Hello out there!
As many of you already know, a few weeks ago I went on a 10-day trip across China during my University reading week. Little to no reading was actually done, but a great deal of learning and seeing was. Having read lots of travel blogs myself, I've decided to write a more-detailed-than-usual account of my trip, in case anyone searching the web for information about traveling in China should come across it (as doubtful as that may be).
Our adventure began on the last Saturday of February. We headed out from our hall early in the afternoon to Hung Hom railway station. We grabbed a quick bite to eat, changed some money, and bought a few snacks for the train before going through customs and in to the waiting area. When we got there, there were two trains waiting to go about 45 minutes after each other, ours and one to Guangzhou. The staff in the station had giant signs and megaphones to make sure that you don't board the wrong train (inspite of which we still weren't sure where to go).
The actual platform was located adjacent to the MTR trains, down an escalator, and it was that track which followed right up to the border with Shenzhen, where a guard stood dutifully watching the empty railway tracks (presumably to prevent anyone from illegally crossing the border?). The lead-up to the border heads through a rural area of Hong Kong, which makes the instant transition into futuristic-looking Shenzhen all the more striking. Some differences are immediately appearant: simplified Chinese characters, rather than the traditional ones used in HK; cars driving on the right side of the road, with large, uniformly-designed blue signs mapping every intersection; Mandarin being spoken rather than Cantonese; and and of course using Chinese Money and our cell phones roaming. This last bit actually turned out to be a bit of a nuisance, as we could receive texts and (poor-quality) phone calls, but could not send them. The further we got from the border, the more evident some minor changes became: more industry appeared, slogans in Chinese written on large red banners appeared (still not sure what they said), lots of trash along the tracksides, and many tiny little villages. The province immediately across the border, Guangdong, is one of China's richest, and even in the smallest little villages of crumbling houses one could see brand new shiny vehicles driving. After about two and a half hours the train came to a stop (for reasons still unknown to me) in the province's capital, Guangzhou.
The train itself was quite comfortable. This being my first time on an intercity train, I was quite content to sit on the little seat near the window and stare out at China. We had the compartment to ourselves at first, but were later joined by another traveller, who shared her life story with us while we waited at the station in Guangzhou (I was later told that this is common on Chinese trains.) The other passengers were mainly elderly, and we couldn't really speak to them due to the language barrier (although I wish we could have). They did occaisonally chuckle when they saw me hop out of bed in the middle of the night to look at where we were, and would tell me if they knew.
Overall, I really loved the experience of riding on the train (save for the food), and would do it again in a heartbeat. We weren't exactly well rested upon arrival in Shanghai, but we were eager to get going. Upon arrival, we decided to seek out a SIM card. Not knowing how to say SIM card, we took it out of one of our phone, and I pointed at it while asking in broken Mandarin "Where Buy??". The problem with this strategy wasn't so much being understood as understanding the answers, and although we eventually found a small little stall that sold it to us, it turned out that there had been a store right were we had started!
We checked out the planning museum (noteworthy for its staggering model of Shanghai) and then waited to meet up with a friend. He had studied on exchange at HKU last semester. While waiting, we grabbed some quick food-noodles in a pancake- and made the first of several observations: Chinese people only stare at us foreigners when we are eating Chinese food. My hypothesis is that they aren't used to seeing foreigners who aren't showing down on Starbucks or McDonalds. A second experience was also quickly had when a man came up asking to practice English. We'd both read that this happens, and that there are two possiblities: A, they really do want to practice English, or B, they'll try to scam you in some way. This man seemed rather innocuous (although we did see him again later in Shanghai, along with a man who was offering up a "tea ceremony". Anyone going to China take note, Tea Ceremonies and art scams are common, and it's best to just walk away).
When our friend arrived we took a cab to a neighbourhood called "Yu Yuan", a tourist sort of area, where we ate a famous Shanghai food called "Xiaolongbao", or little basket buns, which have soup inside them! We then took the subway to another area, where a friend of our friend joined us for some Szechuan food. Szechuan food is known for being spicy (and I did occasionally wipe the spices off onto the plate), but it was quite good. We then went to a shopping area before heading in for the night. a final observation for this post: I'm pretty sure we took more cabs in the Mainland (Shanghai in particular) than I had cumulatively for the rest of my life. Starting at 12 Yuan in Shanghai or 10 in Beijing, most didn't go over 30, or about 4 dollars, meaning it's usually cheaper than taking a bus back home!
