![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Ah, I feel so industrious . . . here's the first of my journal entries from when I was traveling, which I wrote about Hong Kong. For current and future reference, the date each entry is listed under is not necessarily the date I visited that particular place, but rather the date that I wrote about it. I've edited the entries somewhat, but otherwise have not updated them with information or impressions gained later in the trip (save where I've corrected mistakes or added a bit of historical background). Those sections marked "Photojournalism" are being captioned/written currently, not during the course of the trip itself.
7月17日06年
is this real life? is this just fantasy?
Less than 24 hours to see Hong Kong-- but Hong Kong isn't much for seeing. Or rather it is, just not the tourist sights. The things that people come and buy postcards of-- I think you can see a lot of them in a single day. What's really interesting is the chaos of shops and people outside the financial districts.
Which are fairly soulless, my father was right about that. The larger portion of the city is massive office buildings. They're lovely at night, lit up like candles, but during the day they're all steel and bullet metal and mirrors, nothing in them to connect to.
I amused myself by seeking out bits of the colonial past among the chrome and marble, but there's not much to find. I went up Victoria Peak, of course, and took the Star Ferry across the harbor, and tried to pretend I wasn't as much the tourist that I was. I did enjoy the steepness of the peak. Even there the buildings are growing, and I watched them tilt a good 20 degrees as we ascended in the cable car. Hong Kong is fenced by mountains and water, but neither are proving adequate to the task of containing this growing behemoth of a city.
But while the skyscrapers may have felt dead and soulless, the city certainly wasn't. People everywhere, shouting, shops spilling into the streets, signs hanging off buildings in all shapes and sizes and competing for space, vibrancy . . . both central and outer parts of Hong Kong proper are the result of unrestrained commerce, but they feel completely opposite. To experience the tourist's Hong Kong, you need only a day or two, but it's nowhere near enough time to take in all that Hong Kong is.
Coming to China has been astounding to me. More so than coming to Japan, because I knew a great deal more about everyday life in Japan. China, on the other hand, has only existed for me in history books and in the newspaper. And really, that's no way to understand a country, because it tells you nothing about the people who live there. It's too removed, too remote, all forest and no trees.
From what I've seen, China is hugely modern-- but that isn't much, just the train from Hong Kong and this train (which I'm currently riding in) out towards Yangshou. I doubt that carries over to the whole country. Hopefully tomorrow will provide greater insights. Now everything feels very rough-and-ready, fast-moving, almost brusque-- New York in summer, almost, but New York if I didn't understand anything about New York or speak the language at all. It's a huge contrast to Japan, that's certain and more than certain.
Going through customs between Hong Kong and China proper was a bit of an experience. My passport gave the officials major pause-- bureaucracy hates abnormality, after all. The Great Wall on the official's badge was an interesting symbol for a customs officer in more ways than one.
Photojournalism: Hong Kong
This is the main northern dock for the Star Ferry, and the view across the harbor.
The view from on the ferry itself. Hong Kong is one of the busiest container ports in the world, but as commercial shipping vessels aren't particularly attractive, I didn't really take pictures of them. Instead, here are views of a Star Ferry making the return trip.
Actually, the cruise across the harbor doesn't take very long, maybe 15 minutes.
This is one of the old colonial buildings that has still managed to survive, dwarfed by the high-rises around it.
The old trolley line that still runs through the city. I didn't have sufficient time to ride it, but I took these pictures for my father, as he's a big fan of trolleys. Nostalgia for his youth and the once-active lines that ran all over the east coast of the US . . . actually he's so enthusiastic about them that he's certified to drive them, and periodically volunteers at a historic trolley museum in Connecticut.
Perhaps some day I'll be nostalgic for the days when my father used to drag me and my siblings to said trolley museum, but that day has yet to arrive. Not that those trips were horrible experiences, they just tended to be a bit boring-- like many of our family trips when I was younger, as I had little interest in American Civil War battlefields, Colonial-era houses, steam locomotives, trolleys, coal mines, or the endangered wetlands of New Jersey. Trips to various history, art, and science museums were more entertaining for me, at least, and I very much enjoyed going to plays in the city with my father . . .
None of that has anything to do with Hong Kong, though.
I was impressed by the lush near-tropical vegetation around Hong Kong. I recall reading a British colonial description of Hong Kong as "a barren rock," which didn't quite seem appropriate to me. Have things changed so much? Now the mountains around it are heavily carpeted with greenery, and this particular park was pleasantly overgrown. The building in the background is the former French Mission Building, now the ominous-sounding Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. It's built of red brick, is more than 150 years old, and has crests of the PRC above the doors.
This lovely church, St. John's Cathedral, is another holdover of Hong Kong's early days as a British colonial possession. Again, it's dwarfed by the skyscrapers around it, but I found it quite pleasant as it's still surrounded by the greenery of the park. The inside was fairly typically Anglican, with crumbling banners, a transept with a high altar, and two smaller side chapels. I liked the high, cross-beamed ceilings, though, and a Chinese-influenced mosaic in the floor done by a local craftsman.
This is the cable car that runs up Victoria Peak as it arrives at the lower station.
Views of Hong Kong from atop Victoria Peak.
You can see a major commercial port area there in the background. I had a view of it from my hotel room-- through a narrow alley between two skyscrapers I could see an industrial forest of cranes rising up from the dull, painted metal boxes.
The viewing platform was built by the Lion's Club, and was decorated with bizarrely cute, angry little lions. I found them to be excellent foreground subjects to set off the views of the city.
There was a shopping mall and several restaurants at the top of the peak. I had my first excellent Chinese meal there-- fried spring rolls, broad and flat rice noodles in a spicy sauce, and exceptionally thick orange juice-- and bought what might have been my best purchase of the trip-- a folding sandalwood fan for 8 Hong Kong dollars. I can't tell you how many times it came in handy, both as a fan and as a sort of pomander to guard my nose against more offensive smells.
