Hong Kong/China

After only two days of traveling, and recovery from the exhaustion of Vietnam, we arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday, March 26.  Hong Kong is technically part of Mainland China, but they have a lot of sovereignty over themselves.  They have their own government, laws, and currency.  They have Facebook and don’t have the One Child Policy.  They are a territory of China.  On the first day, I went on an FDP to a psychiatric ward in Hong Kong.  It was actually really nice.  The facilities were beautiful with staff that seemed responsible and caring, as well as state of the art equipment.  We discussed mental health in Hong Kong and the doctors told us that the daily stresses of life are pretty much the same in both HK and the USA.  Both countries are fast paced and people use a lot of technology in their daily lives.  Also, people are all trying to find relationships and are dedicated to their jobs.  In terms of mental health, we are pretty much the same.  After a tour of facilities, checking out the art made by the patients, and eating some good cookies, we I headed back to the ship. 

Cass was the only one of my friends to come with me so by the time we got back to the ship, everyone else was gone.  In the end, Cass, Ross, Caitlin, and I just walked around the city.  We found a park with a bunch of trees, bike paths, ponds, fountains, and pagodas.  It was really peaceful so we just sat around and relaxed for a while.  It was nice just to sit there and chill, watching everything go by.  We strolled through what ended up being some sort of zoo where we saw wild birds.  After getting some frozen yogurt, we headed back to the ship.

And everyone made it to the restaurant.  After going through all the trouble, it wasn’t really worth it though.  The food was kind of expensive and we kind of eat on a floating restaurant every day while at sea.  We stressed about getting there on time because we were supposed to met Courtney who was coming from a Semester at Sea trip and was just going to meet us at the restaurant.  We arrived forty five minutes late so we assumed she had just left when w couldn’t find her, but a half hour later, she arrived after taking some busses and a taxi to find us.  We got back to the ship around 11:30 and then Ross, Cass, Courtney, Stephen, and I decided to go to out to a street where there were hundreds of clubs and bars.  However, by the time we actually made it to bars, it was 1:00 and I was already really tired.  Stephen and I left about an hour later, not the most exciting night.

The next morning, I headed off with Emily and Anna to the airport to fly Hong Kong to Beijing.  Our flight left an hour late, but somehow arrived on time.  After checking into my hotel, I went out with some friends to dinner and just walked around Beijing.  We got back to the hotel around 9:30 and just hung out there for an hour or so before calling it a night.  Ports always leave me really tired and with so few days in between to relax, I’m willing to take any chances I can get for a good night’s sleep. 

The next day, we had breakfast in the hotel and formed into our groups for our tour.  I planned our tour with Stephen, Elizabeth, and Diane, and then found out that some other friends, Hannah, Caitlin, Stephanie, and Brittany.  Our group was really small, only about sixteen people, which was nice because we didn’t have to deal with the hustles of traveling in a big group.  Our first stop was the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, the sights of the Emperors and landmarks in Chinese history.  Our guide, Tony, or “Tony the Tiger” as he called himself, gave us a brief introduction to the history of the City and told us how one of the Emperor’s relatives (I think uncle or nephew) built the city in order to establish power and prevent himself from being forgotten about in history.  We also learned about the Dragon Lady, a concubine who worked her way to pretty much ruling all of China.  She even traded the Chinese Navy for the Summer Palace.  We walked through the City to see the extensiveness of the palace.  After about an hour of going through the different layers, and fighting our way through thousands of tourists who all wanted to take pictures of blonde Elisabeth, we went to lunch.  All of our lunches were pretty much the same, consisting of sweet and sour chicken or pork, an abundance of meat and vegetable dishes, all served on a lazy Susan. 

  We next drove to the Silk Market, a five story mall full of knock off items, everything from jade, to silk, to electronics, and clothes.  The place really looks like a giant warehouse full of various stands with women who shout at you and try and grab you to get you to look at their stuff.  I learned I am a really good bargainer.  Tony taught us some tricks to bargaining; you start out at ten percent of whatever they suggest for a starting price.  They will put their price on a calculator and you take the calculator and put your own price down.  You argue, and never go more than a third of what they suggest, threaten to walk away, and always be firm, and you should be fine.  I got so many death threats from the women there.  There was nothing I really wanted that day so I mainly just spent my time helping Elizabeth and Stephen buy stuff.  I could get stuff down to a quarter to a third of the original price.  One woman was dead serious when she said she would kill me and, as I helped Elizabeth bargain for a dress, the women tried to smother me with a silk dress to get me to stop bargaining.  I was proud of myself; apparently I made some people almost cry.  The market is fascinating.  It is really interesting to see how the saleswomen work and they like to perform all of these tests to prove their stuff is real.  I saw them try and scratch jade on glass to prove it is real, and burn clothes and jewelry to show how real it is.  I have no idea what this means so I don’t know if their tests are really that accurate.

