Bustling Hong Kong: Where East Meets West

After our too-short stay in Yangshuo, we took our final Chinese train in the direction of Hong Kong...and along the way we reached over 300 KM/hour!

The train actually stopped in Shenzhen, a large city right at the border between mainland China and the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong.  After arriving at the Shenzhen North Railway Station, we took the subway south to the Futian Checkpoint Station.

We exited the Shenzhen subway, passed through Chinese immigration in order to exit mainland China, walked across a bridge into Hong Kong, and then passed through Hong Kong immigration.  After a couple of hours and all the formalities of border crossings (i.e., waiting in lines and tiny forms), we officially entered Hong Kong and got right on the Hong Kong subway system.

While we'd researched the route and knew what to expect, this whole arrangement was a bit confusing to us since Hong Kong is technically part of China.....right?  Well, yes....and no.  Hong Kong was a British colony until it was returned to China in July 1997.  Even though it is now part of China, for now Hong Kong maintains separate economic and legal systems, part of the "One China, Two Systems" doctrine.  Hong Kong oversees its own immigration policies (hence the official border crossing) and has its own currency and flag.

After getting settled in and resting for a bit at our hotel, we made our way to the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade in order to view the iconic Hong Kong skyline at night.  We arrived just before what is billed as the world's largest permanent light and sound show.  It was OK, but it was the skyline itself that was impressive.

The next day, we took the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbor.  This ferry line runs between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, and it offered some fantastic day views of the skyline of the Central district of Hong Kong.

We then did a short walking tour of the Central district, which took us past some of the most important landmarks in this part of Hong Kong.  There was colonial architecture juxtaposed with modern skyscrapers.

This was St. John's Cathedral, a small but beautiful church along our walking tour.

In one of the small parks in the city, we saw the same tree with enormous leaves that we saw in Chengdu, but this time with a sign telling us its name--turns out it's called a Traveler's Tree.  We all really love these trees, so the name is quite appropriate.

This was one of our favorite buildings...it looked like big puzzle pieces stacked on top of each other.

We stopped in the Flagstaff House of Museum of Tea Ware, a museum dedicated to tea production, tea pots, and tea culture.  Tea was not something we'd previously thought a lot about (other than Bob and I drinking it from time to time), but we all thought the museum was very interesting.

We stopped in at a tiny restaurant (all of 4 tables) to have dim sum.  We tried a variety of dishes that were all delicious.

The next day, we waited with the masses to take the funicular to the top of Victoria Peak, which towers high above the rest of Hong Kong.  

At the top, there was a station where you could put a postcard in a dated box so that it's mailed sometime in the future.  We wrote ourselves a postcard that will be mailed in exactly one year.....when we anticipate having new jobs, a new location, a new house, maybe a dog.......so definitely a different stage of life than right now.  

From there, we enjoyed a fantastic pizza lunch with beautiful views of the Hong Kong skyline.

Then we walked around Victoria Peak, taking in the views a bit more.  Colin was more than done taking photos, so it looks like we only have one child here.

We made our way back to our hotel to relax a bit and enjoy the pool.  Hong Kong is a hot and humid place--I think the humidity was something like 87% this day.....basically, sauna-level.

The next day, we departed bright and early on a day trip.  From Hong Kong, we took an hour-long hydrofoil ferry ride through the South China Sea to Macau, another Special Administrative Region.

Macau was a former Portuguese colony that was returned in China in December 1999 and, like Hong Kong, it has retained its own system of governance, as well as its own currency and flag.

Walking through Macau felt like a time/location warp back into Europe because the architecture was so very Mediterranean, and everything is written in Portuguese (and Chinese).  We especially loved the beautiful tile streets and walkways.

The Ruins of St. Paul's, what's left of a 16th century complex of buildings, are one of the must-see sights in the center of Macau.

Across the street is the Fortaleza do Monte, a fort built in the 1600s to protect the Jesuits (who were living in Macau) and their properties from pirates.  It was also crucial in defending Macau from an attempted invasion by the Dutch in 1622.  Now it's interesting to see the historical fortress juxtaposed with the massive casinos that really define the Macau skyline.

