The first stop on the tour was the Man Mo Temple. It was built in 1847 and was dedicated to the gods of literature and martial arts. Our guide showed us around and explained many of the things I had learned the day before. One interesting fact was that almost all temples have a door standing directly behind the main entrance. This door is usually closed. The reasoning behind it was that evil spirits might come into the temple, but they are unable to turn in either direction, they can only move forward. Therefore, if there is a second door there, it will prevent the evil spirit from being able to enter the temple. I thought it was interesting.
After the temple, we began heading up to The Peak, which is a famous sight where visitors can see Victoria Harbor and the South China Sea. We had to take a tram to get up to the top and I was so glad that we weren’t walking up. The total stretch to get up there is 373 meters! And it was a huge incline… you’d have to be in really great shape to do it on foot.
Looking over the skyline was beautiful. I was surprised to find such beauty in Hong Kong because I knew that it is so commercialized. I think the city did an amazing job at maintaining the natural beauty of the harbor while enhancing it with aesthetically pleasing buildings and skyscrapers.
Moving on from the Peak, we went to the Aberdeen Fishing Village and took a ride in a sampan around the harbor to get in some extra sights. We then arrived at the Jumbo Floating Restaurant for a Dim Sum lunch. The restaurant is apparently world renowned and was very ornately decorated. The lunch was good, but it didn’t have as much dim sum as I was hoping for. Overall it was tasty.
Our last stop on the tour was to Stanley Market where there are tons of vendors selling amazing things. I had to get used to bartering, because it doesn’t happen in Korea. Our guide taught us “Pandee” which means cheaper in Cantonese… I bought some beautiful paintings there that I love.
Returning home was nice. I met Alicia, we had a rest and then went out for Thai food. It was so nice being able to pick a style of food and know that there were options for it… so much variety! Our meal was so good; cashew chicken and pad-Thai. I ordered a coconut juice and they brought it out to me in a fresh coconut! I was a happy camper. If only Korea had a bit more culinary diversity.
After dinner Alicia and I joined her friends at the races. This was my first experience going to horse races and I was very surprised by the turnout. There were people everywhere and I realized that it was quite a social event. We began by looking at the horses and doing a small walk around and then joined her friends in the bleachers. I bet on a race but apparently beginners luck doesn’t apply to horse races (or not for me anyways) and so that was the end of that!
Thursday was more of an unplanned day. I didn’t book any tours for that day and thought I might use it to walk around and explore by myself. A few days earlier I was looking at a subway map and realized that the subway goes right to china! I thought that was too good of an opportunity to waste so I changed my plans to a China adventure.
Throughout my research, I learned that it will be very difficult for me to get a Chinese visa while in Korea. Having the boarder stamp my visa to get into China would make this ordeal so much easier, so it became a necessity. My concern was that I didn’t have a visa yet, and I was nervous that I would be turned away at the border. However people I spoke to told me stories of their friends applying at the border and getting in. I thought I’d give it a try.
I boarded the subway a little bit nervous, but the ride went quite well. It took just over an hour and when I got to the boarder, I could tell a difference. It wasn’t as easy to navigate around and I had to ask many people questions in order to find someone who spoke English.
Eventually I applied for my short term visa and was granted (yay!) and I crossed over in to Shenzhen China. Walking out was a little bit nerve wracking because I was immediately approached by all of these guys wanting to sell me things. I guess it was pretty obvious I was a tourist and I must have looked lost because I was alone and had never been there before.
I told them all I was not interested and kept walking until I was unsure of where I wanted to go. Eventually I asked one guy where the shopping centre was and in a matter of 30 seconds, I had about six of them around me “Missy, come to my store, I have good purses for you!!”.
They led me to the shopping district and I told them that I wanted to shop alone… no, that was not going to happen. I tried to get rid of them by walking into a random shop and pretending to browse, but they just waited for me to come out. Eventually, I said fine, show me your store. They did, but by that point I was so frustrated by the annoyances that I didn’t buy anything.
After their shops, I could finally browse by myself and I found some nice scarves, some jewelery and a purse. The tactics from one store to the next was completely the same. They give you a HUGE price and I responded by giving a very low one. They pretend to be offended and then we negotiate. Every time I would get the same response “Missy, I want to be your friend, so I will give you a special friend price… just for you!” Haha, it was entertaining though. By then end of the day, I felt like I could run one of those little shops.
