Hong Kong is labeled a "Special Administrative Region" of China, meaning that it is technically part of the country of China. However, Hong Kong is governed both politically and economically independent of China. Because of its success in finance, banking, and manufacturing China allows Hong Kong to take care of itself. As for China, we all know that its economy is growing at an incredible rate and is reaching the status of a world super power. Throughout my stay in Beijing, the city was rapidly preparing for the 2008 summer Olympics. The history in the country is beyond rich. The thousands of years as an empire has left the country with several landmarks that are among the world's most impressive.
Day 1: As the Explorer pulled into Hong Kong harbor, the most developed and expansive metropolis I have ever seen slowly revealed itself under the cover of clouds and fog. The skyline is incredible and spreads for miles and miles. I couldn't wait to see it at night, but more on that later. After disembarking, Kyle, Slava, Dan, Ali, Sashia and I headed across the harbor from Kowloon Island to Hong Kong Island aboard the Star Ferry. Our first mission was to find some lunch, preferably dim sum. We ended up finding a dim sum restaurant and some fantastic Chinese food. Ordering was comical to say the least, as the waiters spoke no English and we did not know the correct process for ordering. Fortunately, we took some guesses and figured it all out.
We walked around for a bit and visited a historic temple before finding the world's longest escalator. It is actually a series of escalators that takes passengers from the lower portion of Hong Kong to the upper portion. I'm not sure exactly how long the escalator is but if I had to guess I would say it travels for the better part of a mile. We discovered that the end of the escalator was the lower cable station to get to the top of Victoria Peak, which we were planning on doing later that night. We walked back down to the central subway station and hopped on the subway to go to Mong Kok, an outdoor market on Kowloon Island. The Hong Kong subways are incredibly fast and extremely clean. The six of us split up when we got to the market and spent a few hours shopping before heading back to the ship to drop off our purchases.
After asking around for a good place to have dinner, we ended up at a restaurant that overlooked the skyline and was very upscale. After conquering the task of ordering, we had another great meal. It will surely be hard to go back to what Americans call Chinese food. Every night at 8:00pm, the Hong Kong skyline conducts alight and laser show like no other that is completely synchronized to music. The show was incredible and I was able to get some great pictures. At the end of the show, we stayed on the viewing platform for a while taking some goofy pictures and just enjoying being together in such an incredible place. Just as we were leaving, the sky opened up and for a period of about 20 minutes there was a torrential monsoon type rain and wind that swept up everything that wasn't secured in the area. Kyle had to save a Chinese couple that got taken out by a tarp.
Once the rain had stopped, we took the ferry to HK Island again and walked our way to the escalator, then to the cable station. By this time it was 11:30 and the rain had cleared the clouds that had covered the city for the whole day. We boarded the last cable car of the night to the top of Victoria Peak. Being at the top of Hong Kong, overlooking the most awesome skyline in the world is surely something I will never forget. We were able to spend about a half hour at the top before taking the final train of the night back down.
Day 2: Slava and I were signed up for a trip to Beijing hosted by the University of International Business and Economics. We arrived to the campus after a 3 hour flight and short bus ride. We met up with some Chinese students and they proceeded to give us a tour of their campus and ask us questions about our home universities and American life. Following a dinner of Peking Duck with the students, Slava and I met up with our friend Jing from Babson who has been studying abroad at UIBE for the semester. It was great to meet up with a friend half a world away from home and the three of us had a lot of fun over the next few days. Jing showed us the area around UIBE before heading back to campus for the night, where we were staying in guest apartments.
Day 3: We traveled with the SAS group to downtown Beijing where the bus dropped us close to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Because we had plans to meet Jing at a market in about an hour, Slava and I split off from the group and walked through the square and Forbidden City very quickly, some power tourism if you will. The City and Square are both incredible and humungous. Like many of the Chinese historical places, these sites displayed the richness and power that the Chinese Emperors held. We headed to the Silk Market where Jing proceeded to manhandle the shopkeepers with bargaining. After being in markets in several countries, Slava and I thought we had a pretty good handle on bargaining, but Jing quickly put us to shame. He doesn't take anything but the lowest possible price from the shopkeepers.
After filling two large duffel bags with purchases, we met up with the SAS group for lunch and an afternoon visit to the Temple of Heaven which was as amazing. After dinner back close to the University, Jing took us out to meet some of his friends and to some of the local bars that they frequent.
Day 4: We boarded the bus in the morning for the hour and a half trip to the Great Wall. I'm not sure how many stairs it took to get to the wall, but I was pretty winded by the time we reached the base of the wall. Like standing at the Taj Mahal, it was quite difficult to fathom that I was standing on the Great Wall of China. The wall is quite unlevel and much of it consists of long staircases between the guard stations. We were able to spend over an hour on the wall, just taking it all in and taking plenty of pictures to remember the experience. Thankfully, to get down the wall, there was a much easier way than all those stairs. There was a stainless steel toboggan track that we could take to the bottom of the hill that was over a 1.5km long. This thing got going FAST and it was probably one of the most fun experiences I've had on SAS.
That afternoon we met up with Jing again and he took us to the Summer Palace. This is another imperial complex that is incredible in its stature and beauty. I realize I'm not offering much description for these landmarks, but this is because it is pretty difficult to put into words. After spending a few hours at the palace, we headed back to UIBE, passing the 2008 Olympic venues on our way. We had a small issue with our taxi driver that we eventually resolved and headed to get some cheap DVDs and some dinner on the street. After arriving back on campus, we met the rest of the SAS group and the Chinese students at a nightclub close to campus. This was quite the experience as none of the students had ever been to a nightclub or bar before, so they were pretty intrigued.
Day 5: Since the rest of the SAS group was headed to the Summer Palace, me and Slava used to morning to do some calling back home and emailing in Jing's dorm. After lunch on campus we headed to the airport for our flight to Qingdao. Around 7:00pm we arrived back at the explorer and grabbed a bite to eat before heading out to a nightclub that we heard about while on our flight from an American living in Qingdao. Kelly, Sashia, Slava and I spent the night at this Chinese hotspot where the dance floor bounced up and down like a trampoline. We were the only Americans in the place and it was a very interesting way to view the culture in China. I hadn't gone out too much in the other ports, so it was good to be thrown into a local place where the four of us were alone amongst a couple hundred Chinese.
Day 6: There is not much to do in Qingdao and if Semester at Sea needs any more incentive to change this port, the fact that the top attraction was Wal-Mart is pretty convincing. (I'm pretty jealous of the Spring 08 itinerary, as they get to go to Shanghai instead). Anyway, after sleeping in for a bit Ali, Kelly, Sashia, Slava and I headed to the area were Wal-Mart was and spent much of the day walking around, shopping, and just enjoying the area. We stopped back at the ship for a bit before going out to dinner. Before we had to head back to the ship for on-ship time, we stopped into a starbucks to take advantage of the free internet. (There were just way too many American things in this day).
Japan is up next and is our last country on the itineraryL. The next few weeks will be tough, knowing that this voyage is nearing its end. I already don't want to say goodbye to this experience, or to the friends I've made, or to this incredible community that has formed since the beginning of February. All there is to do is live each of these last weeks to their fullest and enjoy every moment that we all have with one another.
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