Day 44 – October 31 – Hong Kong – Chengdu

My hotel sent a prostitute to my room. But I’ll get to that later.

I had a later flight today, so I was fortunate that I had the whole day to continue to explore Hong Kong with Palin and Todd. We had brunch across the street from my hotel at this great local place on the top floor of the shopping center, so it had a great view. Palin’s parents joined us, a fantastic treat. I had last seen them at our college graduation, when our other housemate, Emily, had her birthday dinner to coincide with graduation. Palin’s family and my family were seated at the same table, and we had the best time. My parents had never really spent a dedicated amount of time with my college friends, and they were absolutely floored with how impressive Palin is. It must be noted that most people are floored by her accomplishments, but my parents were gushing. Whether it was her thesis on music and jazz in wartime France or her various internships ranging from not for profit work to private sector banking, she has a wide variety of talents which parents just eat up. I think Palin’s parents were amused at how impressed my parents were of their daughter, and we all became fast friends. So when Palin asked if I wanted to join her parents for brunch, I of course said yes. Palin’s father works at the UN at the UN High Commission for Refugees and Palins’ mother was a diplomat for Thailand, so they have very interesting stories about their work in various countries. When I asked them their favorite country they’ve lived in, Japan, in general, and Tokyo, in particular, was their very easy answer. I would have to agree, I loved Japan! We had some great dim sum and dumplings, enjoyed discussing what Palin and I have done since graduation, and talked about our respective families. It was great. I was so appreciative to see Palin’s family.

After, Palin, Todd and I went to Stanley Beach, an area outside the CBD which has a large expat population. Although it was the end of October, the weather was absolutely perfect. Along the beach the temperature reached around 85 degrees. If I were in New York right now, I would be freezing, wearing many, many layers. Here I am, on the beach in Hong Kong, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I’m very fortunate. Life is good. The area had a very laid-back vibe to it, similar to Manhattan Beach. This was not a cheap, bohemian area like a Venice Beach, but it did not feel stuffy or corporate, like I imagined an expat community could make a beach area feel. We walked along the waterfront, looking up at the large towers just at the base of the hillside. One large tower had a big hole in it. It was designed this way to allow the dragon to pass through. Yes, as an aspect of designing the building to have good fung shui, the building was designed so that in the middle of building, for about ten floors, there is nothing to block a dragon from passing through building on its way from the hillside to the ocean. I believe it is one thing to face a building or items in a household in a certain direction so that it is more welcoming, but a hole in the middle of a tower? Really? That is kind of random and completely unnecessary. We had lunch on the boardwalk, nachos and chips. It was good.

After lunch we returned to the CBD and had drinks at a rooftop bar. It was really cool. The whole tower used to be owned by one man who turned the top couple of floors into his own apartment and spot to entertain. It must have been a spectacular place back then. Now it was a very chic bar and restaurant. From the top we could see the HSBC tower and the Bank of China tower. I commented on my appreciation of the International Financial Center, and they laughed about how it had grown in stature since the Dark Knight movie. I thanked them for taking me everywhere and showing me around this awesome city. I have come to two conclusions about Hong Kong: (i) it is my favorite city in Asia I have seen and (ii) I would totally consider working in Hong Kong for a couple of years if the opportunity presented itself. As a city, it caters well to expats. It also accepts certain Western attitudes and efficiencies while maintaining a strong Asian identity. I was appreciative of how easy it was to get around and how much nature was accessible, even from the city center. It appears to have a balance which is difficult to find in most places. We toasted our enjoyable week, and I expressed my regret that I would not be remaining in Hong Kong for Halloween. Unlike every place outside the US I have lived in, Hong Kong actually celebrates Halloween, which I would assume is related to the significant expat population. People were dressed up last night and all day today. Decorations were everywhere. Ugh! I want to stay here! But, no, it is off to Chengdu I go.

I got to the airport via the airport express. In Hong Kong airport express station, I was able to check for my flight. I was even able to check my bag. It was great, so easy! The flight was uneventful, quick enough and all. However, when I got to Chengdu, I decided to jump in a cab and go directly to the hotel, since it was a late flight. Apparently, the hotel I chose on the Amex website is not very well known. I got there and the receptionist spoke no English. It was difficult. I’m going to keep it short, but suffice to say that I became progressively more aggravated as time wore on. After 90 minutes of going over what my confirmation code was, the type of room I had specified, and my credit card details, they still hadn’t found my reservation. They had two people working on it, but neither spoke English and, from what it looked like, neither of them had used a computer before. It was a comedy of errors, with the girl prodding the guy to do something, and the guy called up someone who obviously had no idea what to do. Later, a woman came in, and they asked her to translate. So she did, not that it really helped, because I had given them all the information I had. So, two hours and twenty five minutes after I arrived, three and a half hours after I landed, I was being walked to my room. The woman who was translating and the guy walked me to my room. At the room, she opened the door, and then followed me in, where she showed me the bathroom, lights, windows, tv, etc. The guy dropped off my bag and then left. I told the woman I was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed, so I said good night and started to walk her to the door. I didn’t care about how to work the tv, I just wanted to crash. Instead, she grabbed my arm and started to tell me how I was such a “Strong Man!” Then she sat on the bed. I freaked out, grabbed her hand, walked her to the door, and said goodbye, pushing her out the door. She stood there at the door, protesting and batting her eyelashes. No thanks, no hookers for me. Chengdu sucks. They have prostitutes double as translators; don’t they have enough people in this country to have non-street-walker translators? I might be the backpacker in a suit, but I don’t pay for lovin’ like some other suit wearing travelers. I want to leave.

Day 43 – October 30 – Hong Kong

Today was my day to go a bit out of the city and do another hike. This was going to be a bit different from the Dragon’s Leap trail because the destination included the Big Buddha, officially the Tian Tan Buddha, a massive bronze statue of Buddha situated in the hills of Hong Kong overlooking the airport. It was completed in 1993 and is adjacent to the Po Lin monastery, an important center of Buddhism in Hong Kong. I took the subway out to the end of the line which connects to a long gondola, arriving at the mountain just below the Big Buddha. This area has become a tourist trap of sorts, with a small, artificial village at the exit of the gondola. The village contains numerous fast food restaurants, souvenir shops and a 7-Eleven, not necessarily on the same cultural level as the Big Buddha. From here, I walked through the village and walked down the hill to the base of the Buddha. It sits on a large base with a staircase of about 75 steps up the summit and is flanked by several smaller statues. It is quite impressive. I walked around the Buddha, admiring the bronze work and accompanying statues, and then sat back, just below the base of the monument, to appreciate the calm and tranquil atmosphere. I love moments like this, where I just get to absorb what is unique and special about the places I visit. Here is a hilltop place of reflection, incredibly quiet and meditative, in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world. Tokyo had small, secret gardens in small alleys, Beijing had temples above a lake in the Summer Palace, and New York has rooftop terraces to watch the city light up before you. Finding places like this make me feel like I am part of the city.

I also visited the adjoining monastery, which had some exquisite granite carvings and paintings in vivid colors. It also had an urn outside the entrance for burning incense. But the incense being offered was not just the small sticks of incense used by college students to mask the smell of dirty laundry and trash, no, large bouquets of incense, wrapped in thick paper and tied with ribbon, were the choice of a large segment of worshipers. The incense burned like a torch, with think plumes of smoke rising up from the urns and creating a strong smell of wood and cinnamon. It was very interesting. People also kneeled and bowed, uttering prayers softly so that one needed to be directly adjacent in order to hear the words. I sat back for a while and admired the scene. After a little bit of reflection, I started the hike down the mountain to the subway station. It was a beautiful hike, through the greenery of the mountain until I reached a small road which led back to the subway. I really enjoyed getting some fresh air, out of the city-center. The hike took about 2 hours, and it was not difficult at all since it was all downhill.