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Monday, 7 February 2011
Pictures
For those without access to my Facebook, here are some pictures!
From Top: Decorations at Wong Tai Sin Temple (Left), Cathy Pacific's Float at the parade (Right), Clementine Trees at the New Year's Market (Left), Tai O Village (Right), and the New Year's Market Again.
Enjoy!
Macau, Tai O, Cheung Chow!
Like I said, I've been up to a lot.
Multiple blog posts worth!
The first weekend after I got back, I went again to Macau with a few friends. This trip was less exciting (Macau is really only interesting the first time), but one thing we did do was go wine tasting at the "Tourist Activities Centre," which I do reckon warrants to be mentioned here.
The next week, my friend Rosalind and I ventured out to Tai O. Tai O is a fishing village located on Lantau Island, a large island off the coast of Hong Kong Island that hosts the airport, Disney Land, The world's largest Buddha Statue, and many little villages-yup, that big. The village itself is beautiful due to it consisting mainly of stilt houses built on the water, and has been compared by some to Venice.
Lunar New Year's Eve, I headed to another of the islands near HK, Cheung Chow. This small little island was also gorgeous, and it still amazes me how you can walk through a little village, or be out in the forest, and still be in the massive global city of Hong Kong.
Multiple blog posts worth!
The first weekend after I got back, I went again to Macau with a few friends. This trip was less exciting (Macau is really only interesting the first time), but one thing we did do was go wine tasting at the "Tourist Activities Centre," which I do reckon warrants to be mentioned here.
The next week, my friend Rosalind and I ventured out to Tai O. Tai O is a fishing village located on Lantau Island, a large island off the coast of Hong Kong Island that hosts the airport, Disney Land, The world's largest Buddha Statue, and many little villages-yup, that big. The village itself is beautiful due to it consisting mainly of stilt houses built on the water, and has been compared by some to Venice.
Lunar New Year's Eve, I headed to another of the islands near HK, Cheung Chow. This small little island was also gorgeous, and it still amazes me how you can walk through a little village, or be out in the forest, and still be in the massive global city of Hong Kong.
Gong Hei Fat Choy!
Hello there world!
There's been quite alot going on lately that I've been doing rather than blogging about, so I feel it's time to catch-up.
First, let's talk about Chinese New Year.
For those who don't know, New Year's Eve was Wednesday, the 2nd of February. Now, Lunar New Year is a big holiday here, and in virtue of that A-We got a week off of school (which I'm still enjoying!) B-There were plenty of decorations about the city and C-I made every effort to get to know a bit about the celebrations. Quite a bit of what goes on for the holiday rests in lots of different superstitions. Decorations are around the city, many of which are 挥春 (Mandarin: Hui1 Chun1 Cantonese: Fai1 Ceon1), or lucky couplets, with wishes such as 出入平安 (Wishing Happy Comings and Goings) or the classic 恭喜发财(Gung1 Hei2 Faat3 Coi4,) which translates to something like "I wish you make a fortune." The character 福(Mandarin:Fu2 Cantonese: Fuk1), meaning Luck, is often placed upside down since, as my Cantonese professor explained, the word "upside down" sounds like the word "Arrived" in Cantonese, and thus if luck is upside down, it has arrived.
New year's eve, I headed out with a few new friends to Cheung Chau Island (More on that in another post later), after which my roommate, Andrew, our Friend Suren, and I joined a few of those friends for a proper Chinese New Year dinner at a restaurant in Kennedy Town. Another Superstitious tradition is to have Fish, which, in Chinese, sounds like "surplus", at New Year's eve.
On the first day of the New Year, I headed out to go observe another side of the celebrations-the temples. Wong Tai Sin temple, which I had previously visited with a local friend, was absolutely full of people. It was also very well organized, with police officers and staff keeping an orderly one-way flow of visitors from the subway all the way to the temple and back again. The temple itself was decorated, and filled with people carrying incense.
That evening was the New Year's parade, sponsored by Cathay Pacific airways.
The fantastic New Year's fireworks were held on the second day of the year.
Other than that, I've mostly been using the new year to catch up on studies (only three weeks in and already so much catching up to do!) and eat sweets-another superstition that I read is that if you eat lots of sweets during the new year, you'll have a sweet year ahead.
