Hong Kong | Day 7

New Year’s Eve in Hong Kong was predictably frenzied. And our neighborhood seemed to be one of--the many--main gathering points. Abby and I spent the day wandering relatively aimlessly. We had to hunt down souvenirs (omiyage) for our coworkers, and we still wanted to see Hong Kong Park before heading back to Japan the next day. Around 11, we tried getting together with my friend, and neighbor in Japan, Maggie. Her family lives in Hong Kong, so she had been in the city the entire time that we were. We finally caught up with her at the Starbucks (ugh) by the harbor, but she had people to see so we parted ways. Then Abby and I took off for Sheung Wan on HK Island, which is full of weird markets (like the one on Cat Street, which sells various found objects such as people’s private photographs and other domestic knick-knacks). We eventually found a classy Chinese tea shop, where we picked up huge quantities of tea to bring back as gifts.

Burnt out on the borderline-obnoxious street markets, we boarded a tram car heading in the direction of Hong Kong Park.


Around 8:30 we had dinner at an incredible vegetarian restaurant on HK Island, courtesy of the mythic Mushroom Lady, Abby’s grownup friend and benefactor. We shared a goat cheese and eggplant salad and then together polished off a veggie burrito and a huge plate of mousakka. So good. Anyway, we ended up drinking two bottles of some organic wine (half off because it was New Year’s Eve--huh?!), and we were actually booted out the door having lingered well past 11:30.

Luckily we were able to hop on the subway, take the train below the bay back to Kowloon, and ascend the subway stairs to the sound of a mass of people counting down the seconds to the new year. We were directly in front of our hostel at midnight. It was like this:



We bought two cans of Tsing Tao beer and walked around drinking, embracing elated Indian men as they danced by us, grabbing our cheeks, slapping our stomachs and wishing us a happy new year.

Abby had to fly back to Japan early the next morning, so we headed back to our room around 1. The next day I read about 6 bombs detonating throughout Bangkok on New Year’s Eve, and I still can’t fathom the kind of sad chaos that must have induced. If that had happened in Hong Kong, an unbelievable number of people would have been seriously hurt or killed. I felt utterly disheartened knowing that a good number of my friends, who were spending New Year’s in Bangkok, were beginning a new year under such disturbing circumstances. I flew back to Japan later that afternoon, and then spent the day with some friends in Osaka. Now I’m back in Nagahama, where it’s so cold I’ve had to “containerize” my life into my apartment’s one heated room. It’s pretty cozy, though, so I can’t complain. Still no snow, although everyone seems to be bracing themselves for it (switching their car tires to “snow tires” and such (no snow tires for bicycles last I checked)). I go back to work on Tuesday, then: 7 more months in Japan.

[ Abby and me in Hong Kong Park on our last day. ]


1 Comment for this Entry
Val

Wow, what a trip! Abby told me about Kiomi-san's gift to be used for a special dinner, and it looks like you found just the spot! (I can't imagine them booting you out after spending that much!) Abby's head must have been spinning when she met us in Tokyo the next day!
Thanks again for the tour in pictures and words, Nolan. It's so nice to know more about these wonderful experiences in Asia you two are having.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 01:25 AM

Hong Kong | Day 6

We drifted over to Lantau today, which is an outlying island on which Hong Kong’s international airport was erected. It took about an hour to get there by ferry, which dropped us at the Southeast end of the island--our first encounter with bikes in Hong Kong. On this side of Lantau, everybody who was anybody had a bicycle, whereas everywhere else we’d been in Hong Kong was distinctly vacant of bikes (weird coming from a country where the sidewalks are overcrowded by cyclists and the constant ding of their bells is present even in my dreams).

We had come to Lantau to visit the Po Lin Monastery on the Ngong Ping plateau, which boasts an awesome view of the mountains and ocean below in addition to harboring the largest bronze, outdoor, seated sculpture of Gautama in the whole wide world.



[ Tian Tin ]


It’s huge. But what was even more amazing was spotting the massive statue from various points on the island. Abby and I did some hiking around the plateau, and from every clearing we could see the big buddha jutting upward into the sky:




[ My favorite photo of ab, taken beside the big buddha’s left knee. ]



[This is the Ngong Ping Plateau, just outside the Po Lin Monastery where we shared a delicious Buddhist meal. ]



[ said “delicious Buddhist meal.” ]




[ Snapshots of the Path of Wisdom, a figure-8 of Chinese kanji depicting the Buddhist script on “Emptiness.” ]




[ From a boulder atop the Path of Wisdom overlooking the northern end of Lantau. ]


We didn’t want to take the bus back from Ngong Ping to the ferry harbor (because it took forever on the way up), so we opted for the cable car route instead, which travels as the crow flies straight down from the plateau to the northern end of Lantau where we could grab the subway back to Kowloon. We had to hurry down from the Path in order to each the last cable car, which we did (just barely), but were only able to get standing-room tickets (although they treated us like V.I.P., ushering us to the front of the line). The ride down from the plateau took us between mountains and straight toward the ocean. It was--cliche as it sounds--breathtaking. The sun had set completely at this point, but the city was lit up out near the harbor where we were headed.

