Once again, with time very much against us, our mission has been accomplished! This time, Hong Kong, China.

Seeing we only had about 4 days in Hong Kong and with apparently not a hope in hell of planting – or finding anything to – plant in the massive cities of Shanghai or Beijing, that’s pretty good timing I woudl say.

Almost having given up hope on our mission in China (and definitely not expecting any results in Hong Kong of all places), we took a nice little excursion to Lantau Island to see the big Buddha statue on day 3 of our visit. Harldy had the bus left the station at Mui Wo, we passed a small nursery at the road side and (subconsciously) a glimmer of hope was kindled in us. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the sights of the Big Buddha at Ngong Ping (truly impressive) and the small fishing village of Tai O.

The following morning after brekfast, we made off to the road to enjoy our second-to-last day in Hong Kong. Not really sure of what to see or visit, our powerful sense of responsibility and purpose surged and we decided to set course straight back to Lantau Island to fulfil our tree planting mission, mission number two.

Finding the nursery again (in the village of Pui O) was easy and trees they did have. So after careful consultation and selection we decided for a stiff, young Papaya tree, perfectly adapted to the local soil and climate and ready to bear fruit in the following year. Cash exchanged, snaps taken and smiles aplenty, off we trod to find a place to plant, tree and digging implement (I found a metal shaft in a building skip) in hand!

Finding the site was a bigger issue. I preferred the bald top of a nearby hill on the east side of the road, though this was not much of an option as afternoon was upon us and we’d never find the way up there and do the deed before nightfall. Ebru preferred the more practical option of any available patch on the west side, however this area is densely overgrown with trees and shrub, so if making our way through it would be possible, the tree might not survive in the overgrowth and, would we ever be able to find the spot again in years to come?

Clearly the practical option had to be chosen due to time constraints, so a few hundred up the road from the nursery, we followed an uphill walkway which led past an old semetary and then continued as a dirt path, becoming more and more impassable as we continued: the overgrowth becoming denser and denser across the path. When we weren’t able to continue through the vegetation, we returned to the semetary, dripping with sweat, itching from mosquito bites and our sandals caked in red mud.

Here we found an area where some trees had been evidently planted by man; not well looked after, yet, we thought, least likely to fall victim to the Axe of the East, bush-whacker, panga or whatever Hong-Kong-ese tool is customary for clearing a path. This was our spot! And we’re positive the spirits of the deceased will be honoured with the fruits this tree will bear in years ahead.

Hard was the ground, saturated with small stones, sauna conditions prevailed and the mosquitos were having a feast; but our hole took shape and we planted our young sapling firmly and confidently into the ground, like a golf ball after the precision put of Tiger Woods.

A few quick blessings were administered and a high-five signalled it was time to go. Mission accomplished!

SEE MORE HONG KONG LANTAU ISLAND PHOTOS

SEE MORE HONG KONG PHOTOS

What we refer to as “Hong Kong” consists (as far as I can tell) of the Kowloon peninsula, a good deal of New Territories tacked on to the north of that and a number of islands, the main ones being Hong Kong and Lantau.

Entry into the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) was a piece of cake. Get off at the train station in Shenzen, follow the signs to the subway, pass through the immigration at Lo Wu (Luo Hu) station, pay your fee, get your stamp, get on the subway on the other side and, “Welcome”, you’re in Hong Kong. The subway here is well organized and what we found pretty cool about it is that the carriages are all connected in a long tube, so on a straight track you can see all the way through from front to back. Though it’s agonizingly expensive if you’ve just come from the 2-3CNY journeys on the China metros.

Our first explorations were from Kowloon to Hong Kong island. Very easy to get to via the underground and the famous Star Ferry (recommended for the view), you don’t have to journey for more than a few minutes and you’ve crossed over. Hong Kong island is a stunning vista: this lush, green, hilly mound in the sea, with long, shiny, vertical shafts of buildings rising up straight from the shore line.

