I am alive
I made it. I am in Hong Kong. The trip was long and arduous. I decided to take the Ambien a few hours into my flight and within maybe 10 minutes I fell asleep. The next time I looked at the clock it was at least 5 hours later, and I'm sure I squeezed a few more hours out of it, but the last 3-4 hours on the plane really dragged on. The two hour layover in Taipei was easy enough as was the 1h20m hop to Hong Kong. I wandered around the airport a bit dealing with immigration and figuring out how to take the train from the airport to where I'm staying, but it all worked out relatively uneventfully.
The area of Hong Kong I'm in is called Kowloon. This particularly part is near a very active center called Tsim Sha Tsui. The main drag is a street called Nathan Rd which is pretty insane. It's somewhat comparable to a busy stretch in say Times Square, but there are thousands of Chinese signs everywhere, and rather than just stay on the fronts of the buildings, they tend to stretch out over the street cluttering the view wherever you look. The traffic on the streets and sidewalks is chaotic, and there is a ton of noise from construction. One thing I noticed that amused me is wherever there is scaffolding where they are working on a storefront, as there often is in New York, it is made of bamboo here. Off of Nathan Rd, there seem to be a thousand small sidestreets that are very packed with stores of all kinds, and also the same signs competing for your eyes everywhere you turn. While there is usually some English on the signs here and there, all of the smaller menus and signs in windowfronts tend to be in Chinese. The weather is very hot here, which was also an adjustment. The last week has generally been on the cool side, even in San Francisco. I had gotten accustomed to wearing a few layers. I just switched to flip-flops and a t-shirt and already feel better.
The place I'm staying is a guesthouse on a sidestreet very near the action. I'm staying in a dorm which is kind of a new experience for me. There are two bunkbeds, although at the moment I'm the only one in there so it's effectively a private room for the moment. I wouldn't mind some company, it's a little weird to be on my own. I haven't seen very many foreigners since boarding the plane in SF. I met a few random people and had some conversations since leaving. People have generally been friendly. I went to a vegetarian restaurant that ended up being literally down the block shortly after I arrived, and they had communal tables as do many Chinese restaurants in Chinatown in New York for individuals during busy times. I sat with this older man and his wife and very soon struck up a conversation. He actually started speaking English to me first, and I tried hard to speak as much Mandarin as I could. He luckily spoke both Mandarin and Cantonese, though obviously preferred the latter. His English was pretty good although heavily accented. In the beginning I was kind of intimidated but resolved to keep trying and be persistent, and by the end I felt pretty comfortable although understanding him speaking was definitely the greatest barrier. Hopefully as I hang out with some couchsurfing people or other younger folks I come across I will have more chances to develop my listening ability, though I feel pretty comfortable with my ability to express basic ideas even though my vocabulary is still kind of rudimentary.
I met a few other random folks. There was an older Taiwanese guy on the plane next to me from Taipei to Hong Kong. We talked for a little bit but then he read the Chinese newspaper and I watched the first half of Nacho Libre with Chinese subtitles. The flight ended before the movie did. I met a Vietnamese guy in the smoking lounge in the Taipei airport. Everybody in there was bonding since nobody had a lighter after the original security check, so every person who came in lit his cigarette off somebody else's. That guy was from San Jose and had lived there for 22 years. He was on his way to Ho Chi Minh City to visit his family, as his father had just died after a long illness. He told me it was sad but that death was a natural part of life. Kind of heavy from stranger to stranger. In the HK airport I met a guy who was Chinese and lives in Queens. He was on his way to Hangzhou for business. In some ways, it is an amazingly small world.
Anyway, I'm kind of exhausted. I did sleep on the plane but with the time change it's very hard to tell how long ago that was or what it means. My eyes see the daylight outside, but with almost 24 hours of travelling and all the sensory overload from the trip and this new destination, my brain is extremely confused. I'm not pushing it today. I took a walk after lunch and got a prepaid simcard for my Chinese cellphone and looked around a bit, but didn't go too far. Then I settled in my room and just relaxed for a little bit. It's 3pm here now and in a little while I may go out for a walk to a nearby park and perhaps down to the water just to get a bit more flavor for the area. After a good night's sleep, tomorrow I'll set out and take the famous Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island, and also there is a tram which goes up to a high peak overlooking the whole city. There's at least 5 vegetarian restaurants within walking distance, and from the looks of it things are open pretty late here.