The subway ride was long. When we got to Hong Kong Island, we drank beer and ate good Thai food in a buzzy section of Central.

1 Comment for this Entry

Val
That's amazing that you can see the Buddha from so far away....and that meal looks great!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 01:16 AM

Hong Kong | Day 5

We took the subway a long way’s north today and ended up in Sha Tin, a neighborhood in the New Territories of Hong Kong whose claim to fame is a nice little spot known as the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery.

[ Just around the corner is an IKEA (no kidding). ]


[ This is the start of the path leading up to the monastery. It’s flanked by looming statues of monks, all with varying expressions of intensity. ]








[ Abby assimilating nicely. ]




[ From the monastery at the top of the hill, where there was a 9-story pagoda and some colorful statues of monks and various (10,000) representations of Gautama. ]


[ Benevolent Buddha ]

* * *

Later that evening we found a snug fifth-floor bar in our part of town (Tsim Sha Tsui), where we sat outside, surrounded by tall buildings, drinking wine for a good long while and deliberating over whether or not we’d use IKEA to decorate our homes if we decided to stay in Hong Kong for good.

1 Comment for this Entry

Val
Those pictures of the 10,000 Buddha's are hilarious!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 01:12 AM

Hong Kong | Day 4 (Macau)

Macau is an island west of Hong Kong, fairly close to mainland China. It was a Portuguese colony long before Hong Kong belonged to Great Britain, and only recently was it reclaimed by the People’s Republic of China. Still, there’s a huge amount of Portuguese influence in Macau--especially apparent in architecture and food. Abby and I took some kind of speed ferry to get there, which took about an hour. It was a really nice trip: We ate sandwiches and oranges on board (braving the prospect of seasickness) and read to each other about Macau’s history.


When we arrived we jumped on a bus bound for the center of town (Largo Do Senando)--which quickly revealed itself to be the island’s main hub for tourists. Many of the Portuguese colonial buildings had been converted into shopping malls, housing various western chain stores like Starbucks and McDonalds. This was disappointing (we couldn’t understand who would travel to Macau to drink Starbucks coffee and eat a Big Mac), but the buildings were beautiful regardless.

[ Largo Do Senando ]


[ This is Abby pealing chestnuts in front of a colonial church ]

From the square we took a really nice walking tour of the city, which distanced us from shopping tourists, greasy cheeseburgers, and overpriced coffee. There were many old Portuguese churches, which appeared to still be active; in fact, I think we only came across one Buddhist temple,which we toured as the day was ending.


[ I don’t remember what the cream/maroon-colored building housed, but the gate on the left side of the photo surrounded the Portuguese consulate building. ]



[ water closet (toilet) for dogs and the road leading up to Monte Fort, which overlooks the city. ]


[ This is the entryway to Monte Fort. ]



[ cannon facing out toward the city and a view of Macau from the top of Monte Fort. ]



[ This is the facade of the ruins of the Church of St. Paul--thrice burned to the ground, but the face still remains. ]


[ Abby inside the doorway of an old cathedral; and some green Portuguese building. ]


[ Chinese Banyan Tree. These are found all over Hong Kong as well. ]



[ a colonial barracks house, I think; more colorful Portuguese architecture (and a sprightly looking ab). ]





[ This is A-Ma Temple, discovered near the end of our walk. ]




As the day was ending, we ventured out for a good ol’ Portuguese-style dinner. Abby found us a really winsome spot, and we ordered Calhos Verde (sp?) (kale soup), and a huge bottle of Portuguese wine, which we had to swill down quickly so as not to miss our ferry back to Kowloon (which we did miss, but we were able to catch the next one out thanks to one hot-footin’ bus driver whom practically relinquished his transmission trying to get us to the pier on time).

Luckily we didn’t choose the bicycle taxi as our mode of transport because then we really never would have made it off Macau.




2 Comments for this Entry

Katie
I can't tell you how grateful you'll be in the future to have this site for your trip. In fact, the pictures help me remember my own, which I didn't record nearly as well. It looks like you had far better weather than we did for Lantau (the fog was so thick that one could only see the big Buddha when crashing into it, even though it was spooky and enchanting). In Macau, however, it was summertime and we swam in the sea and shared sangria. Anyway, keep it up!
Monday, January 15, 2007 - 02:51 AM

Val
It's also wonderful to vicariously enter another world with you. Your walking tours of these places end up with some cool surprises! The A-Ma Temple was especially nice.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 01:09 AM