你们好! (Hello all!) So it's definitely been some time but I finally figured out how to post from 中国 (China)! Unfortunately I can't use my laptop because China blocks most major Western websites so I have to use my phone...I'm also not sure how I can successfully upload pictures but, baby steps! I'll split my time here into two posts to start with, Hong Kong and Kunming. Here we go!
Hong Kong:
Today started by local time 37 hours ago. I've probably slept for five of them. After going to the North End in Boston with some friends from Northeastern, I headed to the airport around 10 PM. Needless to say it was a grueling flight. Gate to gate it was 13 hours. I did get a couple good hours of sleep in there... In fact all five were on the plane! I also got through a couple movies. For the most part though that flight was a blur... Besides the food! The food was delicious! I had steak for dinner and an omelet for breakfast! Breakfast being around 2 AM...
We got in around five local time. After clearing immigration and getting a bus we made it into Kowloon around 6:30. We were a few hours early for check in, so Brandon, Duncan, Alec, Matt, William, and I went out in search of breakfast part two. We ended up in a small Cantonese restaurant, each with a plate of eggs and noodles... For four dollars!! This was the first experience with prices in China, and so far it's remained pretty consistent.
After breakfast we still had a couple hours before the rooms would be ready so the six of us began a very undirected search for a park. We travelled further down tiny cramped streets filled with little shops and busy people, even in the early hours. Eventually, we found our way to "Old Age Park" whose name became clear when we realized we were the youngest there by 50 years. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our time in the oasis, taking paths through people practicing taiji and badminton. We even saw some strange clapping group, we still have no idea what they were doing... There was also a weight and aerobic section of the park like an outdoor gym disguised as a playground.
After a while we made our way back to the hotel just in time to be handed room keys. Duncan and I dropped our stuff off in our room and headed to the lounge with some of the other students on the trip. We had a buffet lunch some time later and finally the real fun began!
The afternoon was spent touring around Hong Kong with a totally awesome tour guide from the "New Territories." She brought us to this beautiful temple and Victoria Peak before we finally got on a boat cruise through the Harbor for dinner. It was raining off and on all day so the view from the top of the peak was a little clouded in fog, but still breathtaking!
What really amazed me was the style of Kowloon. Unfortunately we never had time to explore Hong Kong Island so I definitely want to go back, but Kowloon...(Kowloon actually means "nine dragons." Many centuries ago when the Emperor visited and discovered the area didn't have a name, he counted the nearby hills to be nine and decided that was a decent enough name.) Kowloon had a verticality I haven't seen anywhere else. Since Hong Kong is so limited in size, the only place it can grow is up. This leads to massive buildings so large the cleaning costs are far too high to be reasonable and therefore most buildings have an almost run-down look. That plus the crowded streets give a sort of beautiful chaos to the city.
I wish today hadn't been so rushed. I could definitely use a week here. I'd love to explore all the temples and surrounding mountains. In the meantime, off to Kunming! 再见!
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