HONG KONG & CHINA: Monday, April 3- Saturday, April 8
I only got to spend one day in Hong Kong, but really liked the city. We docked at Victoria Harbor in Kowloon Island, Hong Kong. The area was very modern, clean and pretty with a background of mountains. I saw tons of international people and business people that it almost looked like NYC with Chinese writing. I walked with Amelia and Sheila right away to get a rail pass for Japan (unlimited pass to use the trains) and we just beat the rush of SAS kids coming in to buy them. That didn’t take long, so we headed by ferry to Hong Kong Island where we walked around the skyscrapers for a bit and tried to shop, but all the stores were either cell phone places or designer stores. We got a little lost in the street markets which were in between buildings, and then went to lunch at a local restaurant. We were definitely the only non-locals there and everything was in Chinese, but after about 20 minutes of just sitting there, we figured out how to order when they gave us a menu that had English on it to so we could point to what we wanted. Lunch was an adventure and it was pretty good, but different than Chinese food at home- I don’t know how to describe the difference, but it is different.
After lunch, we took a taxi to the other side of the island to Stanley Market. We didn’t end up staying long since, after being around the world, Hong Kong seemed very expensive. We went to a bar near the market to watch the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens. Apparently this is a huge thing here, and lots of people were in bars just to watch the games. Some British in the bar said they come to Hong Kong every year for the Sevens. It was pretty fun to watch with so many people, but I really had no clue what was going on.
We then took a taxi up to the top of The Peak. It overlooked Victoria’s Harbor and all the skyscrapers of Hong Kong Island below us. The smog covered the sunset (I am starting to wonder how many of the world’s city can still watch the sun set) and made the view a little hazy, but it was still really cool to look down. There were a lot of Semester at Sea students up there, so we hung out until the light show started at 8. Below us, some of the buildings had lights up the sides that would change colors and patterns. It was pretty cool to see the city light up like that, especially standing on top of a mountain to see it. The tram ride down the mountain was pretty scary. It was so steep that the buildings looked like they were at a 45 degree angle. It was also really fast, and since I didn’t have a seat I was holding on pretty tight. From there, I went out with a bunch of people to a strip of bars. The first one was a Russian ice bar where you have to wear a coat to go in because it’s really cold. We bar hopped and I saw a bunch of my friends and had a great time.
I left Hong Kong the next morning on an SAS trip to Beijing. We flew to Beijing and then drove to Peking University where we would be staying for the next 4 days. It felt great to be back on a real college campus. There were students walking and biking all around. We ate dinner on campus and it seems that their dorm food is a lot better than ours, but maybe it wouldn’t be if we had to eat it everyday. I walked around the campus that night with Morgan and Emily. I thought it was funny that even in their University Store, there were counterfeit CD’s and DVD’s, and they would even take them back if they don’t work! I could never see that happening in America, but besides that, the campus reminded me a lot of U.S. campuses.
The next day we headed to a Jade factory where the prices were way too expensive for me so I’m glad I bought the same thing in Burma for $2. From there, we walked around the Ming Tombs. It wasn’t until we had to actually stay outside that I realized how cold it was, and after being used to 90 degree weather, the cold was hard to tolerate without a jacket. The tomb area was interesting because there were carved animals and soldiers all over, and the area was very pretty and clean.
The best part came when after lunch we drove a little further outside the city to the Great Wall. I was excited to see the wall, but expected to just see a brick wall. The wall is so much more than this, and I can’t believe how awesome it was. It is wide enough at all parts of the top for 4 people to walk side by side with railing on both sides. Some parts widen so much that 15 people could walk side by side. There are towers every so often where the soldiers used to send signals to each other. We started at the very bottom of the mountain, and looking up, I could not see where the wall ended as it just disappeared on the back of the mountain. I figured out when I was climbing the wall that the reason I couldn’t see it all is because it’s way, way up there since it follows the mountain’s peaks. In the middle of climbing, the stairs on top of the wall started getting so steep as the mountain got steep, that I became really scared of the height. I almost didn’t go any further, but I was more scared to turn around and climb down the steep stairs than go up more. With some help from my friends (especially Morgan), I made it past being scared, and began to really enjoy the climb. It must have been at least a thousand stairs before we got to the top, but getting there felt amazing. The views were incredible, and the cold winds actually felt good since climbing warmed me up quite a bit. From the top we could see the wall stretching on for miles along the peaks. There were about ten of us at the top so we took a bunch of pics, hung out for a while, then started the climb down. Our legs were so tired that on the way down, if we stopped for a second, our legs would start twitching. All together, we spent about 3 hours at the wall and it was incredible. It turned out to be so much more than I expected (even though I tried not to expect anything as I’ve realized this trip that then you are always surprised, and never disappointed).
