On to the Mainland

After a few more days of dim sum and wandering the streets of HK I crossed the border to mainland China, taking an 8.5 hour train from Guangzhou (Guangdong Province) to Changsha (Hunan Province). The degree to which my Chinese had improved over the past year was evident in my ability to book my train ticket at one of the most crowded stations in China. After waiting in line with people pushing from all directions, I was able to partially decipher the giant board of Chinese characters displaying the train destinations, times, number of tickets left, etc. Somehow I was also able to communicate well enough with the desk clerk to book a soft sleeper bed on a train to Changsha leaving in the hour.

After almost missing the train due to not knowing where the hell it was leaving from, I clambered on much to the surprise of all the Chinese riders I pushed my way by. The people sleeping in the beds and berths next to me were even surprised by the wai guo ren (foreigner) invading their space. Surprise, however, soon gave way to curiosity and conversations in broken Mandarin on my part and limited English on theirs. Most of the train ride was spent answering two young kids' questions in English such as "What your favorite color?" or "Do you like Jackie Chan?" The rest was spent listening as a fellow train rider spoke to me in Mandarin at length while I either held my pride and pretended to understand or swallowed it and frantically looked up words in my unfortunately not electronic dictionary.

Fortunately, this all made the ride go by real quick and by 11:30pm I was in Changsha, met by my good buddy Xu and his parents who were so kind to pick me up from the station - a luxury I rarely experience while traveling. Xu also studied at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, although I didn't meet him until we were both conducting research in Laos under the same professor (although very different projects). His family went continually further in their kindness by letting me stay in their guest room, treating me to multiple meals, and driving Xu and I around the city to check out some of the sites, such as one of the oldest Confucian universities in the country and the school were Mao, the Great Helmsman, studied as a young man.

All around, a great start to my Chinese travels.

First days in Hong Kong

It's only been a few days since I landed in HK, but I already feel like I've been here for a few months; perhaps because it has become such a familiar place to me after spending a semester here last spring.


The flight from Portland, ME to Newark, NJ had a big delay, and even though I was supposed to have a 3 hour layover between flights, I ended up running through the Newark airport in order to hop on the (ma)jumbo jet to HK. The difference between flights was astounding. Not only was the plane ten times bigger, it was ten times nicer, with individual TVs (that included as many movies and TV shows one wanted to watch for free), greater leg room, and less crowded. The service was also incredible, including hot towels and stewardesses that were actually friendly.

Regardless, I was barely able to get in a couple of hours of sleep on what was a 15 hour flight. Despite my physical exhaustion, the pure excitement of being back in Hong Kong gave me the energy to spend the next couple of hours wandering around the city, re-visiting some of my favorite spots until I was unable to stand any longer and collapsed in my hostel bed.

However, this sleep did not last long due to the mysterious effects of jet lag when traveling to the opposite side of the world (the time difference between the East Coast of the US and HK is exactly 12 hours). By 4am I had awoken and could not, for the life of me, fall back asleep. I was much too excited about being here, so I hopped out of bed and wandered the streets. Hunger led me to the unfortunately only open restaurant, McDonald's. After, however, I made my way to the famed Hong Kong skyline as the sky began to lighten.

I spent the rest of the morning in the gorgeous Hong Kong Park on Hong Kong Island, catching up on local news with the Southern China Morning Post, and revisiting my favorite dim sum restaurant. Later, I met up with my old Chinese teacher from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) for even more dim sum (I just couldn't get enough) in Tai Po Market, New Territories. She influenced me to have my first plate of steamed chicken feet, which I had always been too afraid of to try. Surprisingly, they were actually quite delicious, after finding out that you only are supposed to eat the soft bone (cartiledge?). Later in the afternoon I met up with Matt Toro, a self-exiled master's student from the UMiami Geography Department, who is now finishing up a research assistant position at CUHK with my old advisor, who he actually introduced me to. We took an amazing 4-5 hour hike up to one of the most incredible views of the eastern New Territories. From the top we could see the towns of Tai Po, Tai Wo, Shatin, as well as the University, the Tai Wai train line, and the beautiful Tolo Harbour. Although we were tempted to continue the loop for another couple of hours, we thought better of it due to my continued jet lag, and the setting sun. After a delicious Indian dinner, a bitter argument between a cultural relativist and a universalist (I'll let the reader guess who's who) on the Chinese practice of spitting their bones on the table, and checking out Matt's tiny, tiny apartment, I headed home for a much needed 10 hour sleep after a much too long day.

More photos can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2267105&id=10614491&l=71c6bdca62