I don't need to be told twice!
There's been quite alot going on lately that I've been doing rather than blogging about, so I feel it's time to catch-up.
First, let's talk about Chinese New Year.
For those who don't know, New Year's Eve was Wednesday, the 2nd of February. Now, Lunar New Year is a big holiday here, and in virtue of that A-We got a week off of school (which I'm still enjoying!) B-There were plenty of decorations about the city and C-I made every effort to get to know a bit about the celebrations. Quite a bit of what goes on for the holiday rests in lots of different superstitions. Decorations are around the city, many of which are 挥春 (Mandarin: Hui1 Chun1 Cantonese: Fai1 Ceon1), or lucky couplets, with wishes such as 出入平安 (Wishing Happy Comings and Goings) or the classic 恭喜发财(Gung1 Hei2 Faat3 Coi4,) which translates to something like "I wish you make a fortune." The character 福(Mandarin:Fu2 Cantonese: Fuk1), meaning Luck, is often placed upside down since, as my Cantonese professor explained, the word "upside down" sounds like the word "Arrived" in Cantonese, and thus if luck is upside down, it has arrived.
New year's eve, I headed out with a few new friends to Cheung Chau Island (More on that in another post later), after which my roommate, Andrew, our Friend Suren, and I joined a few of those friends for a proper Chinese New Year dinner at a restaurant in Kennedy Town. Another Superstitious tradition is to have Fish, which, in Chinese, sounds like "surplus", at New Year's eve.
On the first day of the New Year, I headed out to go observe another side of the celebrations-the temples. Wong Tai Sin temple, which I had previously visited with a local friend, was absolutely full of people. It was also very well organized, with police officers and staff keeping an orderly one-way flow of visitors from the subway all the way to the temple and back again. The temple itself was decorated, and filled with people carrying incense.
That evening was the New Year's parade, sponsored by Cathay Pacific airways.
The fantastic New Year's fireworks were held on the second day of the year.
Other than that, I've mostly been using the new year to catch up on studies (only three weeks in and already so much catching up to do!) and eat sweets-another superstition that I read is that if you eat lots of sweets during the new year, you'll have a sweet year ahead.
I don't need to be told twice!
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Happy New Year-Number 1!
Happy Christmas and Merry New Year! ......Er.......
I hope everyone had a good Christmas/New Year/Winter break. Christmas in Canada went well, relatively little snow (although when it did came, boy, did it snow!), and even my connection in New York, 8 and a half hours, went well, since I got to bum around Manhattan for a while (and saw the UN!)
It's weird to think of being back in HK as being the end of the holidays, and certainly the fun hasn't stopped. Since I've been back, it's been go go go, meeting new exchange students, catching up with friends, even an unexpected trip to Macau.
Now, as you might have noticed, I titled this Happy New Year 1. That's because Chinese New Year is coming up soon, and I hope to have lots of stories for that.
Also in the works, I've booked a trip to China in March with a friend. Shanghai, Beijing, and Xi'an, in 9 days, should be an adventure, and we'll probably need a vacation when we're done, but I'm excited!
I hope everyone had a good Christmas/New Year/Winter break. Christmas in Canada went well, relatively little snow (although when it did came, boy, did it snow!), and even my connection in New York, 8 and a half hours, went well, since I got to bum around Manhattan for a while (and saw the UN!)
It's weird to think of being back in HK as being the end of the holidays, and certainly the fun hasn't stopped. Since I've been back, it's been go go go, meeting new exchange students, catching up with friends, even an unexpected trip to Macau.
Now, as you might have noticed, I titled this Happy New Year 1. That's because Chinese New Year is coming up soon, and I hope to have lots of stories for that.
Also in the works, I've booked a trip to China in March with a friend. Shanghai, Beijing, and Xi'an, in 9 days, should be an adventure, and we'll probably need a vacation when we're done, but I'm excited!
Friday, 17 December 2010
Shenzhen
Hello Everyone!
So, yesterday I finally crossed the border into Mainland China! For those who are confused as to what that means, a quick explanation: Hong Kong and Macau are both considered Special Administrative Regions of China, and each has a high degree of independence, including their own constitutions and immigration systems. Mainland China refers to the part of China that isn't Hong Kong or Macau. Visiting Mainland China requires a visa, but for the city just across from Hong Kong-Shenzhen-you can get a special "Shenzhen visa" to visit for up to five days, only Shenzhen. So, I decided yesterday to make the trip to Shenzhen along with my friends Alicia and Rosalind.
