New Years in Hong Kong

Much to my disappointment, we arrived in Hong Kong early- thus meaning I had to leave my comfortable, massaging seat and free drinks and make my way to the hotel in the foggy China weather to patiently await Andy's arrival in about 11 hours. Grabbed my bags, made it through customs and jumped on the very sleek and efficent Airport Express with my new friend and airplane neighbor Tom. Got off the rail and had to try and translate the name of my hotel to three different taxis before one finally knew the Rambler Garden. Got to the hotel ready for a warm bed and hot shower to be told that my room wouldn't be ready for another couple hours. Oh, I was heartbroken! Killed time waiting in the overly air conditoned coffee shop (which I was kicked out of because I wasn't ordering anything cuz I was so damn full from my flight here) and freezing lobby and exploring the mini mall that was below our hotel (not so long till I figured out everything here is a mall). Finally got to our room, turned the aircondtioner to the highest temperature possible (since I was unable to turn it off) and then curled up into a ball and slept a solid three or four hours.

More sufficently rested, I could now appreciate the view from our huge window that overlooked hong kong island and kowloon (and much to Andy's liking, a huge port where they loaded and unloaded huge freight ships with various things such as Mercedes cars). I still had hours till andy's flight got in and my motivation to get lost in an overwhelmingly huge city was just not there so I went and got some oatmeal and bananas and a bottle of wine from the mall's grocery store and stole wifi from our neighbors also living on the 27th floor and watched Discovery channel while dozing in and out of sleep.

Andy finally arrived after 10pm, exhausted and bagless. My sweet boy gave me the nice business class seats for my three hour flight as he was on the most indirect/not so galmorous 18+ hour flights and was dealing with a 20 hour time difference as I had only an hour time difference. Despite the mishaps though, we were here and happy to be together.

The next morning was spent near the hotel so we could get Andy's bag when it arrived. We ventured to one of the many subway stations that have massive malls attached and ordered some mcdonalds and decided to see the next showing of Avatar in 3D that was convinently being shown in the next half hour right across from the micky d's we were sitting at. Now I know this seems like an overly American way to spend a day, but everyone around us seemed to be spending the majorty of their day as well in these little malls and eating crap western food and just consuming.... So really, I think we were just soaking up the hong kong way of life!

Got back to the hotel, found Andy's bag, napped off our very hectic day and headed out for some mexican food. Andy knew of a good place that had excellent Mexican food and provided some entertaining people watching- and boy was he right on both... The Mexican food was spectacular and the first I had in three months- margaritas, chips and guacamole, tacos and something resembling Jalisco's armidillo- amazing! The people watching came complete with lots of creepy western dudes and young, attractive Asian girls all surrounding gentleman's lounges and strip clubs- some discretely labled while others were just plain proud of their dirty persona. Packed up what we couldn't finish and headed back to the hotel to polish off the bottle of wine and, later, the left over mexican goodness.

The rest of 2009 was pretty lazy during the day. It included such adventures as trying the Chinese take of an 'american breakfast' which was mostly horrible and sleeping off jet lag for Andy. We geared up later and bundled up for the night and headed towards Kowloon for dinner. We were in the mood for Indian and had heard that the best place to get it was the Chungking Mansion so that's where we were headed. I think we had an idea of what to expect from this place, but I'm not sure we were really prepared for what we got ourselves into. The Chungking Mansion is a huge apartment building of sorts which has been converted into a maze and madhouse of guesthouses, restaraunts, stores selling all kinds of ripped off and stolen goods. According to the two mafia guys we were chatting with outside the restaraunt, "you can get anything you want here: ammunition, girls, drugs, good Indian food". To say I was on the brink of an anxiety attack is a bit of an understatement- I think i looked like a deer in headlights. After taking the elevator to the eighth floor and then walking down a flight of stairs to the seventh floor like we were told and waiting in a crowded hallway with our mafia chums, we did, indeed, have some of the most amazing Indian food.

Took the stairs (bad idea) and got out of that 'mansion' as quick as we could after paying the bill. Followed the hoards of people as they streamed towards the waterfront. We still had about an hour and a half so grabbed a coffee at starbucks (ya I know) and took a seat on the deck overlooking the water and thousands of people who continued to be herded in. Andy grabbed us each a Bud before the actual countdown and the thousands of people waiting in the cold on the waterfront were rewarded with a pretty dinky fireworks display from the top of a couple high rises on the bay. It was quite lame really- I mean Hong Kong is such an impressive city and I'm pretty sure a huge producer of these pyros- it just wasn't quite up to par. Maybe we weren't sitting at the right angle or something but we later confirmed with other travelers that we were not alone in our disappointment. Fireworks aside, I was with Andy in Hong Kong, tummy filled with a delicious dinner and a beer in my hand- it was a pretty spectacular way to kick off the new year/decade. We watched the crowds disperse as we sat under heat lamps at the neighboring bar and attempted to get home in the sea of people after another drink. Anywhere else in the world world, it would have probably taken us hours to get home- the subways were jam packed with people and we were less than thrilled as we got into line with the crowd- but, those Hong Kongians are just fricken amazing in how they work- we made it home in no time.

