DAY 7, Still in Mongkok

Woke up late, nothing to do.
I grabbed breakfast at a Denny's type place. Spam & egg sandwich and iced milk tea. Most places in Hong Kong seem to charge you extra for iced drinks. I guess since it's so humid, they know people will pay for it?
After breakfast, I picked up my laundry and talked on the phone to family and friends, watched television. I really just had no idea what to do with myself.
On my original itinerary I thought about taking the ferry over to Macau, but decided to wait until my friends came and I had someone to hang out with. I flipped through my travel book a bit, and finally decided to check out the Hong Kong Natural History Museum. I took the MTR (subway) and walked around the area nearby a bit. I ended up actually running into the K11 Tokidoki Exhibition!

I am a big fan of Tokidoki, I got the original print purse 6 years ago when they first collaborated with LeSportSac.

After this I headed to the museum. It was less than $1.50 USD for museum entry!

The museum was a great way to spend about 3-4 hours. It's set up to really feel like you are in the historical buildings or events. For the first part, I walked around with an Australian guy I met, Daniel. He was in Hong Kong for work, and had some free time and went to the museum. He left when we got to the first Opium War section to meet his coworkers for lunch. I continued walking along and I ended up chatting with a lady working there. It was really nice, she sat and translated this entire piece about an old sundries store into Mandarin for me even though they had an English placard sitting there.

It seems to me that most people I have encountered in Hong Kong don't really speak English that well. Using half-Mandarin and half-English has been the most effective.

Pictures from the museum:

Original Hong Kong people, Pundi

Boat people

Salt production--dry fish and let the salt flow!

Wedding procession

Bun Festival --bun mountain replica. In the festival people race to snatch the most buns, it was banned in the past because of toppling and people dying and getting hurt

Lunch at the museum, creamy chicken with pumpkin, rice & veggies, and soup. Plus pineapple sprite!

I can't remember what I did after the museum, but I know it took up most of my day which is good. I think I probably window shopped, probably got another snack or icy fruit drink.

In the evening I went out to meet couchsurfers for the weekly happy hour in Lan Kwai Fong. I think they were meeting at 8pm, so I didn't eat dinner hoping the bar would have some food and I could eat with other people. Turned out it was just a bar and nothing else :(

One of the girls felt bad for me and said she would accompany me to eat something. Ended up going to a local chain and getting Malay style curry and rice. I met quite a few cool people. A girl named Brigitte from Austria who lives in Taiwan working as an au pair, a Hong Kong native who loves Spanish culture and goes by Paco, and a guy named Eric who also just came back from traveling in Beijing.

Eric and I chatted about my travels and I asked him what he was doing in Beijing.  He said nonchalantly, oh I went to Nan Luo Gu Xiang. I look at him, really? that's so random, you go to Beijing for this small shopping street? That's it? Yeah, my buddy has a shop there and he pulls out his Eco-bag which says NLGX!! I'm like noooo way! That's my friends brother's company. And then he asks,wait, did you eat duck on Monday? Haha so turns out we were supposed both be at the same dinner! 

Also turns out Eric is from Hawaii! Gosh so many little connections!

DAY 6, Wed 7 Sep 2011

I have to wake up at 4:30 to meet the taxi for my 8am flight from Beijing to Hong Kong. Anna meets me in the morning to make sure I get to my taxi and give me some breakfast (white bread and yogurt, as usual). I arrive in Hong Kong around noon, but it takes about an hour to get my luggage and go through customs. Hong Kong airport is HUGE. All kinds of signs talking about the HK Airport being rated as best in the world. It’s like a brand new, clean and shiny shopping mall with anything you want to buy. If you get a layover here, you will be comfortable.
Walk out of the terminal and it’s easy to see the MTR (metro/subway) information booth. I grab Hong Kong dollars from the ATM and then head to the info desk since my bill is too big for the auto-ticket machine. Hong Kong uses different money than China. The whole time I’ve been travelling I just get cash from the ATM. A lot of countries outside of the US are more cash based. You can only use credit in really big department stores or nicer restaurants. I am the type of person who typically uses my credit card for everything so I can get rewards points, but that doesn’t work when I’m travelling.

Mainland China money

Hong Kong 10 dollars (about $1.50 USD), isn't it pretty??

The airport subway line takes me directly to Kowloon and from there I take a taxi to my hostel.

Hong Kong includes a peninsula off of China and hundreds of islands. The main three areas are Hong Kong, Kowloon, and Lantau, which are pretty close together and connected by tunnels and bridges.

