Hong Kong, China: This Doesn't Feel Like China

Hong Kong should really be its own country.  Nothing inflammatory here, but it is completely different from the rest of China.  I basically used Hong Kong as my leap pad out of China, as flights from Hong Kong were incredibly cheap to my next destination (to be revealed - obviously there need to be some fun surprises on the blog! I'm sure nobody cares that much, but humor me).

I've been to Hong Kong a couple times in the past, so I've seen a lot of the big sights already - Victoria Peak, that giant sitting Buddha statue, fancy dim sum, the street markets, Macau, those outdoor elevators that go up the side of the mountain, etc.  So this time around, I just did one of those I'm-not-going-to-see-all-the-sights-I'm-just-gonna-relax-and-enjoy-the-city for a day and a half.  

And it was great, because in Hong Kong I got the appreciate the little things that make it not like China: no one spits in the streets, everyone is able to speak English, GOOGLE WORKS again (as well as Facebook and Instagram and Gmail and everything else that was blocked in China), I didn't see people's bare feet being put all over everything (HUGE. THIS IS HUGE), and everything just felt a step above the "everyone's trying to rob me blind" feeling that you feel so often in China.

What It's All About:

Hong Kong is part of China, but it is not part of China. It feels kind of like an Asian New York - you have your numerous neighborhoods that are all different, some grittier than others, but it's generally a huge gleaming fancy mega city.  There's a different currency than China (HK dollars!), and there's different visa rules than China: you can enter HK without a visa if you're American (but not China) and Chinese people need visas to enter HK.  Last important difference, since it used to be a British colony (until its handover in 1997! SO RECENT), they call all the elevators "lifts."  

Um look at the nighttime skyline view of Hong Kong. We're definitely not in China anymore, Toto.

Cliffnotes of the Day:

• My 2 night/1 day foray into Hong Kong, as told in pictures:

Landing into civilization! (Jokes. All jokes, I swear)

Checked into my hostel and then wandered out in the evening to the Temple Street Night Market

Everybody was sitting outside and eating spicy crabs

I love night markets. The price inflation here is crazy - some lady offered me a bracelet I was looking at for 70 HKD, and I walked away (the "walk away" method of bargaining is #1 best ever) and she chased me down and I ended up getting it for 20 HKD.

Oops, how did this end up here. Eh, you might as well see it. I think the pillow on the night bus in Kunming might have had fleas or bedbugs or something, because I had a weird line of bites up my neck. #Charming.  Please let me into your homes when I get back.

The view over Nathan Street (one of the busiest and most happening streets) in Kowloon, as seen from my hostel.  A lot of hostels here are in apartment buildings - mine was weirdly in 4 separate rooms on 4 separate floors of an apartment building. Front and center is a big mosque.

• Day 1! I got coffee/breakfast with a girl from the hostel, then headed into Hong Kong island to wander around.  From what I've learned, Hong Kong is kind of like NYC - Hong Kong island is like Manhattan (and is actually an island!), where all the financial district and fancy things are.  Across the harbor is Kowloon, which is kind of like Brooklyn/Queens - it's got tons of stuff to see and hang out and do too, and things are slightly more affordable but people on Hong Kong island kind of are like, "Ohhh Kowloon" with an air of "you're not as good as we are" if you live there instead of HK island.  And they don't like to have to haul themselves out to Kowloon. I hate to say that I totally kind of get this...

I got myself a bag of egg tarts at a famous egg tart bakery called Tai Cheong Bakery. I had it in mind that I was gonna share with others. Right.

I like how random everything is! Like next to a major financial tower, a weird street cart selling hair ties and flags.

I am not proud to admit (ok I AM proud to admit), but I went to Starbucks to use their free WiFi to bang out some blog posts and found out that the WiFi code on the receipt only lasts for 30 minutes! (WTF Starbucks, I know you have more than enough money to provide free unlimitless WiFi!)  So I maybe went to the counter and gathered all the receipts left behind by other people and used all their WiFi codes so I could sit and blog in peace. #homeless

I got lost in the subway station and ended up in a fancy mall. Which reminded me exactly of Columbus Circle (it's a shopping center in NYC, get with the program), down to the fancy famous chef-sponsored open seating restaurant overlooking the foyer.