The views by night are spectacular as well because that’s when all the neon lights start flickering on; and the buildings on the west-end of the island, when viewed a ferry boat at night, are reminiscent of scenes from sci-fi movies – mining-colonies on distant moons with slim buildings clinging to the rock face up the dark canyon walls, riddled with electric light emanating from thousands of tiny windows and corridors.

We walked around the city the whole day, me in the lead, doing my best to get us lost in some interesting part of town which me may never reach by following a tourist guide book or map. It’s a really interesting place to find your way around on foot: even with a compass and a map, you repeatedly find that the next road you intended to cross is not crossable and you either need to stroll down the pavement until you find a bridge or you have to enter some plush building to take one of the enclosed walkways connecting to the next plush building on the other side. In some parts it’s literally a three dimensional grid of walkways interconnecting a load of swanky shopping malls and office buildings across a few city blocks.

We visited a nice little park behind the law courts and took the ancient tram up the steep hill to a mall with panoramic view-point of the island on the roof-top, breathed incense in a beautiful little temple and window shopped past antique and art stores and quaint little cafes and wine bars. Nice day out, and I hesitate to say that a Burger King meal was involved, for which I accept no responsibility whatsoever!

In the evening time, after some more walking around, unsuccessful in finding any hang-out without the million-dollar feel to it, we asked some people around a bus stop and soon found out that the places to go for night life are Lang Kwai Fong and (wait for it!) Soho, a stop or two West of Central subway station.

Lively place! In a sense it’s like a Little London: darned expensive, lots of Brits, indians and other nationalities, pubs with British, “British” and other European beers, happy hours variably between 5 and 10PM, ham and eggs on the menu for breakfast… and English is spoken by everyone (a bit of a relief after mainland China). Even the infrastructure mirrors that of the UK: driving on the left, similar road markings, signs everywhere telling you please to do this and not to do that, smoking ban in public places… Of course the Chinese influence is very obvious as well and there’s some really good street food available that’ll terrorize your taste buds with flames of chilli delight! Also managed to watch the Argentina – New Zealand rugby world cup match whilst enjoying a well deserved pint of Guinnes.

English spelling and translations are, as in mainland China and other Asian destinations, always a good source of laughs.

(Oh and for the record, if you will permit me to humbly state: the girls in HK have even nicer legs than their sisters up on mainland!)

Lantau island, just a 40 minute ferry ride from HK island is definitely worth a visit! Short hop away from the big city on HK and you’re drinking ice cold Tiger beer on the sea-front, watching fishermen dangle their lines into the water for bounty. A real calm, fishing-villagey feeling over here and lots of lush green island around you. Here we also visited the Big Buddha statue at Ngong Ping, really marvellous, then spent the evening drinking cold can-beer on the harbour wall of the tiny and old fishing village of Tai O. If I had to live in Hong Kong I think I would want to be on this island for sure.

Incidentally, Lantau is also where we planted our second tree – see post “Planting Around the World – Mission 2 (HONG KONG, CHINA)” for story and more photos of the island.

Another hit experience was on our very last day, as we found a way to spend our afternoon before having to head off to the airport: it so happened that the Hong Kong Expo was going on, so we snapped up a couple tickets and spent a few hours browsing halls full of all sorts of interesting electronic appliances and products seeking inspiration and contacts for perhaps a business idea. This expo is great and it was just too bad we weren’t aware it was running til the last day – on the other hand maybe a blessing because we may have spent our entire visit there.

In conclusion: HK definitely worth a visit!

My advice for travelling there:
– Save up a lot of money first!
– Don’t be afraid of ChungKing Mansions. Despite many dubious reviews in many online reports, we found it safe and unproblematic. The room we had there (we stayed in ChungKing House Hotel) was small but clean and comfi and the staff was very helpful.
– Eat street food. Look for a place where you see all lots of locals eating and where the cook is exploding the kitchen with flame and steam.
– Make sure you’re ready to drink by happy hour or you’ll be sorry!
– Don’t miss Lantau Island

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS…

The first thing I have to say about Beijing in, where did the 9 million bicycles go? Mind you, I’m told that Beijing is roughly the size of Belgium and therefore cannot claim to have seen it all, but bicycles were pretty sparse.