I arrive at the place where my hostel is supposed to be and I have no idea where to go. I see shops and food stalls and so many people, but I cannot figure out which building I need to go to. It’s hot and sticky and gross outside and I am hungry! So ready to get to my place, chill out, and find food. Luckily I have my phone and it works in HK, just uses more money for minutes. I call and the woman who answers says she will come down to meet me. As soon as she meets me she hands me her business card, Miss Kitty Choi haha. We go up a small elevator with some other guests and get to Geo-Home Holiday World Guesthouse. She hands me my key, a bottle of water, shows me the map of the nearby area on the back of her business card, and off I go. I walk into my room and I seriously want to cry. No more open courtyard, no more quiet walks in the hutong, no more SPACE! My room is literally a closet. There’s no shower either. Just a small space next to the toilet where you need to stand and rinse over the sink. This is life in the big city.

I call my high school friend Megan and we make plans to meet, but she’s at work and needs to see her Grandmother later, so it’ll just be for dinner.
I'm by myself for 2 more days, so I figure I better do something! I decide I'll eat, take my clothes to be washed, and get a manicure/pedicure. I ask Miss Kitty where I can drop my laundry off and where to get a manicure. She shows me on the map the nearest laundry and SaSa for my manicure. I'm like cool! I've got errands to run! Then she reaches in her purse and pulls out some nail clippers, "here you go, they have a lot of  different nail polish at SaSa, and other makeup too"...uhhhh??! What?! Turns out SaSa is a beauty supply store, not a salon. I tell Miss Kitty, no, I want to go to salon and she's like WHY?! It's like $100 (less than $13 USD) sooo expensive! Just do it yourself! I think to myself, really?! I don't have a file, nail polish remover in case I mess up, plus I'll have to suffocate on nail polish in that tiny room?! I finally just tell her thanks, but I'm on vacation and just want a treat, so I'll find one myself :p

It takes me a while to figure out where she means the laundry place is on my map, but it gives me time to walk around and get a feel for the neighborhood. In HK (I also saw this somewhat in Beijing, but not to this extent), they have particular streets that only sell one category of stuff. So the entire block behind my hostel are little stores all dedicated to selling things for the home. So there's one store that only sells doorknobs and door handles. That's it. Another that just sells sliding glass for your patio door. Etc...The block in front of my hostel is all pet stores. Lots of stores selling fish and puppies, and cats, you name it. It's kinda neat, but kinda odd to me at the same time.

I grab a watermelon slush, then go and nap in my room til it's time to meet Megan for dinner.
Megan is vegan, so she suggested Loving Hut, an international vegan casual/fast food place.

Dinner was pretty tasty, I actually only got a small container of a side dish with mushroom, tofu skin, and bamboo shoots, a basil seed drink and a vegan egg tart. I wasn't that hungry, but I also shared some of Megan's food too.

delay no more

Sorry! I know I gotta finish the rest of my trip and tell y'all about Hong Kong!
I'm busy?

I'll share a youtube video for now. This guy talks about funny slang in Cantonese (Hong Kong Chinese dialect) and Ben and I were inspired by this character!

More stories soon! 

Travel day: Beijing to Hong Kong

Coming soon....

Hong Kong

DAY 5, Tues 6 Sep

My last day in Beijing! I regretted my Wednesday flight selection from the beginning, but I figured it'd be a less hectic day to travel. I woke up and relaxed and chatted with the French-Canadian couple who are also staying in my hotel. They came for tourism reasons, but they are also on a adoption list for a Chinese baby girl. I think they said it's been 6 years? After about the year 2000, the adoption process in China became more difficult and takes longer. They still seem positive and hopeful about their situation. I wondered why they didn't also add their names to a list in Vietnam or another country that has a shorter waiting list, but in Canada you can only be on one list at a time, and their don't want to risk losing their spot since they have already committed to China.
After breakfast, I head to a little hair shop in my Hutong (alleyway) for a wash and flat iron.

Front door to my place

The bingmasi hutong (my alleyway neighborhood)

The bingmasi hutong (my alleyway neighborhood)

The lady who did my hair kept telling me I should get a permanent chemical straightener instead of using the damaging heat from flat iron. I didn't know how to explain to her that I already had chemicals on my hair and it didn't matter I still have to flat iron if I want it straight :-/ but it was fine, she did what I asked and it turned out fine. The shop was ran by a mom and daughter from Hunan province, but of course moved to Beijing for work. They enjoyed chatting with me a bit, and when I told them I was also planning to go for a massage today, they insisted that they could do it for me. The daughter did my feet. She is my age (28 yrs old) and really wanted to know my opinion about getting married "so late" and talked about how difficult it is to find a man in Beijing with a suitable job and income, but she's getting too old and doesn't know if she'll find someone soon enough :-/ In Chinese, girls who aren't married are called "left on the shelf".
Her mom also wanted to know how many kids are you 'allowed' to have in the US, she didn't really seem to understand that it's up to individual families to decide. China still has 1-child policy, but mostly only in the big city. After my massage, they cooked me lunch! Winter melon with pork and rice. They live and work in the same place, so it was interesting to see their home situation. In fact, my massage was in the daughter's bedroom!
After lunch, I went back to my room to grab some candy for them, and of course they couldn't have me give them something and nothing back in return :p so they also gave me an apple!


