Ok, for those of you who have gotten the mass emails, you can skip this... otherwise these are the first few major installations of my asain adventures
On July the 24th at 3:45am I took a plane from Vancouver to Hong Kong and began my student exchange experience. The trip was long and uneventful, but as I flew Cathay Pacific the food and entertainment were good and it passed quickly.
Upon arrival in Hong Kong I was met at the airport by my friend Carolynn who has been living in China for the past few months. We took a train into the city and found a hotel in the Jordan district of Kowloon, just across the bay from Hong Kong island. As is the standard practice in this part of the city, this hotel offered hourly as well as reasonable nightly rates. We took a room with two single beds for the night. After I had showered and changed we set out upon the city. Hong Kong is unlike anything I have seen before. The streets are narrow, the buildings are tall the sidewalks are crowded, there are wall to wall shops on the first three floors of the buildings, and there are signs hung across every street at almost every hight. Walking around Kowloon you get the feeling that there is so much more going on here than you had ever thought possible.
On our walk we were approached by a man who was offering to sell me a taylored suit. We went in and he gave a 20 minute song and dance about the quality and workmanship but refused to quote a price. When we finally got a price out of him it was far too high so we walked out, to his apparant displeasure. The next taylor (there are several of them all working on the same block) was much nicer. We discussed price first, then went into everything else. He offered (and I accepted) to make me a taylored suit and one taylored shirt, both of the matrial and style of my choosing (three button blue pinstripe and a box pattern with spread collar respectively) for HK$1000 (about C$180). I was measured and we were on our way.
We then took the ferry to Hong Kong island. There there is a similar level of activity, but of a different sort. While in Kowloon there are many small shops and small businessmen, in Hong Kong there are Expat investment bankers and lawers walking around in smart suits with trendy restaurants and news stands on every corner. We walked much of the way up the hill to a residential neghiborhood and saw the place of the fatal bus crash in Hong Kong just a few days before.
After much walking, talking, and many iced mochas we went to one of the many electronics oriented malls in Hong Kong to buy me a digital camera. I did not know exactly what I wanted to after much looking and many quotes I got exactly what my dad had bought just a few weeks before. We then walked back to the waterfront and marveled at the amazing lit up skyline of Hong Kong from across the bay. We then walked home and, exausted, we fell asleep.
The next day we got up early and went for dim sum. We had found a place in Carolynn's lonley planet book and set out walking to find it. After wandering for nearly an hour we decided to catch a cab and ask the cabbey to choose a place for us. To our surprise the place he took us, which he highly recomended was back where we had been walking, and coincedentaly, right next to the taylor from the day before. We had a feast at dim sum and set forth to arrange our trip into China.
Somewhere along the way Carolynn decided that she could also use a nice taylored suit at a low price so we went back and she was measured. While we were in there I thought that I could use some more shirts and that she could use a few blouses. We negotiated a price of HK$175 per shirt/blouse and we each had 5 made.
From there it was onto China. Having earlier obtained my visa we got on the commuter train bound for the Hong Kong - China border. The ride was interesting. The landscape of the New Territories (the northern part of Hong Kong) varries between "towns" full of 30-50 story apartment buildings and completely undeveloped hills covered in bushes and grass. This type of pattern continued all the way to the border of with China some 45 minutes on.
Upon arrival at the last stop I (but not Carolynn) was suprised to see everyone running towards the border. The reason was that there was a huge line of people waiting to go through customs and that by running the fast ones would be ahead of everyone else on the train. Being that I was carrying a large back pack and that I had still not adjusted to the heat and humidity, we opted to walk and be towards the end of the line. Customs went smoothly and then we were in China, Shenzhen to be precise.
The special economic zone in Shenzhen, southern China, adjacent to Hong Kong, is probably the biggest boom town in the world. Before the Chinese reforms began in the late 70s this area had been home to some fishing and farming villages and little else. Today it is a large and busy city of 7 million people where much of the world's electronics are produced.
The first night there we went out for dinner at a very trendy (and since it is China, cheap) restaurant and then to a club with Carolynn's friends. The club was full of expats, rich Chinese, and people from Hong Kong looking for a good time. I brought in my own bottle of scotch and not only did they not say anything, they brought us glasses for it. I spent most of the night between dancing and talking with the interesting and very random expats.
The next day was pretty much a bust as both Carolynn and I were tired from our adventures over the past two days and our excessive drinking the night before. When we did get out it was mostly to eat and run a few minor errands in the very modern and impressive downtown of Shenzhen. That night we went for a (legitamate) massage at a neghiborhood massage parlor. For about C$13 we each got a shower, sauna, several non-alcoholic drinks, 2 shared large tsintao beers, a 2 hour full body massage and a 45 minute foot massage. It was pure relaxation heaven.