So, I am safe and arrived in one piece if a bit tired. I'm sure in a few days the jetlag will fix itself and I can feel a bit more normal, as much as possible in this fish out of water scenario. Take care all, stay in touch.
The area of Hong Kong I'm in is called Kowloon. This particularly part is near a very active center called Tsim Sha Tsui. The main drag is a street called Nathan Rd which is pretty insane. It's somewhat comparable to a busy stretch in say Times Square, but there are thousands of Chinese signs everywhere, and rather than just stay on the fronts of the buildings, they tend to stretch out over the street cluttering the view wherever you look. The traffic on the streets and sidewalks is chaotic, and there is a ton of noise from construction. One thing I noticed that amused me is wherever there is scaffolding where they are working on a storefront, as there often is in New York, it is made of bamboo here. Off of Nathan Rd, there seem to be a thousand small sidestreets that are very packed with stores of all kinds, and also the same signs competing for your eyes everywhere you turn. While there is usually some English on the signs here and there, all of the smaller menus and signs in windowfronts tend to be in Chinese. The weather is very hot here, which was also an adjustment. The last week has generally been on the cool side, even in San Francisco. I had gotten accustomed to wearing a few layers. I just switched to flip-flops and a t-shirt and already feel better.
The place I'm staying is a guesthouse on a sidestreet very near the action. I'm staying in a dorm which is kind of a new experience for me. There are two bunkbeds, although at the moment I'm the only one in there so it's effectively a private room for the moment. I wouldn't mind some company, it's a little weird to be on my own. I haven't seen very many foreigners since boarding the plane in SF. I met a few random people and had some conversations since leaving. People have generally been friendly. I went to a vegetarian restaurant that ended up being literally down the block shortly after I arrived, and they had communal tables as do many Chinese restaurants in Chinatown in New York for individuals during busy times. I sat with this older man and his wife and very soon struck up a conversation. He actually started speaking English to me first, and I tried hard to speak as much Mandarin as I could. He luckily spoke both Mandarin and Cantonese, though obviously preferred the latter. His English was pretty good although heavily accented. In the beginning I was kind of intimidated but resolved to keep trying and be persistent, and by the end I felt pretty comfortable although understanding him speaking was definitely the greatest barrier. Hopefully as I hang out with some couchsurfing people or other younger folks I come across I will have more chances to develop my listening ability, though I feel pretty comfortable with my ability to express basic ideas even though my vocabulary is still kind of rudimentary.
I met a few other random folks. There was an older Taiwanese guy on the plane next to me from Taipei to Hong Kong. We talked for a little bit but then he read the Chinese newspaper and I watched the first half of Nacho Libre with Chinese subtitles. The flight ended before the movie did. I met a Vietnamese guy in the smoking lounge in the Taipei airport. Everybody in there was bonding since nobody had a lighter after the original security check, so every person who came in lit his cigarette off somebody else's. That guy was from San Jose and had lived there for 22 years. He was on his way to Ho Chi Minh City to visit his family, as his father had just died after a long illness. He told me it was sad but that death was a natural part of life. Kind of heavy from stranger to stranger. In the HK airport I met a guy who was Chinese and lives in Queens. He was on his way to Hangzhou for business. In some ways, it is an amazingly small world.
Anyway, I'm kind of exhausted. I did sleep on the plane but with the time change it's very hard to tell how long ago that was or what it means. My eyes see the daylight outside, but with almost 24 hours of travelling and all the sensory overload from the trip and this new destination, my brain is extremely confused. I'm not pushing it today. I took a walk after lunch and got a prepaid simcard for my Chinese cellphone and looked around a bit, but didn't go too far. Then I settled in my room and just relaxed for a little bit. It's 3pm here now and in a little while I may go out for a walk to a nearby park and perhaps down to the water just to get a bit more flavor for the area. After a good night's sleep, tomorrow I'll set out and take the famous Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island, and also there is a tram which goes up to a high peak overlooking the whole city. There's at least 5 vegetarian restaurants within walking distance, and from the looks of it things are open pretty late here.
So, I am safe and arrived in one piece if a bit tired. I'm sure in a few days the jetlag will fix itself and I can feel a bit more normal, as much as possible in this fish out of water scenario. Take care all, stay in touch.
posted by Dan at 11:51 PM
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