7月17日06年
is this real life? is this just fantasy?
Less than 24 hours to see Hong Kong-- but Hong Kong isn't much for seeing. Or rather it is, just not the tourist sights. The things that people come and buy postcards of-- I think you can see a lot of them in a single day. What's really interesting is the chaos of shops and people outside the financial districts.
Which are fairly soulless, my father was right about that. The larger portion of the city is massive office buildings. They're lovely at night, lit up like candles, but during the day they're all steel and bullet metal and mirrors, nothing in them to connect to.
I amused myself by seeking out bits of the colonial past among the chrome and marble, but there's not much to find. I went up Victoria Peak, of course, and took the Star Ferry across the harbor, and tried to pretend I wasn't as much the tourist that I was. I did enjoy the steepness of the peak. Even there the buildings are growing, and I watched them tilt a good 20 degrees as we ascended in the cable car. Hong Kong is fenced by mountains and water, but neither are proving adequate to the task of containing this growing behemoth of a city.
But while the skyscrapers may have felt dead and soulless, the city certainly wasn't. People everywhere, shouting, shops spilling into the streets, signs hanging off buildings in all shapes and sizes and competing for space, vibrancy . . . both central and outer parts of Hong Kong proper are the result of unrestrained commerce, but they feel completely opposite. To experience the tourist's Hong Kong, you need only a day or two, but it's nowhere near enough time to take in all that Hong Kong is.
Coming to China has been astounding to me. More so than coming to Japan, because I knew a great deal more about everyday life in Japan. China, on the other hand, has only existed for me in history books and in the newspaper. And really, that's no way to understand a country, because it tells you nothing about the people who live there. It's too removed, too remote, all forest and no trees.
From what I've seen, China is hugely modern-- but that isn't much, just the train from Hong Kong and this train (which I'm currently riding in) out towards Yangshou. I doubt that carries over to the whole country. Hopefully tomorrow will provide greater insights. Now everything feels very rough-and-ready, fast-moving, almost brusque-- New York in summer, almost, but New York if I didn't understand anything about New York or speak the language at all. It's a huge contrast to Japan, that's certain and more than certain.
Going through customs between Hong Kong and China proper was a bit of an experience. My passport gave the officials major pause-- bureaucracy hates abnormality, after all. The Great Wall on the official's badge was an interesting symbol for a customs officer in more ways than one.
Photojournalism: Hong Kong
This is the main northern dock for the Star Ferry, and the view across the harbor.
The view from on the ferry itself. Hong Kong is one of the busiest container ports in the world, but as commercial shipping vessels aren't particularly attractive, I didn't really take pictures of them. Instead, here are views of a Star Ferry making the return trip.
Actually, the cruise across the harbor doesn't take very long, maybe 15 minutes.
This is one of the old colonial buildings that has still managed to survive, dwarfed by the high-rises around it.
The old trolley line that still runs through the city. I didn't have sufficient time to ride it, but I took these pictures for my father, as he's a big fan of trolleys. Nostalgia for his youth and the once-active lines that ran all over the east coast of the US . . . actually he's so enthusiastic about them that he's certified to drive them, and periodically volunteers at a historic trolley museum in Connecticut.
Perhaps some day I'll be nostalgic for the days when my father used to drag me and my siblings to said trolley museum, but that day has yet to arrive. Not that those trips were horrible experiences, they just tended to be a bit boring-- like many of our family trips when I was younger, as I had little interest in American Civil War battlefields, Colonial-era houses, steam locomotives, trolleys, coal mines, or the endangered wetlands of New Jersey. Trips to various history, art, and science museums were more entertaining for me, at least, and I very much enjoyed going to plays in the city with my father . . .
None of that has anything to do with Hong Kong, though.
I was impressed by the lush near-tropical vegetation around Hong Kong. I recall reading a British colonial description of Hong Kong as "a barren rock," which didn't quite seem appropriate to me. Have things changed so much? Now the mountains around it are heavily carpeted with greenery, and this particular park was pleasantly overgrown. The building in the background is the former French Mission Building, now the ominous-sounding Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. It's built of red brick, is more than 150 years old, and has crests of the PRC above the doors.
This lovely church, St. John's Cathedral, is another holdover of Hong Kong's early days as a British colonial possession. Again, it's dwarfed by the skyscrapers around it, but I found it quite pleasant as it's still surrounded by the greenery of the park. The inside was fairly typically Anglican, with crumbling banners, a transept with a high altar, and two smaller side chapels. I liked the high, cross-beamed ceilings, though, and a Chinese-influenced mosaic in the floor done by a local craftsman.
This is the cable car that runs up Victoria Peak as it arrives at the lower station.
Views of Hong Kong from atop Victoria Peak.
You can see a major commercial port area there in the background. I had a view of it from my hotel room-- through a narrow alley between two skyscrapers I could see an industrial forest of cranes rising up from the dull, painted metal boxes.
The viewing platform was built by the Lion's Club, and was decorated with bizarrely cute, angry little lions. I found them to be excellent foreground subjects to set off the views of the city.
There was a shopping mall and several restaurants at the top of the peak. I had my first excellent Chinese meal there-- fried spring rolls, broad and flat rice noodles in a spicy sauce, and exceptionally thick orange juice-- and bought what might have been my best purchase of the trip-- a folding sandalwood fan for 8 Hong Kong dollars. I can't tell you how many times it came in handy, both as a fan and as a sort of pomander to guard my nose against more offensive smells.
no subject
=)
huzza for fans! they come in handy SO many times.
those building may be all metal and mirrors, but they look damn spiffy! hehe.
and huzza for greenery!
thanks for the pics!