After, I returned to the hotel to get ready for my night out. Palin had made a reservation at a private Thai kitchen on the Hong Kong side. I think this is a unique concept. Underground restaurants have been around in Hong Kong for a long time. These restaurants were traditionally unlicensed and located in a family’s kitchen and living room. Over the past decades they have become a little more open and some have become so successful that family have purchased separate units in buildings as their restaurants and kept the family’s living quarters separate. This one was a Thai restaurant Palin likes, and we had a private room with a large round table. She invited a lot of her friends, eventually filling the table to about 14 people. It was great. Palin, speaking Thai, ordered the food and ordered a feast. I mean, we had plate after plate of scrumptious spring rolls and noodles and satay. It was great. I ate way too much. Everyone brought a bottle, so we were drinking wine and cocktails, talking about living in Hong Kong as expats. I was able to give my view on the city as an outsider and as someone who was an expat in Europe for several years. The conversation, like the drinks, flowed copiously. We had a great time. It was fun to see Palin in her element, surrounded by fun, outgoing people.

After dinner we moved on to a couple of different bars and clubs. The first was pretty hilarious. The Western expat community segregates itself pretty completely from the rest of the social scene in the city, so the street we found ourselves on that evening was bursting with Brits and Americans, French and Germans. It was really fun. Also, the average age in the expat community is higher than, lets say, the crowd I usually find myself in when I’m out in New York. So we walk into these bars and you have the dance floor dominated by women in their 30s and 40s in cocktail attire, enjoying the pre-Halloween insanity. We had walked into a cougar den. A couple of vodka tonics later, we were all enjoying the bad Euro-pop and good American hip-hop. Palin introduced me to a couple of her friends who were going to be joining us for the night. She told them to ensure that I had fun, since she had to be up early the next day. So Palin and Todd took off while I continued to enjoy the Hong Kong nightlife. It was crazy. We followed up the Couger Den with an underground club with several interconnected rooms. Each room had a different dj and style of music, which is how I prefer it. If a terrible Robbie Williams song comes on in one room, you can quickly move to another room, while picking up another drink, which is playing something good, like Chris Brown or Wham! I hung out with Palin’s friends for a while, doing shots and making fools of ourselves. It was a great time.

I was really drunk when I got into the cab to go back to the Kowloon side, and I immediately put on my incredulous, I’m-a-Westerner-that-they-are-going-to-try-to-screw blinders. When we arrived at the hotel, the cab driver tried to charge me double the tunnel toll. I put him on notice, dude, I saw how much you paid. I looked at the sign on the toll booth, and the toll is written here on the side of the cab, so how stupid do you think I am, trying to charge me double the toll? I was irate. Not only that, but I had a fantastic air of righteous indignation. Well, turns out that I didn’t read the fine print below the posted tolls which said that if the cab driver takes a passenger from the Hong Kong to the Kowloon side after a certain hour, that driver cannot pick up a passenger on the Kowloon side but, instead, must return immediately to Hong Kong, so the return toll needs to be paid by the passenger. This law is supposed to prevent the buildup of cabs on one side of the harbor. Well, after about 5 minutes of arguing with the cabby, and bringing a cop over, I apologized, still kind of upset, but mostly just drunk, and paid the fare. I also over-tipped (Western-guilt). Time for bed.

Day 42 – October 29 – Hong Kong

Today was spent exploring the city of Hong Kong. Having been a city guy for my whole life, living in LA, New York, Rome, Paris and the bustling metropolis of Providence, Rhode Island, I’m not that interested in spending my time visiting foreign cities. I would much rather concentrate this trip on viewing cultural and natural sites across the world. However, Hong Kong is an interesting mix between cultures and traditions, having been a British colony, center of Asian commerce and outpost of Chinese democracy. Hong Kong has held a special place in my fascination: this is where East meets West. Since Palin is here and I am a bit tired of having to filter my water, I’ll spend a couple more days here than I normally would.

I first wandered around the Kowloon side, where my hotel is located. The Kowloon waterfront, facing the impressive Hong Kong skyline, includes the Chinese walk of fame. I will not capitalize “walk of fame” because it is pretty weak. Not that I have a high opinion of the actual Walk of Fame in Los Angles, no, that is also pretty awful, but at least it was original and located in the Entertainment capital of the world. This has the same set of stars with actor’s, director’s, singer’s and writer’s names engraved on them, hand prints and signatures, and statues of particularly famous actors. A couple of interesting observations: Jackie Chan has tiny feet and the actress in all those “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” movies has man hands. Yes, unfortunately, it’s true. People were lining up to take pictures with the Bruce Lee statue with most people making the normal smiling pose. Some, however, tried to make it look like they were fighting Lee, with one unfortunate poser falling over after trying to kick too high. I laughed. The view from this boardwalk across Victoria Harbor and towards Hong Kong was breathtaking. It was just amazing, with towers reaching skyward, including the International Financial Center, otherwise known as the Dark Knight Tower. This is the one which Batman flew into in order to kidnap the mob’s banker in the Dark Knight movie. The other name is the “Electric Razor” since the top makes it look like a Norelco razor.

I then took the subway to the Hong Kong side of the city. Interestingly, there is a difference between the people on the Hong Kong side and the Kowloon side. Once people get to the Kowloon side, they no longer have the British line system down. No, when the doors of the subway open, it is mayhem as people push out and push in to the cars at the same time. Damn it, I thought I just left Beijing! Why the hell can’t people figure out that this is just inefficient? There is plenty of room on the trains, up to this point, I haven’t taken a subway that was jam packed. On the Hong Kong side, everyone waits patiently for passengers to disembark before getting into the cars. What could possibly happen in the 2.5 minutes between the Hong Kong and Kowloon sides to cause urbanites like these to completely disregard years of public transport conditioning and move back into a barbarian-like state? Chemicals being pumped into the ventilation system? H1N-not-going-to-let-people-on? Seriously, if I really wanted to make a difference in the world, I would teach the population of Asia how to be more efficient and use a proper line system. Although, this might be like the Mideast Peace Process… a worthy goal but unattainable. In Hong Kong, I looked up at all the towers of the city. One of the most interesting is the HSBC building. HSBC stands for Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation, and when this tower was being planned, the powers that be could not foresee whether Hong Kong or Shanghai would be the financial capital of Asia, so they had the HSBC headquarters designed to be transferable. This tower is designed to be completely moveable. It can be dismantled in Hong Kong and shipped to Shanghai for reconstruction. Not only is it tall, but it reaches very deep into the ground, as well, with almost as many subterranean floors as above-ground ones. Incredible. Another interesting building is the Bank of China building. It is the one crisscrossed diagonally by beams which are lit up at nights. It is a striking building, but, apparently, the fung shui is completely off. Fung shui is taken very seriously in China in general and Hong Kong in particular. The architect of the Bank of China, a Frenchman, supposedly designed the tower to not have good fung shui. He is a persona non grata in China, now.

As night fell, I joined some friends from Goldman at the Peak, a mountaintop lookout over the city. From the city center one rides a trolley car up the slope above the city. This trolley was comparable to Angel’s Flight in Los Angeles, just significantly longer. Back in the colonial era, this area of Hong Kong was off-limits to ethnic Chinese and only the British could live here. To this day, it is one of the most expensive areas of Hong Kong and many large banks continue to have large homes in the area, either as corporate retreats or expatriate housing. At the top is a gaudy glass building with a shopping center and restaurants. Burger King and McDonald’s feature prominently. There is also a wax museum (You will never see me in a wax museum, what’s the point? Hey, look, you could never get this close to this celebrity in real life, so we’ll make a life-size Barbie doll you can take pictures next to! Also, go ahead and do something funny and original, like put bunny ears on the Queen. Now, smile!) and souvenir shop on top of souvenir shop. We walked outside the building and stood at the outlook. The city lay out beneath my feet, bright and multi-colored. It was like a three-dimensional tetris game: bright colored towers in different shapes and sizes. It was weird being this high above the glittering towers, looking down on the city from where its colonial rulers once lived. It must have been an amazing feeling of superiority, even without the skyscrapers, to look down upon the populace. No wonder they had no issue making the local population second-class citizens. There was a 1.6 kilometer trail around the top of the Peak, which we walked, marveling at the view.