The next day I got up early and made my way across the boarder to get back to Hong Kong. I took the MRT (mass rapid transit) into the city to pick up my suit and shirts, which all turned out quite nicely, and then took a bus to the airport.
The flight from Hong Kong to Singapore was quite short. On my reservation I had a window seat, but when I got to the isle there was a vieled Indonesian woman (who did not understand english) sitting there, she was taking the flight all the way to Jakarta, the plane's final destination. Not wanting to instigate any problems I sat in the middle seat.
The flight was short and we were fed quite well. On my left was the Indonesian woman and on my right was a deaf French woman on her way to Bali. I made some rather difficult conversation with the French woman but spent most of the flight looking over my papers. To my shock and dismay, the offer sent to me by the National University of Singapore (NUS) had a second, SARS related page attached. I had paid no attention to this before as I had been assured that the quarentine rules were to be applied only to Toronto, not all of Canada, but now as I was reading it I found that it said all students traveling to SARS effected countries had to be quarentined for 2 weeks or they could not register for classes. As I was arriving after the end of the school wide quarentine period for the students from SARS countries, I became quite worried. If they enforced this policy, I would be unable to go through the quarentine and would thus be unable to register for classes. I was very nervous as I went through customs, but there were no problems. Upon my arrival at the student residence, I gave the person incharge my passport and braced for the worst. To my relief he retured with my keys and nothing else.
I made my way to my room and set up my stuff. As I was setting up I noticed an open door across the hall. I went in and introduced myself to the Kiwi. He has been in Singapore for one term already and he gave me some advice on what to do and where to go. Then, tired and still nervous about my position regarding SARS, I layed down under the powerful cieling fan (a total life saver) and went to sleep.
My first day I thought I would avoid anthing official that might jeapordise my position so I took the MRT downtown and walked around for a while. The downtown of Singapore is very modern and impressive and on its outskirts there is cool colonial architecture that has been presevered nicely. After walking for about 2 hours I got tired and decided to take a cheap tour of Singapore so I got on the MRT and took the circle line around the whole island. It is much like the Skytrain in that it is an elevated train so I got a good sense of what Singapore is like: medium density apartment bulidings build by the government with shopping areas sprinkled throughout.
Sorry to all enjoying the story but I have plans to go out and must go. I will continue my account later and write personal emails tomorrow.
Marc
On July the 24th at 3:45am I took a plane from Vancouver to Hong Kong and began my student exchange experience. The trip was long and uneventful, but as I flew Cathay Pacific the food and entertainment were good and it passed quickly.
Upon arrival in Hong Kong I was met at the airport by my friend Carolynn who has been living in China for the past few months. We took a train into the city and found a hotel in the Jordan district of Kowloon, just across the bay from Hong Kong island. As is the standard practice in this part of the city, this hotel offered hourly as well as reasonable nightly rates. We took a room with two single beds for the night. After I had showered and changed we set out upon the city. Hong Kong is unlike anything I have seen before. The streets are narrow, the buildings are tall the sidewalks are crowded, there are wall to wall shops on the first three floors of the buildings, and there are signs hung across every street at almost every hight. Walking around Kowloon you get the feeling that there is so much more going on here than you had ever thought possible.
On our walk we were approached by a man who was offering to sell me a taylored suit. We went in and he gave a 20 minute song and dance about the quality and workmanship but refused to quote a price. When we finally got a price out of him it was far too high so we walked out, to his apparant displeasure. The next taylor (there are several of them all working on the same block) was much nicer. We discussed price first, then went into everything else. He offered (and I accepted) to make me a taylored suit and one taylored shirt, both of the matrial and style of my choosing (three button blue pinstripe and a box pattern with spread collar respectively) for HK$1000 (about C$180). I was measured and we were on our way.
We then took the ferry to Hong Kong island. There there is a similar level of activity, but of a different sort. While in Kowloon there are many small shops and small businessmen, in Hong Kong there are Expat investment bankers and lawers walking around in smart suits with trendy restaurants and news stands on every corner. We walked much of the way up the hill to a residential neghiborhood and saw the place of the fatal bus crash in Hong Kong just a few days before.
After much walking, talking, and many iced mochas we went to one of the many electronics oriented malls in Hong Kong to buy me a digital camera. I did not know exactly what I wanted to after much looking and many quotes I got exactly what my dad had bought just a few weeks before. We then walked back to the waterfront and marveled at the amazing lit up skyline of Hong Kong from across the bay. We then walked home and, exausted, we fell asleep.
