Day 5: A flight to Beijing - or - How I Fell in Love with the Hutongs

There was one part of our trip that Larry had not been told about until the train ride from Hong Kong to Shenzhen. That’s when he learned that we were flying to Beijing the next day, the fifth day of our trip. We had another wild taxi ride to the Shenzhen airport. The documents Wyatt got from the currier who delivered our plane tickets said that we should catch our flight on Shenzhen Airlines in Terminal 1 of the Shenzhen airport. When we got to the airport, we were told we needed to go to Terminal 2 to catch our flight.

The good news is that Terminal 2 was within easy walking distance, but lack of sleep and general disorientation set my mind to producing anxiety about catching this flight. It was in this mindset that we got our boarding passes, went through security and were walking to our gate when a man ran past us, obviously late for his flight. (In China you must check in at least 45 minutes before your flight leaves, and be ready to board at the gate 15 minutes before your flight leaves. If you are late, you very well might not get on the plane.) Wyatt lives much more on the edge of life than I do, and is a much bigger risk-taker. When the man ran past us, Wyatt said, “I hate feeling like that guy.” I said, “When I travel with you, I always feel like that guy!”

The plane ride on Shenzhen Airlines was the most pleasant one I’ve had in many, many years. There’s enough legroom for legs. A real honest-to-goodness meal was served on the 3.5 hour flight. The flight attendants were engaged with the passengers, and even conducted a stretching exercise session for us to participate in before we landed in Beijing. And we all got a breath mint just before we landed. We suspect that the employees aren’t paid very well, and that’s why the airline can afford to make flying a pleasure.

We got our luggage and found a cab. Wyatt discovered the cab had no meter, not an uncommon thing. The problem with that is, there’s no way to verify that we’re not getting ripped off. So Wyatt and the cabbie haggled over the price. They decided on 100 Chinese Yuan. Then as we started to drive away, the price went up to 150 Yuan. More haggling. The price agreed on was 110 Yuan.

It was another wild cab ride. Do you see a theme with our cab rides? After passing by many blocks of the largest and most unattractive hotels I’ve ever seen (we called it Hotel Alley) that were built for the 2008 Olympics, I was surprised to see we were on the street between Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We took a left on the street that runs west of Tiananmen Square, and shortly we were at our hotel. Wyatt had booked us at the Far East Hotel, which is in the historical district of Beijing.

If you ever go to Beijing, I would recommend this hotel. It’s within walking distance to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. They take credit cards. It’s very affordable. It’s also has a hostel if you want to go that route. What I loved the most about it is that’s in the heart of an accumulation of hutongs.

The hutongs are narrow alleys that wind and weave throughout a neighborhood. They contain dwellings, restaurants, retail stores, laundries, barbershops, and any other establishment that make up a community. I was struck by the intimacy of the hutongs. They are so narrow and the buildings all touch each other.

We went for a walk after we got settled in. We walked to Tiananmen Square where the two groups of young people were quite taken with Larry’s beard; they wanted their picture with Larry. He, of course, cheerfully obliged.

After we left Tiananmen Square, we headed down one of the hutongs. The smells of the hutongs were the first impression I had of them. First, the public toilet. And there were a lot of them. Not such a good smell. Then a laundry. A better smell. And someone cooking on an outdoor grill. A much better smell.

We wandered the hutongs for a long time before we realized that we really weren’t sure where we were. We knew we hadn’t crossed the narrow street where our hotel was located. But the hutongs turn and weave. We weren’t sure what direction we were heading.

So we kept walking. It was getting dark. Suddenly we were on our street, in front of a restaurant about 100 yards from our hotel. Wyatt said, “Let’s eat here.”

I think that’s when I fell in love with the hutongs.

