My Itinerary

My Itinerary
Where I will be between August 26 and December 13

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Let's Get Down to Business


Preface: We were warned by the higher ups on the ship that some satellite dish or other high tec mumbo jumbo would interfere with the internet on the ship. As such, posting this became impossible. I’m already in Japan at this point, but that entry will, of course, come at the end of my stay here.

Let’s get down to business
To defeat the Huns.
Did they send me daughters
When I asked for sons?
You’re the saddest bunch I ever met,
And you can bet that when we’re through,
Mister, I’ll, make a man out of you!

I wish I could say I wrote that masterpiece, but alas, that was Disney. The Huns never actually were in China; they were a Germanic tribe like the Anglos and the Goths. Disney most likely meant the Mongols, but the Huns works better with the tune. I won’t question it, and you shouldn’t either.

China. You may have heard of it. There’s a wall there. I hiked on it. It’s big. Actually, it’s GREAT. China itself, though, is both great and not-so-great. Here’s the story of six days in the world’s most populous country. Like my South Africa entry, I’ll be splitting this up into specific sections, this time being the cities rather than the days.

City one: Hong Kong! It’s like China-lite. By that, I mean it’s clean, capitalist, and ultra-modern. The Chinese like to say that it’s “two systems, one country,” as in Hong Kong is different from Mainland China mainly because of the former (very recent) British occupation that has left an enormous legacy on the city-state. You can absolutely feel the Westernization in Hong Kong when compared to the rest of China. It’s extremely autonomous in that most of all their matters are separate from the Mainland. In fact, they use a different currency: the Hong Kong Dollar. Their 10 dollar bill is a shiny neon purple. I saved one. Essentially, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwain are all “technically” China, but are autonomous capitalist regions, with Taiwan being completely separated from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and instead being called the Republic of China (ROC). Confused yet? I am.

After what seemed like the most frustratingly long immigration process yet, Valleria and I hopped off the ship and walked around the mall. No, we didn’t take a taxi there; we literally got off the ship and we were in a mall.  Hong Kong, like Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, feels like a giant shopping mall. I must’ve walked in or around about six throughout the entire day, each one seeming more high end than the last. No money? Definitely a problem. As Valleria and I walked around, we saw a bunch of other SAS students lost and confused in this giant mall that was technically considered our port. We hadn’t experienced anything like it; the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town had nothing on the Ocean Terminal in HK. When we finally found our way out after a brief WiFi detour, we walked around outside for a bit. We were totally in the thick of it. The buildings? Tall. The traffic? Loud. The people? Numerous. Limited space seems to be a common theme in Asia.

Later on, Valleria and I met up with Diana and took the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island and grabbed a bus to the Victoria Peak Tram. Again, the crowds were pretty crazy, but we were able to take the Peak Tram with the SAS Parent Trip. Mom and Dad, it would’ve been fun if you came, but I understand the appeal of going to Hawaii for your 25th Anniversary instead. Congrats, by the way. Anyway, the Tram was steep and scary and, of course, crowded with people. At the top was a mall. And a Burger King. I had that for lunch. Cultural, right? God bless America. The view of Hong Kong was also pretty spectacular, featuring some of the most fabulous skyscrapers just about anywhere. After wandering around for far too long in the giant touristy mall and not being able to find the exit, we hiked down from the top to the city. I use the word “hike” loosely, however, because it was mostly just walking along the street. I had to split off from Diana and Valleria when we made it to the bottom because the whole thing took longer than we expected and I had made dinner plans with other people. I found myself having to take the subway system to get back to the Ocean Terminal. I was excited by the prospect of having to go underground again, having not used a subway system since Canada, but it proved to vehemently annoying. Like everywhere else in Hong Kong, it was crowded, but it wasn’t marked particularly well; they could’ve used a few more maps and information desks, but the adventure was only more exciting since it was all up to me. When I finally made it back, I took a cab back to the Ocean Terminal and the ship.