After crossing the border, China is very different. Traffic drives on the right, written Chinese uses the simplified characters (these are only used in the Mainland, all other places, including HK, use traditional characters), most of the Chinese spoken was Mandarin (as opposed to the Mandarin Spoken in HK and Macau), and Chinese money is used. Because Shenzhen is directly on the border, there are malls everywhere, and many things are much cheaper. After a lunch of dumplings in a mall, we took the metro to a park in the suburbs, where we explored lots of different displays. Yesterday was quite cold in the region (only 5 degrees!), and so after some time outside we headed back on the metro to another mall, where we dined at a great Chinese restaurant that Alicia knew. The style of dining was like western Chinese-order a few dishes and share-but the dishes weren't. We started with fennel beans and bamboo shoots, and traditional Chinese wine, and followed that with beancurd (Tofu) skin rolls (which are much much more delicious than they sound) and a corn pancake. After stopping at a snack shop and a trinket shop, we headed to the mall on the border to do some shopping. The mall was filled with people selling all kinds of goods; luckily, we went towards the end of the day, so it was nowhere near as chaotic as it likely usually is.
After finishing shopping we headed straight back to HK. Shenzhen is both interesting and strange-its amazing how much different it is just across the river. It's also amazing just how much shopping there is, with the stores literally continuing right up until outbound customs (In Asia, and in fact much of the world, you have to clear the customs for the country you are leaving and the one you are entering, so in this case we had to clear Hong Kong and China customs in both directions).
This will probably be my last post from HK this semester. My first exam is tomorrow, followed by another exam Tuesday, with a few dinners in between, and then leaving for Canada. Hopefully I'll be uploading some more photos to facebook over the holidays so everyone can see what I haven't written about yet. Until next time, happy holidays everyone!
So, yesterday I finally crossed the border into Mainland China! For those who are confused as to what that means, a quick explanation: Hong Kong and Macau are both considered Special Administrative Regions of China, and each has a high degree of independence, including their own constitutions and immigration systems. Mainland China refers to the part of China that isn't Hong Kong or Macau. Visiting Mainland China requires a visa, but for the city just across from Hong Kong-Shenzhen-you can get a special "Shenzhen visa" to visit for up to five days, only Shenzhen. So, I decided yesterday to make the trip to Shenzhen along with my friends Alicia and Rosalind.
After crossing the border, China is very different. Traffic drives on the right, written Chinese uses the simplified characters (these are only used in the Mainland, all other places, including HK, use traditional characters), most of the Chinese spoken was Mandarin (as opposed to the Mandarin Spoken in HK and Macau), and Chinese money is used. Because Shenzhen is directly on the border, there are malls everywhere, and many things are much cheaper. After a lunch of dumplings in a mall, we took the metro to a park in the suburbs, where we explored lots of different displays. Yesterday was quite cold in the region (only 5 degrees!), and so after some time outside we headed back on the metro to another mall, where we dined at a great Chinese restaurant that Alicia knew. The style of dining was like western Chinese-order a few dishes and share-but the dishes weren't. We started with fennel beans and bamboo shoots, and traditional Chinese wine, and followed that with beancurd (Tofu) skin rolls (which are much much more delicious than they sound) and a corn pancake. After stopping at a snack shop and a trinket shop, we headed to the mall on the border to do some shopping. The mall was filled with people selling all kinds of goods; luckily, we went towards the end of the day, so it was nowhere near as chaotic as it likely usually is.
After finishing shopping we headed straight back to HK. Shenzhen is both interesting and strange-its amazing how much different it is just across the river. It's also amazing just how much shopping there is, with the stores literally continuing right up until outbound customs (In Asia, and in fact much of the world, you have to clear the customs for the country you are leaving and the one you are entering, so in this case we had to clear Hong Kong and China customs in both directions).
This will probably be my last post from HK this semester. My first exam is tomorrow, followed by another exam Tuesday, with a few dinners in between, and then leaving for Canada. Hopefully I'll be uploading some more photos to facebook over the holidays so everyone can see what I haven't written about yet. Until next time, happy holidays everyone!
Thursday, 9 December 2010
A nice long break.