I was really hungry for dinner and it was more Chinese at a nice restaurant at the University. All of our meals on this trip were family style on rotating circles in the center of the table so you just spun it around to get more of what you wanted. We ate with University students and it was a little hard to communicate, but it was interesting talking to them. The culture is rather different from American Universities, since none of the students here really drink. That night, Morgan, Emily, Joe and I bought 6-packs for $1 US and played cards.
The next morning we drove to Tian’anmen Square downtown and had free time. I went with some girls to Silk Street, a market right outside of one of the Subway stations. I was so excited to buy a jacket for $10 because it was an exceptionally cold day and even snowing a bit. The market was huge and pretty fun to be at a cheap market again, but I am pretty shopped out and excited to not shop again for a long time.
After lunch, we went to the Forbidden City. It was absolutely huge and Morgan and I got pretty lost in it, but that was actually kinda fun. Just like every other tourist place in Beijing, there were souvenir shops everywhere, and even a Starbucks inside the Forbidden City! People are selling stuff everywhere there- it’s pretty funny to walk through the Forbidden City and run into a Starbucks and souvenir shops everywhere. All the buildings were ancient Chinese architecture, and they saved a lot of artifacts from 3 millennia ago. We spent a couple hours here and it was incredible, but the main building was under construction for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. It seemed like there was a little construction at all the places we went here, but they are in the process of updating the city for the Olympics. We also walked in the park across the street, Jingshan Park. It is a common place where locals hang out, and is very pretty. We didn’t spend much time there since we had been walking all day in the cold and were very ready for some heat. .
We went to the most amazing Chinese Acrobatic Show after dinner. These kids (about 15) trained their whole lives to perfect their moves, and did really incredible things. They could flip higher than anyone I’d ever seen. The littlest girls could hold three other girls above their head. It made me miss gymnastics since they made it look so easy and fun.
The last day we went to Summer Palace which is built all around a beautiful lake among the hills. The actual palace was under renovation, but I don’t know what I missed, so I still thought it was great. Before we left, a few of us were mobbed by Chinese women that wanted to take pictures with us (they are fascinated with blonds here) and after about a ten minute photo shoot they dispersed. It’s really funny to take a picture with someone you can’t even speak to.
We had lunch at Daijiacun Restaurant for our last meal in Beijing. There were performers that danced and played instruments while we ate. The food and atmosphere were great which made me even sadder to be leaving Beijing.
Before we headed to the airport, we walked around the Temple of Heaven. This temple was set amongst a large park with trees and other smaller temples everywhere. Since the main temple was under construction, we visited all the others on our own. The area was so big that I walked around with one girl and never saw any other SASer the whole time. It was really nice to walk around in the clean, pretty area since it turned out to be a beautiful Spring day.
We flew to Qingdao since the boat sailed to there from Hong Kong while we were in Beijing. I woke up at five the next morning to do Tai Chi. Our instructors were famous in Qingdao for Tai Chi but only spoke Chinese, so there was a translator that told us what to do. I felt really confused at first (and cold), but started to pick up a little at the end. They make it look so easy, but it takes a lot of concentration and practice, so our 3 hours didn’t really cut it. It was really fun though, and entertaining since there was a local news station there taping the whole thing (there are rarely tourists there).