That night, I went out with Lily and a bunch of other people for her birthday to a fancy Japanese restaurant in the mall. That one certainly set me back a few bucks. HK, in general, is expensive, especially having come from some of the cheapest places on the planet (Vietnam, Cambodia, India, even Malaysia somewhat). In the middle of dinner, we stepped outside to watch the infamous lightshow. Every night, the skyline of HK lights up with flashing lights. Truthfully, it was relatively underwhelming. I expected a flashier performance. Even still, though, the skyline at night is pretty wild, unlike anything else I had ever seen before. After our meal, we headed out for the night via the Star Ferry and a taxi to Lan Kwai Fong, the main bar scene for expats, locals, tourists, and travelers. It seemed SAS had taken over that night with students spilling out of the bars and into the long L-shaped street. The watering holes themselves were extremely varied, but most of them were pretty small. Somebody said there were over 200 bars in this one area. I believe it.

City two: Beijing! It’s sprawling and polluted; the smog is thick, making it difficult to see the sun. Anyway, after waking up following our night out in HK, we took the train to the airport. Along the way, we saw the less attractive underbelly of the city. Run down apartments lined the sides as we exited the main area of the island. However, after that, the rest of the way to the airport was beautiful. “Hong Kong” actually means something like beautiful harbor. The airport was HUGE. Lily, Brooke, and I set out to find food once we found our gate. We walked for what seemed like far too long of a distance in any airport to find some grub. It was only on our way back did we discover the train (similar to the one at Denver’s airport) to get to the food. Three cheers for looking closely! On the plane, I had the pleasure of sitting next to a Chinese gentleman. That was an experience. Chinese people have a different idea of politeness than in the west. As a sign of enjoying their food, they slurp it. Sure enough, during the in-flight meal service, he slurped it, and it was the most awful noise I have ever heard anybody make while eating. Chinese people also push, shove, cut in line, and shout a lot, all of which I experienced while on the plane. Pleasant? Not so much, but it certainly was an experience.

I wasn’t traveling with an SAS-sponsored trip. I was, instead, doing a tour with Global Citizens, a company founded by SAS alumni. They’ve been known for not having the greatest organization in terms of their trips. From what I understand, one of their India trips was particularly chaotic. Needless to say, I was a bit worried, but it worked out fine. We met our tour guides, Joe and Steven when we arrived. Those aren’t their actual names, but they told us to call them that because Chinese names are hard to pronounce correctly for non-native speakers. Upon arriving in the city, we checked in at the Holiday Inn Express. Crappy, right? Wrong! It was just as fancy and high class as the hotels I stayed in in Cambodia and Malaysia. After showering and freshening up, we walked across the street to a restaurant to try some peking duck, Beijing’s famous dish that America poorly imitates. I hadn’t thought that, though, until I had the real thing. It is incredibly tasty. When dinner came to a close, Lily, Christina, John, I, and some others went out to check out the club scene in Beijing. Like every other place in China, it was crowded, perhaps the most crowded clubbing experience I had ever had. It was Lily’s birthday, so we were going from each place as she wished. By the end of the night, it was just the two of us. We went back to the hotel and decided we wanted food. So, like any good college student, we got delivery. To be more specific, delivery McDonald’s. Again, cultural, am I right? French fries at 4 A.M. never tasted so good.

The next morning, we awoke early to head to the Temple of Heaven. It was incredibly crowded and big, but it was really interesting. The temple itself was different from others I had seen. During our tour, I bought a tacky panda hat from a vendor. Excellent purchase. Tons of other people on the ship bought them. It’s funny. We then went to the Pearl Market. Shopping in China is more inside than the markets in other countries, but it’s still a fun experience. Bargaining is very, very easy in China, or maybe I’ve just gotten good at it. I think it’s a combination of both.

Afterwards, we started our drive to the Great Wall of China. It’s called the Great Wall because it’s pretty damn great. The drive was beautiful, reminding me a lot of I-70 in Colorado heading west from Denver to Glenwood Springs. Marek was sitting behind me and we commented numerous times about how the scenery was similar. We went through a few tunnels similar to the Eisenhower Tunnel and I saw a ton of hills that could’ve been A-Basin, Vail, or Beaver Creek. Northern China is far more rugged and mountainous than I previously thought. When we reached the Wall, we hadn’t actually reached the Wall; we had to hike to it on a built trail. After about 45 minutes, we made it to the Great Wall of China.

