china, day one

CHINA
"the earth is what we all have in common."  -wendell berry

-------

where to start? for inspiration, i'm watching mulan. or maybe i'm watching it because i haven't been able to get the songs out of my head for the duration of my stay in china. or perhaps it's because i was just on the great wall? regardless, i'm enjoying it!

-------

29 march 2009
day one - hong kong

as day broke on the seas, the familiar rattling of the ship woke me up. i've become accustomed to the shaking as the ship 'hits the brakes.' i can feel when we're pulling into port and always enjoy a bleary-eyed peek out the window at the country we're about to explore. it's a thrilling feeling and no one seems to mind feeling like we're stuck inside of a rattle.

our arrival into hong kong was exciting, though we weren't sure what we'd be doing with the one day that we had in the city. the ship was docked in a mall. yes, in a mall.

the gangway led into the harbor mall, which was filled with expensive western labels. i'm sure we could have found anything in there, though it was easy to get lost. making our way out of the mall, we were able to view the hong kong skyline, along with our beautiful ship.

aside from loving our ship for its purpose, carrying us around the world, i love our ship because it is beautiful. we stand out; the blue, white and orange colors are vivid, often making our neighboring ships look pathetic. perhaps it is because our incredible crew takes such wonderful care of it. at each port the crew touches up paint, varnishes stairs, cleans windows. its simply the prettiest ship out there & we all take such pride in the mv explorer.

technically the ship was moored on kowloon island, meaning that we needed to take a ferry, a bridge or tunnel to the main island.

in search of an atm, as is the usual when we first disembark, we stopped to take photos of our aforementioned pretty ship. the locals were doing the same, which was odd to see. we found a long line at the atm and decided to take the star ferry over to the main island, where lines would be shorter.

the star ferry was fun, and only cost about 25 cents. a little ferry boat, packed with locals, we got quite the stares. the ferry let out into another mall area, and we found the atm we'd been looking for. we then found our way onto the local bus, heading towards stanley market.

the bus ride, which cost 7.90 kong kong dollars (1 usd), was pretty much a grand tour of the city. being an island, and a hilly one at that, the ride to the market was like a roller coaster ride.

from hilltop sky rises that pierced the sky, to lush green fields and beautiful coastlines; our whirlwind drive around hong kong was a great time. i've never been to san francisco, but i imagine that the hills of hong kong are similar. the double-decker bus sped around tight corners, knocking into tree branches. from the top deck we had a great view and a wonderful taste of the city. i had no idea what to expect and hong kong was a great treat.

after riding the bus around nearly the entire island, we arrived at stanley market. a definite tourist stop, the streets were crowded with all forms of travelers. from aussies to brits, there was a significant amount of english spoken in the narrow alleys.

in search of fake goods at low prices, we ducked into small shops but were soon overwhelmed. opting to eat lunch before jumping headfirst into the stalls, we found a great dim sum restaurant. teresa, bill and i enjoyed a great lunch of noodles, dumplings and fried rice.

after lunch began our adventure into the depths of the market. from fake jackets, bags and t-shirts, there was a little bit of everything packed into those streets. there were shops filled with pearls, it was hard not to buy up the entire stall of earrings, necklaces and bracelets.

i was mesmerized by the handmade stamps and chinese calligraphy, i wanted to buy them all. there were stalls littering the streets, filled with stone stamps waiting to be etched with characters.

after walking through the streets and feeling positively overwhelmed, i was ready to leave. i didn't buy anything but enjoyed the experience. we also saw a football player, i think. i know that the boys we were with were quite excited. i think his name was eddie george, and all i know was that he was big and tall and wearing a nike sweatsuit. clearly i'm not a sports girl.

we explored the stanley area, stumbling across an arts presentation and a grocery store. it was fun to walk the aisles and to explore the different products; most of which i could not decipher.

sitting outside, enjoying the people watching and some starbucks it was great fun to hang out with the girls.

another loopy bus ride later and we were back at the main mall. i was tempted to shop, but knew i couldn't afford the high priced mall. we also rode the ferry back to the ship, getting a great view of our ship, lit up in all it's glory.

semester at sea is re-vamping its program and has created a cooperative with chinese universities to include chinese students on future voyages. as a result, chinese educators and university of virginia professors were on hand to announce the new sino-u.s. relations. it was a pretty big deal and the entire ship was asked to be on their best behavior.

making it back to the ship, intent on showering, i ate a quick snack with teresa and snapped a few photos of the amazing hong kong skyline. so many lights! unlike any i've ever seen, the lights were colorful and all the buildings had giant screens and projectors for the nightly light show.

after my shower and getting all dressed up, with heels!, mckendree, teresa, caitlin and i headed out to grab a cab. we were meeting up with kelsey and ren, who had been out for the day with rennika's cousin. the plan was to get mexican food, and i was so excited. as we were exiting the mall we came across the french national rugby team, who were in town for the rugby sevens tournament. again, i'm not up on sports but i do know that there were scores of attractive rugby players all over hong kong.

a few attempts to get a cab failed, as most drivers do not know english and we didn't have directions written in cantonese. soon we found a driver to take us and we were on our way to the soho area of the city, on the main island. i saw a few glimpses of the light show from the window, and it was spectacular. i couldn't hear the music, but apparently the show goes on every night at 8. seems like something that would be reserved for holidays like new years or something.

dinner at ay carumba was fantastic. when we arrived rennika wasn't feeling well (too much fun at the rugby game, perhaps?) and spent most of the evening sleeping in her chair. regardless, we had a great time. darren and may are from the states but may was moved to hong kong for her job with nike. they were happy to have visitors and a night out without their two young kids. margaritas all around and amazing nachos for everyone. it was such a treat, i was so happy to have guacamole! funny how food from home can be so comforting!

when we finished eating, ren decided to head home with may, as she'd planned to stay with them for the duration of our time in china. the girls - kelsey, mckendree, teresa and i, headed out with darren. our guide for the night, he took us to a crazy street with people everywhere. hong kong is definitely western, with american brands everywhere. we walked through the hilltop streets and made our way to an ice bar. on the way we passed a series of covered escalators. darren explained that many commuters live in the area at the top of the hill and work at the bottom, so in the morning the escalators go down, for the commute to work. and then, in the evening, they are switched to go up the hill, allowing the commuters to get back home. it was so clever! except of course for the fact that we were heading down, in heels, and the escalators were heading up.

at the ice bar we all put on crazy fur jackets, like one would see in russia. we were literally in a freezer, and it wasn't very big. a round of drinks and silly photos in front of the ice sculptures and we were ready to be warm again. we met a few aussie boys when were freezing our fingers off and a few older men from south africa. it was awesome to be able to say, 'i've been there!" not wanting to spend our one night in hong kong in a freezer with old men, we ventured back out to the street. people were everywhere, wearing their rugby jerseys and crazy costumes. it was like halloween! darren assured us that the area we were in was always that crazy, but it was hard to believe. it seemed like we happened to be there on the perfect night of rugby-related madness.

we spent the remainder of our evening out in the streets, dancing to american pop music, people watching and running into fellow semester at sea students. crazy how we all seem to end up in the same places.

we took a cab ride back to the ship and shared it with a semester at sea boy named greg, who was more than happy to escort us back to the ship and to escape the madness. overtired and desperately ready to kick off the heels, i fell asleep quickly. what a perfect night in hong kong!

i set an alarm for early, i had to shower and pack before my trip to beijing!