Comings & Goings
Since last writing, I have taken a train to Hangzhou, flown to Guangzhou, and taken a bus to Hong Kong.
I met an old friend from Weihai, Neill, in Guangzhou. I'd heard good things about the city's nightlife, but Neill perhaps most aptly described its as a "Chinese Los Angeles." The city is sprawling and polluted, and it takes forever to get anywhere. Needless to say, I was not disappointed that I had only allocated one day in the city.
Guangzhou, with the second-most expensive rent prices in China (average around $2000/month):
The next day I planned to travel to Hong Kong. Anyone who has been to China or read about my experiences in the country knows that transportation is the most brain-hemorrhaging experience you can imagine. You almost always have a huge delay/layover (of multiple days) associated with trains; buses take 3x as long as they should due to their frequent stops and constant appeals for additional passengers; and flights deliver you to airports 60km from your intended destination with no cheap way to get you there. I read explicitly in my guide book that it was possible to buy direct bus tickets to HK from the Guangzhou main and east stations, but both times I've tried it, I've been laughed and looked at as thought I were an intelligent President Bush. Somehow it's more logical to have said buses depart from random hotels scattered throughout the city, and thus make them impossible to know about unless you're a soothsayer or encounter the uncommon travel agent who's willing to provide help even though the relationship is by no means symbiotic.
Similar things can be said for booking flights. One of the major travel websites recently began allowing foreigners to book flights online, but in order to do so, you have to fax or email copies of your passport, credit card, and travel agreement. If I'm going to have to travel to an internet cafe of business shop to use faxes, scanners, and copiers, why wouldn't I just eliminate a couple of stops and go to the travel agent directly?
And while we're on the theme of travel headaches, I witnessed another first a couple of days ago I've seen grown women and little babies pee and poop on the street; dogs urinate on bus floors; a baby uncontrollably expel diarrhea all over her mother on a bus; but I had never before seen a mother hold her child up, intentionally, willfully, and doodee-fully, over the middle of the train floor, so that the child could relieve himself. And then let the remnants flow around everyone's feet and belongings. Yay.
So, I'm already sick of the transportation aspects of travel, even though I'm otherwise having a fine time.
Moving on. I'm currently staying for a few days in HK. Last year I got out of the way most of the tourist stuff, so this time I decided to couchsurf with a guy who lives in a little village called Shek-O on the edge of Hong Kong Island (couchsurfing.com). He lives in the tiniest house I have ever been inside of; the kitchen is no larger than 15 square feet (this is for you, Jenna; pics will come soon, as promised), and we have to move all of the furniture to the perimeter of the living room in order for me to sleep. He sleeps on the floor upstairs and is unsure if there's room for a bed. Anyhow, the village might as well be situated on the Portuguese coast, because it doesn't feel anything like the hustling and bustling heart of HK.
I've had several; meetings today and have a couple more tomorrow with people with whom I might collaborate on future research, and they have been incredibly helpful It was a bit of an expensive detour to come to Hong Kong, as the city is more comparable to the West in prices than it is to the Chinese mainland, but it has been time and money incredibly well-spent.
Tomorrow I'll take a bus back up to Shenzhen, just across the China/HK border, and then fly to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, site of the recent earthquake.
I'm still not sure what I'll be doing, but at least part of my week or so in the province will be related to relief work. I've been invited to teach for a few days in a tent village, but nothing has of yet been confirmed. I also hope to find a day or two to see the largest carved Buddha in the world, visit the Panda Research Centre, and walk around the city used as a set for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
See/write to you in a few.
--Neal
I met an old friend from Weihai, Neill, in Guangzhou. I'd heard good things about the city's nightlife, but Neill perhaps most aptly described its as a "Chinese Los Angeles." The city is sprawling and polluted, and it takes forever to get anywhere. Needless to say, I was not disappointed that I had only allocated one day in the city.
Guangzhou, with the second-most expensive rent prices in China (average around $2000/month):
The next day I planned to travel to Hong Kong. Anyone who has been to China or read about my experiences in the country knows that transportation is the most brain-hemorrhaging experience you can imagine. You almost always have a huge delay/layover (of multiple days) associated with trains; buses take 3x as long as they should due to their frequent stops and constant appeals for additional passengers; and flights deliver you to airports 60km from your intended destination with no cheap way to get you there. I read explicitly in my guide book that it was possible to buy direct bus tickets to HK from the Guangzhou main and east stations, but both times I've tried it, I've been laughed and looked at as thought I were an intelligent President Bush. Somehow it's more logical to have said buses depart from random hotels scattered throughout the city, and thus make them impossible to know about unless you're a soothsayer or encounter the uncommon travel agent who's willing to provide help even though the relationship is by no means symbiotic.
Similar things can be said for booking flights. One of the major travel websites recently began allowing foreigners to book flights online, but in order to do so, you have to fax or email copies of your passport, credit card, and travel agreement. If I'm going to have to travel to an internet cafe of business shop to use faxes, scanners, and copiers, why wouldn't I just eliminate a couple of stops and go to the travel agent directly?
And while we're on the theme of travel headaches, I witnessed another first a couple of days ago I've seen grown women and little babies pee and poop on the street; dogs urinate on bus floors; a baby uncontrollably expel diarrhea all over her mother on a bus; but I had never before seen a mother hold her child up, intentionally, willfully, and doodee-fully, over the middle of the train floor, so that the child could relieve himself. And then let the remnants flow around everyone's feet and belongings. Yay.
So, I'm already sick of the transportation aspects of travel, even though I'm otherwise having a fine time.
Moving on. I'm currently staying for a few days in HK. Last year I got out of the way most of the tourist stuff, so this time I decided to couchsurf with a guy who lives in a little village called Shek-O on the edge of Hong Kong Island (couchsurfing.com). He lives in the tiniest house I have ever been inside of; the kitchen is no larger than 15 square feet (this is for you, Jenna; pics will come soon, as promised), and we have to move all of the furniture to the perimeter of the living room in order for me to sleep. He sleeps on the floor upstairs and is unsure if there's room for a bed. Anyhow, the village might as well be situated on the Portuguese coast, because it doesn't feel anything like the hustling and bustling heart of HK.
I've had several; meetings today and have a couple more tomorrow with people with whom I might collaborate on future research, and they have been incredibly helpful It was a bit of an expensive detour to come to Hong Kong, as the city is more comparable to the West in prices than it is to the Chinese mainland, but it has been time and money incredibly well-spent.
Tomorrow I'll take a bus back up to Shenzhen, just across the China/HK border, and then fly to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, site of the recent earthquake.
I'm still not sure what I'll be doing, but at least part of my week or so in the province will be related to relief work. I've been invited to teach for a few days in a tent village, but nothing has of yet been confirmed. I also hope to find a day or two to see the largest carved Buddha in the world, visit the Panda Research Centre, and walk around the city used as a set for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
See/write to you in a few.
--Neal
posted by Mysteries of The Orient at 2:22 AM
1 Comments:
snag me a panda.
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