China 2009 Hong Kong

China Day 01 – Friday June 26, 2009

7am leave for airport in Seattle to Hong Kong via San Francisco
7:50 arrive SeaTac, check suitcase through to Hong Kong –Hooray!!
8:00 find breakfast, and gate 15,
9:08 supposed to leave, but flight United 827 delayed, cloudy in San Francisco
10:00 Finally take off, and easy flight, just drinks served
11:30 Arrive San Fran, after holding for a few minutes
Ran to check in with Cathay Pacific 879 which is rather far in the International terminal.
Got boarding pass and found security line very long—where is everyone going?
12:30 found my gate 4A quickly and hooked up laptop to find HK airport contact info.
1:34 Left the gate a minute early—amazing. Flying over just water and air the whole trip
4:00 Got lunch at last, good thing I ate a granola bar before boarding. Pork and rice .
5:00 Mostly reading and dozing on and off. Lots of cabin activity. Got up 3 times to walk
Great seat 55A, window bulkhead and I could stand up in it and get out easily
10:00 Dinner served, chicken and rice, guess I’ll be eating a lot of rice here.
11:00 Slept on and off for a few hours. Will this flight never end??
-------------------------NEXT DAY !
3:30am = 6:30pm here. Arrived on time!! Health team board in hazmat suits; take two people off and they were seated a few rows behind me. All flight attendants wore masks the whole trip.
Finally deplane on buses through more health officials, I didn’t get checked so found my bag quickly, but no contact people here as the Continental flight from Newark is delayed four hours. Managed to change money at ATM, get a sandwich, find free phone, call contact person who told me to get myself to the hotel by taxi or public transportation—no thanks. Found Airport Hotel shuttle for HK$130 (U$30) so took that after waiting half an hour.
Raining a lot and downtown looks sparkly, a Chinatown magnified, more tall tower blocks than NY; finally got to hotel around 5am I think, and could hardly keep my eyes open.


China Day 02 – Saturday June 27, 2009

A very long short day.
Got to the hotel. Went right to bed. Stupidly though as I then woke up at 4am China time but 12 hours difference NY time.


China Day 3 – Sunday June 28, 2009

A very long long day today.

First fascinating fact: building scaffolding made of bamboo rods. Really. Have pix to prove it. Must be the leftovers from the panda’s dinner. Amazing that they can make 5 stories tall scaffold.

Second curious thing: the maids and servants day off today Sunday, and the young girls gather by the hundreds downtown, since it’s raining they picnic on plastic tablecloths under the sky walkways, etc. and in building corridors. All eating and chatting in groups of 3-4 or 10-12. Where do the men go?

Third unfortunate fact—it is unbelievably humid here. My hair is nearly curly.

7am Went to breakfast alone, no one else up as their plane from Newark was four hours late. So ate at our 12seat table alone, then went to fix my wireless connection.
8am more people came to bkfast so I went back for seconds in the buffet. Not good.
9:30am We all (10 plus 2 leaders) walked across the street to the HK Museum of History for guided tour. Excellent exhibits. Fake trees made in USA! Amazingly real looking.
12:30pm Free afternoon but everyone decided to go across to HK island for dim sum lunch and then catch a bus to Stanley, another town on the island.
So we walked down to the Star Ferry terminal and a typhoon hit us. Fortunately we ran under an overpass and after a few minutes it let up so we could take the ferry across, a 5min ride for HK$5 a real bargain.
Then we started walking to the dim sun place, and walked and walked and walked since we really didn’t know where it was, that is the leaders didn’t know exactly where it was. After crossing the skyways a few times we finally found it. Huge amount of food for less than $20 each as there were 11 of us. Most of it I didn’t eat of course, being food fussy.

Good thing the bus to Stanley was right in front of the building as we were all walked out. A double decker and I made the mistake of sitting in the front seat on top. Well the road was two lanes very VERY narrow and very very winding up the mountain. Amazing how two double deckers could pass, but many of them did. Eventually we got there, but it was a tourist trap as the guide book said. Just market stalls and a waterfront. But an interesting ride for sure. And it didn’t rain while we were there.