After, we had dinner at a pizza place. Being adventurous, I let my friends pick the pizza, and we ended up with a salmon pizza. I have to admit, not very good. I love salmon, I love pizza, but I don’t love them together. It’s kind of like Parisians. I like the French, I like Paris, but I don’t like them together. Keep some things separate, and we will get along a lot better. But it was fun since the pizza place was on the top floor of an 8-story building in the city center. 30 minutes before we were at the top, looking down, and now we were at the foot of the skyscrapers, looking up. It was fantastic. After a couple of beers, and a couple of slices of de-salmoned pizza, it was time for me to get back to the hotel. It was a really fun night.

Day 41 – October 28 – Hong Kong

Honestly, I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. It was so comfortable, the first nice bed I’ve slept in since South Korea. I was able to get my butt out of bed, however, and I got ready for my hike. Palin gave me a couple of ideas for trails that are located around the island, easily accessible via the subway system. I put on my smelly boots, grabbed my camera case, and left for the subway. This is a great subway. I bought an Octopus Card, which is like a debit card for all of Hong Kong. Its primary use was for discounted rides on the subway system, but acceptance of the card has spread to vending machines and some stores. No vending machines take coins anymore, instead, one puts the Octopus Card near the sensor (it can even be in a wallet or bag) and then selects the beverage of choice. Nice! I like this system.

I took the subway out to the end of the island, disembarked, and started my climb. To get to the trailhead, one must venture through a housing estate and then climb up through a cemetery. The cemeteries of Hong Kong are primarily located on hills since no large structures can be built into the sides of these steep mountains. As I walked up, I thought a lot about my mom. Why, you might ask? Because my mom loves cemeteries. I remember when we lived in Greenwich, Connecticut for a summer and my mom loved to drive by the old cemeteries around the town. LA is so young, we don’t see the old, crumbling or ornate graves that are present on the East Coast. This cemetery was very interesting since there were pictures of most of the dead on the actual tombstones. I think that is a little weird, but that’s how it is here. I was fortunate to see a funeral procession while I was up on that hillside. The participants were dressed in long white robes, some with pointed white hats which resembled Ku Klux Klan outfits, but these obviously have a different meaning. I watched as men carried the casket up the steep staircase and put it into a waiting grave. The procession was warmer and less of a somber affair compared to what we have in the US. It was very moving to watch.

I continued along the path and found, what I thought to be, the head of the Dragon’s Back trail. I eventually discovered that I was mistaken and this was the Dragon’s Leap trail. The views from up here were incredible. Although I could not see the central business district of Hong Kong and its incredible steel towers, I could see across to the Kowloon side and some fantastic views of the harbor and coastline. I thought it was fantastic. At the end of the trail was a small path that led to a lighthouse. I followed it and noticed a worn trail to the left of the end of the path. I decided to see what was down there. A rope was tied to a tree at the top of the trail and was helpful in climbing down the steep hillside. At the bottom I found a rocky outcrop where an older man was casting out a line, although I did not notice any fish in his bucket. This was great, the waves were crashing against the rocks, the cliffs rose vertically from the water, and a small fishing boat was anchored just off my location. I sat there on the rocks, enjoying the view and the strong morning sun. I lay there for about an hour, listening to the sound of the waves hitting the rocks, before packing up and scrambling up the hillside to the path. From there, I returned to the subway and back to the hotel. I needed to get ready for dinner with Palin!

I met Palin at Central station on the Hong Kong side. She looked beautiful! I hadn’t seen her since I visited her at Oxford in 2007, just before she graduated with her Masters (yeah, she is way smart). She came to visit me in Paris in 2006 around Christmas time, which had been a lot of fun, too. Palin was one of my three housemates senior year at Brown and we had met as Freshmen living on the same hallway. She was always a sweetheart and very seldom have I ever seen her without a big, bright smile. So seeing such a good friend with such a fantastic attitude after traveling solo for the past few weeks was fantastic. She took me to dim-sum. She ordered in Cantonese for me and we sat there and reminisced about old times and talked about life at the moment. She had worked at Citi in Hong Kong and then left to work at an NGO which focuses on anti-drug use in youths. She is dating a guy named Todd who happens to be from Los Angeles and works in real estate (yeah, I’ve rubbed off on her). After dim sum we got ice cream (yum) and went to one of her favorite bars. It was great, situated outside in a small alleyway with all manner of different chairs which appeared to be salvaged from the dump. It was a chill place that reminded me of our days in Providence at Captain Seaweed’s. We had a couple of beers before Todd arrived. He is a great guy, which is good, because Palin deserves a great guy. We tipped a couple back at this bar before heading to another which was on Hollywood Street. Yes, Hollywood Street. After a couple more, it was late and we split up, me heading back to Kowloon and them staying on the Hong Kong side. It was a great night.

Random Musings - On President Obama’s Influence Abroad

I lived in Italy from 2003-4, during President Bush’s first term and France from 2005-7, during his second term. The attitudes exhibited by Europeans toward Americans during those two periods were markedly different. I viewed it as a general assumption by foreigners that the first election was a fluke and the second election was an implicit endorsement by the American public of the Bush Administration’s policies. The American public was not painted with the same brush during the first four years, but we were all dismissed during the second. Since President Obama’s election, I have been in various European and Asian countries. The difference in attitudes and welcome is overwhelming.

I am not asking one to consider whether or not there is merit to foreign views of US elections. What is important is the amount and strength of goodwill by foreigners, particularly the foreign public, to our country and our country’s leadership. I sincerely appreciated how the European public viewed the American people and American leaders as distinct and separate entities, giving a tourist or expat consideration apart from one’s take on US government policy. I sometimes think that Americans paint foreigners with one broad brush, like the French during the Iraq War. (Caveat: There is little love lost between me and Parisians, but I like the French. However, I think I have standing to judge Parisians since I lived there for two years. Some may disagree, but I gave them a chance, which is different from the people in the States who dumped French products down drains during the ramp-up to the War. They were just driven by the media and propaganda.) That is unfair. I am traveling in a completely different world today. Everywhere I go, I get an observable bump in popularity due to President Obama’s recent election. I think this is for a single reason, a larger part of the world identifies with our leader now, making Americans as a whole more accessible.

In Cambodia, a tuk-tuk driver pointed to his arm and said, “Obama looks like me.” I never really thought the president had the same skin tone as Cambodians, but the man did, which makes the difference. President Obama has become an existential leader for the world. How many wars or conflicts have been fought between ethnic groups within or across a country’s boarders? In Cambodia, they recently ended over 30 years of civil war, part of which can be linked to US actions during the late 60s and early 70s. Whether it is strife between Hmong and Khmu ethnic groups, a Cambodian can look to the US, the most powerful nation in the world, and see that a populace, which fought a dirty, bloody civil rights battle in most of the population’s lifetime, will elect a leader based on ideas rather than ethnic identities. The effect has been tangible. I am reaping the benefits.

Foreign views on American government are not wrong or right, they just exist, and America operates within this international arena. This is not useful for purposes like winning the Olympic Games for Chicago (I believe that Rio was completely the right choice). Some might like to think of US interests as isolated of foreign public opinion, but I disagree. Sanctions on Iran need to be supported by the whole UN Security Council. If a government’s electorate views the US favorably, then it is at the government’s peril to work against the US. During the Iraq War, foreign governments could play to their populations hatred of US policy by scoring political points at the UN or at home. This does not help us, public opinion matters around the world because it creates the atmosphere in which policy becomes possible. It is said that politics is the art of the possible. Much more is possible on an international stage when US policy is presented by a favorable face. And the US is reaping tangible rewards with troop commitments by various NATO and non-NATO countries for Afghanistan.