Wikipedia on hutongs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutong

The best web site I can find that references the Far East Hotel:
http://www.sinohotelguide.com/detail_index.php?Hotel_ID=BJAH0094&City_ID=BJA&City_Cname=Bei%20Jing&City_Lname=beijing

Day 4: Shenzhen...and Restaurant Adventures

Our fourth day of vacation began like most of the others – a quick trip to Pacific Coffee for espresso and check our email. My brother, Wyatt, was set to arrive at our hotel at 11 a.m. to help us through the bureaucracy while we crossed the border into the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

We waited.

At about 11:25 -- a knock at the door. I opened it, and Wyatt flew into our hotel room. (Those of you who know Wyatt can picture it.) “It took a little longer to get to Hong Kong than I expected. I want to get a cab to Admiralty [subway] Station, while you get checked out. We’d better go!”

The trip to Shenzhen was a flurry of taxi, subway, transfer to second subway, and the half-hour train ride to the border. Shenzhen is just within the PRC, at the border of Hong Kong. Thirty years ago Shenzhen barely existed, now it’s a city of 8 to 9 million residents. Its phenomenal growth was the result of Hong Kong’s imminent transfer back to China in 1997. It’s a new city, devoid of old architecture, but with many trees and parks.

When we arrived at the Hong Kong/PRC border we had to go through Hong Kong’s immigration, then the PRC’s immigration, then the PRC’s Customs. It took a lot less time than one would think. We hopped into another taxi, and had a wild ride to Wyatt’s apartment, took the elevator to the 26th floor and dropped our luggage. Wyatt had to be to work in 15 minutes, but fortunately, he only has a 10 minute walk to work. He said, “You probably want lunch, and there’s nothing in the apartment.” He threw some Chinese dollars in our direction and pointed out a building just down the block, “The restaurant over there has pictures on its menu. Maybe you want to go there to grab some lunch.”

As we walked up the stairs to the restaurant on the second story, the young employees said, “Good morning.” (That seemed to be the general greeting in Shenzhen no matter what time of day.) The place was empty. We were given a table.

The first thing I learned about China is that more often than not, the wait staff at a restaurant will stand at the table as the decision of what to eat is made. Perhaps it was because we were obviously not Chinese and might have questions about the menu. The young waiter tried to get us to order a certain thing – I think he was trying to tell us it was chicken. But we picked another thing, from the pictures on the menu, which, of course, was in Chinese.

What we ordered finally arrived. This is what I sent to in an email to family and some friends about an hour later:

We arrived at Wyatt's place just in time for him to leave for work, so Larry and I went to a restaurant by ourselves. The menu had pictures of the dishes they served, so that's how we decided what to order. We have no idea what we ate, but the veggie dish was wonderful. The other dish might have been oxtail, but we really don't know. I took one of the meat pieces home to ask Wyatt if he can identify it. I think the piece is part of a whole critter, myself -- not a part of an ox tail. I only ate a half a piece.

After the mystery meal we went back to Wyatt’s apartment to relax. After the past three days, we were ready for a day off. We had TV, internet and Wyatt’s black kitty, Carl, to keep us happy. When Wyatt got home from work at 7 p.m. we went to a Muslim restaurant. Wyatt took care of the ordering. We were grateful.

Before we went to the Muslim restaurant, we asked Wyatt about the piece of meat we brought home from our lunch. The moment Wyatt looked at it and responded, it occurred to me what it was.

It was a turtle foot.

Day 3: Kowloon

Larry and I started out Day 3 at Pacific Coffee for espresso and a quick email to our moms. We decided that this was the day to explore Hong Kong’s subway system.

Once we got the process of ticket purchases figured out (it’s an automated touch-screen!) we were on our way to Kowloon, the area just north of Hong Kong Island that is actually on the Asian continent. We disembarked the subway at the Prince Edward station, which was north beyond our map. We used our compass to find out which way was south, and began walking south back toward Hong Kong along Nathan Road.

You know how in movies about Hong Kong there are street scenes with signs all over the middle of the road? Kowloon is like that. The streets are full of signs in Chinese and English for products, services, hotels, and restaurants. My favorite sign was for a hotel that rented room by the night, or for two hours.