I went to a Pearl Market with Ariah for a little while and ran into a bunch of other people. I was still tired of shopping so I didn’t last long and then we went out for lunch (and spent the rest of our cash since no one took credit cards and ATMs didn’t seem to like international debit cards). After getting more cash from the boat, I headed back out with Carrie to find a post office. We ended up wondering around the city for a long time just turning down random streets and seeing what was there. We found a few local markets and streets and gave out the last of my gifts to kids.
We bought dinner at a couple little street stands that had tofu, vegetables and some really good, different bread. We didn’t have any place to eat, so we ate on the curb while we mixed drinks with mystery alcohol and Sprite. People kept saying “ne how” (hello) and asking us where we were from. It’s a really good thing Carrie knows a little Chinese because I had no idea what was going on. We had no problem eating on the street, but people kept looking at us and motioning to go inside since it was cold and windy, but we really didn’t have anywhere to go. Two ladies came up to us after about ten minutes and signed for us to follow them inside and kept doing it til we followed. They took us into their little store on the same block where we figured out that they ran a gambling business to bet on the NBA and other sports. We stayed there for about and hour and a half trying to talk to them and tell them where we were from (they just kept saying New York, Los Angeles, so we gave up). They were so nice to let us in and even gave us some tofu that was really good and spicy. They also gave us the local paper that was all in Chinese, and the front page was about SAS and had a big picture of the Captain and others coming down the gangway.
We left to start heading back to the boat, but saw Nischelle, my roommate, and a few other people on the way. They were sitting outside of a little grocery store drinking and talking so Carrie and I joined them until about eight o’clock so that we made sure to get back in time for no dock time.
I really enjoyed China and the Chinese people. I found them very friendly and patient. I could tell that their economy is really booming and I can see them becoming more Capitalist. I ran into many Chinese citizens that were rather wealthy, something that really hasn’t happened since South Africa. Hong Kong and Beijing were great cities, even though we saw a lot of touristy places, we are tourists so I guess it works out.
I can’t believe I’m almost in the last port and then it’s over! I’m really sad to be close to done, but at the same time, I’m already a little burned out from the intense traveling and will probably be ready to calm down a bit at home and see everyone after five days on independent, expensive traveling. So excited to travel all over Japan & hike Mt. Fuji!
I only got to spend one day in Hong Kong, but really liked the city. We docked at Victoria Harbor in Kowloon Island, Hong Kong. The area was very modern, clean and pretty with a background of mountains. I saw tons of international people and business people that it almost looked like NYC with Chinese writing. I walked with Amelia and Sheila right away to get a rail pass for Japan (unlimited pass to use the trains) and we just beat the rush of SAS kids coming in to buy them. That didn’t take long, so we headed by ferry to Hong Kong Island where we walked around the skyscrapers for a bit and tried to shop, but all the stores were either cell phone places or designer stores. We got a little lost in the street markets which were in between buildings, and then went to lunch at a local restaurant. We were definitely the only non-locals there and everything was in Chinese, but after about 20 minutes of just sitting there, we figured out how to order when they gave us a menu that had English on it to so we could point to what we wanted. Lunch was an adventure and it was pretty good, but different than Chinese food at home- I don’t know how to describe the difference, but it is different.
After lunch, we took a taxi to the other side of the island to Stanley Market. We didn’t end up staying long since, after being around the world, Hong Kong seemed very expensive. We went to a bar near the market to watch the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens. Apparently this is a huge thing here, and lots of people were in bars just to watch the games. Some British in the bar said they come to Hong Kong every year for the Sevens. It was pretty fun to watch with so many people, but I really had no clue what was going on.
We then took a taxi up to the top of The Peak. It overlooked Victoria’s Harbor and all the skyscrapers of Hong Kong Island below us. The smog covered the sunset (I am starting to wonder how many of the world’s city can still watch the sun set) and made the view a little hazy, but it was still really cool to look down. There were a lot of Semester at Sea students up there, so we hung out until the light show started at 8. Below us, some of the buildings had lights up the sides that would change colors and patterns. It was pretty cool to see the city light up like that, especially standing on top of a mountain to see it. The tram ride down the mountain was pretty scary. It was so steep that the buildings looked like they were at a 45 degree angle. It was also really fast, and since I didn’t have a seat I was holding on pretty tight. From there, I went out with a bunch of people to a strip of bars. The first one was a Russian ice bar where you have to wear a coat to go in because it’s really cold. We bar hopped and I saw a bunch of my friends and had a great time.