Day 40 – October 27 – Beijing – Hong Kong

On to the airport, again. I didn’t want to be all disgusting after walking 45 minutes to the subway, transferring once and then getting on the airport train, so I just took a cab. Big mistake. First of all, the traffic is horrible, so it was stop-and-go the entire way. It would have been way faster with the train. Also, the guy tried to rip me off. He tried to charge me double what the meter read. That was stupid, are you kidding me? No way, you’ll pick up another fare in a couple of minutes, returning to the city, and I’ll be on my way. We yelled at each other, and when he saw I was about to just walk into the terminal, he relented, asking for the fare on the meter plus the toll (I have learned to ALWAYS look at what the toll booths say and see how much cash the driver gives the operator, good tip.), which I decided was fair.

The flight to Hong Kong was uneventful. I enjoyed AirChina, especially when leaving from the nice, big airport of Beijing. It had none of the craziness of Shanghai. I arrived in Hong Kong in the late afternoon, and, once I picked up my bag, I walked to the airport express to Kowloon. My hotel is located on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong, which is supposed to be the less desirable part. I, however, really liked it because the Kowloon waterfront looks directly out onto Victoria Harbor and the massive towers of Hong Kong. At Kowloon station I switched to a free shuttle bus to my hotel, the Mira Hotel. I really liked my hotel. It had just reopened after an extensive renovation project, so my rate was actually great. The hotel used to be in a tired old style, but this renovation pushed it towards a modern-style. Usually, I feel the uber-modern hotels are just trying too hard and miss the mark. This place was perfect. The lobby was large, open and inviting. My check-in process was quick and efficient. The guest floor elevator lobbies had reflective ceilings, primarily to make it feel like the ceiling wasn’t so low, so I was a bit apprehensive that my room was going to have a very low ceiling. It didn’t. Instead, the room was spacious, well laid-out, and perfectly appointed. There was a large flat-screen tv attached to a computer with Blu-Ray. Everything functioned through the same remote, including the computer. I also found a Bose iPod docking station which played music in the room and also streamed it to the bathroom. This was all great. The rain shower was also great. While there was lots of technology and accoutrement, there was nothing that was just frivolous. In London, I stayed at the super-modern St. Martin’s Lane a couple of times, which was awful. The mood changing lighting and tiny bathroom were just horrible. I don’t want weird lights and touch sensitive toilets, I just want a room that functions and is clean. The Mira was awesome.

I walked around tonight since I got in a little late. I would see Palin tomorrow. She set me up with some cool hikes to do around Hong Kong tomorrow and then I would see her for dinner and drinks. It all sounded perfect. So tonight, I walked along the Kowloon waterfront, admiring the view to Hong Kong, and stopped into some random electronic stores to see what buying stuff in Hong Kong would be like. I knew that there was just so much stuff in Hong Kong, as everyone told me, you can go ahead and bargain in the stores. Seriously, at a certain point, I just want there to be a price tag, and I just want to pay that price. There is something to be said for going to a bazaar, haggling and finding something rare, but when I go and buy a flash drive, I know it is worth $35. Don’t say $50 and have me bring the price down, I just have no patience for that. So I bought an additional hard drive since my computer is running out of space with all of these photos. I walked through Kowloon Park and made plans for tomorrow. It was an easy, quiet day, but it was helpful to acclimate myself to the city and get ready for some fun the following day!

Day 39 – October 26 – Beijing

This morning, I took a less water-intensive shower in an attempt not to flood my room. I was successful. I got my things together and walked the short distance to the Forbidden City. This was the home of the Emperors and their place of work during the later years of several dynasties. The first thing one notices on entering is the sheer mass of the place. It is enormous. Once again, not on a human scale. There were gardens, fountains, petrified trees with poetry inscribed on them and throne room after throne room. The whole place is made of wood, so it had burned downed numerous times before. They had very rudimentary lightening rods installed on all the roofs of the city, but that hadn’t stopped several massive fires from gutting the place. The city is entirely painted in red, and it must be repainted constantly, because the color is so vibrant and shiny, there is no way that it could be this consistent without constant care and upkeep. I wandered around with the aid of one of those audio guides. I’ve really had it at this point with guides who are pushy, cannot speak English well, and are not knowledgeable about their subject. I have had one spectacular tour guide in my life, and that is Catherine Cartwright. She used to be an assistant in London for GS, but attained her tour license in London this year. We were fortunate enough to take her tour when Katie Reyero, her husband Jay, Robin, Heather and I were all in London prior to the U2 concert in Barcelona this July (I know, rough life). She showed us around the city, answered all of our questions (even the inane, silly ones), and was, without a doubt in my mind, the most knowledgeable person about a city I had ever met. So, if you are in London, want a good guide, look up Catherine, she’ll show you around! (www.londonundone.net). So, I had no interest in another guide with no idea about the subject at hand, so the audio guide would have to do. It was helpful, giving me background on the lightening rods and areas of the city which were open to the Emperor’s court, only, and those areas open to audiences. The whole city runs along a primary axis which is denoted by marble. This was so that when the Emperor walked through the city, or more accurately carried through the city, he would only set foot on marble or be carried over marble. Good for him.

Outside the Forbidden City is Tiananmen Square, site of the democratic protest massacre in 1989. On the walls of the Forbidden City looking at Tiananmen Square is the large portrait of Mao Zedong. Locals venerated it pretty openly. The line to take a picture in front of it was way too long for me to even consider waiting. What I found interesting was the fairly obvious group of plain clothed police officers or security marshals who were staring people down intensely. They looked young, and I wondered if some of them were just local youths who were very loyal to the Party and the State and took it upon themselves to maintain order in this area. I walked through Tiananmen Square, having my bags searched and x-rayed prior to entering. There were still many signs, posters, flowers and other remnants of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. A long digital screen projected a video over and over, exclaiming the virtues of “Glorious China.” I have to admit, the country is pretty spectacular as I have seen it thus far, but they have a long way to go. Maybe they should spend some of that money they’ve been using to buy US treasuries and spend it on updating the decrepit sewer system… wait, no, please keep buying US treasuries, we need it.

I hopped on the subway, which is fantastic, and made my way to the Summer Palace. I was debating whether or not to see this place, and I am so glad I did. It is easily my favorite place in Beijing. The Summer Palace was built in the later dynasties as a residence for the Emperors. It is a bit outside the city center, but a new subway line goes directly there, score! From the front entrance, one walks past a small river with a few stores and houses around it. This tiny village was created to house servants and people who catered to the Summer Palace. It was quite idyllic, small and well kept. There were a series of stairs which led one up to a temple. This part of the palace was built in the Tibetan Buddhist style to remind the Emperor of his connection to Tibet. Since I will be going there in a couple of days, I’ll have the opportunity to see if it does resemble a Tibetan monastery. I walked across some of the rocks at the top, some of which had tunnels carved through them to connect different parts of the palace. Once I made it over the summit, I was treated to an absolutely spectacular view. There is a large temple, with about four tiers. It is surrounded by trees in different stages of autumn colors and looks down upon a large lake with the city of Beijing in the distance. The vista is absolutely magnificent. There was a sign to keep off the rocks, but hell, this was too beautiful of a sight not to take some good photos. So I jumped up on some rocks and took way too many photos. I was amazed that the sky was blue for the first time since I had been in Beijing, further contrasting spectacularly with the red and green temple. I just sat there for about 45 minutes and looked out at the view. I loved it. I started climbing down the stairs to the different levels of the Palace. There were a couple of brightly colored tea houses and walkways, giving the whole scene a storybook feel. The bright red, green and yellow pathways and houses each had intricate detail in the woodwork and painting. Smaller temples were propped up on rock outcroppings, looking over the water. Once at the bottom, I walked along the lakefront, surveying the view from below. It was equally magnificent. I was able to walk up from the bottom to the temple which I had seen from above. This was a temple designed and created by the Empress. Only she was allowed to use it. The were winding staircases to the top, with several huffing and puffing tourists struggling to get to the top. But once at the top, the view was, again, surreal.