From Shanghai it’s 5 hours by bullet train to Beijing at 300km/h. The trains ticket sets us back only 500CNY for a journey of about 1500km, which I think it quite reasonable. The train is clean and the ride is pleasant. We move to a seat with a better view outside but we have to move again as passangers board at one of the stops at a city along the way. It’s when we pack up to exit in Beijing that we realize my camera is not present and it must have been left where we were previously sitting.Frustrating!

The train staff and -police are not of any help in trying to find out about lost property office or something of the sort, and we exit the platform into the main station (once again a colossal building like an airport terminal). There we manage to contact the on site police office (we at least want to report it and get a police report or something for a travel insurance claim) – who dont give a shit and bring in two young ladies who are security guards to deal with us. English is an anomaly over here so we were fortunate to be able to give Tong, a friend of Ebru’s brother in Shanghai, a call to translate for us. (Thanks again Tong!)

It’s a long waste of time what happens at the station that day, but the gist of it is that this is not the police’s domain, we have to talk to the train police, but we cannot deal with the train police here in Beijing because our journey originated in Shanghai, so we need to call them (try that in China) or contact them when we return to Shanghai a week later. Forget about it – I’ve already accepted the fact that it’s GONE! I must mention though, that crime is not prevalent in China and overall it is safe and great to travel.

By sundown we’re booked into the Downtown Backpackers hostel, an absolute LEGEND! (Sometimes you are indeed thankful for the recommendations in the Lonely Planet).

Well folks, Beijing is a MUST visit in China! We had so much fun in this place and recommend it to EVERYONE. It’s huge and the air is polluted, but with the metro and a map it’s easy to get around and there is plenty to do and see.

THE FOOD variety is unbelievable! Everything you order from the menu looks like the picture on the menu and the menus have 100s pictures of dishes. Food is cheap as well. And for chilli lovers this is paradise! Seafood with chilli, locusts with chilli, soup with chilli, tofu with chilli, salad with chilli, chilli with chilli… once we order a lovely looking dish from the menu: prawns in a sauce on a bed of crisp red, green and yellow vegetables. When we receive it we notice that all the vegetables were actually different colour chillies!

The best place to eat (we found) is “Ghost Street”, just South of BeijingQiao metro station if I recall correctly. After sundown this place is buzzing with people of all ages coming out to eat (and the Chinese know how to EAT). The wide pavement is scattered with little stools where people sit under strings of red paper lanterns, nibbling roasted sunflower seeds (provided) until their number gets called out and they move to their table in the restaurant. (Worth taking this time for learning to count in Chinese).

The restaurant experience here is raw compared to anything you may be used to from the West. It’s loud, everybody smokes, cigarette buts and ash go on the floor, next to each table is a bin with all the food waste not consumed. But the eating experience is second to none! The culture seems to be that people order common dishes to share.

For example, imagine two or three people sitting at the table: The chopsticks and crockery are set on the table, clean and cling-wrapped in a plastic foil – for freshness. Unwrap! First comes a large baking tray full of baby lobsters in a potent base of fried chilli, garlic, ginger; the plastic gloves (like those you’d see at a petrol station) go on and crack – crunch – slurp – sweat poruing from foreheads, laughter and coversation and fires extinguished with large bottles of YanJing or TsingTao beer. Surely that must have been enough?

Not so! On comes the next course, a huge pan of perhaps fried locusts or prawns in – you guessed it – chilli and whatnot, and the feast continues. Now it’s back to the beer and cigrettes. Surely they that’ll be it!

Guess again! A HUGE bowl of soup arrives, it’s the entire saucepan! Chillies and fresh bits floating inside. The spoons come out to demonstrate their power, and it’s slurp – gulp – mmmmmmmh! And if you thought that was enough, don’t be surprised to see another course or two appearing after that.

PS: Don’t forget to try the Peking Duck and of course the Hot and Sour Soup.