I left Hong Kong the next morning on an SAS trip to Beijing. We flew to Beijing and then drove to Peking University where we would be staying for the next 4 days. It felt great to be back on a real college campus. There were students walking and biking all around. We ate dinner on campus and it seems that their dorm food is a lot better than ours, but maybe it wouldn’t be if we had to eat it everyday. I walked around the campus that night with Morgan and Emily. I thought it was funny that even in their University Store, there were counterfeit CD’s and DVD’s, and they would even take them back if they don’t work! I could never see that happening in America, but besides that, the campus reminded me a lot of U.S. campuses.
The next day we headed to a Jade factory where the prices were way too expensive for me so I’m glad I bought the same thing in Burma for $2. From there, we walked around the Ming Tombs. It wasn’t until we had to actually stay outside that I realized how cold it was, and after being used to 90 degree weather, the cold was hard to tolerate without a jacket. The tomb area was interesting because there were carved animals and soldiers all over, and the area was very pretty and clean.
The best part came when after lunch we drove a little further outside the city to the Great Wall. I was excited to see the wall, but expected to just see a brick wall. The wall is so much more than this, and I can’t believe how awesome it was. It is wide enough at all parts of the top for 4 people to walk side by side with railing on both sides. Some parts widen so much that 15 people could walk side by side. There are towers every so often where the soldiers used to send signals to each other. We started at the very bottom of the mountain, and looking up, I could not see where the wall ended as it just disappeared on the back of the mountain. I figured out when I was climbing the wall that the reason I couldn’t see it all is because it’s way, way up there since it follows the mountain’s peaks. In the middle of climbing, the stairs on top of the wall started getting so steep as the mountain got steep, that I became really scared of the height. I almost didn’t go any further, but I was more scared to turn around and climb down the steep stairs than go up more. With some help from my friends (especially Morgan), I made it past being scared, and began to really enjoy the climb. It must have been at least a thousand stairs before we got to the top, but getting there felt amazing. The views were incredible, and the cold winds actually felt good since climbing warmed me up quite a bit. From the top we could see the wall stretching on for miles along the peaks. There were about ten of us at the top so we took a bunch of pics, hung out for a while, then started the climb down. Our legs were so tired that on the way down, if we stopped for a second, our legs would start twitching. All together, we spent about 3 hours at the wall and it was incredible. It turned out to be so much more than I expected (even though I tried not to expect anything as I’ve realized this trip that then you are always surprised, and never disappointed).
I was really hungry for dinner and it was more Chinese at a nice restaurant at the University. All of our meals on this trip were family style on rotating circles in the center of the table so you just spun it around to get more of what you wanted. We ate with University students and it was a little hard to communicate, but it was interesting talking to them. The culture is rather different from American Universities, since none of the students here really drink. That night, Morgan, Emily, Joe and I bought 6-packs for $1 US and played cards.
The next morning we drove to Tian’anmen Square downtown and had free time. I went with some girls to Silk Street, a market right outside of one of the Subway stations. I was so excited to buy a jacket for $10 because it was an exceptionally cold day and even snowing a bit. The market was huge and pretty fun to be at a cheap market again, but I am pretty shopped out and excited to not shop again for a long time.
After lunch, we went to the Forbidden City. It was absolutely huge and Morgan and I got pretty lost in it, but that was actually kinda fun. Just like every other tourist place in Beijing, there were souvenir shops everywhere, and even a Starbucks inside the Forbidden City! People are selling stuff everywhere there- it’s pretty funny to walk through the Forbidden City and run into a Starbucks and souvenir shops everywhere. All the buildings were ancient Chinese architecture, and they saved a lot of artifacts from 3 millennia ago. We spent a couple hours here and it was incredible, but the main building was under construction for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. It seemed like there was a little construction at all the places we went here, but they are in the process of updating the city for the Olympics. We also walked in the park across the street, Jingshan Park. It is a common place where locals hang out, and is very pretty. We didn’t spend much time there since we had been walking all day in the cold and were very ready for some heat. .