Within the fort was the excellent Museum of Macau.  What we thought would be a quick visit turned into multiple hours during which we learned a lot about the history of Macau and the culture of its people.  This was an exhibit highlighting the different architectural styles of Macau, from traditional Chinese to colonial Portuguese.

And this was my absolute favorite sign of the whole museum.....the etymology of the word "tea".  The word your language uses to refer to "the stuff you steep and drink" depends on who introduced this previously-unknown substance to your culture:  the Portuguese (who were introduced to tea by Cantonese traders, so they called it "tcha" and used this word along their trading routes) or the Dutch (who were introduced to tea by traders from Amoy, who called it "tay", and so the people along former Dutch trading routes use some variant of this word).  Fascinating!!

Finally, we went to the top of Guia Hill, the highest point in Macau.  At the top is the Guia Fortress, built in the 1600s after those pesky Dutchmen tried to capture colonial Macau from the Portuguese.  In the 1800s, a lighthouse was also built, which was the first Western-style lighthouse in east Asia or on the Chinese coast.

Inside the complex, there was a small display of typhoon warning pieces.  Each one of these signifies an increasingly bad weather condition (similar to tropical storm and hurricane levels).  If typhoon weather is approaching, these exact pieces are raised above Guia Fortress to warn the Macanese people of impending bad weather conditions.

The fort also had really cute shrubbery sculptures of different animals.  This snake was Colin's favorite.

While waiting for the ferry back to Hong Kong, Colin entertained us with his dance moves.  It all began when he asked for our deck of playing cards (made by the "Bin Wang" company), and this is a video of him strutting his stuff...

The next day we had a "maintenance day".  This is what we've started calling days when we don't necessarily do any sight seeing and instead take it easy and/or take care of things that need to get done (haircuts, shopping for supplies, etc).  On this day, we slept in, mailed a box back to the States, made phone calls, got paperwork ready for our upcoming travel to Vietnam, swam in the pool.......and that was it.  We like to get out and do things, but sometimes a day of nothing in particular is exactly what we need.

The next day was our last in Hong Kong since we were scheduled to depart on a late night flight to Hanoi, Vietnam.  For our last day, we headed to the Hong Kong Science Museum.  There was a great temporary exhibit called "Grossology" that featured exhibits on blood, poop, slime, and other gross things that 10 and 7 year olds find absolutely fascinating.

We also went through the museum's permanent exhibits and had a great day.

We really enjoyed our time in Hong Kong.  The city was an energetic mixture of cultures, and anything and everything you could want was easily accessible.  Even though it is a massive city (over 7 million people), it felt a bit calmer than the cities we visited in mainland China.  I think this was mostly due to the fact that 1.  We were able to communicate better, since English is prevalent, and 2.  Traffic is more regulated and "Westernized" in Hong Kong, so we could relax a bit while we were out walking.  We worried much less about someone getting run over by a speeding motorbike on the sidewalk or by a driver who was insistent that he/she had the right of way, rather than a pedestrian walking in a crosswalk with a green crossing light.  Hong Kong really felt like a mix of East and West, and it was a great place to visit.

From the Science Museum, we headed back to our hotel to pick up our bags, and then we went on to Hong Kong International Airport to catch our flight to Hanoi, Vietnam!

Finding our Chinese Happy Place: Guilin & Yangshuo

We left Chengdu on an overnight train headed to Guilin.  Unfortunately, it was the least pleasant stretch of train travel that we’ve had in our 2 ½ months of travel so far.  The train was old and did not feel very clean.  After eating a simple dinner in the train dining car, I started having stomach issues.  Stomach issues + Chinese squat toilet on a dirty train = unpleasant times. 

After 26 hours on that train, we were quite happy to arrive in Guilin.  Our main objective was to visit the Longji Rice Terraces (also called the Dragon Backbone's Rice Terraces).  These terraced rice fields were constructed about 650 years ago and are located a couple of hours north of Guilin.  The terraces resemble a dragon's scales, while the summit looks like the backbone of the dragon.