The best parts of this vast city’s street life are its markets. There are street markets everywhere. I don’t know if they move daily, or stay in the same place for a few days. The ones we saw took up the entire street, and sold anything you can imagine. Many of them sell silk items, but there’s also clothing, knock-off designer purses, chopsticks, jewelry. In Kowloon we walked through the Ladies Market and the Jade Market, where we were given a brief tutorial on the quality of jade by one of the vendors. She clanged one jade bracelet of an inferior quality with another piece of jade. Then she clanged on jade bracelet made of a better quality jade. There was quite a difference in the sound. As we perused the jade market, we could hear the jade quality demonstration all the way to the far side of the market.

The wet markets are what gave us a bit of culture shock. They sell every kind of meat imaginable; much of it is still alive. We knew we were getting close to a wet market from the smell. The variety of seafood at the wet markets is what we found the most interesting – shrimp, octopus, and fish we’d never seen before, all still alive.

By the afternoon we’d walked all the way to the southern tip of Kowloon, still on Nathan Road (with a long diversion through Kowloon Park). This part of Nathan Road, called The Golden Mile, looks like the Champs-Élysées in Paris, with a wide boulevard and upscale shops.

We eventually ended up on the Sea Walk at the very southern tip of Kowloon. In movies when you see the shot of Hong Kong’s skyline with Victoria Harbour in the foreground, those shots are taken from Kowloon looking south toward Hong Kong Island. I’ve always had the image in my head that those shots are looking north.

The joke of the day: Larry said he must be terribly dressed – he had so many offers to get a tailored suit!

This was a long day that ended up with us getting lost in the rain very close to our hotel. (We would have been fine if we’d consulted our compass, but we were tired and had forgotten we had it along!) The streets were very crowded with umbrellas carried by people all shorter than us, so the umbrellas were hitting us in the face. When we finally found our hotel, we immediately went to the lounge for a beer and another beer. It was our last night in Hong Kong for a week. The next day, we were off to the People’s Republic of China.

Day 2: Hong Kong

Day 2: Hong Kong

When we finally woke up on Tuesday morning, we knew the first thing we needed to do was find a Pacific Coffee for espresso and free internet. Wyatt had so cleverly emailed me the link that listed every Pacific Coffee in the vicinity of our hotel, so I’d already mapped out where a few were located. Our espresso cost $51 Hong Kong dollars, about $6.50 U.S. dollars.

After a breakfast at an outdoor café called The Big Apple, we started to wander. Hong Kong is very pedestrian-friendly. It’s an easy city to explore on foot. But they drive on the other side of the road, like Great Britain, so it took a certain amount of concentration to cross the street!

Our wanderings brought us to the Peak Tram. The Tram dates back to 1888 and takes passengers to The Peak (I never found out any other name for this hill except “The Peak”). At The Peak there are historical displays, a stunning view of Hong Kong, restaurants, and oh, yes, shopping. We had lunch at a restaurant that hung out over The Peak.

After we took the tram back down The Peak, we found our way to Hong Kong Park. Hong Kong Park was opened in 1991 and was formerly a garrison of the British Armed Forces named Victoria Barracks. It now houses a walk-through aviary, ponds, and conservatory. It also had a memorial garden to the medical personnel who died fighting SARS in 2003.

It was getting pretty warm and humid at the park, and we found ourselves in the middle of a martial arts movie that was being filmed at the Park. We decided that it was time to go back to the hotel and regroup (take a nap).

What we were discovering about Hong Kong is that there doesn’t seem to be organization to the streets or buildings. There are “districts” (and I use the term loosely) of goods – an area that has many stores that sell plumbing supplies, and another area that sells stationery. And the wandering and circuitous streets make St. Paul look like it was designed by a Prussian.