I walked down, enjoying the views from different levels, and walked along the lake again. There was a procession of some older people dressed in traditional clothing, chanting something. It was very nice and calming. I walked to the other side of the lake where a bridge lined with over 40 lion statues connected to a small island. This island was calm and quiet, except for an occasional exclamation from children flying a kite near the bridge. It was great. I guess I could compare this to Central Park in New York. One can escape the craziness of the city in only a few places, with Central Park being one of them. It is a respite of green and calm in a city of grey and insanity. Similar is the Summer Palace in Beijing. Although it is not as central as the Park in New York, it really is a peaceful retreat in a city of hustle and bustle. If I lived here, I would definitely try to live near it or at least go jogging around the lake once in a while. It just made me so much happier with where I was.

As the sun set, I got back on the subway and headed for the Olympic Green. The 2008 Olympics still hold a lot of pride in the people of Beijing, and it is easy to see why. The Olympic Green was spectacular. A main road runs down the center with the Olympic Stadium, or Bird’s Nest (designed by Herzog and de Mueron), on one side and the Aquatic Center, or Water Cube, on the other. Both are spectacularly lit at night, making my decision to come here in the evening the correct one. There is also the Olympic Tower, a weird tripod of a building with eight colored triangles in the middle. It changes colors and lights up in different orders… I don’t know, kind of kitschy without the cool factor. Other than that, one can see how much work went into this site and how much of a show they wanted to put on for the world. There is an Olympic subway line that runs along the axis of the site which replays footage of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and the best wins of the Chinese. The whole area is incredible, and it makes me think that the Olympics should be given to cities which have something to prove. The Olympics help development, as is clear here, and I would rather see the international games aid development in Rio rather than Chicago. London should be an interesting case in 2012. I don’t know how they can possibly do better than Beijing, which had a centralized economy and government behind every move of the Beijing games. Good luck!

This is my last night in Beijing, and while it was an interesting visit, I am excited to go to Hong Kong. I cannot wait to see my friend Palin and check out a real, functioning city!

Day 38 – October 25 – Beijing

I was relieved to find out in the morning that my buddy from the night before had confirmed my tour to the Great Wall of China for this morning. He had called the bus company last night during our excursion to the bar, but, to be frank, I had no idea if he was just speaking into a cell phone which was turned off. So I was going to be picked up to do a tour of the Great Wall. Awesome. It was an early morning, dragging myself out of bed at 6:30 to get on the bus at 7:00am. I don’t think I described the bathroom of my room earlier. Supposedly I had been “upgraded” to a traditional Chinese room. This meant that my bathroom did not utilize more recent improvements like caulk or sealant. No, instead when I took a shower, water was everywhere, creating a small pool on the stone floor. Yeah, slipping on the floor was pretty easy, and I almost cracked my head open on the wall. Safety regulations have not been introduced in China, not at all. The water spilled out into the main room, which I had to mop up with my comforter. Hopefully there is housekeeping, and hopefully they don’t freak out when they see a small flood in my room.

I got on the bus when it arrived at the hotel. In total, we had 10 tourists (2 Brazilians, 2 Americans, 1 Russian, 2 Indians, 2 Singaporeans and myself). We had a local Chinese girl as our guide. Like most Chinese in the tourism industry, our guide had a Chinese name (Sunflower) and her chosen English name, Barbara. She said she liked it from US television shows. Barbara spoke in English to all of us, which was a slight issue, as the Russian girl spoke little to no English. I attempted to speak to her in French or Italian, but no, she only spoke Russian. This made things slightly difficult in the van. The first stop was the Tomb of the Ming Emperors. This stop was unexpected to me. When I spoke with my buddy the night before, I only expressed an interest in visiting the Great Wall, not any additional sites. I guess he was just selling a product and getting his cut, so I had the opportunity to see the Tomb, also. First off, I was not very impressed. The site contained numerous tombs which included both above ground and underground components. Similar to the ancient Egyptian tombs of the pharaohs, large, elaborate tombs were built on the surface to conceal the actual burial crypts which were buried deep beneath. It was interesting to see the furnishings and pottery sealed with the emperor’s crypt. There were a series of emperors from the Ming Dynasty who situated their tombs in this area, some with larger ones while others died young and had little more than a marble crypt. We walked down about 350 steps to get down to the most famous tomb, walked around for about 30 minutes, and then returned to the surface. Interesting, but I am not that excited about tombs. You died, great, everyone does. Having a deeper grave doesn’t make you much cooler. Pile a massive pyramid on top or have your surviving lover build you a mausoleum like the Taj Mahal, now that’s impressive.

After the Tomb we had lunch at a Chinese government licensed jade factory. Yup, total scam. We walked around, getting lecture on how the true great piece of jade is made from a mineral called jadeite, which is very rare and very hard. They typically are very uniform in color, compared to other types of jade which will have veins or spots of white. I actually think that makes it look cool, but what do I know? Most people in our group bought something from this place, and Barbara was doing all she could to push us towards purchasing items. Lunch was decent, rice, sweet and sour soup, spring rolls, noodles and citrus chicken. The best part was that we sat at a large round table with a lazy susan in the middle and serve the food family style. Some of these people really hadn’t been raised in a family style tradition. Food was everywhere, getting spilled left and right. Soups were sloshing over the sides of bowls and tea was a disaster. After we all cleaned up, we reboarded the bus for the Great Wall.

There are several different sections of the Great Wall which are open to tourists. The most famous is the Badaling section of the Wall which is closest to Beijing and, therefore, sees the most tourists. When world leaders are pictured on the Wall, this is the section they visit. It has been completely restored but is crowded with tourists. On the other end of the spectrum is the Jinshanling section of the Wall which has not been restored. One can walk 10 kilometers between the beginning and end, usually without passing too many other tourists. It is much farther from Beijing than Badaling, about a 3-4 hour drive. There are parts where the Wall is crumbling and weeds are growing along the path. This is the part that I wanted to visit, but the guy from the night before said it was closed this time of year due to inclement weather and structural safety issues. I should have known that was BS from the get go, there are no safety issues in China. Instead, I went to the Mutianyu section. It is a happy medium between the Badaling and Jinshanling sections. Most of it is restored, but one can see the original parts of the Wall at the ends of the walk. At the base of the Wall is a small tourist street where one can buy food, ice cream, hats, t-shirts, flags… really anything. I bought one of those big furry Mongolian hats which I thought was funny. When my parents went to China in the 90s, they brought these hats for my brother and me. Just another happy memory. To get to the Wall one can do a long walk up the hill, about 45 minutes, or take the chair lift, which is included in the ticket price. All of us chose to do the chair lift because we would rather spend the time walking up the Wall rather than walking up to the Wall. Before getting on the lift, Barbara asked me to walk with the Russian girl (we’ll call her Ruski from now on) and make sure she gets back to the bus when our two and a half hours on the Wall expire. Sure, no problem, Barbara, I’ll do your job for you. At the Wall, one can walk left or right. To the left is a long, winding path which leads down the most restored section of the Wall. To the right is a dramatic rise and fall of the Wall which ends with the Wall splitting into two unrestored sections. Ruski and I decided to go right. Well, to be honest, I wanted to go right and I dragged her behind me. The reason I wanted to go right was the smaller number of visible tourists. Since this section included some steep climbs, people with bad knees would not be able to do the walk. We hiked up and down, taking picture after picture along the way. The Wall is incredible. It winds along the crest of the mountain like a snake slithering through the grass. Towers along the way punctuate the Wall; each designed slightly differently to compensate for the changes in topography along the route. Some had staircases or ladders leading up to lookout points on top of the towers while others just had thin windows large enough to allow archers to shoot out at approaching Mongolians. It was quite a sight. We climbed all the way to the end of this section of the Wall, after a very steep set of stairs which were deteriorating by the day. Ruski was not having much of this, she wasn’t a fan of the stairmaster. At the end, we walked past the Do Not Enter sign to see the crumbling mass of the last tower. It was magnificent from this vantage. I was standing on nothing more than a pile of rubble, crumbling after hundreds of years of dereliction. I could picture the Chinese soldiers patrolling the Wall as cavalry from Mongolia raced towards Chinese land. The Great Wall is thousands of miles long and consistent in its strength and size. While some parts might be lower or thinner, no portion is by any means small. The Ruski was yelling at me in Russian, probably something to the extent of “Hey, this area is off limits and I want to go back, stupid Capitalist!” I took some more photos, enjoying the changing colors of the foliage which created an beautiful backdrop for the Wall. I think I picked the perfect time to visit this part of the world. The changing colors of the leaves added another dimension to all the views and the creeping cold kept away the hordes of tourists. From this extreme end of the Wall, there were very few tourists with us.