After spending some time in the markets, we drove to the Great Wall.  We had dinner at a restaurant at the base and then got our sleeping bags, flashlights, and sleeping pads.  We walked about fifteen minutes to the top of the wall, next to a watchtower and set up camp.  It was really cold, our guide suggested it was about thirty degrees F.  We had some snacks and hung out on the wall for a while telling scary stories before sleeping out under the stars.  I slept in sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and a hat, and I was comfortable.  I think I just handle the cold better than most though.  We woke up when the sun began to rise, about five in the morning.  Seeing the sun rise over the mountains with the wall bordering them was absolutely surreal.  We hiked fifteen watchtowers, about five kilometers, which took us about an hour.  That was only 1/1000 of the wall though.  The wall is very hilly, full of uneven terrain, gun holes in the sides, random staircases, and holes throughout the ground.  I saw one hole, about four feet long, four feet wide, and four feet deep.  I was glad I avoided falling into the hole, but I then fell into the next one at the beginning of the next watchtower.  I rolled my ankle a little, but climbed out as my friends laughed at me. 

After finishing the hike, we went out to lunch.  After lunch, we drove through the Olympic green to see the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest, where the 2008 Olympics were held.  I was impressed with the way China brought their A-game to the Olympics, even though everyone had doubts.  The two structures were amazing, and I wish we had time to actually get out of the bus and walk around the Green, but we had to keep on schedule and, according to our guide, there really isn’t much to see outside the Green. Our driver then took us to the Jade Market, which was pretty much the exact same as the silk market, complete with knock off goods and aggressive saleswomen.  The only real difference was that these women were a lot more intense than the women at the Silk Market.  They were a lot harder to bargain with.  When I successfully bargained, I did well; I just struck out a lot more than I did at the Silk Market.  After buying some souvenirs, we went to a Chinese acrobat show.  These guys did all sorts of things I never thought possible; it was really cool and like cirque du soleil.  We checked into our hotel and had free time in Beijing for the rest of the night.

We met after breakfast the next morning in the hotel and visited the Drum Tower.  It is a tower in the heart of Beijing, full of various drums, al with their own, unique sound, that are sounded to signify the changing months of the years, as well as various times of the day.  We learned a little about the history of the Tower and were given a private drum show.  We then took rickshaws to a hutong neighborhood in Beijing.  Hutongs are traditional neighborhoods in China, kind of like residential suburbs.  These are traditional neighborhoods where people still live; they are very communal, but the government is slowly getting rid of them as they try and put up buildings over them and force people to move into the heart of Beijing in high-rises.  We learned a brief history, as well as various traditions and customs in the neighborhoods, and ended our tour at a local’s house where a woman showed us how to make Chinese dumplings and served us lunch.  We could all try our hand at folding the dumplings, which I learned is a lot harder than I thought.  If you don’t fold them correctly, all the filling will fall out and the woman will yell at you.  We then went to a building, which turned out to be a tea shop.  We participated in a traditional Chinese tea ceremony where we learned about the medicinal properties of tea, learned about many of the customs related to tea (for example, men and women hold their tea cups differently), and had the chance to sample many different teas.  I do not normally like tea, but these were very good.  They had one made from dried fruit, which tasted just like juice.  After tea, we went to the zoo, where we saw panda bears.  They are cute, but I don’t really like zoos so I didn’t get as excited as half the girls on our trip.  We finally drove to the Sumer Palace, where the Emperors stayed for half the year.  It is older than the Forbidden City, but seems less ornate and colorful.  We walked through it and learned about the Dragon Lady, who traded the entire Chinese navy for the Summer Palace (which eventually cost them Taiwan to the Japanese) in her quest for power in China.  After touring the Palace, we boarded a sleeper train to Xi’an, where Stephen and I shared a cabin with an old, Chinese couple.  