First and foremost, the views are incredible. Spectacularly beautiful mountains careened out of fertile valleys and seemed to disappear into the clouds. Second, it was cold. I’m not sure what elevation we were at, but it was cold most likely because of that. Third, the hike was extremely difficult. Parts of the Wall are falling apart since it is so old, so the path wasn’t always clear, easy, marked, or put together. It’s also fairly steep in a lot of portions, so there were times when crawling on your hands and knees were necessary. Lastly, a Mongolian woman named Pu held my hand for part of the way. Pu is a farmer who walks two hours to the Wall each day to try and sell trinkets, books, and t-shirts to struggling tourists hiking on the Wall. Though I didn’t want anything she was selling, she was so charming and kind that I decided to help her out by buying a few things. She helped me out until just about the end. When we finally made it after about three miles, we had dinner at a traditional restaurant, set up camp on the Wall, celebrated with a few drinks and conversation, and then started to call it a night. The whole experience was amazing and inspiring.

Then we were kicked off the Wall by Chinese authorities because five people started a fire and we were held hostage for about ten hours.

Nope, I’m not lying. Long story short, five people (who shall remain nameless) wandered to a different tower and started a small fire using wood they didn’t realize was some important relic of the Wall. When Chinese authorities discovered them, they kicked the fire five, our group, and another group off the Wall and forced us to set up camp in what seemed like nothing more than a glorified parking lot. I wasn’t entirely surprised, especially considering Joe and Steven told us that sleeping on the Wall “wasn’t illegal, but wasn’t exactly legal.” On a different note, if I had known that little detail, I would’ve picked a different trip. Anyway, while the rest of us were attempting to sleep, the fire five were taken into custody and were interrogated for about two hours by screaming Chinese men. They were told they had to cough up a bunch of cash or risk going to jail. They weren’t given the chance to make any phone calls or explain themselves; due process of law is certainly not the same as it is in America. To make the situation a little better, when their first round of interrogation was over, they cleaned up the mess on the Wall that was left behind. It didn’t help. It actually made matters worse for them because they were extorted for even more money to pay off whatever bribe they were trying to fulfill. While this ordeal was going on in the morning, we were sitting in the freezing cold restaurant we ate in the night before while waiting to find out what was going on. When they came up with the money, the whole ordeal was finally over and we were allowed to leave. Since we left late, we had to miss our huton and city tour by rickshaw, which wasn’t really my reason for going on this particular trip, so it was fine. We still got to eat lunch at another traditional restaurant and tour Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden City, both of which were enjoyable. You’d think that I would be really upset by the situation, but I still had a damn great time on the Great Wall. Global Citizens, you did well.

City three: Shanghai! The sleeper train from Beijing to Shanghai was way more advanced than the one to and from Kerala and Chennai. I had my own bed with a TV and temperature control. Granted, I had to share my cabin with three awkward Chinese people instead of my friends, but we didn’t talk much, so it was okay. When we woke up, we wandered into the bustling Shanghai train station. Since it was so bustling, I got separated from the main group with Savannah and Will. The three of us attempted to find a taxi to get us to the ship, but none of them understood our directions, thinking we wanted to go to the airport instead of the ship. We asked a policeman, but that didn’t help at all. The language barrier hasn’t gotten in the way that much at all during the voyage, but it was extremely apparent in China, especially Shanghai. We met up with two other SAS students and finally reached the end of our rope and called the ship. They spoke to a taxi driver we found and gave them the proper directions. We finally reached the port a solid three hours after our train arrived.

The next two days in Shangai were mostly spent walking around. Of the three Chinese cities, it was probably my least favorite. I certainly liked it, but it just felt difficult to get around in, and two days was definitely not enough. The highlight was at the end of my final day. After six days of having extremely mixed and conflicting feelings about China, my love for the country was solidified by visiting the Jade Buddha Temple with Luke. All the way on the opposite side of Shanghai from the ship, it took a while to get to it, but it was definitely worth it. While we weren’t on any sort of official tour, we walked around on our own and interacted with a few nice people. There were monks chanting upon our arrival and the whole temple was beautiful. It provided a fantastic sense of clarity about how I feel about the country: I love it. Sure, the communism is pretty insufferable, it’s definitely a police state, the language isn’t exactly pleasant, and their conventions of manners are hard to understand, but the culture is fraught with history and the people are generally kind. The Great Wall, the temples, Hong Kong, all of them made for a overwhelmingly enjoyable experience.

I could probably live in China for a summer, but not for a lifetime. Now, our final Asian port, my most anticipated country on this voyage: JAPAN!

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