We went to the most amazing Chinese Acrobatic Show after dinner. These kids (about 15) trained their whole lives to perfect their moves, and did really incredible things. They could flip higher than anyone I’d ever seen. The littlest girls could hold three other girls above their head. It made me miss gymnastics since they made it look so easy and fun.
The last day we went to Summer Palace which is built all around a beautiful lake among the hills. The actual palace was under renovation, but I don’t know what I missed, so I still thought it was great. Before we left, a few of us were mobbed by Chinese women that wanted to take pictures with us (they are fascinated with blonds here) and after about a ten minute photo shoot they dispersed. It’s really funny to take a picture with someone you can’t even speak to.
We had lunch at Daijiacun Restaurant for our last meal in Beijing. There were performers that danced and played instruments while we ate. The food and atmosphere were great which made me even sadder to be leaving Beijing.
Before we headed to the airport, we walked around the Temple of Heaven. This temple was set amongst a large park with trees and other smaller temples everywhere. Since the main temple was under construction, we visited all the others on our own. The area was so big that I walked around with one girl and never saw any other SASer the whole time. It was really nice to walk around in the clean, pretty area since it turned out to be a beautiful Spring day.
We flew to Qingdao since the boat sailed to there from Hong Kong while we were in Beijing. I woke up at five the next morning to do Tai Chi. Our instructors were famous in Qingdao for Tai Chi but only spoke Chinese, so there was a translator that told us what to do. I felt really confused at first (and cold), but started to pick up a little at the end. They make it look so easy, but it takes a lot of concentration and practice, so our 3 hours didn’t really cut it. It was really fun though, and entertaining since there was a local news station there taping the whole thing (there are rarely tourists there).
I went to a Pearl Market with Ariah for a little while and ran into a bunch of other people. I was still tired of shopping so I didn’t last long and then we went out for lunch (and spent the rest of our cash since no one took credit cards and ATMs didn’t seem to like international debit cards). After getting more cash from the boat, I headed back out with Carrie to find a post office. We ended up wondering around the city for a long time just turning down random streets and seeing what was there. We found a few local markets and streets and gave out the last of my gifts to kids.
We bought dinner at a couple little street stands that had tofu, vegetables and some really good, different bread. We didn’t have any place to eat, so we ate on the curb while we mixed drinks with mystery alcohol and Sprite. People kept saying “ne how” (hello) and asking us where we were from. It’s a really good thing Carrie knows a little Chinese because I had no idea what was going on. We had no problem eating on the street, but people kept looking at us and motioning to go inside since it was cold and windy, but we really didn’t have anywhere to go. Two ladies came up to us after about ten minutes and signed for us to follow them inside and kept doing it til we followed. They took us into their little store on the same block where we figured out that they ran a gambling business to bet on the NBA and other sports. We stayed there for about and hour and a half trying to talk to them and tell them where we were from (they just kept saying New York, Los Angeles, so we gave up). They were so nice to let us in and even gave us some tofu that was really good and spicy. They also gave us the local paper that was all in Chinese, and the front page was about SAS and had a big picture of the Captain and others coming down the gangway.
We left to start heading back to the boat, but saw Nischelle, my roommate, and a few other people on the way. They were sitting outside of a little grocery store drinking and talking so Carrie and I joined them until about eight o’clock so that we made sure to get back in time for no dock time.
I really enjoyed China and the Chinese people. I found them very friendly and patient. I could tell that their economy is really booming and I can see them becoming more Capitalist. I ran into many Chinese citizens that were rather wealthy, something that really hasn’t happened since South Africa. Hong Kong and Beijing were great cities, even though we saw a lot of touristy places, we are tourists so I guess it works out.
I can’t believe I’m almost in the last port and then it’s over! I’m really sad to be close to done, but at the same time, I’m already a little burned out from the intense traveling and will probably be ready to calm down a bit at home and see everyone after five days on independent, expensive traveling. So excited to travel all over Japan & hike Mt. Fuji!
posted by Kim @ 5:00 AM
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