We arrived early in the morning in Xi’an and immediately headed to the Terracotta Warriors.  I had some trouble seeing them because you have to see them from above, but they are life size and all have individual features, like humans.  It was fun just to be there and learn the history of the Warriors.  The tomb where the Emperor is buried not only has all three thousand warriors, but also an elaborate tomb that is like a parallel universe.  We went to a Chinese buffet for lunch and then walked along the Old City Wall, a wall protecting the city from invaders.  We walked along the wall, saw some buildings with amazing Asian architecture, and then saw the gardens next to the wall, which was very tranquil.  We then boarded another sleeper train to head to Shanghai. 

The next morning, we finally made it back on the ship, which was a nightmare because we had to deal with Chinese immigrations.  Getting back off the ship was also rough because Immigrations had to take all of our passports and make copies of them before we could leave the ship again.  I didn’t get off the ship until now, so all I really had time to do was walk around Shanghai.  Shanghai is really developed, but it is still a beautiful city.  We just walked around to see Oriental Pearl Tower, that yellow and red telecommunications tower in the financial district of Shanghai.  After walking around for a few hours, we had to head back to the ship to leave tor Taiwan. I wish I had more time in Shanghai because I know there is so much to do there, and the nightlife is supposed to be great, but I know I’ll be back there one day.

China was one of my favorite ports because I walls always so busy and it has such a rich history and culture.  I liked the country a lot more than I expected to.      

  Cass was the only one of my friends to come with me so by the time we got back to the ship, everyone else was gone.  In the end, Cass, Ross, Caitlin, and I just walked around the city.  We found a park with a bunch of trees, bike paths, ponds, fountains, and pagodas.  It was really peaceful so we just sat around and relaxed for a while.  It was nice just to sit there and chill, watching everything go by.  We strolled through what ended up being some sort of zoo where we saw wild birds.  After getting some frozen yogurt, we headed back to the ship.

And everyone made it to the restaurant.  After going through all the trouble, it wasn’t really worth it though.  The food was kind of expensive and we kind of eat on a floating restaurant every day while at sea.  We stressed about getting there on time because we were supposed to met Courtney who was coming from a Semester at Sea trip and was just going to meet us at the restaurant.  We arrived forty five minutes late so we assumed she had just left when w couldn’t find her, but a half hour later, she arrived after taking some busses and a taxi to find us.  We got back to the ship around 11:30 and then Ross, Cass, Courtney, Stephen, and I decided to go to out to a street where there were hundreds of clubs and bars.  However, by the time we actually made it to bars, it was 1:00 and I was already really tired.  Stephen and I left about an hour later, not the most exciting night.

The next morning, I headed off with Emily and Anna to the airport to fly Hong Kong to Beijing.  Our flight left an hour late, but somehow arrived on time.  After checking into my hotel, I went out with some friends to dinner and just walked around Beijing.  We got back to the hotel around 9:30 and just hung out there for an hour or so before calling it a night.  Ports always leave me really tired and with so few days in between to relax, I’m willing to take any chances I can get for a good night’s sleep. 

The next day, we had breakfast in the hotel and formed into our groups for our tour.  I planned our tour with Stephen, Elizabeth, and Diane, and then found out that some other friends, Hannah, Caitlin, Stephanie, and Brittany.  Our group was really small, only about sixteen people, which was nice because we didn’t have to deal with the hustles of traveling in a big group.  Our first stop was the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, the sights of the Emperors and landmarks in Chinese history.  Our guide, Tony, or “Tony the Tiger” as he called himself, gave us a brief introduction to the history of the City and told us how one of the Emperor’s relatives (I think uncle or nephew) built the city in order to establish power and prevent himself from being forgotten about in history.  We also learned about the Dragon Lady, a concubine who worked her way to pretty much ruling all of China.  She even traded the Chinese Navy for the Summer Palace.  We walked through the City to see the extensiveness of the palace.  After about an hour of going through the different layers, and fighting our way through thousands of tourists who all wanted to take pictures of blonde Elisabeth, we went to lunch.  All of our lunches were pretty much the same, consisting of sweet and sour chicken or pork, an abundance of meat and vegetable dishes, all served on a lazy Susan. 