The food is a taste sensation! The eating experience is an adventure! It’s all so tasty and delightful; you can spend two – three hours easily – or I should say “AT LEAST” – and just eat, drink and enjoy! The shocker is when you’ve been through your three or four courses and a number of beers and you’ve run up a bill of only 3-400CNY! Amazing! Don’t expect staff to understand English and don’t expect the touchy-feely service you’re used to from home, but go with the flow and you won’t be sorry.

THE CITY is ancient with history dating back thousands of years. It is still laid out along the North-South-orientation of old, which is reslly interesting if you learn a bit about the old kingdom and its traditions, beliefs and religious processions. Most of the main streets are massive grid-iron blocks with small alleys “hutons” between. Particuarly in the older parts of the city ou walk the hutons and come by countless little shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, lakes and canals. In many bars there is live music at night. In various hutons it’s possible to see the traditional ancient housing architecture and to visit some of these houses and learn about the reasons behind it for a minimal fee.

For example: we learned that the size and depth of the doorways are significant in showing the status of the inhabitant and the stone carvings to the left and the right of the entrance are singify line of duty: for a military officer they might be drums and for a member of government it may be a lion and so on. The ornate screen-wall immediately behind the entrance gives privacy to the courtyard and wards off unwanted spirits from trespassing as they believe the entrance is blocked. Furthermore, the orientation of square courtyard is aligned with the heavenly directions N-S-E-W and the buildings around it are allocated to the inhabitants according to their status: North (with the longest light) for the elders, West for the sons, East for the daughters (sorry) and South for servants. Similarly, a higher number of steps before the building signifies status, and these always come in uneven numbers. It’s all very intricate and auspicious, but it’s very interesting and beautiful.

PLACES TO VISIT are countless. You could spend months here and not see everything. The Forbidden City is so huge you cannot see the whole of it in one day. The Summer Palace and the ancient man-made lakes are idyllic. The drum- and bell-towers are among my favourite sites and really give you a sense of what this place may have felt like centuries ago.

But if you want something more engaging, you can visit various markets – flea markets; fake markets where you can buy all the ripped off designer gear you can imagine; the 798 art district, a massive re-purposed industrial estate now filled with galleries and sculptures galore is like a day out in Disney Land; we entered a multi-story shopping mall on the SouthEast side as Ebru really needed the ladies’ room and after a few minutes of walking the floors there I realized that every shop in there was selling glasses! Sunglasses, prescription glasses – you name it – four or file floors of them! Qi Hai lake is surrounded by an arena of posh bars and restaurants, blinky lights and sweet stalls. And there’s guys there who will take a photo of you and, within 20 minutes, create the most accurate cartoon replica of you on a body of your choosing. The creativity here is astounding.

And then of course there’s a trip to the great wall, which you don’t want to forfeit. There are plenty of tours available from hotels etc for a 300+Yuan, but we did it independently for cheaper.

For those who want to do this on the Jinxianling – Shalingxzai route, the procedure is:
– Go to the DongXiMen bus terminal and get the public (big green) bus to WuYaLo. It leves from inside the terminal which is like a parking garage, so go in there and don’t be led astray by any touts outside trying to tell you something different.The bus costs around 15CNY each way, but might be cheaper if you use your metro card.
– Get off at WuYaLo (don’t worry, when you get to that stop the taxi drivers will be coming on to the bus looking for you)
– Negotiate a rate with the taxi driver to take you to the wall entry and exit points, and back to the evening bus at WuYaLo. Our driver (Kwo, in case you meet him) was happy to be paid on collection and I think we paid about 150CNY per person – another couple was also planning to do the same route so we shared but it *should* not cost more than that per person from what I understand. (The LP says 100CNY/pp but I’ve always found LP prices to be well deflated on the ground)
– Get off the taxi at Jinxianling, hop on the wall and walk until the exit point, where your driver will greet you and drive you back to the bus which returns to DongXiMen.