I like this ferris wheel. I want to ride it.

• Then I rode the Star Ferry, the best deal in all of Hong Kong. It's the ferry boat between Hong Kong and Kowloon, and it provides maybe the most beautiful view of Hong Kong Harbour (spelled the British way, ATTENTION TO DETAIL folks), and it's still the same price it's always been since back in the day, which is around $0.50 USD.  And it took me back to the slum of Kowloon, where I was staying. Just kidding. About the slum part, not the part where I ended up back in Kowloon.  Anyhow. IT'S LIKE RIDING THE STATEN ISLAND FERRY FOR CHEAP-O AND GETTING A GORG-O VIEW OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY. HONG KONG REALLY IS NEW YORK, example #230.
• And then it was perfect because the ferry drops you off right where you can get ridic amazing postcard views of Hong Kong from across the harbour.  

Views like this, complete with red junket boat. 

There is a "light show" every night at 8pm, which everyone makes a huge deal over and people crowd the harbour to watch - and not to be a hater, but really only one building participates in the light show. Like it stands there and blinks crazily to the music, and the rest of the 99 buildings are just like "meh" and do nothing.

Sweaty.

Then I returned to the hostel, met a new hostel friend named Julie from Boston, and we went to dinner right around the corner at a hole-in-the-wall, Michelin-starred dumpling place.

It was so hyped up that there was only one kind of dumpling left (some kind of black truffle dumpling or something). So I bought two. And a watermelon juice. It was delicious.

• Julie and I went and mingled back in the hostel - I had intentions of going to bed so I could leisurely get up and pack and head to the airport for my mid-day flight, but it turns out Thursday nights are Ladies' nights! Which means free drinks at a lot of places! Maybe we'll just go out for one drink...

Our first stop was a Pokemon-themed club - we only stayed for 10 minutes because one of the guys couldn't get in, but that was ok because all Julie and I wanted were the free Pikachu ears. CHECK.

Hong Kong is expensive (NYC, IS THAT YOU) - so everyone goes to the 7-11 and buys drinks and drinks them on the street outside

Ladies' night! Is that a drink you had to purchase with your own money, guy next to me?? THAT'S UNFORTUNATE.
Really though, these are friends from the hostel whose names I have forgotten but the girl is from Canada and the boy is from Australia, and that's all I know.

The crazy party nightlife - we went to Hong Kong island to go out.....because HK = Manhattan....you know

And then Julie and I didn't want to pay for an exorbitant taxi back to Kowloon and the subway had stopped running for the night, and the pizza man Julie bought her 2am pizza from on the street goes "just take the minibus over there! It'll take you to Kowloon!"  So we ended up randomly on this minibus with no idea where it'd drop us off. It was a steal. It was 1/10 the price of a taxi and it even had this classy sign inside it!

• And with that, comes the end of my mini-Hong Kong adventure!  It was perfect.  

Farewell, China!

Larger picture-wise, this actually marked the end of my China adventures (even though I've made it very clear, I'm sure, that HK hardly counts)!  I feel like I need to write a good-bye ode to China.

In general though, I know I expressed certain displeasures (mostly jokingly, I swear!) with a lot of parts of this country.  And it is all true, I don't take it back: the people, in general, are shockingly rude. There is definitely a lack of decorum, especially in public. Waiting in lines is an exercise in futility, and if done long enough, will definitely drive you insane.  Cleanliness levels are often questionable.  It's exceedingly hard to get around - you can't find a single person who speaks English, and there are minimal (and I mean minimal) facilities to help you if you don't speak Chinese.  The toilets will make you cry (especially if you encounter the public ones, which basically consist of a long ditch and no doors and you're expected to squat over the ditch, all while you literally see everyone else's business running down said ditch).  And there are way, way too many people. Pushing. Shouting. Elbowing. Everywhere. At all times.