An interesting thing about all of the fake merchandise is that it’s illegal in China. So, what the stores do is they have a few purses and then a bunch of catalogues. You look through the catalogue and pick out a few that you like. Then they radio another employee to drive to the warehouse and select the purses you’re interested in. The employee then runs them back to the store so that you can choose the one you like. It’s quite the illegal operation but I felt like it was a unique cultural experience.
Once I returned back to Hong Kong, I met Alicia at the apartment and we went to the city centre. She had a Cantonese language class and I had planned to watch the symphony of lights on the harbor front.
The Symphony of lights is a pretty large tourist attraction, so I felt like it was a must-do on my trip. I did some shopping before it started but got to the harbor front with plenty of time to spare. I was pretty impressed by the large crowd, seeing as it was a Thursday night.
The view itself was stunning, then the big lights became synchronized with the music lasers were added into the mix. It was pretty neat but I’ll admit my attention was wearing thin by the end of it. I’m glad I wasn’t planning on this being one of the best things to see in HK, because that would have been a disappointment. It was just ok.
Afterwards I took a stroll down the Avenue of the Stars and saw Jackie Chan’s star and Burce Lee’s star--- quite impressive!
When Alicia was finished with her class, we met up and went out for Indian food. That was probably the highlight of my night… so delicious! I’m beginning to learn that the things that make a place special for me is highly influenced by the variety of food. And Hong Kong had lots of it!
Friday was my last day in Hong Kong. I woke up early and went off on my final tour called “The Land Between”. It began by taking us to the Yuen Yuen Institute which is a religious complex that demonstrates the significance of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism to Hong Kong society. Throughout this part of the tour I would ask the guide questions about each specific religion, but he always gave some answer saying that the society is not very religious in itself and that they don’t care about differences… it’s very lax.
We learned that when people die, they are often cremated and then put in burial rooms in the complex. Their date of birth and death are labeled on a little plate and put in a shelf. There are hundreds of people in each room.
Also, when a person dies, there is a big ceremony that is conducted right after, a Chinese funeral. It is believed that you can purchase earthly possessions (in paper form) and burn them, and these things will go to the afterlife and your loved one will have access to them.
On the specific day we visited, someone had just died and the family had a big house, car, cell phone, cigarettes, ipod etc all sitting out waiting to be burned. It seemed like a very odd concept for me, but apparently they believe it and take it very seriously. Apparently the paper goods aren’t cheap either, so it’s quite an investment.
After the complex, we went to the Fanling Walled Village which was built back in the 17th century. It was fairly interesting but I felt a little bit invasive staring into the windows of random people’s homes.
This tour was probably my least favorite because it wasn’t as interesting as the rest of the things I’d done. Also, I had a difficult time keeping my eyes open and every time we would ride the bus, I would pass out. An old lady came up to me and asked me if I had a rough night the night before… well just a lot of touring I guess.
After the tour I went out for lunch with a woman I met. She was from Australia and has travelled all over the world. It was really nice to get to know her and the best part was that we went out for Dim Sum—something I had been looking forward to since coming to Hong Kong. We spent over 3 hours talking and eating… so nice!
When I got back to the apartment, we had a rest and then went to the city airport check-in to get rid of my bags. It was very close and so convenient to be able to check in from the city, get rid of my baggage, and then take it easy until my flight.
Alicia and I went out for our last meal together: Cantonese fusion food. It was delicious, like everything else in Hong Kong. I ordered this lime smoothie, and it was lime and mint blended up… tasted like a virgin mojito… delicious!
Leaving for the airport was difficult. I’d had such a wonderful week and had gotten close to Alicia, it was sad to go. She was such a blessing and made my trip so much more fun than it would have been if I was travelling alone. I hope I can repay the favour someday.
Awww... you're so sweet! I had such a great time with you here! Life has been quite dull without you. I'm also very jealous of your Asia to Canada cruise. You'll have to tell me when you're stopping in HK, because I would love to meet up and hear about all your travels. Enjoy Korea and have a lovely fall!
ReplyDelete