Coming back to the hotel we took a different bus the 978 that went to Kowloon, not to the ferry, and as we neared our stop another typhoon started, really really pouring rain. Amazingly the bus stop was right in front of the hotel. Unbelievable. A few of our group got off before to walk back, so they must have gotten soaked to the skin.
I think I’ll skip dinner, having eating too much dim sum.


China Day 04 – Monday June 29, 2009

Is this only day four? Seems like day 44. What can I say, but another busy busy day today.

Did you hear about the apt block that fell over in Shanghai? And to think we go there next.

9am sharp walked a few blocks to HK Polytechnic University (another humid humid day) which is a large very brick complex with several bldgs linked together by courtyards and walkways and many plants and trees (and all labeled to learn about them—in English too being Hong Kong). Found the lecture hall with long table seating as if for laptops. Two lectures this morning, both on the economy for some reason.

12noon Dim sum lunch in staff lunch room, very spiffy surroundings, not like the usual staff surrounds. Too much food again.

Afternoon took bus #104 to Central area and walked through the skyways again to the American Chamber of Commerce Center, and two more not as interesting lectures on the economy. What gives now? Why all this emphasis on business concerns? I thought we were “educators” but that must be what’s important here.

At last freedom and the peak tram to the top of the mountain. Very scary going straight up, but views spectacular, almost unreal looking down at the huge area of skyscraper towers with the water in between. It really is all the tourist hype says just for the scale of things. Half the group got separated in going up and looking around, so I ended up going back with only two guys. By then it was nearly 7pm so we regrouped to wander down to the waterfront for the light show at 8pm, which was truly awesome. Most of the bldgs are lit up of course all along the waterfront, and our hotel is on the opposite shore so we had a perfect view. They play with the lighting, using color and patterns and spotlights. Much fun. My two friends went on for a beer, but I was beat, so came back. My feet hurt.


China Day 05 – Tuesday June 30, 2009

Just when we are getting to know Hong Kong it’s time to leave this too fascinating place. But after another very full day, I’m tired of trying to cram a week’s worth of wandering into three days here.

First we went to the City University of Hong Kong, very like our CUNY, and a short subway ride from out hotel. Another very spiffy modern building with a huge outdoor swimming pool in the courtyard!! Too bad we were sitting in a freezing cold conference room. But the talks today were of interest to all, first about the possibility of democracy here without elsewhere in China, and a background of the British gov system, which was not a democracy, but with appointed officials governing. 2/3 of voters want democracy but they need an official vote, and Beijing could still say no. Not as much student unrest as 20 years ago, but with the job situation here worsening that may change. Also got a talk about the changing university system coming in 2012 from the three year British model to the four year American model, and the obvious increase in student population. Still only 20% of HS grads can go to college, vs 90% in Korea and Taiwan. Interestingly, a required course here is one in Chinese culture (music, art, etc.), apparently since there is little history of it here in Hong Kong.

I was able to leave the group for a quick visit to the library, not very large for a student population of 26,000, but they emphasize online collections, and they have quite a good selection of databases. Machines fascinate me, and a checkout DVD system was terrific. The holders are locked and when you check one out, you then unlock it. Then you return it into another machine, which produces a readout so you know it’s been checked in. They have a huge selection of DVDs in English (all courses here are in English, hence the size of the Univ.),with many American TV shows.

After another even more fantastic dim sum lunch hosted by the Dean here, we took the subway a few more stops to a Budhist nunnery(!) a nice change of pace. Oddly though it is set amidst huge skyscraper towers, seeming very out of place. Only a few of us went to this, others went elsewhere. I eventually left them to wander about myself, going up the escalator only half-way as then I had to walk down hill quite a long way. The escalator goes down the hill in the morning, and uphill the rest of the day, since people live uphill and work downhill. The city perches on the edge of steep mountains, so it’s quite a drop. Found a Starbucks for an iced latte just like home!

Watched the light show again and am now very very tired and still have to pack up to leave at 6am for the airport.


On to Shanghai