The next few days were spent being tourists around this great city.

First stop, we went to see the big buddah and a little fishing village on the outskirts of town which were both gorgeous but also tourist traps in many ways. Regardless, we got to snap pictures with the biggest buddah statue in the world and inhale some frgrant smoke from the biggest inscense in the world and eat some fake vegetarian meat and have some amazing views on a very clear day. Then we got to walk around the small streets of a little fishing village that filled it's narrow roads with the aroma of dried fish and other mysterious looking food.

There was a day of exploring the longest escalator in the world, shopping and bargining for various pieces of jade and meandering around shops filled with random belongings- old shoes, antique book, various VHS's and ancient TV sets. There was a wonderful little park we got to stroll around looking for a tea house (that ended up being under construction) where we got some beautiful pictures of the finely manicured plants and coy ponds (and the many amature photographers with cameras and lenses that were meant for some National-Geographic-photo-taking rather than coy-pond-snapping in a park).

We got to eat some good Chinese food at a little tea house that was listed in an article about 'places to eat before you die' and got some pretty terrific American grub at a litlle diner that played oldies the whole time. We took the ferry across from Kowloon to Hong Kong island a few times which is short but sweet and got to semi-celebrate Andy's birthday with a little piece of cake before I had to leave. We moved to our nicer hotel that looked over the bay and soaked in the little hot tub barrel that was out on our deck. We got to be part of the hustle and bustle of the ladies market and even returned to the Kungching Mansion again for another amazing dinner at a different Indian restaraunt. All things good...

Hong Kong in general is a fascinating city. The amount of people who live there is just astounding. Everyone lives in a high rise which is typically in a bigger cluster of high rises which all usually have a mini mall in their basement. If not right next to the subway, each cluster of these high rises has a bus that regularly runs to and from the nearest MTR station. The buses, subways, everything runs so efficently and on time and the whole city just continues to flow effortlessly. Everyone there was dressed up- button downs, high heels, and some crazy fashions to be had. I think I was the only person I saw the whole time in flip flops- I definitely stood out with my yoga pants and baggy sweaters and old rainbows. The people there tend to be rather impersonable, but always polite- never unfriendly but never really overly friendly either. And the whole consumer culture there still boggles me- like I said before, everything is a mall, but I'm not sure you really understand till you have been there how much EVERYthing is some kind of shop or store- selling high fashion names (some we have never heard of- I think one was called Richard and Kevin?) and the newest gadgets and some just sheer crap like cheap plastic cars for kids and cell phone charms and such. There is a lot of western influence in many of the stores and restaraunts but there were definitely some more local influencce as well. Probably one of the most bizarre things Andy showed me was the mall attached to our second hotel- it was a bridal mall of sorts where the shops were dress shops and tailors, hair and makeup salons, a stationary store, rentals for tables and plate ware and then ballrooms and reception areas- you could literally plan your wedding out all in one spot and then have your whole wedding inside the mall- going from the salon and makeup place to the dressing room to the ceremony room to the reception area... And then if your guests don't like the food, they can go upstairs in the mall and order something from McDonalds or Starbucks- weird. Andy also pointed out the fact that not many people drink there and it proved to be true even on new years night- the only people at the bars were westerners. They also had some crazy fines for littering: $1500HKD for feeding pigeons in the park or $2000 HKD for spitting in the trash cans leading upto the ferry- the whole city is brilliantly clean though as you can imagine! There were even signs in various shops and tourist areas that stated how many times daily a doorhandle was sanitized. Just plain mind boggling!

After three months in under developed countries, I was a bit in shock and overload. The sheer mass of people and skyscrapers is intense in and of itself, but add to that the high fashion and consumer culture and I was just a plain fish outta water. To see things run as they should again (a bus that comes when it's supposed to? Imagine that!) and to see how clean and manicured the whole place was (after watching everyone throw their trash out the window and off bridges in southeast Asia), was very refreshing. To pay American prices again was a bit scary and not so much fun but also a reality check- not everywhere can you get by with 15 dollars a day. All in all, I was a bit on sensory overload in Hong Kong. I sure didn't fit in there, but damn, I can appreciate the way that city operates- I still don't understand it but I'm glad to see some functionality after three months of delays and 'just getting by'.

Most of all, the trip was about seeing Andy and I am so grateful for the oppurtunity to have this trip with him. It took a lot of planning and lots of miles and lots of money on Andy's end and I'm so thankful for his generosity and self sacrifice (having to go work two weeks in china afterwards) to have this rendevous. Our time apart was starting to take a toll on us both and another month and half was a daunting sentence- I think we are both breathing a lot easier now after a wonderful little trip together. So thank you Andy Olaf...

I know it's a bit delayed but happy 2010 y'all!!