We took a cable car up to the top of the summit, which gave us a great bird's eye view of the terraced fields.

The crops were starting to change from green to yellow as harvest time approached.  The colors and swirls of the landscape were breathtaking.

After getting some lunch at the top (or, in my case, watching the family eat since food and I were still not getting along), we started the hike back down the hill.

We stopped to sample this guy’s product (honeycomb?), which was delicious…. 

(Side note:  We were super excited about this sweet treat until the trip home, when our driver reacted quite forcefully when he saw Colin put some in his mouth.  He motioned for Colin to spit it out the window and then, gesturing emphatically in a motion that indicated something billowing from his abdomen, mimed what meant either, 1.  The stuff would make our stomachs fat; or 2.  The stuff would give us stomach problems.  Not interested in even the slight potential of more stomach problems in the family, we decided to take the cautious route and stop eating it.)

Continuing our hike down, we also saw pepper plants and peppers drying in the sun.

We also examined rice plants up close, impressed at how many little rice grains were on each stalk.

And we stopped for a rest in a small village before ending our hike and heading back to Guilin after a beautiful day in Chinese rice fields!

With our quick stop in Guilin over, the next day we headed south to Yangshuo.  Yangshuo would quickly become one of our most favorite stops…….only to also be one of our shortest.   

When I booked our stay at Yangshuo Outside Inn a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea how much the family would be craving the calm and quiet it offered by the time we arrived.  Yangshuo Outside Inn was not only a comfortable and friendly inn, but it was SO. CALM.  We could feel the chaos and sensory overload of large Chinese cities melting away as we spent our first evening surrounded by crickets chirping and relative darkness.

After dinner, Emmett and I went to watch a local man fish using comcorants.  These are aquatic birds that local fisherman traditionally used to catch fish in the Li River.  

The fishermen tie a rope around the birds' necks so that they can swallow smaller fish but not larger ones.  When they catch a larger fish, the fisherman brings the bird back to the boat and has the bird spit the fish into a basket.

It was really cool to watch the birds diving under the water, chasing after fish.

The next day, we borrowed bicycles from the inn and headed out to explore.  The scenery around Yangshuo is spectacular, with karsts (limestone peaks eroded over many, many years by water) everywhere.  And it was fantastic to be on bikes!!!

We cycled to a bamboo raft loading point on the Yulong River.  This was one of the best experiences of our entire time in China--the landscape was spectacular and the river was so peaceful.

The boys dipped their feet in the river and we all sat back and watched the scenery go by.

A couple of times we went down what the boys called "rapids"....not exactly white water levels, but on a bamboo raft they still felt a bit uncertain.

After our bamboo raft ride, we cycled to the Golden Water Cave nearby.  It was pretty touristic with lots of artificial lights and gift shops along the cave route.  However, the boys thoroughly enjoyed climbing through a tight spot that the guide called "The Rebirth Canal".

From the caves, we cycled to nearby Moon Hill and climbed to the top.

The views at the top made the upward climb completely worthwhile.

By this point, Colin had pretty much had it with the physical exertion (and it was really hot and humid) and splayed himself on the rocks......this picture pretty much sums up the family situation at this point:

Despite this picture, we managed to get the whole family back down the hill and started the bike ride back to our inn.  It was almost sunset, and we got a few last pictures of the surrounding landscapes.

We played pool back at the inn and had a great dinner outside, socializing with guests from Germany and The Netherlands.  We've started to encounter a lot more Dutch/Belgian people, and it's always a great chance for 3/4 of us to practice our Dutch.

Of all the places we visited in China, Yangshuo was the one where we could have spent a lot more time.  We have enjoyed the sights of the cities in China, but the natural beauty and relative calm of Yangshuo were reinvigorating.  While our few days in this area were ultimately too short, our time there taught us an important lesson that a balance between city sights and country calm is particularly important for us as we travel for a long time.  And if we ever go back to China, we know precisely where we'll be headed.....