From the salon, I took the subway to the Temple of Heaven, a huge complex of Taoist temples

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, made of all wood, no nails

After I was done walking around there, I went to meet Amy for my last dinner in Beijing. It was rush hour and it took her quite awhile on the bus. We grabbed dinner at the closest place we could find. It turned out to be really yummy! One kind of odd cultural difference is that in Chinese restaurants the waitress will hand you a menu, and then stand there and stare at you waiting for you to order. It's very awkward feeling. A lot of times, you want to take your time, look things over--come back later, but no, there she is glaring over your shoulder pen in hand.

Salty peanuts, tofu strips, and celery

Another interesting thing I learned dining in mainland China is that if you call the waitress "miss" or xiao jie 小姐 as we are taught in Chinese school, it's rude because the new accepted meaning of miss is prostitute. Great. I'm sure I get a pass since I'm a foreigner, but when I went to dinner with Anna from my hotel she called the waitress mei nü
美女 which literally means pretty lady. It sounds weird that pretty lady sounds better than miss. Try it out--"hello, beautiful woman! I want to make an order!" 
After dinner I went to walk to the theater where I was supposed to see an acrobatics show, but realized I read the paper wrong and it was 东四十条 not 东四 oops! I gave Amy a quick hug and ran to the subway. I got there about 10-15 mins late, but it wasn't a big deal. Overall the acrobatic show was pretty whatever. Again, another reason not to travel alone :-( if there was something exciting or cool, I had no one to look across at and go "did you see that?" 

 

Last night in Beijing was pretty sad, but I still wasn't ready to go on to Hong Kong and be alone again. At least in Beijing I knew my neighborhood, I knew the people at my hotel, but it's time to move on.

Maximizing Airline Miles

My trip to Beijing and Hong Kong, including all meals, transportation, lodging, and shopping was $2,000 USD--why was it so cheap? I used airline miles and the roundtrip ticket was free and they gave me a free voucher to use at the Admiral's Lounge!
I am a loyal customer to American Airlines and it finally paid off! I'd say don't waste your airline miles on a short trip, wait for some place far away for an extended trip. (Unless you have an emergency situation)
You don't have to pay the pricey annual fee for an airline credit card to earn miles, you can also do it the "slow and steady way" like I did.

1. Figure out which airline is best for you
What is the most prominent company in your town or where you travel to often?

2. Sign up for the frequent flyer program
Usually free and can be done online

3. Memorize your frequent flier number or at least always have your card on you
sometimes if my work books my flight, they neglect to include my card #, so I always punch it in when I check in

4. Sign up for the emails and actually read them!
Oftentimes there are silly contests, games, or promo videos that the airline sends and if you play them, you'll get free miles

5. Sign up for the dining rewards program
You're going out to eat anyway, may as well have your regular credit card linked so you can get points

6. Shop through the websites e-shopping
If there is something I would buy at Macy's or barnes & noble, I can just as easily buy it online and earn points at the same time

7. Find other partner programs that will give airline miles
Such as your bank, your hotel, etc

Happy flying!

Day 4, Mon, 5 Sep 2011

Anna set me up with a tour group, but they won't come to our place because it's too small! Anna negotiates that I will meet them at a big hotel if they pay my cab fare. Anna hands me my breakfast (yogurt and bread) and off I go to the fancy western hotel.  I eat my bread and chat with a guy from Alberta, Canada on his first day of his trip in China. He's going on a complete package tour. The thing about the package is that you're kind of stuck. Activities and routes are pre-planned, no time to stray. I tell him about my cooking class, but his schedule is so jammed packed he barely has any free time. :-/ makes me glad I'm so free! Come and go as I please, switch things around. Solo travel definitely has it's pros and cons. 
So I'm waiting...waiting...the hotel comes and tells me I have a phone call? The guy tells me they're running late--15 mins. I ask the concierge, how did you know it was for me? He answers, how did you know it wasn't? Or something ha
I wait more and they call again! Even later! Grrr. I tough it out, play on my phone, people watch. The van finally arrives. The tour guide is really happy I speak Chinese and asks where did you learn? And, how much did you pay for the tour? I tell him I paid too much, please give me a discount haha. (cost was about $62 USD) It's probably annoying to the other 11 people in the van that we are having a private conversation, but then he goes on to brag about my Chinese to everyone and a Dutch guy in the back speaks up that he speaks Chinese too! Whoops! He actually lived in China in 1995 for high school or something. Pretty interesting. He came back later, but it'd still been awhile since he'd practiced. So total of 12 people: me, Dutch man and his clingy brazilian gf, little Italian guy (Francesco) and his 2 (look like Jersey shore, but are actually from Italy) girlfriends, older Israeli couple, 2 big German dudes, and a stylish Spanish couple.
If you take a tour in China, they are notorious for including forced shopping trips, making a half day trip into a full day :-/ it supposedly subsidizes the cost of the trip.
Our first stop was a jade 'factory'. Which was basically a huge shopping floor with 8 people working on producing jade jewelry and carvings sitting behind a glass wall. It seemed like a dog and pony show. The people probably sat inspecting and carving the same piece of jade for weeks. Very artificial and set-up feeling.
Another thing is that in China there will be five people doing work that could be done by one person. Not sure if it's just because there's too many people and the government would prefer people idle at a job rather than the streets or what. For example there were 5+ people as door greeters and ticket handers, but why do you need a ticket for a store? They never even checked it! Our tour guide, Bruce (no, last name is not Lee, I asked) was pretty "whatever" about the shopping. He knew we had to go, but didn't pressure us into buying anything.