We walked back to the top of the chair lift, but decided we had about ten or fifteen more minutes to visit, so we did. We walked a bit farther and enjoyed the view from the other side. During the Culture Wars, a large sign, similar to the Hollywood sign in LA, was erected near this part of the Wall which said “Stay Faithful to Chairman Mao.” So, that is in the backdrop of most of my pictures. Wonderful. We wandered around for as long as I could before the Ruski really started to freak out. So we left. There were two options on the way down: chair lift or toboggan. Ruski decided to take the chair lift while I took the toboggan. Seriously, how often are you at the top of the Great Wall of China and have the opportunity to take a toboggan down to the base? Not often at all. So I did the ride. There is a long silver track which ran down the side of the hill and the actual toboggans were hinged in the middle, so if one pushed down on the front handle, one’s butt would lift up, disengaging the brake. If one didn’t push down, the hinged middle would drop, applying a brake. I flew down this thing, shooting video the entire way, until I realized that, as with most things in China, there was a traffic jam in the middle. So, from there, I slowly coasted down. It was fun, I would recommend it to anyone given the chance.

Back on the bus, we continued the journey down the road and back to Beijing. It was a long ride, about 2 hours or so. It was along a small river and the trees along the bank were bright red and yellow. It was great. I put in my earphones, listened to some good music (again, the soundtrack to my life), and enjoyed the ride back. Most people in the car were completely passed out. Then, when we were about 20 minutes outside the city, we stopped. Barbara got up, looked excited, and welcomed us to the silk factory. WTF? Silk factory? Completely unnecessary. I don’t need it, at all. So we went in, learned how they make silk clothes and silk duvets, and then were told we could buy them if we wanted. Really, can I!? I’ve always wanted a silk bathrobe! Wait, no, I really don’t want one. One of the Singaporeans bought a duvet and comforter for his daughter who had allergies. The rest of us just milled around until we could leave.

After that, I was ready to be done. It was an exhausting day of driving, getting in, getting out, see this, see that. I had been extremely pleased with the Great Wall, the rest I could have done without. When I got back to the hotel, I went for an evening walk around the walls of the Forbidden City. This would be my major attraction tomorrow.

Day 37 – October 24 – Shanghai – Beijing

I’m flying today from Shanghai to Beijing rather than taking the train because, although I do love train travel, above 4 hours it takes away too much time from my visits to cities. So, I got a China Southern flight out of Hongxiao airport to Beijing Capital (Peking) for pretty cheap. I did learn something this morning from this flight. Shanghai has two airports, Pudong is the primarily international airport while Hongxiao services domestic connections. Oh, yes, and the people of China have NO CLUE how to use a line. I mean, this place was nuts with throngs of people pushing everywhere. To be honest, it was not as bad as India, but this was an airport, in a major city. They should know better. Well, all the major Chinese carriers (Air China, China Southern, China Eastern, Dragon Air, etc) use the same check-in booths, so there is just one large mob of people pushing to get to the front. It took me about 45 minutes to check in for my flight, but more than that, I was just aggravated and tired and pissed off when I got to the front. But, I made it, I was on the flight, and they gave me milky sticky rice for breakfast, which was unfortunate, but I appreciated the thought. By 2pm I had arrived at my destination, Beijing airport.

I made my way to the airtrain to get to Beijing city-center. My hotel, the Red Wall Hotel, was located directly behind the Forbidden City and near public transportation lines. Unfortunately, after I transferred from the airtrain to the subway successfully, I exited the subway and started walking with my monster backpack towards the hotel in the wrong direction. 2.5 hours later, I arrived at the hotel, but I had seen most of the center of Beijing. My first impression? These buildings are massive with no sense of human scale. I remember Mr Portman, my Western Civilization teacher sophomore year at Loyola and intellectual mentor for this trip since he did something similar during his college years, telling us how when he saw the Pyramids at Giza, they bore no relation to the scale of humanity compared to, for example, the Parthenon in Athens. I would make the point this way: while the towers of Shanghai were incredibly tall, they were designed in an elegant, delicate fashion, whereas the buildings lining Beijing’s inner city were tall, wide, squat buildings with massive columns out front. They were imposing, foreboding. They were likely designed by Party officials to remind the population that the Party and Communist system were large and sturdy, in control. There was no missing these buildings and there was nothing elegant about them. They were ugly and loud, like drunk chicks at Spring Break, but at least you cannot pretend they are not there. Anyhow, I passed these buildings and checked into the hotel.

The assistant manager of the hotel was a young Chinese guy who had spent about 3 months doing an internship with a large US hotel chain in Washington D.C. He was interested in my perspective on the US, so asked if I wanted to go to a traditional Chinese acrobatic show. I said, sure, why not. We went and, while it was really interesting to see this kind of stuff, it was a complete tourist trap. It was a bunch of kids doing summersaults, flips, plate spinning, etc. The coolest was a guy who would balance on various large pipes, moving left, right, back and forward. It was really cool, and then he had a small girl balance on his head using only her head. That was cool, freakish, but cool. No wonder the Chinese won all those medals in the Olympics for gymnastics, they make these kids do absolutely freakish things from such a young age. My buddy from the hotel told me he had never been before, either, so he was impressed with the skill of the kids. The grand finale had the about 15 kids riding a bike around in a circle for a bit, which was oddly reminiscent of how people actually get around Delhi.

After the acrobatic show, we asked me if I wanted to go get a beer and something to eat. I said sure, I was game. I only requested that it was a local place as opposed to some kind of tourist trap, you know, like the trap I just left. He laughed and took me to a place with about three other patrons who were staring intently at a boxing match between a Chinese guy and a Filipino guy. We both ordered a plate of food, and he chose two starters. Then he chose two local Beijing beers, which came in the normal, non-US size of 660 centiliters, or about 2 US sized beers. He asked me if I liked to drink beer, to which I made a universally understandable face. Translation: yes, I like beer, and I bet I like it more than you. So we had a drinking contest, which was just unfair. The guy was like 22 years old and about 135 pounds, just tiny. I, on the other hand, have some experience downing beers. I mean, I’ve been US drinking for years, which is heavy on the beer and light on the wine, so good luck keeping up with me, my Chinese friend. The food was great. We had a fish and a chicken dish, with the chicken dish being very spicy. It was in a sweet and sour sauce, but with a kick. The fish was a whole fish which I had to pull apart myself, which is my favorite way to eat seafood. It should be very labor intensive, otherwise, where is the fun? The starters were seaweed and noodles, which were both good. The seaweed was surprisingly spicy and salty, at the same time, but went really well with the beer.

To make a long story short, I drank him under the table in the drinking contest. I knew I would. How did I objectively come to this conclusion? We each had five beers, but he went to the bathroom 5 times to my 2, and I had to literally drag him out of the bar. At a certain point, I was done, I wanted to get up early in the morning to see the Great Wall, and he was being pushy, wanting to have another beer and another beer. He was toast. He also tripped over a step and tried to grab one of the fish out of the aquarium next to the cash register. I was having a fantastic time watching this. It was a train wreck. At the end, I told him I would run into the bathroom real quick and meet him downstairs. Up until this point, I had an extremely favorable opinion of China. The public transportation was fast, efficient and clean. The airports worked. The hotel was nice enough for the price, and I did not have any issues walking around my area. Then I entered the bathroom at this local restaurant. I was disgusted. Inside was a long trough-style urinal and a small tiled wall behind it. As I walked in, I was almost knocked on my ass by the smell of urine and feces. Then, I look over to the tiled wall, and there was one of the boxing spectators, squatting over the whole in the floor which constitutes a toilet. He was also talking on his cellphone and making very loud grunts as he evacuated his system. I had two questions: (i) who was on the other line of that phone call and (ii) why could he not wait a couple of minutes before calling that person? I used the bathroom faster than I had ever used a bathroom before. I mean, I just had to get out of there it was so horrible. The stench was ungodly. Seriously, it smelled like rotten fish layered in vomit and poop. I would have rather smelled my own socks, but there is no way I am ever going to be barefoot in Beijing after seeing this. So, in the end, I loved the food, defended my drinking ability, and decided that China should not be accepted into the community of civilized nations until every one of its “world cities” dumps the hole and installs a porcelain toilet… with stalls. That and Glad Plugins for the stench. Then, I will take it completely seriously.