OUR ACCOMMODATION at Downtown Backpackers (DTB) was a marvellous stroke of luck. It’s a hostel so likely you’ll be staying in a dorm bed unless you manage to get one of the private doubles. However it’s meticulously cleaned and liquid soap and shampoo are even provided in the bathrooms. The location is great (Nan Luogu Huton near Mao Er Huton), the staff are well organized, they are helpful and they speak English. They also have electronic safety lockers which work with a barcode scanner system for your valuables. The cherry on top is the common room and the guests. The atmosphere there is very pleasant so plenty of people tend to gather there and before you know if conversations are going on late into the night, fuelled by cheap beer available in the fridge in the front room.

We met some fabulos people there, notably: Barak, a long haired Israeli programmer turned architeologist and fellow traveller and lover of India, full of thoughtful discourse lasting into the wee hours of the morning and a wise outlook on the world. John, an American ex-soldier, full of energy and on a rally to complete as much sight seeing in the time he’s here as possible, which he does very well. We several nights in the common room, drinking, laughing and chatting away and occasionally hook up in the day to visit some place or another, or go out for a meal.

Guys, we’ve really been missing your company all the way since Beijing; it was great hanging out with you and we look forward to meet you again when the time comes!

Our return date to Shanghai comes way too early, but John has departed already and Barak will go tomorrow so I guess it’s ok. We’ve got to catch the bullet train from the South station again and I estimate that an hour is plenty to get there, but I’m wrong and we miss our train by 15 minutes. Ebru expresses her undying love for me and buys me red roses – aaaw… sheee’s a keeper! Well as you can imagine, it’s a bit of a mission to find the correct counter for ticket amendments, but it doesn’t take us too long as we know the entire station premises by now after our camera ordeal. (See honey, everything happens for a good reason!)
Now digest this: due to the high volume of travellers during Golden week, all seats on the train are booked up for the next four days, however we are able to amend our ticket to that date without any additional charge whatsoever!!! I like China more and more!

No money lost, we spend another at DTB talking with Barak over beers and visiting several more places, and (as DTB is fully booked) we stay in the Sleepy Inn hostel the last few days, which is not as nice but it puts a roof over our heads. All in all our stay in Beijing is epic – an absolute highlight of our trip! It never leaves our memories and wherever we go, we reminisc about the great food and the wonderful times spent at DTB.

Recommendations:
– When arriving in Beijing get your magnetic travel card which will allow you to travel the metro and public transport fuss-free and at about half the price! The card costs 30CNY which you get refunded on return of the card.
– Learn greetings, thank yous and counting as soon as possible. It’ll make your life easier and you’ll enjoy it more, Also useful to learn the symbols, pinyin and sounds for North, South, East and West as it puts a lot of street names and places into context and you might even be able to figure out a timetable at a bus stop (but probably not).
– Take a picture dictionary along with you or print out a few things in Chinese script or Pinyin to show at restaurants and places (e.g. Pork? Beef? Seafood? Spicy? Vegetarian etc)
– Beware the Golden Week, first week of October, when all of China goes on holiday (well, a lot, some go the following week so be warned!). If you’re in a good place, sit tight, ensure your accommodation is booked and enjoy yourself. Travel on any transport during this time can be mayhem and you may experience unavailability of tickets for days as they’re all sold out. Just picture: when we were there, the local news reported currently 300 MILLION Chinese travelling on holiday using the country’s transport infrastructure. That’s equivalent to the whole USA on the move!
– Go the great wall on your own for the extra adventure and take a packed lunch and a couple of beers for the way.
– Est on Ghost Street!