But that comes with the territory. And the sights, the unbelievable beauty in some parts of the most populated country in the world, make it all worth it.  There's something beautiful about going somewhere that feels totally off the regular tourist grid. So many parts of China are pretty inaccessible unless you A.) join a tour group, or B.) speak Chinese.  And for being able to fall into the latter is something that makes me feel incredibly lucky.  China is a totally different world.  And when you go, you immerse yourself fully in that world. There's no coddling or only getting to see the "tourist face" of the country, or anything else. You dive in, headfirst (really you're thrown in, if I'm being accurate).  And in spite of all the crazy things you're not used to, there is a certain marvel, or the constant feeling of being in complete awe when you see all the things you get to see, and know all the things that has made the country what it is.  For me, getting to stand on the Great Wall and see its massive scale and how it winds over hilltops and mountains as far as you can see - or taking in the thousands and thousands of life-size stone warriors in rows with insane amounts of detail on every one, just because an emperor thought it'd help him in the afterlife - or standing on top of a mountain that looks exactly like a Chinese painting, with equal parts fog, craggy stone, and trees - or wandering through insane football-field sized gardens dotted with pagodas and lakes and picturesque bridges and knowing it used to be an important official's personal garden, just bc he wanted a nice place to chill - and then adding in the vast, ridiculous, drama-filled, rich history of it all - it is truly a country that is not only awe-inspiring, but leaves you speechless. Seriously. There are sometimes no words. 

I spent 6 weeks in China in total.  It may have meant a little more to me because it's the homeland of my homeland, and it was wild for me just to walk around and be like "omg this is where my people are from. In another life, I could have been born here. I could be related to some of these people. Except for that one spitting over there, obviously he and I share no genetics at all" (I am digressing here).  But getting to spend the time to experience China and live it and get to know it was a huge blessing on this trip for me. It was one of the richest experiences I've gotten to have, and I am beyond appreciative of the opportunity. China is a truly amazing place.  Children peeing in the streets included.

I promise I'm done now! Sorry for the novel.  Bye, China! I'll see you in the future again at some point, I'm sure, but for now - I'm moving on to the last dregs of my adventure!

Lijiang, China: Disasterland. But Still Pretty

Maybe it's not fair that I call Lijiang "Disasterland," because every disaster that befell me there was maybe kind of my own fault.


What It's All About:
Lijiang is a super-old, World Heritage city that is incredibly historic and pretty.  It has an ancient system using waterways that is still in use today - making it one of the original water villages. More importantly, it is just one of those places that you enter and feel like you're in a different world. Much of the old architecture and such has been preserved because it is a World Heritage Site, so you can really get an actual feel of how it used to be.

Wandering the streets of the old city = dreamy

With its preserved status, however, there is also one tiny downfall - tourists, tourists everywhere.  Along with that comes all the cons of having a high-tourist area - you actually have to pay a hefty fee to enter the old city itself, and many of the old buildings have been converted to tourist shops and cafes.  If you can get over that part of it, however, Lijiang is seriously the prettiest.

You can't hate on these lovely (algae-filled) canals

Sliiiiiight problem with my time in Lijiang was that a series of travel disasters befell me, all at the same time, and all in Lijiang.

Disaster #1:

• My bus into Lijiang from Dali was late. It's only about 2.5 hours, but I had booked the latest bus, meaning I didn't roll into town until about 11pm.  I took a taxi to the outskirts of Old Town, but had to walk to the hostel because cars aren't allowed in the entire Old Town complex (which is quite large).  I had the location of the hostel on my maps, but unbeknownst to me, it had pinned the wrong location.
• 30 minutes later, I was hopelessly lost. Not to mention on a dark road with no cars (aka other taxis I could take).  I finally located a parking attendant playing on his phone, had him call my hostel for me on his phone, and then got instructions on where to go to get a new taxi to the hostel (apparently I was beyond walking distance by that point). When I finally got to a lit area where there were taxis, the first two that approached tried to rip me off because of how late it was. I finally located one that was reasonably priced, and had her call my hostel to figure out where to take me. It was seriously over an hour later....and she dropped me off at the exact same spot my first taxi had dropped me an hour earlier.  I had been in the right spot, but had taken the wrong turns. The owner of the hostel met me at the taxi this time to ensure I wouldn't be lost. Sorry, mister - I'm sure you have better things to be doing at midnight (he assured me it happens all the time since they're located wrong on the map).

Despite being dark and lost, I still had time to appreciate how pretty the city was....??