Day 36 – October 23 – Shanghai

Shanghai is all about architecture. The city has grown into the financial capital of China, marginalizing the importance of Hong Kong since its handover from British to Chinese rule in the late 90s. I find the city a bit strange, since it is both vertical and horizontal. It is a massively sprawling city, with a vast population, but the business center is massive and vertical. The tallest building in building in China is located in Shanghai, the World Financial Center. The skyscrapers are brightly lit, some with large screens covering an entire side of the structure. Shanghai gives one the feeling that it has something to prove, that it is trying desperately to become accepted as a world-class city. I already think it is, but only time will tell if the financial world accepts it completely over Hong Kong.

We arrived in Shanghai a little after noon. I had to go through customs, getting off a direct train from the Special Administrative Region (SAR) of Hong Kong. It took me around 15 minutes to get through customs, which I thought was pretty funny. I looked gross and smelled worse. After 18 hours on a train, alternatively sleeping and sitting up and doing nothing in the same clothes, I was looking rather unkempt. But, the nice people at Chinese customs eventually let me through to explore their lovely country.

I’ve been trying to use public transportation wherever I go, primarily buses, trains and subways. After that extended train ride, I decided I earned a taxi ride. So I jumped into the first unmarked, illegal taxi I could find, haggled down to 25 Yuan (just north of $4), and sped off to the hotel. I wouldn’t call this hotel a splurge, but it definitely wasn’t a hostel. Hostels in Shanghai are awful, I have been told, so I put in for a hotel in the shopping district of the city. I cleaned up, showered, and sent some laundry to the cleaners. I also logged on to my laptop to find that Facebook, my blog (Blogger through Google), and various other sites were inaccessible. This is what some commentators have referred to as the Great Red Wall, an effort by the Chinese government to block content it deems subversive to the regime. Great, I won’t be able to update the blog for a while (but of course you know this if you are reading at the moment…). I was able to Skype with my mom and dad, however, which was nice. It’s always good to talk with them, especially when it is free and includes video!

I grabbed my camera and walked through the city. I don’t know that much about Shanghai, or what there is to see, so I decided to just walk towards The Bund, the area I do know about. But we’ll get to that. I walked down one of the main boulevards, passing several new glass and steel hotel/retail developments. It looks like a city has been grown in a matter of days: hotel, shopping mall, office building, repeat. So far, I hadn’t seen anything to impress me or show showcase what is culturally unique about Shanghai. I had just passed about 8 McDonald’s and 7 KFCs. Where is all the Shanghai crab?

I arrived at the People’s Park, a kind of Union Square of Shanghai. The modern art museum is located adjacent to the park, and there is very interesting interplay between modern and colonial architecture in the area. There was one very intriguing tower which looked like a spear, a main tower with an enlarged pointed top, that rose above an old colonial-style clock tower. Very interesting. I walked around the park for a while before getting stopped by three Chinese people, probably in their late 20s. As usual, I was rocking out to my iPod, so they made a motion at me, and I removed my headphones. Are you American, they asked. I nodded, and asked how they knew. I had been wearing sunglasses (it was around 4:30pm and the sun was low in the sky) and they said that they had been told that Americans always wear sunglasses, no matter if there is sun or not. I laughed, and agreed. I told them that it is a law in the US that everyone needs to wear sunglasses between 9 am and 5pm to protect against blindness. Wow, they said, really? No, I’m kidding, I replied, I just like sunglasses. They laughed. We talked for a bit about where they were from (north of Beijing) and how they had come to Shanghai for holiday since it is warmer than the North. They asked me about California and New York, about what I thought about China, and about President Obama. They said they were very impressed with him. Great, I’m a fan, too. They thought it was funny that I had come to Shanghai. As they put it “there is no Chinese culture here.” Interesting, glad I’m just doing a night then. They said all the culture I will want to see is in Beijing. They gave me some good ideas of sites to see in Beijing, which I appreciated. We split up, and I thanked them for their ideas and complimented their fantastic English.

After the park I walked through the main shopping street, choosing not to enter any of the stores since I really don’t need anything and these stores will not be selling the type of souvenirs I am interested in purchasing. I finally arrived at The Bund, the pedestrian walkway on the riverbank. Unfortunately, the entire strip is being cleaned, renovated and updated for the World Expo in 2010. Honestly, I do not really know what the Expo is, other than a continuation of the World Fairs, which dropped into obscurity after Montreal’s Expo in the 70s. But Shanghai and the Chinese tourism board has advertised this thing to death. There was a countdown clock in the hotel, along the street, and also at the airport. They are marketing this as Shanghai’s answer to the Beijing Olympics. So, The Bund was closed. Fantastic. And it is the best vantage point to view the Central Business District across the river. I walked to the tourist tunnel, what I thought was a pedestrian walkway beneath the river connecting the two sides of the city. No, this was (1) a tourist trap and (2) just plain ridiculous. A tunnel was dug under the river, and some genius probably said, hey, instead of just having a walkway or a normal subway line, how about we install a purpose built, slow as hell, people mover with some glow sticks and Christmas lights stapled to the walls of the tunnel? We’ll call it, the Shanghai Experience! So you pay an exorbitant amount, walk down about 75 steps to a super heated and humid waiting area, and board a tram with glass walls. People are pushing their way to the front, excited to see what comes next! I thought, maybe they’ll have something playing overhead talking about the history of Shanghai or current events in China. No. This was like Space Mountain at Disneyland on crack. The slow moving tram starts through a tunnel lit up in circles which turn on and off quickly, probably inducing seizures in some unfortunate souls. Then, overhead, you hear random words like “Cobalt” and “Fiery Lava” which are accompanied by weird shapes and colors projected on the walls of the tunnel. There is a screen with whales swimming on it which lifts up as the tram approached, and those waving arm inflatable tube people stuck in the middle, so the tram runs right over them. It is just weird. Flashing lights and colors, balloons getting plowed and random words does not make for a pleasant or enlightening experience. No, I just couldn’t wait to exit the weird tunnel of horrors and get to the other side of the river.

I got out and immediately saw the TV Tower, a large structure with two large, purple orbs separated by a tower in between, resting on a tripod. It is a huge structure, and quite striking, reminiscent of the Space Needle in Seattle or the CN Tower in Toronto. It is well lit, a necessary trait in a city of lights brighter than Vegas. The line to take the elevator to the top was very long, circling the base of the tower twice. I walked down to the waterfront, looking across to The Bund which had previously been obstructed from view. From this vantage point, the promenade was lined with stately Colonial buildings, well lit in soft white, a departure from the garish colorful lighting of the new CBD. This is a beautiful view. I continued walking, passing about 35 Japanese and Chinese people who had dutifully lined up with tripods and cameras awaiting the perfect time to capture their photos of Shanghai’s waterfront. I don’t have a tripod, I just make due. And, I have been satisfied with my photos thus far. I walked past several McDonald ice cream stands, which seem to be popular, and a Hagen Daaz café, which was packed with people, on my way to the monumental towers of the CBD. It took about 10 minutes to get from the waterfront to the two tallest towers in Shanghai. Looking straight up at these behemoths, I was amazed. They are fantastic examples of modern architecture. The lines are clean but create this sense of twisting as they reach towards the sky. It was all really cool, if a little soulless.

I walked back to the hotel, stopping at a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on the way. Ice Blendeds are yummy.

