Culture Shock Redux

I am writing this little update from inside a shopping mall at the base of an apartment building in Hong Kong. There are serveral places where you can get free internet for 15 or 20 minutes. Long enough to write in installments...but photos will have to wait.



I endured a very long trip from Vancouver to Hong Kong that included a 4 hour layover in Tokyo's international airport. I arrived safely and after some wandering around Hong Kong's airport for about 15 minutes after clearing immigration, I eventually found the kiosk for the shuttle bus to the hotel I had reserved for my first night here. It was a great little hotel with a glass wall in the bathroom so that I could look over the mountains and the Ngong Ping gondola while I showered. Bathrooms encased in glass seem to be more common than they should be here.



I admit that my sojourn at the airport hotel and in the suburbs of the city did not adequately prepare me for the inevitable culture shock that I encountered when I took the MTR in the old city and tried to find Adam's office with Jerry who held the key to the apartment. The little office smells like a brewery since a good third of the floor spaces was occupied with cases of Beer Lao. The security guards gave me the absolute strangest look when I wandered in there with my giant backpack with the giant Canadian flag on it. They were so convinced that I was a lost backpacker that I had to show them Adam's printout email and point to the office number on the board before they smiled and let me in.

After picking up the key I took a taxi to the apartment and I have to say that even with a map, the address and detailed instructions with landmarks given to me by Adam, we still couldn't find the apartment. I got a little freaked out when the cabbie asked me if I was staying there alone so I asked him to let me off anywhere and I would find it by foot. I blame a serious lack of sleep and food that lead to that. Also, one should never allow one's cousins to make one watch a movie about women being kidnapped and sold into the slave trade while travelling prior to ... well travelling. After Jerry convinced me that I wasn't going to get kidnapped I decided to walk around the trendy SOHO district and look for dinner. I did eventually find it in the form of a very spicy thai soup and salad. I read a book and tried to ignore that everyone in the restaurant was watching me. In fact, since I'm staying out of the tourist area this time around, I am finding that I am getting stared at a lot. Not used to that at all.

The next day was spent looking for an adaptor to charge my cell phone and camera battery and it took me to the bustling Mong Kok district. An extremely dense and too crazy to be believed area where you can get pretty much anything from T shirts to frying pans to cell phones to Nike shoes. After finding the adaptor and searching the malls in vain for my favorite clothing chain store, I went back to the apartment. Even though I have a lot of choices for transit...double decker buses with comfortable seats and air conditioning, and those crazy little toon town mini buses, I prefer the tram. There is a single streetcar track that runs along the bustling historical section of Hong Kong island. It is slow, rickety and hot and sticky but I love it because it goes so slowly that I can actually see where I am going and where I need to get off ... Whitty street...it take me about 10 minutes to get to the Sheung Wan MTR station from my place. It also kind of reminds me of the charming inefficiency of the TTC back in Toronto. This whole experience is mine for only 2 HK dollars (about 30 cents).

Saturday evening I met Barb and Ann for dinner and wandered around Mong Kok a bit. I woke up at 5:30 am (as I have every day since I got here) and visited tourist information before meeting up with some of the AYJ Global teachers and headed out to the beach at Shek O on the south side of the island. This particular beach reminds me a lot of Wasaga beach near Toronto because it is where all the 20-somethings go to strut around and splash and scream in the water. We bought some beach mats, rented an umbrella and relaxed for a couple of hours. There are some fantastic waves and breakers at that beach and I had a great time people watching and riding those waves. Again people were staring at me and it took me some time to realise that it wasn't only because I was a foreigner but also because I could swim. I felt pretty bad for a man from Pakistan who waded out as far as he dared and felt the surf, but could not surrender to it.

For dinner we had some decent sea food and I had a first-rate freak out when one of the creepy things almost touched me arm with it's tendrils. I am pretty sure I screamed and nearly jumped onto Barb's back. I am such a wimp. But people who know me should actually be proud that I went into that fish market at all.

Yesterday I took the ferry to Lamma island and survived 2 hours in the extreme heat before going home, showering and going out to Soho for dinner. Lamma is about a half hour ferry ride from Central and there are no cars allowed anywhere on the island. There are several islands with no cars. There are however little diesel powered carts that transport goods around the village. There is a stunning beach and beautiful, family-friendly walking trails all over the island and linking the two major villages. I think it would be an easier place to visit in slightly more temperate weather when the 90 minute walk would be more comfortable.

After dinner I met up with Jerry and chatted a bit with him and the Nepalese owner of the little bar hiding in the north-east corner of the SOHO district. That area is a terrific place for people watching.

That's all for now. Perhaps if the typhoon continues to intensifies as it seems to be, I will have a chance to write more soon.

That's all for now.
Leslie