Hong Kong

Hong Kong is an interesting blend of Western and Eastern cultures.  The major cities in mainland China are also becoming more blended in terms of the East meeting the West.  Behind the facade of the high end stores, international cuisine and recreations of the United Kingdom, lays a melting pot of cultural influence that has simmered long enough to create the rather unique city of Hong Kong.

The skyline of Hong Kong, arguably one of the most impressive, especially at night, clues you into the fact that you are at the epicenter of Asia's financial district.  Sky-high buildings are home to world banks, electronic companies and major corporations, each with a well-lit neon colored sign that reads things like "Samsung".  Governed by British rule until 1997, Hong Kong was able to flourish like its European counterparts. Governing policies of mainland China were vastly different than policies in Hong Kong.  Since the return of Hong Kong to the mainland, the most popular question I heard during port preparations and during field programs was how has this affected those who live in Hong Kong.  The most simplistic way to describe it is with the slogan, "one country, two systems" which allows Hong Kong to operate economically and politically independent from China. 

Walking the streets of Hong Kong you can easily feel the influence of two ways of life.  Remove the Chinese characters from signs, add a bit of gray skies and you easily can be walking the streets of London.  Pubs line many street corners in Soho.  A stark contrast behind the Soho of London and the Soho of Hong Kong is the massive hillside for which it is built upon in Hong Kong.  Winding streets and stairs take you up steep slopes.  The best way to ascend to the top is with the Travelator, or an escalator that takes you up the hillside.  Admittedly, several of my more memorable moments of my time spent in Soho were the pubs and not one, but two Mexican restaurants.  While we are well feed on the ship, there are often voids that cannot be filled and one such thing is quality Mexican food.  Though not life changing, the Mexican food I ate in Hong Kong certainly helped to fill that void.  As for the pubs, well, there is always a void for one of those, and having a cold pint with friends is never a bad time.

Leaving behind the Western influences of Hong Kong, I took a day trip to Lantau island.  In recent years the island is becoming more developed - it is home to the new Hong Kong International Airport and also Hong Kong Disneyland - but it still retains much of its old world charm.  The trip included a stop a fishing village.  The narrow streets were lined with many sundries from the sea.  Some of them recognizable; some of them not.

Leaving the fishing village, we traveled down the tranquil streets, many with fantastic views of the island's mountains, coastal areas or lush vegetation.  The trip's highlight was the Big Buddha and Buddhist monastery atop the mountain on the island.  The Big Buddha is among some of the largest bronzed Buddhas in the world.  Adjacent to the Big Buddha is the Po Lin Monastery for which we were given free time to explore on our own, following a great vegetarian lunch.

The last day in Hong Kong concluded with a cable car ride down from the monastery and off the summit of the mountain.  Returning to the ship meant preparing for the short crossing to Viet Nam and a great temperature change from the lower 60s to the mid 90s.  It was not complete, however, without Hong Kong given us a proper send off with its nightly laser light show.  As each light flashed and each beam cut across the sky, you are reminded that Hong Kong impresses with not only its sites, but with also its breadth of cultural influence and history.

Shanghai

The Shanghai skyline, with the famous Oriental Pearl Tower, greeted the ship.  Onboard ship, we were greeted with the Chinese bureaucracy of immigration.  I have come to learn through my years of traveling that entering and exiting a country is quite arbitrary.  Rules and regulations you are told one day can be opposite the next.  Such was the case for gaining ship clearance in Shanghai.  Normally, once the ship is cleared all passengers are allowed to disembark.  Gaining ship's clearance happens in several ways, most often with immigration officers looking at all passports and placing the entry stamp inside.  Other times, it is face-to-face, where each passenger must meet with an immigration officer to have their passport stamped.  For this arrival, it was face-to-face, but by specific groups.  The downside, they were letting passengers off the ship after going through immigration.  Imagine my concern, when I have several tours waiting to leave the pier, student gathering at the buses, and myself and my colleagues stuck onboard toying with the idea of dispatching trips from the ship's outside deck. 

Fortunately, my team and I were processed and made it outside in time to not only dispatch our trips, but to stand and freeze in the cold.  I didn't quite know if I would need it when I was packing for the voyage, but my winter coat (purchased for the winters of Minnesota) was worth the luggage space.  

China has a population of 1.3 billion with 14 million in Shanghai alone -- almost double the population of New York City.  The population density was felt while walking the streets where shoulder to shoulder is the norm, not the exception.  To add to the density, it was also Lunar (Chinese) New Year - a 15 day celebration - when many go on holiday.  Nanjing Road is known for its many shops and popular amongst visitors.  As such, it was full of shoppers, visitors and tourists as far as you could see.  One my least favorite times to be out shopping is between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The shopping malls are overcrowded, people bump into you, you are hot from wearing your winter coat indoors.  The anxiety I have for that was all too present while walking the streets of Shanghai.  

I enjoy good Chinese food while at home, and I am very much aware that American Chinese food is often far from authentic Chinese food.  Delicacies of China are not always delicacies back home.  Because of this, and my previous visit to China, I had my apprehensions about meals while in China.  Courtney, our Lonely Planet expert and Chief Research Officer, came across two all vegetarian restaurants.  The meaning of being vegetarian through Asia is always up to interpretation.  In Japan, for example, it meant bits of pork where acceptable.  Being vegetarian is not a commonly held practice in Asia, so not to our surprise, there were many dishes on the menu at the vegetarian restaurant that included meat.  What was a surprise, was that it was  all mock meat.  While I am not vegetarian, I enjoyed temporarily becoming one in China and had two fantastic meals which were a highlight of my visit. 

Other notables of Shanghai included visiting a Jade Buddha temple, a tucked away Chinese tea shop , Dunkin Donuts and stumbling on the filming of a Hugh Jackman movie on the streets of Shanghai.  All-in-all, a good visit.