The next day we got up early and went for dim sum. We had found a place in Carolynn's lonley planet book and set out walking to find it. After wandering for nearly an hour we decided to catch a cab and ask the cabbey to choose a place for us. To our surprise the place he took us, which he highly recomended was back where we had been walking, and coincedentaly, right next to the taylor from the day before. We had a feast at dim sum and set forth to arrange our trip into China.
Somewhere along the way Carolynn decided that she could also use a nice taylored suit at a low price so we went back and she was measured. While we were in there I thought that I could use some more shirts and that she could use a few blouses. We negotiated a price of HK$175 per shirt/blouse and we each had 5 made.
From there it was onto China. Having earlier obtained my visa we got on the commuter train bound for the Hong Kong - China border. The ride was interesting. The landscape of the New Territories (the northern part of Hong Kong) varries between "towns" full of 30-50 story apartment buildings and completely undeveloped hills covered in bushes and grass. This type of pattern continued all the way to the border of with China some 45 minutes on.
Upon arrival at the last stop I (but not Carolynn) was suprised to see everyone running towards the border. The reason was that there was a huge line of people waiting to go through customs and that by running the fast ones would be ahead of everyone else on the train. Being that I was carrying a large back pack and that I had still not adjusted to the heat and humidity, we opted to walk and be towards the end of the line. Customs went smoothly and then we were in China, Shenzhen to be precise.
The special economic zone in Shenzhen, southern China, adjacent to Hong Kong, is probably the biggest boom town in the world. Before the Chinese reforms began in the late 70s this area had been home to some fishing and farming villages and little else. Today it is a large and busy city of 7 million people where much of the world's electronics are produced.
The first night there we went out for dinner at a very trendy (and since it is China, cheap) restaurant and then to a club with Carolynn's friends. The club was full of expats, rich Chinese, and people from Hong Kong looking for a good time. I brought in my own bottle of scotch and not only did they not say anything, they brought us glasses for it. I spent most of the night between dancing and talking with the interesting and very random expats.
The next day was pretty much a bust as both Carolynn and I were tired from our adventures over the past two days and our excessive drinking the night before. When we did get out it was mostly to eat and run a few minor errands in the very modern and impressive downtown of Shenzhen. That night we went for a (legitamate) massage at a neghiborhood massage parlor. For about C$13 we each got a shower, sauna, several non-alcoholic drinks, 2 shared large tsintao beers, a 2 hour full body massage and a 45 minute foot massage. It was pure relaxation heaven.
The next day I got up early and made my way across the boarder to get back to Hong Kong. I took the MRT (mass rapid transit) into the city to pick up my suit and shirts, which all turned out quite nicely, and then took a bus to the airport.
The flight from Hong Kong to Singapore was quite short. On my reservation I had a window seat, but when I got to the isle there was a vieled Indonesian woman (who did not understand english) sitting there, she was taking the flight all the way to Jakarta, the plane's final destination. Not wanting to instigate any problems I sat in the middle seat.
The flight was short and we were fed quite well. On my left was the Indonesian woman and on my right was a deaf French woman on her way to Bali. I made some rather difficult conversation with the French woman but spent most of the flight looking over my papers. To my shock and dismay, the offer sent to me by the National University of Singapore (NUS) had a second, SARS related page attached. I had paid no attention to this before as I had been assured that the quarentine rules were to be applied only to Toronto, not all of Canada, but now as I was reading it I found that it said all students traveling to SARS effected countries had to be quarentined for 2 weeks or they could not register for classes. As I was arriving after the end of the school wide quarentine period for the students from SARS countries, I became quite worried. If they enforced this policy, I would be unable to go through the quarentine and would thus be unable to register for classes. I was very nervous as I went through customs, but there were no problems. Upon my arrival at the student residence, I gave the person incharge my passport and braced for the worst. To my relief he retured with my keys and nothing else.
I made my way to my room and set up my stuff. As I was setting up I noticed an open door across the hall. I went in and introduced myself to the Kiwi. He has been in Singapore for one term already and he gave me some advice on what to do and where to go. Then, tired and still nervous about my position regarding SARS, I layed down under the powerful cieling fan (a total life saver) and went to sleep.
My first day I thought I would avoid anthing official that might jeapordise my position so I took the MRT downtown and walked around for a while. The downtown of Singapore is very modern and impressive and on its outskirts there is cool colonial architecture that has been presevered nicely. After walking for about 2 hours I got tired and decided to take a cheap tour of Singapore so I got on the MRT and took the circle line around the whole island. It is much like the Skytrain in that it is an elevated train so I got a good sense of what Singapore is like: medium density apartment bulidings build by the government with shopping areas sprinkled throughout.
Sorry to all enjoying the story but I have plans to go out and must go. I will continue my account later and write personal emails tomorrow.
Marc
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