Disaster #2:

• The next morning, I had made plans with a couple girls at the hostel to get brunch. I also had to book a bus out of Lijiang back to Kunming, and went down to the front desk to get that sorted quickly before brunch. Upon having to pay for the bus, I looked into my wallet.....and couldn't find my ATM card. Or my credit card. Both. Missing.
• Panic.
• Panic some more.
• These poor girls I had just met were waiting for me for brunch, and I was running around upending all my things and rummaging through everything and ranting about missing both my cards. I retraced my steps and realized that I don't think my last hostel in Dali had returned my credit card after I'd paid the room fee.  I had the front desk of my new hostel call my old hostel to check for my card.  AND THEY HAD IT.  (Apparently, the lady at my old hostel had been like "what does her card look like?? We have so, so many of them here!"  THEY HAVE A HABIT OF FORGETTING TO RETURN CREDIT CARDS. Seriously, that hostel was a hot, hot mess.  Even hotter of a mess than I sound like right here).  
• My old Dali hostel worked out that they had a guest who was headed to Lijiang this day - they said they'd send along the card with that guest, and I could meet him at the Lijiang bus terminal. But I had to come back to the hostel at 1pm and call him to make sure it was ok and work out logistics.
• So I went to brunch. Then I had to run to the Bank of China across town to get some of my emergency USD changed to Chinese Yuan because I had no cash left, no credit card, and no ATM card (the girls came with me. They are angels).  

Disaster #3:

• I ran back to the hostel at 1pm to call my old hostel to talk to the guest that was headed to Lijiang - and SMALL WORLD, it ended up being Chen, the guy who was on my lake tour in Dali the day before! I know Chen! I'm WeChat friends with Chen! We made plans to meet at the bus station at 5pm when he got in. Problem is, I don't have a Chinese phone and couldn't reach him if the bus was late (and he had to head to the Lijiang airport directly from the bus station to catch a flight), or if we had problems meeting up or anything. It was so nerve-wracking.
• Of course, around 5pm, my taxi driver on the way to the bus terminal sneakily took a loop to pick up other customers and made me late to go meet Chen at the bus station.  I seriously almost lost it at him but he kept lowering the price of my taxi and assured me I'd be on time. (Spoiler: I wasn't).
• I flew into the bus terminal about 10 minutes late - no bus to be found. I asked around - and the man said the bus from Dali had arrived a long time ago. Apparently it'd gotten in early.
• Panic.
• Ran around like a homeless person until I finally found a lady willing to lend me her phone (seriously, I've learned that when you approach a stranger in China and use your heavily accented Chinese to ask to borrow their phone to make a call, they either look at you like you're an axe murderer, or they pretend not to hear you and scoot away).  I called Chen, freaking out because I thought he'd left because he had a really tight plane to catch.  
• AND RELIEF. Turns out Chen's flight was delayed (THERE IS A GOD. I KNOW THERE IS) and so he was just next door having noodles.  And then there he appeared, with my credit card in hand!  ANGELS.
• ATM card is still missing. I think I lost it in Shanghai.  But I have a backup because I am a prepared (yes still somehow disastrous) traveler!  So all's well that end's well.  Back to regularly scheduled programming. (Only one more month, Connie - hold yourself together).

Cliffnotes of the Day:

• Well, besides running around like a crazy person doing weird arbitrary errands I shouldn't have had to do if I had my life together (i.e. heading across town to the bus terminal and back, heading to the other side of town for the one bank that would change my USD, etc.), I did really get to enjoy some time in Lijiang as well.  I swear.  I really liked it.  

Canals, lanterns, and pretty buildings as far as the eye can see

• I spent my time in Lijiang with some lovely new hostel friends (the ones who were saints in insisting on waiting for me for brunch, accompanying me to the world's farthest bank, and waiting for me to return from the bus station to get dinner).

New hostel friends (L to R) are Helene from Denmark, and Aurelie from France (but living in Massachusetts). We walked up to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (fave name ever), a famous sight in Lijiang. We are actually standing at the most famous viewpoint ever, which looks highly unimpressive because the dense clouds are actually covering (what I've been told is) a beautiful snow-covered mountain.  Darn you, clouds.

However, the area was a really nice park that you could wander around.  

With very pretty, very historic (but reconstructed) temples all around!

