They say that it is fermented in barrels in the sun, which might account for a lot of the funky smell! We walked through the town and snapped a few shots of the stilt-houses, and some other houses that appeared to be made of sheet metal, then walked back. It was an neat place. There are a lot of dogs here, mostly roaming around. They all seemed really friendly, but I was very hesitant to pet any of them- told Rachel to be the same. Who knows if they are vaccinated here- and for what? There are also a lot of signs about picking up after dogs-(who picks up after a roaming dog- that is all we saw?) and that spitting on the street is a crime. I thought that was interesting enough to write about. On the way back to the bus, an old grizzled guy pretty much cornered me in the street, trying to get me to take a piece of dried fruit. It was orange and about the size of a peach pit. Tasted a bit like a dried peach, actually, but with a strong pine taste to it. Sweet and piney- sounds like a weird combo, but it was really good. I nodded and smiled at him, and he held up a baggie of them. 6 HK dollars. I nodded “yes” and said “da-tse.” He smiled, and began putting them in a bag. His wife ran over and tried to put another baggie into our bag. I shook my head “no” and held up one finger as if to say “only one.” The old guy looked at her, looked back at me, and took out the extra bag. He smiled at me; she scowled. It was kinda funny in retrospect.
We had to wait around a bit at bus terminal to catch the bus to Po Lin Monastery. Rachel had her first experience with the “toilets” in China, which amount to a hole in the floor. She snapped a picture, to capture the moment for all eternity. Also, make sure to carry your own toilet paper in China- not all the public toilets have it. Luckily, Rachel came prepared…
We got on the bus and took the short ride over. It isn’t very far, but takes a long time, because the monastery is atop a fairly large hill/mountain and like I said, the buses aren’t speedy. We spent most of the time in 1st gear on the way up- slightly faster than a snail’s pace. Another interesting thing about the roads, is that they are flanked by concreted hills. Apparently there are a lot of landslides- or were before they began this practice. There are pipes intermittently coming out of the concrete faces- so water can drain and not blow out the wall, and each wall has a plaque on it. The plaque is like a registration number for the wall. I would guess it is so a local can report damage in the structure to the government without having to say, “The third wall after the second corner, after the third rest area is damaged.” Smart.
The monastery was very interesting, and also fairly commercialized. Not “theme park” commercial, but lots of little junk shops and stuff. I suppose if it helps keep the place running, so the monks can do what they need to do, then it is a good thing. It is just a stark contrast to the simple, quiet life they appear to lead. We went straight to the food (what a couple of yogs!) and enjoyed a vegetarian lunch. It was a lot of food- we didn’t finish it all. One of the things that we found interesting about lunch, was that there were “faux-shrimp” in one of the dishes. This must be to please the clientele, as devout vegetarians probably wouldn’t miss shrimp- or eat anything resembling one… Then we walked through some of the exhibits, where we were not allowed to take pictures. They explained the history of Chinese emperors and their practice of Buddhism.
Apparently, quite a few emperors were great practitioners of Buddhism, and a few tried to destroy the religion. A wide mix.
We walked up the 660 steps to the Buddha, snapping a bunch of shots on the way up as much for the rest as the pictures. There were a lot of people there- some kids running up and down 4 times to their parents 1, and some old people clinging to the railing, one small step at a time. At the top, there is the giant Buddha, who is surrounded by 8? Bodhisattvas ( I think this is correct) who all face him. The castings are beautiful. Inside the Buddha, there is a spiral staircase, which wraps around a chamber, in which hangs a giant bronze bell. The bell has Chinese characters completely around it, up and down. Another very impressive casting. Inside the Buddha was where I wanted to take pictures the most, but again, it is off limits. There was the bell, and on the main floors, a circular woodburned/painted mural depicting religious scenes that wrapped around the hollow center of the room (maybe 50ft diameter). It was all very impressive- a lot of work to create, and very beautiful.
From there, we walked to the tea restaurant, which is a small café about 5 minutes walk from the base of the Buddha. They serve tea grown on the site. The girl working at the counter scooped us up a tin after letting us smell it. It is a jasmine tea, and smells very fragrant and fresh. (Yummy- Rachel says.)
After that, we walked down to wait for the bus. By this point we were beginning to get tired- which was proven by me nodding off on the bus ride. If you can sleep on the bus, you have entered the temple, grasshopper. I only bumped my head/ almost fell out of seat a few times from the bus whipping around the tight, mountainous corners.
We jumped on the ferry and proceeded back to the hotel- taking a 3 hour nap. It is almost 1am here, so I need to get to sleep now. I am meeting with people from Karrie tomorrow at 9am.