One Couple, Two Continents: HK as our 2nd Home

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  Shatin, Hong Kong, China
Friday, March 18, 2011

Today we are in Beijing, but I realized I haven't said too much about Hong Kong, so I thought I'd type out an entry on HK, then I'll get the Beijing entry together over the next few days while we're here.  

Our home suite home (when we're not on the road!) for the past 3 weeks has been the Royal Park Hotel in Shatin, Hong Kong.  Before we began this little adventure I did quite a bit of research on Hong Kong, but because many of you may know very little about Hong Kong, let me explain the area. I'm noticing a little trend in my blogs... they all seem to be educational, with a little history or geography lesson... I hope you don't mind me sharing what I've learned! 

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the other being Macau. HK is a 426 square mile area on the southeast coast of mainland China and there are 7 million people living here.  We live outside the main downtown area (Hong Kong Island) in the New Territories area, more specifically, Shatin District.  One of the modern claims to fame for Shatin is the New Town Plaza Shopping Center, and our hotel is adjacent to it, connected by sky-bridges.  I can think of no easy comparison between Shatin and a town back in the U.S. because even though we are not in downtown, the people still all live in 25-50 story apartment buildings and there are very few single family residences.  I think I've mentioned that our hotel is right next to a city park and a river.  

Tons of people in HK speak English, due to the fact that Hong Kong became a colony of England after the First Opium War (1839-42) then relinquishing control back to the PRC in 1997.  But Hong Kong has been a part of Imperial China since 214 B.C. when the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, declared it so.  Over 95% of the population in HK are ethnic Chinese.  They call it "one country, two systems", as HK has it's own governing body separate from the PRC.  You can see other differences between HK and Mainland in not only the more widespread English, but also the Chinese language spoken here is Cantonese versus the north's more predominant Mandarin.  (When people around the globe say that someone speaks Chinese, they are referring to speaking Mandarin) I'm up to a grand total of 5 words in Mandarin, and 0 words n Cantonese.  I know: ni hao (hello), xie xie (thank you), ganbei (cheers), dui (yes), and bu dui (no).  Today I'm trying to remember the phrases for "I understand" (mingbai) and "I don't understand" (wo bu mingbai), but I have to keep looking at my phrasebook because I'm having a tough time memorizing it - guess I don't understand yet.  Last night, when we were spending some time with Mark's colleagues they were teasing him that my accent is better than his - I love having bragging rights.  We need to hit the books and work on our Mandarin more consistently.  The locals absolutely love it when you speak Chinese, or at least attempt it.  

About a week ago Mark squeezed out some spare time and we rode the subway (MTR) to East Tsim Sha Tsui where we walked the Avenue of Stars (similar to Hollywood's) and got our first up-close look at HK's skyline.  The Avenue of Stars is a promenade alongside Victoria Harbour and from there we could see the coming and going of boats of all sizes: water taxis, freightliners, tugboats, ferries, and cruiseships... and just across the water there is Hong Kong Island with it's hundreds of skyscrapers, most crowned with a neon advertisement.  We walked along and checked out the "stars" of the celebrities with names we cannot pronounce, but we did see a few familiar ones - Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat and the mega-famous local favorite - Bruce Lee.  As the tour busses unloaded, dozens of people crowded around the statue and star of Bruce Lee, taking pictures, trying to fit their hands in his, etc.  I'm told that at night the city hosts a laser light show over the water in this area and that we really need to take a ride on the Star Ferry to coincide with the show then dinner.  

After walking for awhile we discovered a great place to rest - on the stairs outside the Hong Kong Museum of Cultural Arts where a stage had been set up on the plaza for a free showing of a Chinese opera.  We really had no idea the name, or plot for that matter, of the opera, but the music, actors, make-up and costumes were really engaging so we sat and took in our first Chinese opera (er, at least part of it). 

Last Tuesday, a friend whom I had met at the hotel joined me in searching out the famed Ladies Market of Tung Choi Street in Mong Kok (a 15 minute subway ride from home).  It's a complete shame that I didn't take any pictures! I was too preoccupied with being the navigator for our trip to remember that I had my camera with me.  The Ladies Market is a street market of at least four city blocks of booths selling clothes, purses, jewelry, household goods and knick knacks.  Some of it is cheap, some are fakes, some of it might have fallen off the truck - and it's ALL bright and colorful and exciting.   It was really wild to walk through and see all the crazy stuff for sale.  Everything is a negotiation in a market like this, and it's funny as an outsider to observe the tactics.... and I don't mean to sound rude about the broken English, but this is exactly how the conversation goes...
"I give it to you for five-oh-oh Hong Kong dollah," as she holds up a calculator to show us the digits to be sure there's no confusion, and I use my Currency App to determine it means approximately US$65. 
 "Um, well, the lady at the last booth said she'd sell it to me for seven-five."  I'm lying just a little, oops, as I offer US$10.  
 "WHAT? She CRAZY.  It worth five-oh-oh. I just open, it early, so no deal"
"Okay then, I'm not sure the zippers work anyway, I don't think I want to pay more than that, looks fake" walking away, I hear the calculator clicking away behind me...
"ok ok ok, maybe four-oh-oh" (approx. US$50) As my friend gives me a wary look...
"Xie Xie, thank you, have a nice day, maybe we'll think that over" 
Now she's chasing us out the door and throwing the purse in a plastic bag saying, "OK OK OK, I give it to you, I GIVE it away for ninety-five... nine-five." (US$12)
"Xie, xie, thank you very much."  Ta Da! My friend was blushing pink and whispers to me as she took her new purse and walked away that she felt like we had just robbed that woman, lol.   We had been advised to try to negotiate at least 50% off, but that was a spectacular deal, if I do say so myself.  

Everything is a new experience in HK, from getting your hair cut (Mark) to buying shampoo (me).  We have had a lot of laughs. It's not so easy to buy shampoo and conditioner when you can't read which is which! I recognized the universal Pantene logo though, so I was half-way there.  We finally found a basketball court for Mark, which our concierge said, "Must take taxi" and then the taxi drove us a quarter mile up the road for a >$2 (US) fare.  Unfortunately, I've also experienced my very first bout of Travelers Illness, aka food poisoning.  I have no clue what got me sick, it could've been any one of the million different new things I've tasted in the past few days, but I'm not going to forget how that felt anytime soon. Yuck, pack your Pepto and be thankful to Skype for being able to call your mommy for pity while hunched over the toilet puking.  

I have a list of sight seeing locations a mile long that I'd like to visit in Hong Kong, but first we need to spend some time in Hong Kong! LOL! In the past three weeks we've been to Malaysia, Taiwan and now Beijing.  More soon.  

 

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Silly	View of Victoria Harbour	Outdoor Opera	Outdoor Opera
Outdoor Opera	Enjoying the Opera on the Museum Plaza Steps   Comments!	Sushi Boat Restaurant	Ahhhhhh.... thank heaven for McDonald's
Mark roughing up Bruce Lee

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