The one thing at the Jade factory that I thought looked interesting

From the jade store we went to the Ming Tombs. It was almost like a park; a large, open area with gates and statues. Bruce tells us that Chinese people feel creepy to come to such a 'evil' place, but tourists don't seem to have a problem with it :-/ Funny because we were made to come here, it wasn't requested!
Finally done with the tombs, we head to Mutianyu (area of the Great Wall we're visiting). It's only about 45 miles out of the city of Beijing, but it feels really far. On the way we drive through small villages which feel odd because they are filled with empty shops boasting their name on brightly colored signs using both Chinese and English. I almost seemed like they were fronts or some kind of propaganda village, but I talked to the Dutch guy and said it was probably an ambitious development that failed.
We were given about 2 hours to explore the Great Wall. You can either walk or take the cable car up. Strangely, all of the group except for the Israeli couple and I, take the cable car. It's about $12 USD additional for the roundtrip ticket. The hike is just going up tons of stairs. I don't really take a break and it takes me about 20-25 mins. All that step aerobics class paid off! Whew! But unfortunately the hike isn't anything special, just stairs in between lots of trees and some little tables where some people are resting or having a snack.

Almost there! Top of the stairs

Once you are actually on the wall, the view is beautiful. The wall itself is interesting too, just seeing how it's arranged, the different guard towers, etc. 

The vendor who took the photo for me insisted I wear this Mao cap

You have to see it in real life, pictures don't do it justice

There are stands selling water, snacks and souvenirs on the wall too. I buy a water (negotiating down the price of course), so even though it looks ugly to have the rainbow colored umbrella on the wall, it is somewhat useful because you're pretty tired and thirsty after walking up. I spend about an hour and a half walking around and then I decide to take the toboggan back down cuz it seems it may be fun. It's about $9.30 USD. Francesco goes back with me too because he can't find his girls. The slide is kinda cool, but too many people in front which means you can't go too fast.
Francesco and I head down to Mr. Yang's restaurant where we are meeting for lunch. The price of lunch is included in the tour. We are the first too arrive, Francesco just relaxes and smokes a cigarette outside and I chat with the waitress. She lives in the nearby small town and most people there work at the Great Wall. Her kids already moved away to Beijing to find better jobs.
Lunch is rice and 6 different dishes. Eggs & tomato (very common dish), kung pao chicken, cauliflower, potato & eggplant, cabbage, and some other things I cannot remember. I do recall almost every dish had green bell peppers for some reason.

After lunch, we headed back to the city for even more forced shopping disguised as a tea ceremony and pearl factory. The tea ceremony was a girl talking about different kinds of tea and the way it's grown and specialty regions, but at the same time, she would pour it into a particular mug that changes color and she'd be like "on sale today!" lame.

tea ceremony aka sales pitch

I told Bruce I had to leave early and didn't want to go to the pearl factory, and he offered to pay for a taxi, but I know it's almost traffic time so I just walk a mile or so by myself to the subway. 
I was so tired when I got back to my place. Originally I planned to attend this cultural discussion group in the evening, but I didn't feel like going back across town, so I called and canceled. I asked Anna (girl working at my hotel) to dinner instead. We went to a place nearby that she likes. I tried fish dumplings, pork dumplings, spinach w eggs, and a stew with glass noodles, pork belly, spare ribs, meatballs and cabbage. It was really tasty! I want to learn how to make it! I wanted to drink sprite, but couldn't figure out how to say it in Chinese! I'm like, it's clear, it's lemon soda? Turns out it's called bluish-green snow in Chinese. Haha. I don't know why but when I read it on the menu I thought they meant mountain dew! After dinner Anna and I just hang out chatting in the common room. What a long day!