Day 35 – October 22 – Hong Kong - Shanghai

I took the Cathay Pacific red-eye from Delhi to Hong Kong. The flight was okay. The plane was older than all the other Cathay Pacific flights I had been on, I guess this route is not a priority for the airline. I did sleep, a lot, though.

Upon arriving, I went through Hong Kong customs, which is a breeze. Really no problems at all. I booked it to the post office inside the airport, where I was able to ship that carpet home for a very cheap price. It was only about $40 to ship a 9 kilo package. Hopefully it will get to the US. They said it could take up to two months, which is fine. I will just be getting back to LA in two months.

I took the airport express to Kowloon Station, where I transferred to a shuttle bus which took me to Hum Hung station, the main train station in Hong Kong. There I bought a train ticket to Shanghai. This is not what you could really call a high-speed train in the tradition of the Shinkansen in Japan or the TGV in France. No, this is more of a put-put train. It only leaves every other day for Shanghai since the train actually takes 18 hours to travel between the two cities. I splurged and got one of the “soft-sleeper” cars with only four berths rather than the cushion-less option with six berths. I did not want to be the lone man with a family of five sharing the same room. That just doesn’t sound positive. So I boarded the train and found out that I was only sharing the cabin with a middle-aged Chinese woman who spoke no English. We were cordial to each other. I smiled, helped her with her bag, and she nodded back. We both got ourselves situated, and she went out to explore the train. I got more comfortable, taking off my boots and using the extra pillow and blanket from the empty bed to create a makeshift chair on my bed so I could read and type. When she came back, she lay in her bed for about four minutes before exiting, again. She came back quickly, sat down, faced me, and said “excuse me, your shoes… smell… terrible.” I freaked out. Dear god, my boots smell that bad that she had to exit the cabin, ask a stranger who speaks English how to translate, and then deliver it with such… vitriol? I quickly grabbed them and stashed them above us in a small closable compartment in the wall. She nodded, satisfied, and went to bed. In my own defense, she had the smelliest food I have ever had the displeasure to whiff, and her own shoes smelled pretty horrible themselves.

So, that was how the train ride went. We didn’t speak to each other, we just both watched the scenery speed by, going from the sea to hills and mountains. It was a nice ride, no major starts or stops. Next stop, Shanghai.

Day 34 – October 21 – Delhi/Agra, India – Hong Kong, China

We woke up bright and early to see one of the most famed sites in the world, the Taj Mahal in Agra. Not to ruin the surprise for you, but getting there is long, arduous, and not very interesting.

The American guy we met the day before, Rich, decided to join us, so our car went from two to three Americans. We got out of the hotel, to the car, and started out. Unfortunately, we really didn’t start for another hour. We had to go to a travel agency on the other side of Delhi to get a hotel voucher for Tim. Tim had asked the travel agent repeatedly if he could get all of this worked out prior to our departure so we would not take any time away from the Taj Mahal. Yeah, that didn’t work. The travel agent was full of, excuse my French, merde. So, we started out the drive at 7, not 6 am. But we did get a nice view of some highways we haven’t traveled yet. Score?

Then, we start the drive and hit traffic almost immediately. For about 45 minutes, we moved a mere 1/4 of a mile. There was no traffic light, and the people have NO CLUE how to drive unless someone is telling them exactly how to do it. Not only that, but all the drivers lay on the horn the entire time. Honk Honk HONK!!! It was aggravating to say the least. It was difficult to sleep with the drive really leaning hard on the brake and the horn. But its okay, we are going to see the Taj Mahal! Then the driver makes a pit stop, halting the car almost in the middle of nowhere, getting out, and walking to a small hut in the road. That is when the car is surrounding by people trying to sell us crap. And this was crap. Buddha and Hindu statues, wallets, elephants carvings, bracelets, and all manners of medallions and postcards. The best was the snake charmer, who opened a basket and played a flute. The cobra sprang to life, rising up, moving from side to side, and then settling back into the basket. It was actually cool to see. They tried to get us to buy this crap or pay for the show, but we didn’t even flinch. No, nothing for you. We are not going to support the preying on hapless tourists just because you can. When the driver got back, we told him never to do that again. We have no interest in buying crap on the road.

So, next stop, Taj Mahal! Not really, we went to breakfast. Or, at least, the driver wanted us to eat. We weren’t hungry, so we just sat by the car while the driver ate his breakfast. Two men who were standing at the front to the driveway came running up to us, dragging two sacks behind them. But, those sacks were actually monkeys, dressed up in costumes and with make-up on them. One was a girl and the other a boy, and when the men clapped, they would jump up and down, like frat boys at a Sir Mix-a-Lot concert. It was really sad. The animals just looked depressed. I would be, too, if someone dressed me in a tutu and told me to jump for the foreigners. I only jump up and down for snicker bars. We bought some overpriced water and then got back in the car. Fine, we told the driver, you are full, now get us to Agra.

We arrived in the city around 11am, ready to see the Taj Mahal. But the driver first tried to get us to let him pick up his friend, a “free” tour guide. This was it. NO. We have no interest in a tour guide. He is useless to us. So, no tour guide. The driver dropped us off and the top of the walkway to the Taj Mahal, and said he would return to retrieve us in 2 and a half hours. After rebuffing three more tour guides, we got into the main plaza before the security check. You may only bring in yourself, your camera, cellphone and a bottle of water provided with your admission. Rich and I were hungry and noticed some nutrigrain bars left behind at the security check. They were still in the original wrapper, so we grabbed them, much to the chagrin of the security guard, and we just downed the suckers. They were good and very necessary.

Upon entering, we walked through a tunnel before the Taj Mahal. I was ready for it. I walked through the tunnel and entered into the grounds with a view of the mausoleum in its full glory. Words cannot describe the majesty of this structure. It is breathtaking, glittering white in the strong sunlight. The whole layout is perfect, with the long reflecting pool mirroring the building in its calm waters. As I sit here and try to come up with words to express my thoughts, I am stunted. I don’t have anything. I have been looking so forward to this moment, expectations were sky high, and they were met, nay, exceeded. This building is a concrete poem, a song which has taken form. It is meticulous in its perfection, blinding in its magnitude. The only thing I think is close to this is the Vatican in Rome. Similarly, it is large, but not imposing like the Pyramids in Egypt. It is of human scale, but just barely. Maybe in its uniform white color does it give us an impression of simplicity, because it obviously isn’t simple. It is as complex as the space shuttle. It is an illusion, trickery on the mind to make one think that it is simple. Because it is utterly perfect, the mind cannot comprehend anything other than its perfection. Well, this building is perfect, of course, what else would they do? Isn’t it obvious? This is the perfect structure… there is no other option or alternative. It is what it is.

The one funny aspect of the Taj Mahal is entering the mausoleum on the interior. The door is small leading into the center, but the people have no semblance of a line. No, they push and shove, trying to fit 10 people through a door that can barely fit two people. Near the front, I saw an older Indian woman struggling to exit. I helped her through, letting her cut me. She immediately grabbed for three people behind me. No way, I was helping you, stop pushing MORE people in front of me. So I pushed her through, cut off her three cohorts, and got out. Damn, figure it out, people. Use a line!

We walked around the grounds for over two hours, taking pictures, again, with locals and taking pictures of me doing stupid things in front of the Taj Mahal. I loved it. It was, as I said, perfect. We left, dropping Tim off at his hotel in Agra, and started back to Delhi airport, for me, and Delhi train station, for Rich. The traffic was horrendous. There was no line, no lanes and no method to the madness, but we got back. It took six hours, and I was barely on time for my flight, but we got back. I was happy with the day. It taught me that some things meet and surpass expectations. It was great, a lot of fun. We had some ridiculous interactions with each other and with the driver along the way, getting aggravated and tired with the wheeling and dealing. By the end, I think he respected us because we refused to be pushed around like normal Westerners. So I learned something, let the driver eat, but tell him not to pick up the guide. He’ll still get you there all the same, but boundaries are set.

Another thing I learned: Sometimes, it’s about the journey, not the destination. Not today, it was all about the destination.