Hong Kong and Shenzhen!

Alright, it’s time for the last blog installment of my trip to SE Asia. For the last three nights of the trip we were back in China, staying in Hong Kong for two nights and in Shenzhen for one. We arrived in Hong Kong in the morning after a grueling 4am arrival at the airport. Hong Kong immediately looked different from Wuhan—there were blue skies, hills, clear water, and clean streets. The city also had a different kind of feel, even though both cities certainly have crowdedness in common. Wuhan is still in the process of building up, so construction is happening on almost every street. Hong Kong is extremely built up already and very international, as we expected, knowing it to be a major hub for business. And because Hong Kong itself is so small but has such a large population, everything is built up to the extreme and living quarters are notoriously tiny. Our hostel room, for example, was on the 17^th floor of the Chungking Mansions, a composite of 10 or so different hostel companies all working under the same umbrella company, with crowded electronic shops run exclusively by Middle Eastern and North African men on the ground floor. The room itself literally had enough room to open the door, walk maybe two steps and climb onto the bed. If you turned right immediately when you walked in you would find yourself in the bathroom where there was only room to sit on the toilet, stand in one spot to brush your teeth, and stand basically in that same spot, almost on top of the toilet, in order to take a shower from a removable shower-head on the wall above the toilet. It was different, but not uncomfortable. We later met up with a friend from Hong Kong, Gina, who informed us that a room that size would usually house at least 3 or 4 people! That would take some getting used to, that’s for sure. It seems that other foreigners had similar surprised reactions to the small rooms for there was a sign on the back of the door asking people to stop complaining and informing the guests that this is how housing works in Hong Kong, because of the demands of the large population on the small land size.

Some buildings in Hong Kong

The first day in Hong Kong we met up with another friend from Augustana, Marcus, who was Nathan’s roommate in college and who has been teaching English in Shenzhen, China for two years. We grabbed some Indian food and then Marcus took us to the Star Ferry where we rode across Victoria Harbor and got a nice view of the skyline. The weather was perfect—sunny and in the mid-60’s—and so when we got off the short ferry ride on the other side of the city, we decided to just wander around and explore the city on foot. The layout of the city was fairly typical, and in some ways even reminded me of Chicago. It was different from Wuhan in that there were international restaurants and English signs everywhere, there were white people everywhere you looked, and there were clean, open spaces with parks at frequent intervals. After walking for several hours we stopped at a pub for dinner, another thing we have no access to in Wuhan. Even better than the food (they had Mexican!) was the American beer selection, including Sierra Nevada. In case I hadn’t mentioned it yet this year, China is certainly not known for its beer, and so any opportunity to have a good brew is much appreciated. After dinner we went to a bar that Marcus had been to before when he has visited Hong Kong. It was a small dive bar and performing that night was a cover band called the Bourbon Kings from Louisiana. Even though we had just come from a touristy vacation, it was still weird to be surrounded by so many foreigners.

The next day we met up with Gina around noon and she took us to a Cantonese restaurant for dim sum. I have to say, after the other Chinese food I have been eating, Cantonese was really bland and not as exciting. A lot of the same, or at least similar, dishes to the mainland but just less spice and flavor. After lunch we went to the Ladies Market, which isn’t really just for the ladies, it is just called that I think because the ladies tend to engage in shopping more than the men, haha. But it was really just a long train of souvenir shops, every shop selling essentially the same things as most of the others. We spent a few hours weaving in and out of the many kiosks before finally making our way to Victoria’s Peak where you can take a tram up to the highest point in Hong Kong and look out over the whole city. It took an hour or so to get on a tram to the top since we had to wait in line, during which we were able to quite definitely distinguish between mainland Chinese and Hong Kong-ers. As we have unfortunately noticed during our time in the mainland, the Chinese here have no concept of what a line is, and have only their own interest in mind when trying to get somewhere. They push, shove, and run in front of you seeming to not notice that you may have been waiting for your spot in line for an hour. The Hong Kong-ers, perhaps because they live in such an international city, have the same respect for waiting your turn as us Westerners and would share our frustrated glances when, while waiting for the tram, we had to form physical barriers to block mainlanders from ducking under and around people, worming their way to the front from all the way in the back of the line. The peak itself was beautiful. We arrived at the top by the time the light show in the city was starting and so were able to watch the many skyscrapers light up, reflecting their designs in the water below.

The view from Victoria's Peak

The Ladies Market

All of us at a hot pot dinner after Victoria's Peak. 

The next day we said goodbye to Hong Kong and took the subway to the border point at Shenzhen. After spending the 40 minute subway ride talking with a very interesting and vocal man from the Midwest who’s been teaching around the Middle East and Asia for twenty or so years now, we crossed through customs and met up with Marcus outside the station. We grabbed some lunch but then he had to get back to work for the afternoon, so Nathan and I explored around Shenzhen a little. It had an international feel like Hong Kong, except there were fewer English signs. Still very much cleaner and with far more public parks and things than Wuhan. At this point, though, I was starting to get disenchanted with this kind of city. When we first arrived, it was comforting and made it easier to find our way around. But I soon came to realize that though I had previously thought Wuhan was too Westernized and developed, it is far more “Chinese-y” than some of these other heavily Westernized cities. Sure, we can’t eat Indian and Mexican food while here or find our favorite beers and snacks at the store, but because of that, we were immediately forced to try all sorts of new things and learn more of the language than otherwise would have been necessary. That being said, I did thoroughly enjoy exploring the beautiful parks in Shenzhen, because that is something I direly miss about home—just being able to spend time outside, not surrounded by construction and concrete buildings. The next day, before we took the fast train back to Wuhan, Nathan, Becca, and I spent the morning hiking around 莲花山公园 (Lianhuashan Park). I wish we had had a few days to explore all the different lakes and paths the park had to offer, but we saw a good amount, including the famous statue of 邓小平（Deng Xiaoping） at the top of the tallest peak in the park. Xiaoping is overlooking the cityscape of Shenzhen, the city he used as his model for economic reform with his socialist market economy.

Shenzhen

Lianhuashan Park

Statue of Deng Xiaoping at Lianhuashan Park

Partial view of the Shenzhen cityscape

So that marks the end of our three-ish week trip. It seems strange that it’s been over for weeks now, and it’s been nice to relive parts of it through these blogs (not so much the sickness and jellyfish sting part though). Back to the grind of school now, but I have most of the same students this semester as I did last, so it’s been great to get to know them better. I’m starting to realize how sad it will be to have to say goodbye to them in just a few months.