• After our "hike" to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, we spent a lot of time just walking through the Old Town.  Lijiang is one of those cities that's so, so lovely to wander through - there's alleys full of people and tourists and shops and noisy performances, and then you can take a turn to a tiny little picturesque alley with no people, and get a glimpse of actual life there.  It's absolutely stunning either way. Photo dump of Lijiang to commence.

The entrance to the old city is very grandly displayed.  Signs a city is way over-touristed: there is a grand entrance to enter it. With ticket booths.

I can't read this (not that I have the patience to), but I imagine this plaque is boasting of the World Heritage status. Oh, and that's a World Heritage logo on the top.

Ahhh, but you are so pretty!! Dragon head water spouts?!? SIGN ME UP.

Hoards of people

Tofu that they top with spring onions and peppers and deep fry with sesame seeds. Delicious. A little oily, but that never hurt anyone (Chinese people looooove their oil. There's always an unappetizing pool of it left over at the bottom of every dish).

Dream.

I bought a printed shawl #soauthentic

I could have taken a billion photos of this city. Too bad I only succeeded in taking about a million.

Some local guys offered to take this photo for us and when handing the camera back to me, asked "Are you their tour guide?"  I'm going to assume it's because I carry myself with an air of authority.

Seriously, such BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS.

Four flavors of Oreos. Another reason I know heaven exists.  I may have purchased the birthday cake flavored Oreos and eaten the entire tube for dinner (IN MY DEFENSE, I WAS STRESSED).

Waterways everywhere!

This street was so pretty. And photos like these are what make me miss my iPhone more than ever.

There's also construction going on everywhere here too - I think they're continually expanding to accommodate the crazy tourism.  This was like the opposite of Yuanyang. My hostel owner said he's owned his hostel for 10 years now, back when Lijiang was lesser-known and more quaint, and the boom in tourism since has been so crazy that he has considered closing the hostel and going somewhere else.

Though are these streets not a photographer's dream??

Construction means one side of the road is entirely covered with particle board.

I only took this photo because Aurelie and I went to get our hair washed (I had told her how amazing and cheap hair washing is in China; see Chengdu post) - and they curled my hair!  And for one day, I didn't look homeless!

Dusk over Lijiang rooftops

For dinner, the three of us went to a restaurant our hostel owner recommended, called Daily Fresh. You can tell it's legit because there was a huge line of people waiting outside at all times. We waited forever. And were rewarded with the most delicious meal EVER.  There were a ton of local Yunnan specialties, which included some braised tofu and bacon things. And a very authentic-looking wooden rice bucket (I'd like those boys to still think I could be tour guide now....)

Nightfall - they light the buildings up, in true tourist-pleasing form

• After two days in Lijiang, I hauled myself back to Kunming to catch a flight I had previously booked to Hong Kong.  If I'd had more time though (THEME OF MY ENTIRE TRIP), there are so many cool places I could have explored in Yunnan!  Near Lijiang is this stunning hiking gorge called Tiger Leaping Gorge (with a name like that, how could it not be life-changing), and then even further on is the city of Shangri-La!  Which is apparently beautiful and mountainous and like being in Tibet, without actually being in Tibet. Side note, did you know China does not let you enter Tibet by yourself if you're a foreigner??  They make you join an approved tour. It's like North Korea. Crazy.

Ahhh, the overnight bus back to Kunming was an upgrade!  They had three rows of single beds, instead of having you sleep THISCLOSE to a stranger right next to you. Never mind that the aisles between the beds were basically the narrowest things ever - like once you entered the aisle, there was no turning back. Literally.

I feel like here, I have to bid farewell to the Yunnan province as a whole since it's my last post here.  All I have to say is: you have to visit this province if you're in China!  It feels absolutely nothing like the rest of China, and the places you see and visit and go are such different experiences and so, so different!  There are a TON more backpackers in this part of China than I've encountered anywhere else (seriously, every other hostel I've stayed at in China had a very weird, Chinese-only kind of vibe) - and the hostels are much more like the hostels you'll find in other parts of the world.  Also, if you come here in summer, you will not melt. You will in the rest of China. Really.

Bye, Yunnan! Bye moto taxis and beautiful ethnic tribes (DIVERSITY) and cool weather and backpacker-friendliness!