As the title implies, I've been lucky enough not to be stuck with a very burdensome exam schedule this semester (doubtlessly it'll catch up with me next semester!), and so I'm taking the opportunity to see more Hong Kong and spend more time with friends, especially the ones who are only here as exchange students for one semester.
There have been a few beach trips, involving picnics, and building sandcastles with people who've never built them before, and having random tourists in suits take photos of us from a distance, and enjoying the fact that it's still beach weather here whilst Canada is under a blanket of snow!
I bought a new camera, to replace the one that I broke during the superpass dinner. I've made the leap from 8.1 to 12 megapixels, so hopefully it will be noticeable in the quality of the photos I'm taking now.
I've made a few fantastic cultural trips. Last weekend, after Dim Sum with my roommate Joseph, I went to Kowloon Walled City Park. Kowloon Walled city was one of those strange political anomalies that nerds such as myself love: an area of Kowloon which belonged to China during British rule, it was effectively lawless, which lead the establishment of plenty of industry, housing, and illicit activity. Owing to this, the governments agreed to demolish it, and a beautiful park was created in it's place. It's fascinating how a place that was so lively and chaotic can be transformed, by a matter of civil planning, into a peaceful reprieve from the city. For those interested, pictures are up on my Facebook!
Tuesday night I went to go take a look at the Christmas tree in Statue Square-anyone who follows the American reality TV series "The Amazing Race," may have seen this spot on a recent episode as a "pit stop." The Christmas tree which has been placed there was made out of Crystal and donated by Swarovsky!
Finally, yesterday (Wednesday), I went with my friend Alicia to two temples. First, we went to Wong Tai Sin, a huge Daoist temple complex which was full of visitors lighting incense, drawing lots (a type of fortune telling where one thinks of a question, shakes a tin of sticks until one falls out, then reads the fortune corresponding to the number on that stick), and praying at the various temples in the large complex. Second, we visited a Buddhist temple and garden in the area of Diamond Hill. This temple/park was designed to reflect the Tang Dynasty's style, which we in the west commonly associate with Japan. In keeping with tradition, all buildings were built of inter-locking planks, and thus no nails were used. Alicia gave me fantastic explanations of everything in both temples, explaining the significance, the styles, and translating (and helping me to read, since I'm starting to be able to). 谢谢你Alicia！
There have been a few beach trips, involving picnics, and building sandcastles with people who've never built them before, and having random tourists in suits take photos of us from a distance, and enjoying the fact that it's still beach weather here whilst Canada is under a blanket of snow!
I bought a new camera, to replace the one that I broke during the superpass dinner. I've made the leap from 8.1 to 12 megapixels, so hopefully it will be noticeable in the quality of the photos I'm taking now.
I've made a few fantastic cultural trips. Last weekend, after Dim Sum with my roommate Joseph, I went to Kowloon Walled City Park. Kowloon Walled city was one of those strange political anomalies that nerds such as myself love: an area of Kowloon which belonged to China during British rule, it was effectively lawless, which lead the establishment of plenty of industry, housing, and illicit activity. Owing to this, the governments agreed to demolish it, and a beautiful park was created in it's place. It's fascinating how a place that was so lively and chaotic can be transformed, by a matter of civil planning, into a peaceful reprieve from the city. For those interested, pictures are up on my Facebook!
Tuesday night I went to go take a look at the Christmas tree in Statue Square-anyone who follows the American reality TV series "The Amazing Race," may have seen this spot on a recent episode as a "pit stop." The Christmas tree which has been placed there was made out of Crystal and donated by Swarovsky!
Finally, yesterday (Wednesday), I went with my friend Alicia to two temples. First, we went to Wong Tai Sin, a huge Daoist temple complex which was full of visitors lighting incense, drawing lots (a type of fortune telling where one thinks of a question, shakes a tin of sticks until one falls out, then reads the fortune corresponding to the number on that stick), and praying at the various temples in the large complex. Second, we visited a Buddhist temple and garden in the area of Diamond Hill. This temple/park was designed to reflect the Tang Dynasty's style, which we in the west commonly associate with Japan. In keeping with tradition, all buildings were built of inter-locking planks, and thus no nails were used. Alicia gave me fantastic explanations of everything in both temples, explaining the significance, the styles, and translating (and helping me to read, since I'm starting to be able to). 谢谢你Alicia！
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