That evening we ate at Curry House, in the Causeway district, not too far from our hotel. We spent the rest of the evening walking around the markets (yes, they’re open into the evening), and realized that, like many cities, Hong Kong truly comes to life later in the day, and into the night. And that goes for the outdoor markets, as well as the upscale shopping arcades. We were learning that Hong Kong is about shopping. We also learned that every shopping arcade had public restrooms, which we hadn’t read in any of our travel literature.

http://www.pacificcoffee.com/eng/home.php

http://www.thepeak.com.hk/en/home.asp

Currency Calculator web site: http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html

Day 1: Sunday and Monday, April 12 &13, Flying

We had a 2 hour layover in Chicago, which we spend walking around O’Hare Airport, since we’d be sitting for 15+ hours on the plane to Hong Kong. The plane ride to HK was blessedly uneventful, except for the passengers in the rows in front of us who had to move to balance the weight of the plane. Two of the passengers got irate, and I could only think, “But we gotta balance the weight so WE DON’T CRASH.”

Our flight took us far north, above Alaska and over Russia. Larry had a window seat, and for hours all he saw below was ice and snow. The monitors would occasionally show our progress, speed and other information. The outside air temperature was -76F.

Finally, after two lunches and a snack provided by United, and ham sandwiches that we were so glad we had packed, and four movies we couldn’t hear because the plane’s audio system wasn’t working, our pilot said, “We’ll be landing in 50 minutes”. I checked my watch. Sixty minutes went by and we were still in the air, and not making the final approach. I must have been really ready to get off that plane, because I found myself getting rather irate. At an hour and ten minutes, we landed.

This hike to the luggage pick up area seemed to be about a mile from the gate where we disembarked the plane. Maybe they do that on purpose. People really need to walk after a 15 hour flight.

We got our luggage. I decided we should ask a customs agent about the beef jerky we’d brought with, since the signs around the luggage carrel said that meat was a restricted item to bring into Honk Kong. We found the friendliest customs agent I’ve ever met, who told us it was fine to bring smoked meat into Honk Kong.

By this time it was almost 7 p.m. on Monday in Hong Kong. We caught a cab and even though it was getting dark, we could see that Hong Kong is built around the foot of large hills or mountains, with very little except trees on the hills. Our cab cost us $470 Hong Kong dollars, or about $60 U.S. dollars. (We later found out we probably got ripped off.) But he did deliver us to our hotel, the Charterhouse Hotel in downtown Hong Kong. Once in our room on the 20th floor, we sunk into the bed and passed out.

http://www.charterhouse.com

Why China?

In 2005 Larry surprised me with a cruise to celebrate my 50th birthday. In January of this year Larry turned 50 and the pressure was on me to surprise him with a trip. I chose China for a couple of reasons. My brother, Wyatt, lives in Shenzhen, China, which is very close to Hong Kong, just within the border of the People's Republic of China (PRC). I also wanted to spend some time in Hong Kong after hearing from Wyatt and my mom (she visited Wyatt in the PRC in 2007) what a great city it is.

I had never bought plane tickets online before. In February I learned how to to do that. I surfed the web to find a service that would go to the Chinese embassy to secure our visas. I booked our hotel in Hong Kong online. Before long, I was an emotional wreak -- I was spending a lot of money via the internet, hoping I really was buying plane tickets, visas and booking a hotel. Through all of this, I kept the secret from Larry, although he knew we were going "somewhere". My brother helped and encouraged me via email from the other side of the world, and reminded me: "Just remember that the very thing that makes travel frustrating is what makes it fun -- getting out of the routine". I was definitely getting outside my comfort zone.

About a month before we left I told Larry that we were going to China, and no more than that. It was such a big trip, and long airplane ride, it seemed he would need to mentally gear up for it. And he needed to sign the form for his visa. It was a relief for me to tell him, because traveling to China was a very hard secret to keep!

Early on April 12, Easter Sunday, with plane tickets, visas, passports and hotel reservation in hand, we rode with Larry's mom, Mary, and her friend, Gordie, to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport to board the United Airlines plane that would take us to O'Hare, where we would catch our plane to Hong Kong.

DD's World

This is a blog about my trip to China in April 2009. Comments are welcome.