After lunch, we drove through the Olympic green to see the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest, where the 2008 Olympics were held.  I was impressed with the way China brought their A-game to the Olympics, even though everyone had doubts.  The two structures were amazing, and I wish we had time to actually get out of the bus and walk around the Green, but we had to keep on schedule and, according to our guide, there really isn’t much to see outside the Green.  We drove to the Silk Market, a five story mall full of knock off items, everything from jade, to silk, to electronics, and clothes.  The place really looks like a giant warehouse full of various stands with women who shout at you and try and grab you to get you to look at their stuff.  I learned I am a really good bargainer.  Tony taught us some tricks to bargaining; you start out at ten percent of whatever they suggest for a starting price.  They will put their price on a calculator and you take the calculator and put your own price down.  You argue, and never go more than a third of what they suggest, threaten to walk away, and always be firm, and you should be fine.  I got so many death threats from the women there.  There was nothing I really wanted that day so I mainly just spent my time helping Elizabeth and Stephen buy stuff.  I could get stuff down to a quarter to a third of the original price.  One woman was dead serious when she said she would kill me and, as I helped Elizabeth bargain for a dress, the women tried to smother me with a silk dress to get me to stop bargaining.  The market is fascinating.  It is really interesting to see how the saleswomen work and they like to perform all of these tests to prove their stuff is real.  I saw them try and scratch jade on glass to prove it is real, and burn clothes and jewelry to show how real it is.  I have no idea what this means so I don’t know if their tests are really that accurate.

After spending some time in the markets, we drove to the Great Wall.  We had dinner at a restaurant at the base and then got our sleeping bags, flashlights, and sleeping pads.  We walked about fifteen minutes to the top of the wall, next to a watchtower and set up camp.  It was really cold, our guide suggested it was about thirty degrees F.  We had some snacks and hung out on the wall for a while telling scary stories before sleeping out under the stars.  I slept in sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and a hat, and I was comfortable.  I think I just handle the cold better than most though.  We woke up when the sun began to rise, about five in the morning.  Seeing the sun rise over the mountains with the wall bordering them was absolutely surreal.  We hiked fifteen watchtowers, about five kilometers, which took us about an hour.  That was only 1/1000 of the wall though.  The wall is very hilly, full of uneven terrain, gun holes in the sides, random staircases, and holes throughout the ground.  I saw one hole, about four feet long, four feet wide, and four feet deep.  I was glad I avoided falling into the hole, but I then fell into the next one at the beginning of the next watchtower.  I rolled my ankle a little, but climbed out as my friends laughed at me. 

After finishing the hike, we went to a hutting village, a traditional Chinese neighborhood, which are slowly being destroyed by the government as people are forced to live in high-rises in the hearts of the cities.  We learned how to make dumplings, which is a lot harder than I had expected because there is a very complex folding technique to it.  After lunch, we continued on a rickshaw ride through the village and visited a Chinese tea shop.  We sampled traditional Chinese teas, learned about the culture of tea in China, learned the medicinal properties of tea, and had the chance to buy some tea.  I do not morally like tea, but this was really good.  They had this one tea that was made from dried fruit, which tasted just like juice.  We then went to the Jade Market, which is the same thing as the silk market.  The saleswomen were a lot tougher than at the Silk Market.  When I was able to bargain, I did really well, but I struck out a lot more.  Afterwards, we went to an acrobat show, which was really cool, and a lot like cirque du soleil.  We then boarded a sleeper train to Xi’an, where Stephen and I shared a car with an old Chinese couple. 

We arrived early in the morning in Xi’an and immediately headed to the Terracotta Warriors.  I had some trouble seeing them because you have to see them from above, but they are life size and all have individual features, like humans.  It was fun just to be there and learn the history of the Warriors.  The tomb where the Emperor is buried not only has all three thousand warriors, but also an elaborate tomb that is like a parallel universe.  We went to a Chinese buffet for lunch and then walked along the Old City Wall, a wall protecting the city from invaders.  We walked along the wall, saw some buildings with amazing Asian architecture, and then saw the gardens next to the wall, which was very tranquil.  We then boarded another sleeper train to head to Shanghai. 

The next morning, we finally made it back on the ship, which was a nightmare because we had to deal with Chinese immigrations.  Getting back off the ship was also rough because Immigrations had to take all of our passports and make copies of them before we could leave the ship again.  I didn’t get off the ship until now, so all I really had time to do was walk around Shanghai.  Shanghai is really developed, but it is still a beautiful city.  We just walked around to see Oriental Pearl Tower, that yellow and red telecommunications tower in the financial district of Shanghai.  After walking around for a few hours, we had to head back to the ship to leave tor Taiwan. I wish I had more time in Shanghai because I know there is so much to do there, and the nightlife is supposed to be great, but I know I’ll be back there one day.

China was one of my favorite ports because I walls always so busy and it has such a rich history and culture.  I knew a good amount about china before this trip, but everything seemed so alive when I was actually there.  I really liked Beijing and will definitely be back in the future.  Plus, I didn't fall for one of the Chinese tea scammers.  I liked the country a lot more than I expected to.