Wow, look at Hong Kong at night. So crowded, yet clean and sophisticated, unlike the rest of China. Oops. That was kinda mean.
The minute we stepped off the ferry from Macau, we knew Hong Kong was going to be different from the rest of China. On our cab ride to the hotel, we passed by never-ending skyscrapers. There is no "downtown" part of Hong Kong, everything is metropolitan. We stayed in the fashionable shopping district and you could see a strong Japanese influence in fashion. Everything about the city is so different from mainland China: people didn't litter, they waited in orderly lines for the bus, people didn't spit all over the place. It's an amazingly cool place--see what a little freedom of speech does? The internet was not censored. Travel agencies take all credit cards. ATMs were easy. The food is fresh and healthy. Strong emphasis is placed on the arts and culture. Everyone was friendly. There is no chinglish. Hong Kong is very easy to like. It seems as though the residents operate in a totally isolated bubble. Maybe that's why when we told people we were on our way to Shanghai, they referred to it as China. I thought we were in China, but Hong Kong doesn't really associate itself with the mainland. Maybe for good reason too, because as soon as we got to Shanghai, it was the yucky China all over again.
I really don't like this combo shower/bathroom thing--everything gets wet! Our hotel (actually a hostel) in Hong Kong was cheap, but it was smack in the middle of Paterson St. in Causeway Bay in between a Miss Sixty and a Fornarina with a Y3 store only a hop, skip and a jump away.
Mick admiring the Hong Kong dollar which had none of the overt politics of the Chinese yuan (as we got further north, the yuan was referred to as the RMB). We were in a late night milk shop. Yup, I said milk shop. They served steamed milk and milk custards. It was crazy how everything was open so late.
I love this car! I wish I could import one. It's called a Nissan Figaro and they stopped manufacturing them. They're difficult to find and way in demand.
A double-decker bus we decided to hop on and just drive around and around. It's a good cheap way to see the city if you're too lazy to walk.
That's Mick in the lower right corner on the closed-caption video. You can watch what goes on in the elevator on one of the hotel TV channels.
This banner totally shocked me. I know Hong Kong is unlike other parts of China but I still found the blatant criticism unusual--I was getting used to the censorship. The protesters put up horrible graphic photos of documented torture victims. I knew there was no way this was going to make the news.
The famous Star Ferry. It just so happened that this was the last day it ran, then it closed for good. The government was going to demolish the historic ferry clock tower too. Sad.
Mick at the Jackie Chan gym in Kowloon.
Ooh, our plush private first-class coupe on the Guanzhou-to-Shanghai train. The trip took a total of 24 hours (!) but it was comfortable.
06:35 PM // Saturday December 09, 2006 // permalink