SEE “The Great Wall of China!” PHOTOS…

SEE “The Summer Palace Bejing” PHOTOS…

SEE “All About Bejing, parks, markets, temples, night life, hutongs, food…BEJING HAS IT ALL, GO THERE!” PHOTOS…

At Shanghai we’re greeted by a pristine airport: modern, organized, hi-tech; immigration clearance is quick and painless… pretty much like in Delhi’s Terminal3, but we know not to let the facade of a modern airport terminal set our expectations for what is beyond don’t we. The one thing that does stay with me though is that at the immigration desks there is a little device with a series of buttons, inviting me to rate whether the service I received was [Satisfactory]<-[..]-[..]-[..]->[Disappointing]. This is something I’ll be seeing at various other state run facilities, e.g. train station etc. Excellent idea

Ebru’s brother Sava$ and his colleague Tong collect us and chauffeur us back to Sava$’s apartment in a leather-upholstered car, air conditioned and smelling of new rubber, leather and cockpit spray. I wonder what we must smell like.

What we see beyond the airport terminal blows us away! The Chinese have been very busy indeed and I’d urge anybody back in the West who’s under the impression they live in modern cities to come over here and have a look at this: roads so flat and fresh they look like icing on a cake, clear street signs on every corner in Chinese and English (for the most part), modern motorway signs indicating congestion levels in colour coded LED, clean taxis at modest rates, hybrid/electric buses running off overhead power lines, a pristine subway system at minimal cost, electric scooters that swish by you silently as you walk the streets…    Well built apartments, water saving toilets, hybrid wall power sockets allowing use of three plug types without need for an adapter… Stunning skyscrapers, well restored/preserved historical architecture, temples, gardens, lakes, trees, plants, huge LED cinema screens on buildings, lights, lasers…. and they extinguish after 23:00 at night to let the population sleep, alleviate light pollution and save energy.

And the item I probably enjoyed the most: signs above the urinals in the public toilet saying “One small step forward.. One big step for civilization”  ROTFL

For a week we stay at Sava$’s flat in a complex called Top of the City. It’s right in the centre of the city and close to all major attractions there so it’s perfect. We spend our days buzzing around, familiarising ourselves with the city. It’s a feast for the eyes: aside from all the modern department stores and interesting little gadget shops there’s an alley full of pet stores; they sell only animals there, dogs, cats, rabbits, but also tortoises, turtles, lizards, snakes, fish – you name it. I say they’re pet stores as I assume they’re not for consumption. And then another alley is awash with stores that sell crickets! Hundreds of little perspex boxes with crickets of every size and description, and little cages to place them in so that come nightfall, they will chirp you a pretty coutryside tune while you’re relaxing on your 15th-floor perch in the concrete jungle after a hard day’s work.

Some definite highlights are visit the Jade Buddha temple – massive wooden beams and meticulously crafted ornamentation and cast iron incense burners big enough to consume a person. A must see! And a walk through the streets around Dongjiadu silk and textile market where aside from countless silk and textile sellers, the buzzing narrow streets are lined with small seafood vendors, displaying an endless selection live culinary ocean treasures in cooler boxes along the pavement. If I lived I Shanghai I think I’d probably choose here. Oh and there’s a block in the city where the all the building are old style chinese, full of little shops where you can buy all sorts of interesting things from clothing to musical instruments. At this place we enter a restaurant – more like a food hall – which you could spend an entire week’s in,eating! The counters are lined with row upon row of beautiful dishes, seafood, red and white meats, vegetables, eggs, soups – it’s hard to explain. You pick up a tray and walk down the counter for 10 minutes wanting to pick up every second plate or bowl because everything looks so damn good! But each dish is a good fill for one person. WOW!

Although very impressive, one thing we quickly realize is that Shanghai is also very expensive. Not a good place for a backpacker to hang around if s/he wants to make the budget last! A cup of coffee in a coffee shop around 30RMB (£3); a trolly of groceries in a supermarket (think of whatever you’d buy at home in Tescos) about 700RMB (£70), a meal + beer in a mainstream restaurant somwhere around 100RMB (10£). Of course there are smaller local places where things are significantly cheaper but most of the places in the centre here seem to cater for city folk with an affinity for fashion, glamour, and ultimately money.

The weather report for the Philippines talks about monsoon rains we decide since to cancel that part of the trip and go to Beijing instead. After India we’ve had enough rain for a while. Two days later we’ll be at Shanghai HongQuiao station and wondering whether we’ve ended up in an airport terminal.